Idiosyncrasy
Someone with nothing to say, writing for someone with nothing to do.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
ನೀನೇ ಬರಿ ನೀನೇ ...
Friday, August 20, 2010
This Is Competition...
Saturday, February 27, 2010
THE TALE OF A BACK BENCHER
I'm always at my own tasks,
Sitting on my last bench I always sleep
But when the exams come I always weep,
The teacher has come and he has gone
Sitting on my last bench I always yawn,
On my last bench come the sweetest dreams
But they always end when the teacher screams,
Looking at all this I sometimes try to dream
That one day I'll also sit at the front and become
the nation's cream.
Even then I will love this sorrowful trench
Because I'm writing this poem on the same last Bench,'
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Foxbat
October 23 1999, the dormitory inside the barracks had a deathly silence; suddenly the intercom started blaring “Jaanam samjha karo Jaanam samjha karo…” I along with the other 40 cadets woke-up with no other alternative...
It was 5:00 in the morning & for a week now this song was the only thing I had been hearing for the wake-up call. I cursed Anu Malik & Salman Khan; the noise was above 50 dB & the song would play incessantly until all the cadets assembled at 6:00 on the ground. I forced myself to get ready thinking all the while if I’m at the right place. By the time I reached the ground & took my place a small assembly was in place.
Squadron leader Oscar Das of Trisonics, was smiling looking at the assembly. The morning was gloomy with a slight drizzle which was strengthening with time. None of the 40 odd cadets seem to like the fact that they were made to stand in that weather. Oscar Das asked if we liked to begin the daily routine exercise. There was a uniform “No” in the air. Oscar Das said eh! Covering his right ear as if he had not heard us, this time around there was a muted “no sir”.
Oscar started: Do you think the armed forces stop if the weather is bad? I hate the attitude of the younger generation… now start running.
Thus started the 3 hour PT ordeal which would break for an hour at 9:00 AM for breakfast & continue till 1:00 PM. In the whole of the week I had run & exercised so much, which I had not done all my life until then.
The break for lunch at 1:00 was all were looking at, as that would be EOD for us. After lunch I along with other few cadets were roaming around looking at the aircrafts, and I saw her beautiful than any girl I ever had crush on, the legendary “Foxbat”, I got the opportunity to sit inside one… all my irritation & crib vanished & I felt this was ‘The Place’ I was inside a bird that was a Cold war legend!
Faster than fairies, faster than missiles. Flying 30 km above the earth in the stratosphere at nearly 3 mach, there was no missile that could shoot her down. She could see everything she wanted to, without being seen. The all-seeing AWACS dreaded her, for she flew far above its reach and could shoot it on the back.
She was invisible and invincible. She was MiG-25.
For long, her enemies did not even know her name. They thought she was MiG-23's new version, and even wrote so in secret despatches and books. Then they nicknamed her Foxbat. Who knows, many a UFO sighting in the Californian skies could be a MiG-25, still the world's fastest (save the American SR-71, which has been grounded), the highest-flying and the least photographed aircraft ever. The finest child of Soviet cold war ingenuity, she belongs to the world of legends and aviation folklore.
No missile could shoot her down; no plane could fly higher than she. But now, after nearly two decades of silent service-often without a mention in the official despatch-the Indian Air Force (IAF) bade goodbye to MiG-25s on May 1st 2006. The spares are scarce-even her original makers do not have them. Satellite imagery is replacing her cameras, another reason for the grounding.
By the time she had joined the IAF's Bareilly-based 102 squadron, in 1981, the MiG-25 had already become the world's most enigmatic plane. Flying her needed a test-pilot's skill-mere fighter pilots were no match.
Back to history: NATO air attaches watching the 1967 Air Force Day ceremony at Domodedovo airport outside Moscow were intrigued by the prototype of a twin-engine fighter plane parked amid a clutch of puny MiG-21s. None of them, all experienced air force officers, had ever seen such a huge jet-fighter. With a wingspan of 43 feet, length of 71 feet, and a height of 21 feet, she could not be concealed.
By evening, air intelligence officers in NATO capitals were exchanging secret notes. They did not know what sort of a plane the commies were making. They called her MiG-23 and nicknamed her Foxbat, hardly knowing that MiG-23 was just a step-sister of the famed MiG-21.
For the next many years, the Foxbat flew all over the European and American stratosphere but no one got wiser about her. Another myth was born: she was powered by a modified rocket engine, or a cruise missile engine.
One day in 1972, two Foxbats, piloted by Russians, took off from Egypt and flew at 2.5 mach over Sharm el Sheikh, teasing Israeli radars. The Israeli Air Force scrambled their best Phantoms, but even the radar blips were gone in no time. The event came to be recorded as one involving MiG-23s.
NATO commanders soon realised it was not the MiG-23 but one they had not heard of. In September 1976, they got a chance to dissect her and have a close look.
Victor Belenco, a defecting Soviet fighter pilot, burst into Japanese airspace on a Foxbat with fuel for just 60 seconds. He claimed Soviet fighters were on his tail. NATO engineers who rushed in ripped her apart and were amazed: parts were hand-weld. There was nickel in them instead of stainless steel. The best of NATO brains could not make out what they were looking at. Why, they could not even put them back. So when an angry' Moscow demanded their plane back, it had to be packed in containers and airlifted. (There are many who believe that the Soviets had engineered Belenco's defection to overawe the west with their superior technology.)
Belenco told his American hosts that Soviet commanders never allowed Foxbat pilots to fly her at speeds less than 2.5 mach. NATO pilots had never seen her because she mostly flew more than 24 km above the earth.
A few years later, a few Foxbats joined the IAF where men like Yuri, now a well-known radio jockey and managing director of FM radio company Green Channel, flew it.
Yuri, or Wing Commander Yogesh Suri, had already been a test pilot when he was sent to fly the superplane. "We reached Bareilly dying to have a look at the plane," he said. "We, pilots of supersonic fighters, behaved like children, threw suitcases into rooms and ran out to see the legend. The first flight had to be put off due to rains. Disappointed, we went round and round the plane in sheer awe. Even the cockpit ladder amazed us. So tall!"
Everything about the plane was out of the ordinary. "The commanding officer of the squadron was a group captain, two ranks above the usual squadron leader," said Yuri. "And squadron leaders made the squadron!"
Flying her, Yuri realised that the plane's performance exceeded the legends about it. "The sheer power of that climb into the stratosphere at mach 3! She alone could do it," he said. "And up there, we flew amid the stars. It's all black around, as in space. The cockpit walls are so high that you don't see the earth below. You feel alone, but peaceful. No other plane can give you that feeling. From Jodhpur to Adhampur, I have flown her in 30 minutes." Had luck favoured, Yuri could have been an astronaut instead of Rakesh Sharma: he was one of the four who had been trained to go to space.
Foxbat pilots have only one regret: they get no combat experience. There are no dogfights, no manoeuvres, for the plane does not encounter an enemy at that speed and height.
The IAF has its own Foxbat lore. In the late 1980s, the IAF reportedly sought, but was denied, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's permission to fly over Islamabad. But as a serving air commander put it, "Who knows whether we flew or not? Even if we had, no one would have known."
In May 1997, a deafening noise rocked Islamabad. One Indian pilot was flying over the city when he broke the sound barrier at 65,000 feet. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) first thought of scrambling their F-16s, then thought the better of it. For, no plane could reach anywhere near a Foxbat. PAF still believes that the IAF's Foxbat pilot deliberately broke the sound barrier to rub it into PAF minds that they had nothing that could get close to a MiG-25.
The MiG-25s embarrassed the US and British air forces in the 1991 Gulf war. In one incident, as wave after wave of F-14s and F-15s entered Iraqi airspace, escorted by A-6 and A-7 fighters, one Iraqi Foxbat took to the air, shot down an F-18, shot a missile at an A-6 and whizzed past another. Foxbats also saved the MiG-29s, which Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sent to Iran for safekeeping before the war broke out. The MiG-29s flew to safety while a few Foxbats engaged USAF's F-15s which tried to intercept the fleeing planes. The F-15s shot more than half a dozen missiles at the Foxbats, but the latter outflew all of them.
The closest look the Indian public got of her was when a Foxbat crashed near Pathankot in 1998 due to a technical defect. Now, some of the grounded aircraft may be exhibited in museums.
MiG-25 may have flown into history. But her pilots will remember the sense of being invisible she gave them, Forever.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Kannada Links
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
ಬದಲಾಗುವುದೆಂದರೆ ಅರ್ಧರಾತ್ರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮನೆ ಬಿಡುವುದಾ?
‘ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಂಥ ಮಾಯಾನಗರಿಗಳು ಎಲ್ಲರನ್ನೂ ಕರೆಕರೆದು ಕೆಲಸ ಕೊಡುತ್ತವೆ. ಈ ಮಾಯಾನಗರಿಯ ಸೆಳೆತದಲ್ಲಿ ವ್ಯತ್ಯಾಸಗಳೇ ಕಾಣಿಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ನಮ್ಮತನವೇ ಸವೆದು ಹೋಗಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಒಂದೇ ಸಮವಸ್ತ್ರ. ಒಂದೇ ಕೆಲಸ. ಭಾವನೆಗಳೇ ಇಲ್ಲದ ಯಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ಬದುಕು’ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಲು ಹೊರಟರೆ, ಅದೇ ಹಳೆಯ ಕೊರಗು ಎನ್ನುವಿರೇನೋ?
ಗಂಡ ಹೆಂಡತಿ ಜತೆ, ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಹೆತ್ತವರ ಜತೆ ಇಮೇಲ್ನಲ್ಲಿ, ಎಸ್ಎಂಎಸ್ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತಾಡುವ ಕಾಲವಿದು. ಮಗನ ಹುಟ್ಟುಹಬ್ಬವನ್ನು ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ನೆನಪಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಕೂಡಲೇ ಕರೆ ಮಾಡಿ, ಮಗನಿಗೆ ಹೂಗುಚ್ಛ ತಲುಪುವಂತೆ ಅಪ್ಪ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ ಹಬ್ಬದ ದಿನವಾದರೂ ನನ್ನ ಜತೆ ಅಪ್ಪ ಕಾಲ ಕಳೆಯುತ್ತಾನೆ ಎಂದು ಭಾವಿಸುವ ಮಗನಿಗೆ, ಆ ದಿನವೂ ಯಾವುದೇ ವ್ಯತ್ಯಾಸ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಯಾವುದೋ ಎಮರ್ಜೆನ್ಸಿ ಮೀಟಿಂಗ್, ಮುಗಿಯದ ಪ್ರಾಜೆಕ್ಟ್, ತಲೆತಿನ್ನುವ ಕೆಲಸಗಳು ಭಾವನೆಗಳನ್ನು ತಣ್ಣಗೆ ಕೊಲ್ಲುತ್ತದೆ.
ಮ್ಯಾನೇಜ್ಮೆಂಟ್ ಕಾಕದೃಷ್ಟಿ ತಪ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಗಾಣದ ಎತ್ತಿನಂತೆ ದುಡಿಯಲೇ ಬೇಕು. ಮಲ್ಯನ ರೇಸ್ ಕುದುರೆಗಳಂತೆ ದಣಿವನ್ನು ಮರೆತು ಓಡಲೇ ಬೇಕು. ಗುರಿಯಿಲ್ಲದ ಈ ಓಟ, ನಿರಂತರ. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಏರುಪೇರಾದರೂ ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ ಕತ್ತರಿ. ಈಗಿನದು ಊರಿಗೆ ನೂರಾರು ಪದ್ಮಾವತಿಯರ ಕಾಲ. ನಮ್ಮ ಕುರ್ಚಿ ಅಲಂಕರಿಸಲು ದೊಡ್ಡದೊಂದು ಕ್ಯೂ ಆಗಲೇ ಹನುಮಂತಪ್ಪನ ಬಾಲದಂತೆ ಬೆಳೆದು ನಿಂತಿದೆ.
ಜಗದ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟಗಳನ್ನು ಅವುಗಳ ಪಾಡಿಗೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು, ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ಮರೆತು, ನಮಗೆ ಬೇಕಾದವರೊಂದಿಗೆ ಹೋಟೆಲ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೂತು ಕಾಫಿ ಹೀರಿದ್ದು ಯಾವಾಗ? ಯಾವುದೋ ಪಾರ್ಕ್ನಲ್ಲಿ, ನಮ್ಮದೇ ಮೆಚ್ಚಿನ ತಾಣಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಕೂತು ಅವರೊಂದಿಗೆ ನೆನಪುಗಳನ್ನು ಕೆದಕಿದ್ದು ಯಾವಾಗ? ಯಾವುದೋ ಮರೆತ ಹಳೆಯ ಹಾಡನ್ನು ತಪ್ಪು ತಪ್ಪಾಗಿಯೇ ಗುನುಗಿ, ಮಧುರಾನುಭೂತಿ ಹೊಂದಿದ್ದು ಯಾವಾಗ? ನೆನಪುಗಳು ತಿಂಗಳುಗಳನ್ನು ದಾಟಿ ವರ್ಷಗಳನ್ನು ಎಣಿಸುತ್ತವೆ.
ಅವನೆಲ್ಲೋ ಇವನೆಲ್ಲೋ? ಭೇಟಿ ನೆಪದಲ್ಲಿ ದೂರದ ಗೆಳೆಯ ಊರಿಗೆ ಬಂದರೂ ನಮಗೆ ಸಿಗುವುದೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಕನಸಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದಂತೆ ಮಿಂಚಿ ಮಾಯವಾಗುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಊರಿಗೆ ಬಂದರೂ ಸೆಲ್ನಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಆತ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿ ಸಿಗುತ್ತಾನೆ. ನೇರ ಸಿಕ್ಕರೂ ಸೆಲ್ನಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಇರುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಯಾರಿಗೋ ಎಸ್ಸೆಮ್ಮೆಸ್ಗಳನ್ನು ಒಂದರ ನಂತರ ಒಂದರಂತೆ ಕಳುಹಿಸುತ್ತಾ, ನಾವು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೆ ತಲೆಯಾಡಿಸುತ್ತಿರುತ್ತಾನೆ! ಅವನು ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದರೂ, ದೂರದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಂತೆ ಭಾವ. ಹಾಕಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳು ಯಥಾ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಮುಂದಿನ ಭೇಟಿಗೆ ವರ್ಗವಾಗುತ್ತವೆ. ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಊರು ಬಿಡುವ ವಿಷಯ ಸಹ ತಿಳಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ.
ಒಂದೆರಡು ದಿನಗಳ ನಂತರ ಫೋನಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ‘ಅದೇನಾಯ್ತು ಅಂದ್ರೆ..’ ಎಂದು ಆತ ನೆಪಗಳನ್ನು ಜೋಡಿಸಲು ಶುರು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಅವುಗಳನ್ನು ಒಪ್ಪದೇ ಅಥವಾ ನಂಬದೇ ಬೇರೆ ದಾರಿಯಾದರೂ ನಮಗಿದೆಯೇ?‘ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಕನಸುಗಳನ್ನು ಕಾಣುವುದು ಅಪರಾಧ ’ ಎಂದು ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಕೇಳಿದ ಮಾತು ತಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಉಳಿದಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ‘ ನನಗೆ ಆಸೆಗಳಿಲ್ಲ. ತಿಂಗಳಿಗೆ ಕೇವಲ ೫೦೦೦ ರೂಪಾಯಿ ಸಿಕ್ಕರೆ ಸಾಕು. ನಾನು ಆನಂದದ ಬದುಕು ಕಟ್ಟಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತೇನೆ’ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಗೆಳೆಯನ ಸಂಬಳ ಈಗ ೫೦ ಸಾವಿರ. ಆದರೂ ಆತನಿಗೆ ಸಮಾಧಾನ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಸೈಕಲ್ ಸಾಕು ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಿದ್ದವಗೆ ಸ್ಕೂಟರ್ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದೆ. ರಸ್ತೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು, ಕಾರಿನ ಕನಸು ಕಂಡವನ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಎರಡೆರಡು ಕಾರುಗಳಿವೆ. ‘ಮಗಳ ಮದುವೆ ಮುಗಿದರೆ ನಾನು ಪುನೀತ. ತಲೆಮೇಲಿನ ಹೊರೆ ಇಳಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹಗುರಾಗುತ್ತೇನೆ’ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಯಜಮಾನರು, ತಮ್ಮ ಮೊಮ್ಮಗಳಿಗೂ ಮದುವೆ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಆದರೂ ಇವರ್ಯಾರಲ್ಲೂ ಸಂತೋಷ ಕೆನೆಕಟ್ಟಿಲ್ಲ.
‘ಆನಂದವನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ನಾವು ಸುಖದ ಬೆನ್ನತ್ತಿರುವುದರಿಂದಲೇ ಹೀಗಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಆನಂದ ನೀಡುವ ಮೇಷ್ಟ್ರು ಕೆಲಸದತ್ತ ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಆಸಕ್ತಿಯಿಲ್ಲ. ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಸಾಫ್ಟ್ವೇರ್ ಎಂಜಿನಿಯರ್ ಆಗುವ ಹಂಬಲ ಹೆಚ್ಚುತ್ತಿದೆ’ ಎನ್ನುವ ಟಿ.ಎನ್.ಸೀತಾರಾಂ ಮಾತು, ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಮ್ಮನೇ ನೆನಪಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಮನೆ ಹತ್ತಿರದ ೭ ವರ್ಷದ ಪುಟಾಣಿ ಬಾಲಕಿಯನ್ನು ಮೊನ್ನೆ ಮಾತಾಡಿಸಿದೆ. ‘ದೊಡ್ಡವಳಾದ ಮೇಲೆ ಏನಾಗುತ್ತೀಯಾ?’ ಎಂಬ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ, ತಡವರಿಸದೇ ‘ಡಾಕ್ಟರ್ ಆಗ್ತೀನಿ ಅಂಕಲ್’ ಎಂದಳು. ‘ಯಾಕೆ?’ ಎಂದರೆ, ‘ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ದುಡ್ಡು ಸಂಪಾದಿಸುವುದಕ್ಕೆ’ ಅಂದಳು. ದೊಡ್ಡವರ ದುಡ್ಡಿನ ಮೋಹ ಮಕ್ಕಳ ರಕ್ತದಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಬೆರೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆಯೇ? ಈ ಮಧ್ಯೆ ಮದುವೆಗೆ ಬಾರದಿದೆಕ್ಕೆ ಗೆಳೆಯನೊಬ್ಬನಿಗೆ ನಾನು ಫೋನ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ವಿವರಣೆ ಕೊಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. ‘ಮದುವೆಗೆ ನೀನು ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದು ನನಗೆ ಬೇಸರವಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಲ್ಲದೇ ನೀನು ಮದುವೆಗೆ ಬಂದೇ ನಮ್ಮಿಬ್ಬರ ಸ್ನೇಹವನ್ನು ಗಟ್ಟಿಗೊಳಿಸಬೇಕಿತ್ತು ಎಂದು ನಾನು ಭಾವಿಸಿಲ್ಲ. ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಪಾಡಿನ ಸರ್ಕಸ್ ಇದ್ದದ್ದೇ. ಕೆಲವು ಸಲವಾದರೂ ಅನಿವಾರ್ಯತೆಯ ಭೂತದಿಂದ ನಾವು ತಪ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು. ನೋಟಿನ ಮಸಿ ಕೈಗೆ ಅಂಟಿದರೆ ಪರವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ಮುಖಕ್ಕೆ ಅಂಟಬಾರದು. ನನ್ನ ಮದುವೆ ವಿಷಯ ಬಿಡು, ಅದೇನು ಲೋಕ ಕಲ್ಯಾಣದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮವಲ್ಲ ’ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿ ಪೋನ್ ಕೆಳಗಿಟ್ಟ.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The Strange Sound
What Google Knows About You
If online privacy spooks you, take a look at What Google Knows About You.
Recently Google released Google Dashboard which tells you
"what Google knows about you".
The dashboard lists some of the information associated with the Google services you use: your name, your email address, the number of contacts, the number of conversations in your Gmail inbox, your Google profile, the most recent entries from the web history etc.
It's a long answer to the question:
"What does Google know about me?".If you have a Google account, you can login to Google Dashboard and you are presented with pretty much everything having to do with Google. This is actually a pretty useful tool as it gives you a gateway all of your Google services. This is also a great tool for the paranoid because you can see what Google lets you know they know about you.
Here's the URL yo the article http://www.pcmech. com/article/ see-what- google-knows- about-you/
Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General Motors
'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem... You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds. What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?"
The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start. The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start. Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc. In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor. Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the problem - not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapor lock". It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate. Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution, with cool thinking.