2:45 am

‘If you could change three things in me, what would those three be?’ he asked.

‘No, I don’t want to change anything even if that makes me angry or whatever’, she replied.

‘Sure?’ he asked again.

‘Yes! If life is already perfect, is there any strive left? I don’t think so!’ she exclaimed.

‘But perfection is not a state, it’s a process, being perfect at all times, in whatever you do’, he added.

‘It should be a quest I believe, it should be a never ending process’, she presented.

‘There is an old saying – “There is always scope for improvement”, and we observe that everyday’, he said.

‘Yes’

‘Same old things, ideas, testimonies, plans are remodeled, reshaped, made better, or sometimes worse!’ he further added.

‘Very right!’

‘Does it mean that perfection can be achieved in something which is already there? If there is an innovation, it gets improved all the time, and innovations usually don’t happen these days, what happens is termed ‘update’, he continued.

‘An innovation stays raw for sometime and update or improvement, whatever you might call it, depends on what aspects we are talking about’ she shared substantially.

‘For example?’ he questioned.

‘Thoughts for example’, she said.

‘Thoughts are non-physical, but you go ahead and tell me what you’re thinking’, he sort of presented his point and asked her to present hers in a single line.

‘I know thought’s are not matter, but the logic of perfection and improvement applies on everything. My thought, any realization, a eureka moment, any principle, ideology gets updated and further improves with time, but only if I let it happen. Otherwise mind can also become stale with old versions of thoughts. A new thought acts as an anti-virus, because the latest the thought, the longer it stays in our consciousness, it takes time to settle in, to blend in’, she made a good point.

‘Correct! Like our elders, generally they are stereotype. They have settled themselves into a set pattern of thinking and decision making. I have seen very few who have updated themselves to keep pace with the modern times, very few love to spend time with new gadgets, who are in sync with the latest happenings around, but both these sects consider their thinking as ‘perfect’. Mostly, first ones, the stereotypes, they don’t feel the need to update themselves’, he took a dig on the society very clinically.

‘You’re so right! I have a living example. My grand mother tries so hard to fit in with  the younger generation, she talks about day to day’s stuff, tries to appear ‘cool’ in all sense, but some old habits can never be changed, or improved, or perfected as you can say’, she said.

‘That’s duality, being different person in different situations’, he tried to correct her.

‘No! She thinks she is the coolest, perfect for the young generation, but we think she is not, she is trying to fake her real character which comes forward when she finds herself jolted between old and new ideologies’, she further explained.

‘So, it appears that perfection is a myth, the word shouldn’t exist!’ he said excitingly.

‘It is a process, it can never stop at one point, it can never complete itself’, she made her previous point clearer.

‘Perfection is something people use against improvements or modifications. I have seen countless CEOs describing their company’s service or product as ‘perfect’ and the same service or product is ‘perfected’ every year. ‘Perfected!!’ I don’t know if this word classifies as an adjective or an adverb!’ he appeared excited all of a sudden.

‘You’re right. In a simple sense, ‘perfected’ means improved, not made perfect’ she approved his explanation further.

‘They use the word ‘perfected’ because they have to misguide the consumers to buy a product and after few months, the same product is re-perfected!’ he presented another strong point.

‘I wonder how is that possible! They are doing modifications and describing it as a perfection! That’s utterly wrong! In few months, they will imagine and improve their product and once again they’ll present it as perfect!” she seemed to get the entire idea clearly.

‘That’s the secret, imagination has no limitation, that’s why perfection cannot be achieved’, he concluded.

‘Correct’, she agreed.

‘If you can stop imagining, you will be perfect but how boring that perfection will be!’ his words felt to be filled with pride on this new realization.

‘Yes! That is exactly what I feel!’

‘Unable to imagine will result in failure to innovate’, he coined another line.

‘Yes!’ she was jubilantly agreeing to everything he was mentioning.

‘You seem to be very excited right now!’ he brought the topic of conversation on her.

‘I was only thinking about your thinking pattern, I love the way you envision situations’, she admitted the truth.

‘I can’t help it, it all happens automatically. Anyway, I have to go now. It was nice exchanging some good thoughts with you’, he typed the final words on his blackberry. Even though he had no intention to end the conversation, he did not want to appear desperate.

‘Yes, exchange rate was good, nice experience. I wish we have more of it’, she typed her reply on her Nokia and was smiling at the fact that she had an enriching conversation with someone who was a mere stranger few months ago.

The final good byes were said and each one of them put their phones on charging. She had to wake up at six o’ clock in the morning for her jogging. He had to wake up ten minutes earlier than her to call her and wake her up for her jogging.

He was standing at his balcony, imagining a perfect future. She was trying to sleep with the belief that she had found a perfect man.