Zibi “Move it and arrange those chairs” ordered Zibi as he and his small group of staff from the Community Centre, were busy getting ready for the fest, which was about to begin in an hour. There was spring in his step, “Put up the posters at eye level” said Zibi, “so that everyone can see them”. “paste those new numbers on to those chairs and hurry up people, we have to get this place ready”.
“You smiling Zibi” asked one of the staff. “Yes” said he, “the auctions are going to fetch some very high bids today”.
“Auction?” asked one of his staff.
“Yes, auction. We are going to sell the goods donated to the Community Centre by way of an auction”.
“Aha! Zibi it’s always the usual” sighed another, “we only get a fraction of the value for the donated goods. What difference an auction going to make?”.
“Maybe we should change the method, Zibi” an old-timer chipped in, “we should set a reserve price. It will ensure a better price than auctioning them off”. “You know the rules more than anyone here, old chap” answered Zibi, “all items without exception that are donated have to be sold. They cannot be retained for any reason whatsoever”, Zibi replied without missing a beat, as if in reply to an examination panel, “What if there are no takers for the goods at the reserve price we set”. The old-timer nodded in agreement.
“Auction, it is,” the old-timer sided in favour of Zibi, “but how to ensure a high price for the goods?” he wondered. “Look around,” said Zibi.
“These changes are supposed to work their magic?” the old timer smiled wryly, he was a bit skeptical, but knew that Zibi was not a fool. So he looked around to see the changes being done today. The chairs were numbered differently, instead of 1 ,2 ,3 they were numbered 10 ,20 ,30 and so on. He glanced at some of the posters that were put up around the hall. A compound eye may consist of 1000’s of individual photoreceptor units.
The name ‘millipede’ is a compound word formed from the Latin roots : ‘mille’ (1000) and ‘pes’ (foot).
Our town is not featured in the list ‘1000 Places To See Before You Die’ . As the old-timer was busy reading these posters, carefully noting that the number ‘1000’ was in eye catching red colour, he heard Zibi asking someone, “Are the sheets of paper ready for the contest?”
“What is this newfangled notion of yours?” “Common, old boy” cheered Zibi, “we are going to have contest, and here it is,” and handed a piece of paper, which said,
Choose a number closest to 1000 and write it down; unique number wins.
(Two people with the same answer are eliminated) “Why a contest?”, this curious question did not reach Zibi’s ears, as he continued to hurriedly arrange things, as he could see that the hall was beginning to fill up. The townsfolk
were pleasantly surprised to see the community hall colourfully
decorated with ribbons and also took time to read the posters pasted around the hall and revelled in the tit-bits of fun facts and also participated in the contest with much gaiety.
Zibi signalled the start of the auction with the symbolic striking of the bell. As the first item of the days auction was announced, the first bid came in and the auction proceeded.
“Zibi”, murmured one of his staff in his ears, “we have never received such a high amount for this item previously. Your strategy seems to be working”, and subsequently others bid up and the auction continued from one item to another, their respective bids were also higher much to their pleasant surprise of Zibi’s team. “Everything going according to plan Zibi?” as he turned around to see the person posing this question, he smiled profusely, “Yes, and thank you for your idea” said Zibi.
“I would never have guessed that they would be unconsciously anchored to these high numbers, which in turn would influence their bids”.
“Anchors are every where Zibi” replied the Wise One, “our lives are contaminated by them. And the beauty is they operate outside of our consciousness, so we never realise or acknowledge their influence on us”.
“You mean that, after the auction , if we point it out to them, would they not realise these influences?”
“No. By that time their minds would have found a reason for their decisions and their actions would appear as deliberate and voluntary, even sometimes rational, instead of the other way around”. With these wise word he took leave from Zibi, allowing him to focus on the auction, which was proceeding well beyond his wildest dreams, as was evident from the broad grin on his face.
The End