And so it happened. Four students from Ravenshaw were carried away to their deaths by the current of the Mahanadi. In its wake, of course, appropriate outrage,recriminations, and mourning. Yet, truly, how many of us haven't fantasized just such a thing? Our contemptible faces reflected in the calm, inviting water, then splintered into ripples of guilt, of inadequacy, of defeat, of our counterfeit passions and wretched self-inflicted disappointments, wouldn't we all rather we were swept away unawares in a final crescendo of hot sun, lapping water, and the smiles of our friends? How presumptuous to feign pity ! Above all, how dishonest.