Few years back, while still in school, I loved playing Snakes and Ladders. Not that I found it all that interesting, but there was this trick that I knew, using which, I was always able to throw the dice in a manner, that it showed up the number that I required. Everybody loves winning, and especially as a kid, so I found it my own small piece of life, where I could strategise and see to it that things worked out to my heart's desire.

Life is similar in many respects, a dice game, with snakes and ladders at very step, just that there are a few (a lot more than a few actually!) exceptions thrown in... For a start, it does not allow you to throw the dice, it throws it for you, and gives you the choices available (which again, are an illusion) and leaves you to decide which one to take. And if you thought your strategising was fruitful and something went according to the plan... think again. It was just a stroke of luck, the dice falling the right way, and showing up with the right numbers. And people like me? We are left looking for the dice, the right moment to play our tricks, which, sadly enough, never arrives. And of course, it never allows a retake, and you can't accuse your competitors of cheating, because even you do it at some point of time. And then, the surprises, that a 10x10 board of square tiles could never encompass. You don't even have the slightest idea of the dimensions of the playing field, or how long you might have to exert, in order to come close to winning, because try as you may, you'll never win trust me, as surprises galore in this real life game, where a superb looking ivory stair, could all of a sudden turn into a rattlesnake as soon as you happen to enter its domain.

Seems like a piece of analogical mismatch from a frustrated soul, doesn't it? If yes is your reply, congratulations!, you seem to be on the winning track for quite some time now, and here's wishing you all the luck in your pursuit of - the ladders. But, don't you think it is time for some snakes to enter the scene? Show rattlers...