Genius

Today's been a busy day. Really hectic. Haven’t spent even one single seated moment in office doing anything other than official work. And somewhere in between completing user documents, conducting training and preparing for up-coming demos I had used a couple of facial tissues which got me thinking, albeit very briefly. It was my only non-official thought the whole day (Of course I went for a couple of coffee breaks and lunch but those don't count).

Now that it's the end of the day, I have decided to come back to that box of facial tissues. I am talking about those that come packed in a rectangular box (pic) which is kept on the table or in the car or, as in my case, on the desk at office. And I am reasonably sure that everyone has, at one time or the other, used these.

Let’s first take a look at what I am talking about. Here we have an ordinary looking box made of flimsy cardboard with a slit down the centre of one face and tissues kept inside it. As you pull out one tissue another one automatically takes its place in the slit, ready to be pulled out. And this keeps on till the very last tissue has been pulled out.

Anyone ever stopped to think about the genius who came up with this tissue packing solution? No? Surprised I'm even referring to that person(s) unknown as a genius? Well, why not? Think about it.

That guy (or girl as the case might be) must have first seen the need for something like this. May be (s)he got plain bored with tissue rolls rolling away leaving a big tissue tail behind that had to then be painstakingly rolled back just for the same thing to happen again. So out came the box and in went the tissues. No more rolling. Then (s)he must have spent some time, which could probably have been more gainfully utilized, to try out different folding methods that would give the tissues the auto pop-up effect. It's after all only card-board, tissue and air. No other device, mechanical or otherwise, to be found in it. And yet, from start to finish the tissues just keep popping up, one after the other.

There you have it. Both the inspiration and the perspiration. And as everyone knows, these two together (in some one-sided proportion I don't remember right away) equate to genius.

So, if this isn't genius what is?