Life and Lies of M R Maiti

Like so many times before, he’s holding a cigarette between his fingers. He observes the orange glow leaving behind a grey residue. And suddenly, a thought strikes his mind. Why does Sean Bean die in every popular movie or TV series that he is aware of? An esoteric mystery for a selected few. An absurdity for the rest. He carries that question in his head, long after the orange glow dies out. And for days after, whenever he picks another cigarette, the same question harks at him again. At last, one fine day, holding another cigarette, a moment of epiphany jolts him. The answer is finally here. An answer that he knew all along. Sean Bean: that’s the name. The words themselves play a cruel joke on the universe. In spite of being spelled in a similar fashion, they are pronounced differently. The first name ‘Sean’ is pronounced as ‘Shawn’ (as in Shawn Michaels) and the last name ‘Bean’ (as in Mr. Bean). The pronunciation of his name should have been consistent throughout. Either, it should