Lunar land, or lunacy

Nice little celestial show last night, that I caught from the terrace here in Bangalore. Jupiter appeared very close to the full moon, and especially through the slightly hazy night sky, they made an arresting sight. I ran downstairs and urged the family to take a look too, and it was while I was doing so that a fine entrepreneurial idea came to mind.

The moon and Jupiter so close together: why not sell jumps from the moon to the largest planet in our cosmic neighbourhood? This is the way it will work: pay me some yet-to-be-worked-out amount, and I'll send you a very nice official-looking certificate saying you are hereby permitted to jump from the moon to Jupiter every time they appear close to each other in the Bangalore night sky. For not-quite double that amount, I'll send you two certificates, so you can jump to Jupiter and back. You might want to do that, for after all, who wants to be stuck on Jupiter?

Then again, I can probably sell plots of land on Jupiter. Hmm, that's a thought. Then people won't need the return jump.

Great ideas all round, right? And I even know who's likely to be my first customer. He seems prone to changing his name for numerological reasons, but apart from that quirk, he holds a MBA. A bright spark, no doubt. So I'm pretty sure he will jump -- nudge nudge wink wink, get it? "jump"? -- at my upcoming offer. Read this to know why I have such childish faith in this Mr Bagdi/Baagree.

Yes, anyone who forks out a fisful of dollars to buy up land on a celestial body that has, to raise a technical issue, minimal water and air is someone to bring joy into any entrepreneur's heart. I'm not yet, to raise another technical issue, an entrepreneur, but that joy is certainly there.

Unfortunately, someone else already has the lunar land market cornered. But I remain confident I'm the first to think of the jumps. So I'm working out the details. Watch this space.

Especially -- yes, especially -- if you too have bought land on the moon.