Yesterday's Post Barberosa - 1 ended with the sentence:
"....The Musician was hanged till death by his neck and his flute burnt to cinders and ashes...."
I suspect that me and my blogs would face the same Fate one of these days.
Well, the reason is that most of my blogs have real flesh-'n-blood people, living and dead.
And people take offense.
Why People? Because, as I explained in: Post A Comment, People like to talk about People, not mere Ideas and Events all the time.....they love Low Grade Comments like the King's Donkey's Ears.
In Journalese they call it: Human Interest Stories; qua Gossip.
Anyway, last year early 2009, before the General Elections, I posted some 100 limericks mostly on Politicians, some of them quite biting.
And hints were thrown at me by my well-wishers to keep quiet...I may be done to death by one or more of several Senas.
But I persisted.
I didn't delete any of those but one: That had to do with Cricketers: Tiger Pataudi and Sachin Tendulkar, titled: Tiger Tiger Burning Bright, which I deleted.
Reason: I felt that Fan Clubs of Cricketers can be more touchy than Political Senas; and their cricketing clubs (bats) can be more battering.
Again, in one of my blogs which I seem to have deleted, I narrated the true story of a Celebrity whom I had to de-whisker to save the honor of my friend DB whom he professed not to know after sharing a Month's Summer School Accommodation at tiny Ooty. I called him DT (Apparently he pulled the same Amnesia Act about me later on, after sharing 3 intimate days and nights at one of those other IIT Faculty Hostels and losing to me a Prestige Bet of Rs 0. 25: Twenty Five Paise only on Constant of the Motion).
Immediately I got a request from DQ to please let him know who this DT was. Since DQ was my grandstudent (rather like a grownup Ishani), I let out the Expansion by e-mail.
Aniket waited six long months and more:
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Aniket:
"..Since you are in the mood to tell the truth for a change :) I am unable to suppress my curiosity and am tempted to strike while the iron is hot - who was "DT", the character you introduced in one of your older posts? He seemed a big hit both with you and DB (Ooty Summer School, etc).... :)......."
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And how could I refuse Aniket, my Foreworder?
So I told him DT stood for Ocimum Sclavus; and he winked.
Not so Super Supratim. He simply rubbished the entire blog as nothing new since I had already told the story in all its gory detail a decade ago on his Reconight; and wanted fresh gossip:
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Supratim:
"...............Thanks so much for such a prompt response to my request, I read it last night itself within a few minutes of your posting it after forsaking preparing for my class on Tuesday. But that story wont do and you have to post a fresh one on big egos. The reason is that I heard about this story from you some years back (2000 or 2003) when I had gone to visit KGP. So it does not qualify; I demand some local KGP color of which there are plenty, not some deliberately forgetful DT from another IIT :) So I really don't mind you deleting that blog post, as long as you promise to replace it by another juicy rise and fall of ego story. ........................."
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This is the trouble with folks who have monster minds with elephantine memories (unlike DT). They are the sworn enemies of absentminded repetitive bloggers.
Once I asked A if he didn't ever miss KGP, Bombay and Hyderabad and feel nostalgic. He replied at once that his memories are so fresh and vivid that he never misses anything however much he tries.
This ought to be called Photalgia. Somewhat like Dorothy Parker: "When you are with me I miss the fun of missing you..."
Anyway, this Supratim once saved the Day for IIT KGP without his knowing it. He was then a Research Scholar at Bhubaneshwar (doing more Scholaring than Researching) in 1999.
IIT KGP had to print her Academic Calendar well in advance in June 1999 for the whole Academic Year, which spanned February 2000. And there was this prolonged discussion and debate if 2000 was a Leap Year or not (2000 being a special millennial year; we are lucky to see Y2K, rather). IIT KGP didn't want to goof and make a laughing stock of herself; and time was running out.
Then Gangulysaab who was in charge rang me up and asked me.
I didn't want to goof up either and be hanged by the Senate of which I was an absentee landlord.
So, I e-mailed Supratim @ Bhubaneswar and wanted the Funda pronto: there was no Google then but some Netscape or stuff. But within minutes he sent me the entire write-up on it straight from the horse's mouth: Royal Astronomical Society, which I printed and passed on to Gangulysaab who tabled it in the Senate and got it approved vis RAS.
Also at that time I compiled a crazy File called: gps Autographs in MS Word which many of the recipients (about 60 ex-students) couldn't convert onto their primitive computers most of which were not equipped with Windows.
Supratim once again came to the rescue and gave a detailed recipe of what to do, like FTPing and stuff which I didn't know; and I made it an Addendum to the File.
Talk of Dr Dracula: http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2010/05/dr-dracula.html
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In a recent blog called Cook It Up, I wrote something like: "My father was a long-suffering man: he had the courage of his wife's convictions.."
Right now my 87-year-old mother is staying for a few weeks at my IAS B-i-L's place at Chennai; and daily I am scared that he will translate this unholy sentence into juicy Telugu to my mother... Barberous?
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But my 81-year-old Literary Uncle and my relevant Auntie whom I love are most sportive:
When the latest Ishani booklet arrived at their place, it turned out apparently that their son Ravi, a physics post-graduate and so a literary gem too, was present and whisked the booklet away.
After a couple of days he brought it back and asked his mother who that EMM (Extreme Methodical Mind) could be, after narrating the story of the chap who forgot to download the trunk with his wife's saris and complained to the Station Master with all the gory details.
My wonderful Auntie pointed to her husband sitting on his cot and replied:
"There, there, there he is, sitting and smiling...your Infallible Dad..who else?"
I wish there were more such sportive Uncles and Aunites on this planet so I can blog fearlessly.. .
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The blogging finger blogs; and having blogged
Blogs on; nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall stop it cancel half a Blog
Nor all your Tears restore an entire Blog of it
......Amaar Khayyal
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