‘Scholars’, Nehru and Bertie

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In October 2007, "Scholars' Avenue", a Campus Magazine, published an Article on SDM and his Genius.

And editorially commented on SDM in (inter alia) the glossy prose given below.

I was quite bemused and had to read it 5 times before it drilled into my steely head. And when I finally got the hang of what it was saying, I wrote what I thought was the same matter in 2 other different styles (Nehru on Gandhi; and Bertie on Jeeves) and posted the three in this blog.

But I found a few days ago that it had got deleted.

When I mentioned this to Pratik, he immediately retrieved it from his hard disk and sent it to me. He had also wanted a 3rd piece: "What Watson would have written on Sherlock Holmes".

Any reader may post his version of Watson as a Comment that would satisfy Pratik (the toughest Examiner on my Board).

I think, apart from Pratik and Aniket, no one else had seen this and so I am posting it again (out of laziness).

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What 'Scholars' wrote about SDM:

“A man of true genius apparently sees more than his share of the visible; it is almost as if some underlying pattern, some nuanced current of reality is magically revealed to him. He is either impatient to the point of appearing rude and presumptuous, trying to figure out how to tell the story as it is and frustrated by the lack of any success in it, or has made his peace with his disproportionate gifts and has now lulled himself into a laconic semi-slumber, where from he occasionally emerges to proclaim a piece of divine clairvoyance only to recede back into himself before the dust has cleared and those looking askance have had time to pick up their jaws from the ground. Both ways, it is a silence that baffles ordinary mortals who find it impossible to understand why someone who is as close to a magician as they can hope to see in reality won't twirl his wand around himself.”

Let me try and translate it into what Nehru would have written about Gandhi:

“He saw what others failed to see. He could plunge into the depths of truth and come up with new insights and stunningly original designs. At times he would be abrupt with those of us who couldn’t follow him. Often, he blamed himself for not being lucid enough. Sometimes, he felt unequal to his own revelations and fell silent. Quite suddenly, he would arouse himself into flashes of brilliant exposition of his inspired ideas. And as he relapsed into his inner self, we would be awe-struck, dazed and bewildered. His eloquences as well as his silences were beyond us. And, we wondered why a wizard who could weave such a spell on us couldn’t bring himself to be always transparent.”

Let me now try and translate it into what Bertie Wooster would have written about Jeeves:

“Man, he is a dashed inscrutable egg! What goes on in his top beats me hollow. Say, suddenly he comes up with flashy ideas. And, weird, cocky connections. And, when I am at a loss to figure out his juicy schemes, he would scowl at me as if I were a nitwit. And, look glum brooding it were his own fault he couldn’t drill such silly stuff into his goof of a boss. And he would fall moodily dumb. And, wake up suddenly and put it across so neat that worse fish than me would go gung-ho! Dash it, why can’t he say it as such at first, instead of humming and hawing? Maybe, the devil himself possesses him at times! Right ho Jeeves, have it your way. We are here only to stand and stare while you weave your magic on all and sundry.”

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