Idiosyncrasies

=====================================================================

When I was in my early teens and very impressionable I saw this distant cousin of mine in a social gathering. And decided that she was the most beautiful girl in the world. As I sat glued to her face, I noticed that she was blinking at about twenty times the normal rate perpetually. I then asked my Mother if it was a disease and was told that the kid was brought up in the mega-city Madras where it was the stylish in-thing then. She never got over it.

My elder cousin, a wonderful chap, had this gift of twiddling both his ears, one after the other, in all degrees of freedom...vibration, rotation, libration and what not. I read that it happens to one in about ten thousand kids. He was a great hero to all of us, but had this tendency to go into that mode instinctively when he was in a tight corner...like in a viva. He was not pardoned as his teachers didn't see it as a precious gift.

This hero of mine, one year senior to me in school was an expert in blowing continuous bubbles off his lips out of his saliva. I begged him to teach it to me and learned it after a week of strenuous practice. As I was demonstrating it proudly to my kid sisters, my Father caught and walloped me. I was cured of it before it became a menace.

One of my wonderful colleagues had this unfortunate habit of burping loudly in Faculty Meetings every two minutes. All HoDs but one excused him...but this HoD thought that my much-loved colleague was 'Posting a Comment'.

Another senior colleague of mine, an expert in Third Year Lab had this irrepressible urge to go to sleep in his chair soon after taking attendance. His two other colleagues who were new to the Lab thought he was a dud and used to giggle. But students knew better. After an hour, they would come to the Teachers' Table, ignore the others but slowly wake the sleeper up by: "sir, Sir, Sirrrr!"; and when he opens his eyes would complain to him that their Anderson Bridge was not working for the last two classes. He would then say: "Keep small 'r' at 100 Ohms" and fall off to sleep again. The students were very happy. And his new colleagues chastened.

Profs RGC and MSS were giants in UG Physics; and were thick pals. RGC revolutionized teaching of Electronics while MSS did it to Classical Mechanics. I learned both the subjects from them. But both had this weakness that they had no roof over their mouths. For an year I was sharing Office with RGC, a great time indeed. One day I told him the story of how I was slapped (mistakenly) by a girl in a bus going from Howrah to Garia (Route No 5 or 6) on my way to IACS Library...and you know I am a great story-teller. He was all ears. And then I made him promise that he should keep it a secret between the two of us. RGC agreed with the proviso that he would tell only MSS and make him promise he wouldn't let it out to anyone else. As expected, three days later DB confronted me with my faltoo story saying that he heard it from BC who heard it from KVR...Both DB and I had a hearty laugh and walked to the Canteen for a cup of Tea.

The list goes on...but I have miles to go before I sleep...

=====================================================================