Pickwickian Retractions

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US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, called India (along with China) a 'threat' to America.

Justice Markandeya Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India, said: "Majority media people are of very poor intellectual level with no idea of economics or political science, philosophy, literature"

Rahul Baba decried UP workers going and 'begging' for a living in Mumbai.

In a public meeting in a house-full Bhatnagar Auditorium, HNB went to the dais and called the Director Brig Bose a 'dictator'.

SDM, in a fit of rage angered on an administrative matter, called his HoD, HNB, an illiterate, in the Phy corridor: "Pete bom phutle ekti akkhar berobena". HNB, who rehabilitated SDM at KGP from his ruined career at Cal, smiled, took him by his hand, and led him back into his room (which is now adorned by SLS).

For all of those four decades at KGP, Amalendu and I were MSMA (Members, Society of Mutual Admiration). Suddenly however, Amalendu was made the G Sec of IITTA (IIT Teachers Association) for a couple of years. Under the mango tree in the TOAT Canteen among half a dozen faculty members including DB and Research Scholars, Amalendu lost his temper and called me a 'liar'; which I didn't mind:

http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2009/10/seven-ages-of-lying-man.html

Next day happened to be a Saturday and my wife and I were going to Gole Bazaar on our Chetak. Near the Dreamland Restaurant, I found Amalendu coming towards us on his LML. I hailed him and beckoned him to the kerb. Getting down from my Chetak, I embraced him and told my wife: "Amalendu called me a 'liar' yesterday".

In every instance cited above, the offender would love to retract his words but not explicitly apologize.

I am sure none of you read Pickwick Papers and are not going to, either. The book is a classic and I gave my copy to DB and asked him to read the first fifty pages, and let me know if he could then dump the book. He finished the entire thing (I stopped after Dickens tried to moralize after the first 600 pages).

Here is how Members of the august Pickwick Club retract their insults (Blotton called Pickwick a 'humbug' in the very first meeting of the Club):

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Mr. Pickwick observed (says the secretary) that fame was dear to the
heart of every man. Poetic fame was dear to the heart of his friend
Snodgrass; the fame of conquest was equally dear to his friend Tupman;
and the desire of earning fame in the sports of the field, the air,
and the water was uppermost in the breast of his friend Winkle. He (Mr.
Pickwick) would not deny that he was influenced by human passions and
human feelings (cheers)--possibly by human weaknesses (loud cries of
"No"); but this he would say, that if ever the fire of self-importance
broke out in his bosom, the desire to benefit the human race in
preference effectually quenched it. The praise of mankind was his swing;
philanthropy was his insurance office. (Vehement cheering.) He had felt
some pride--he acknowledged it freely, and let his enemies make the most
of it--he had felt some pride when he presented his Tittlebatian Theory
to the world; it might be celebrated or it might not. (A cry of "It
is," and great cheering.) He would take the assertion of that honourable
Pickwickian whose voice he had just heard--it was celebrated; but if
the fame of that treatise were to extend to the farthest confines of the
known world, the pride with which he should reflect on the authorship of
that production would be as nothing compared with the pride with which
he looked around him, on this, the proudest moment of his existence.
(Cheers.) He was a humble individual. ("No, no.") Still he could not but
feel that they had selected him for a service of great honour, and
of some danger. Travelling was in a troubled state, and the minds of
coachmen were unsettled. Let them look abroad and contemplate the scenes
which were enacting around them. Stage-coaches were upsetting in all
directions, horses were bolting, boats were overturning, and boilers
were bursting. (Cheers--a voice "No.") No! (Cheers.) Let that honourable
Pickwickian who cried "No" so loudly come forward and deny it, if he
could. (Cheers.) Who was it that cried "No"? (Enthusiastic cheering.)
Was it some vain and disappointed man--he would not say haberdasher
(loud cheers)--who, jealous of the praise which had been--perhaps
undeservedly--bestowed on his (Mr. Pickwick's) researches, and smarting
under the censure which had been heaped upon his own feeble attempts at
rivalry, now took this vile and calumnious mode of---

'Mr. BLOTTON (of Aldgate) rose to order. Did the honourable Pickwickian
allude to him? (Cries of "Order," "Chair," "Yes," "No," "Go on," "Leave
off," etc.)

'Mr. PICKWICK would not put up to be put down by clamour. He had alluded
to the honourable gentleman. (Great excitement.)

'Mr. BLOTTON would only say then, that he repelled the hon. gent.'s
false and scurrilous accusation, with profound contempt. (Great
cheering.) The hon. gent. was a humbug. (Immense confusion, and loud
cries of "Chair," and "Order.")

'Mr. A. SNODGRASS rose to order. He threw himself upon the chair.
(Hear.) He wished to know whether this disgraceful contest between two
members of that club should be allowed to continue. (Hear, hear.)

'The CHAIRMAN was quite sure the hon. Pickwickian would withdraw the
expression he had just made use of.

'Mr. BLOTTON, with all possible respect for the chair, was quite sure he
would not.

'The CHAIRMAN felt it his imperative duty to demand of the honourable
gentleman, whether he had used the expression which had just escaped him
in a common sense.

'Mr. BLOTTON had no hesitation in saying that he had not--he had
used the word in its Pickwickian sense. (Hear, hear.) He was bound to
acknowledge that, personally, he entertained the highest regard and
esteem for the honourable gentleman; he had merely considered him a
humbug in a Pickwickian point of view. (Hear, hear.)

'Mr. PICKWICK felt much gratified by the fair, candid, and full
explanation of his honourable friend. He begged it to be at once
understood, that his own observations had been merely intended to bear a
Pickwickian construction. (Cheers.)'

Here the entry terminates, as we have no doubt the debate did also,
after arriving at such a highly satisfactory and intelligible point.

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