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For me the picturesque idiom, 'the cat is out of the bag', has the following implications:
There is an air of excited expectancy for a thing waiting to happen. And it happens. And like a genie out of the bottle, the said cat would refuse to go back into his bag.
When I was 10, Father, who was the HM of our school at Muthukur allowed me to take children's books out of his school library which was just a locked wooden almirah with glass doors.
And there were these three beautifully illustrated Telugu Classics meant for kids:
1. Bhagavatam for kids (Pillala Bommala Bhagavatam)
2. Ramayanam for kids (Pillala Bommala Ramayanam)
3. Bharatam for kids (Pillala Bommala Bharatam)
As I started reading them on by one, each had a 'cat out of the bag' for me.
In Bhagavatam, I was waiting with bated breath to see how Prahlada, the kid, would be ultimately saved from his father's attacks on him. And then the Lion-Man comes roaring out of the pillar which his father hit with his mace in all his fury. That was indeed a terrible cat out of the bag.
In Ramayanam, where the story of the boy Raam was going on swimmingly, reaching his expected coronation, I was sure that something was up. And then the Kaikeyi cat (tabby) was out of her bag.
In Bharatam I never forgave Kunti for ditching her first-born and abandoning him to his fate floating on a river...much like the mom in Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid'. And I was waiting when she was going to reveal her dark secret to Karna. This cat was too late...Karna never forgave his mom.
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For me the picturesque idiom, 'the cat is out of the bag', has the following implications:
There is an air of excited expectancy for a thing waiting to happen. And it happens. And like a genie out of the bottle, the said cat would refuse to go back into his bag.
When I was 10, Father, who was the HM of our school at Muthukur allowed me to take children's books out of his school library which was just a locked wooden almirah with glass doors.
And there were these three beautifully illustrated Telugu Classics meant for kids:
1. Bhagavatam for kids (Pillala Bommala Bhagavatam)
2. Ramayanam for kids (Pillala Bommala Ramayanam)
3. Bharatam for kids (Pillala Bommala Bharatam)
As I started reading them on by one, each had a 'cat out of the bag' for me.
In Bhagavatam, I was waiting with bated breath to see how Prahlada, the kid, would be ultimately saved from his father's attacks on him. And then the Lion-Man comes roaring out of the pillar which his father hit with his mace in all his fury. That was indeed a terrible cat out of the bag.
In Ramayanam, where the story of the boy Raam was going on swimmingly, reaching his expected coronation, I was sure that something was up. And then the Kaikeyi cat (tabby) was out of her bag.
In Bharatam I never forgave Kunti for ditching her first-born and abandoning him to his fate floating on a river...much like the mom in Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid'. And I was waiting when she was going to reveal her dark secret to Karna. This cat was too late...Karna never forgave his mom.
Everyone of our generation were thrilled by the stories of the Second World War. Apart from Reader's Digest, there was this fat book called 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' by William Shirer. And we were waiting when the Hitler cat would be let loose out of his German bag. And it happens duly after the Munich Agreement (more like Pacification) when Hitler goes back on it and gobbles up Czechoslovakia and then Poland. And he changed the World Map.
Recently there were several cats let out of their bags in our own current affairs.
One was the judgement of the Saket Court. This cat was safe in the bag in Singapore and was waiting breathlessly to be let out. And it occasioned no surprises...just the everlasting debates between the gut feelings of the mother of the victim and the intellectual pronouncements of sundry social punditins about the validity of the Death Penalty. One of the defense lawyers said rather bluntly that he would let his client hang if no rape happens for a month or two after the prehistoric judgment. The British apparently have a different take on Crime and Punishment...they don't claim any deterrence value to punishment...law for them just says that you will be punished if you flout it and get caught in the act....
And then there was this Gujju Tom (of the puppy fame) biting at the strings that fastened his paper bag. And he was let out. And started biting his mentors and mentorins who are squealing for Waterproof Band Aid.
Some little while ago, the High Command at Delhi released the Bifurcation Cat that was waiting in his bamboo cage for four years. And when he was released, he was more like the celebrated Humpty Dumpty that had a terrific fall and broke up and can't be put together again with Quick Fix without the High Command biting the dust.
During my 40-year innings in the Physics Department at IIT KGP, I recall only one cat that was gently let out of his bag and changed the future of its ground floor.
It was like this. During the 20-year spell of Prof HNB, the ground floor of one wing of the Department was entirely dedicated to vintage solid state physics research. And it was buzzing day and night with research scholars and junior faculty who became senior faculty duly. And over a decade after HNB left, his research started going out of fashion. And the radioactivity reached its half and quarter life. And as I was walking along the corridors I saw several of the labs locked shut, first during nights and then daytime. And the new juniors were crying to be let in and start their new experiments. But the locks were rusted and jammed, refusing to open.
And then there was this Faculty Meeting one evening in what is now Professor H. N. Bose Seminar Room. And I was a curious but unaffected party enjoying the show. And suddenly a smart junior lecturer went up front and spoke:
"Just like everyone of us, all our labs have their birth, growth and finally their death"
As soon as this cat was released, he raised so many wild catcalls that his owner had to apologize.
But just a couple of years later a new Director took over and within months the locks of all the Pandora's Boxes were broken open and the map of the ground floor redrawn.
I don't know how it looks now...I have a telephonic invite to the next Spring Festival at KGP and if I go there I will see...
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Car Wailing Company
The other day I saw a huge banner at the entrance of our Apartment Complex asking us to register for the services of their new Car Moping Company.
And I thought that I was moping enough myself for the upkeep of my 14-year old matchbox Maruti spending about Rs 5000 every month on its repairs.
Will they take over my moping from me?
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