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In every Indian language there are words that don't have precise equivalents in English. One such word in Telugu is Mohamaatam. It is not exactly shyness, nor timidity, nor shame, nor embarrassment, but a combination of all these. It can be termed as the precise opposite of shamelessness.
In our epics, Karna had a great deal of this mohamaatam. Among the four scoundrels (dushta chatushtaya), he was the most gentlemanly. Just because he was made a king by Duryodhan, he felt mohamaatam, and swore lifelong faithfulness to his benefactor. And fell on the wrong side of the battle. Knowing that it would surely kill him, he felt a lot of mohamaatam to refuse his impenetrable armor as a gift to Indra who didn't have an ounce of mohamaatam in asking for it.
His mom, Kunti, was full of mohamaatam to confess to her delivery before her marriage and left her newborn in the lurch. But after marriage, as often happens, she lost all her mohamaatam and went to Karna asking him to be killed instead of killing her legitimate sons.
Among our politicos, our present PM (hanging fire) is perhaps blessed (or cursed) with extreme mohamaatam. He rarely opens his remote-controlled mouth. And is ready to take blame rather than dish it out. The high point of his mohamaatam was when he ate his ordinance due to the drama played by his remote prince. He could have either quit or asked the gent to go to hell.
And the prince himself was full of mohamaatam when questioned about his dynastic pedigree and he had to wring his hands and admit that he wasn't consulted about where he had to take birth.
Our fifty-six inch chestnut has absolutely no mohamaatam when it comes to his unbridled ambition for the top slot but he has a lot of it when questioned about his conjugal affairs...apparently he leaves a blank check in his nomination form instead of saying yes or no.
If you are into business, mohamaatam is a profound handicap. We had to read Conrad's Victory in our Hons English and I recall there was a character, Morrison, who was in the import-export business in the islands of the South China Sea. And he would give loans and note them down in his pocket notebook and then forget all about them...no wonder his capital evaporated before his business liquidated...a sort of phase inversion.
And RKN had too much mohamaatam with the starry Dev Anand and lost all his dues on his Guide. His Guide himself had a lot of mohamaatam to confess he was no sadhu and had to die of starvation.
All in all, mohamaatam is not an asset, particularly if you are in a position to dole out money or favors. By and by people start expecting that you are divine and take your largesse for granted. When your capital, financial or moral or spiritual or intellectual or physical, evaporates and you lose your mohamaatam and start saying 'no', folks who milked you all your life will turn your enemies and despise you and spread canards about you.
But you are helpless...mohamaatam is in your genes...try marriage...
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...A small crowd of autograph-seekers had gathered at my gate, while inside, in my drawing-room, after formal greetings and courtesies, Dev Anand took out his cheque-book, unscrewed the cap of his pen, and poised it over a cheque, waiting for me to pronounce my price for The Guide. He would draw any figure I might specify. This was too much for me. My thought processes became paralysed at the prospect of this windfall. I waved off his offer, held back his hand from inscribing more than a modest reckonable advance against a small percentage on the future profits of the film.
I declared grandly, "Let me rise or sink with your film. I do not want to exploit you."
"With your co-operation, we will definitely go ahead; and then the sky will be the limit," he said.
As we proceeded, the sky seemed to be lowered steadily, and when the time came to demand a share of the profits, you could puncture their sky with an umbrella. I was told finally that the film of The Guide had failed to make any profit...
...RKN in My Days
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In every Indian language there are words that don't have precise equivalents in English. One such word in Telugu is Mohamaatam. It is not exactly shyness, nor timidity, nor shame, nor embarrassment, but a combination of all these. It can be termed as the precise opposite of shamelessness.
In our epics, Karna had a great deal of this mohamaatam. Among the four scoundrels (dushta chatushtaya), he was the most gentlemanly. Just because he was made a king by Duryodhan, he felt mohamaatam, and swore lifelong faithfulness to his benefactor. And fell on the wrong side of the battle. Knowing that it would surely kill him, he felt a lot of mohamaatam to refuse his impenetrable armor as a gift to Indra who didn't have an ounce of mohamaatam in asking for it.
His mom, Kunti, was full of mohamaatam to confess to her delivery before her marriage and left her newborn in the lurch. But after marriage, as often happens, she lost all her mohamaatam and went to Karna asking him to be killed instead of killing her legitimate sons.
Among our politicos, our present PM (hanging fire) is perhaps blessed (or cursed) with extreme mohamaatam. He rarely opens his remote-controlled mouth. And is ready to take blame rather than dish it out. The high point of his mohamaatam was when he ate his ordinance due to the drama played by his remote prince. He could have either quit or asked the gent to go to hell.
And the prince himself was full of mohamaatam when questioned about his dynastic pedigree and he had to wring his hands and admit that he wasn't consulted about where he had to take birth.
Our fifty-six inch chestnut has absolutely no mohamaatam when it comes to his unbridled ambition for the top slot but he has a lot of it when questioned about his conjugal affairs...apparently he leaves a blank check in his nomination form instead of saying yes or no.
If you are into business, mohamaatam is a profound handicap. We had to read Conrad's Victory in our Hons English and I recall there was a character, Morrison, who was in the import-export business in the islands of the South China Sea. And he would give loans and note them down in his pocket notebook and then forget all about them...no wonder his capital evaporated before his business liquidated...a sort of phase inversion.
And RKN had too much mohamaatam with the starry Dev Anand and lost all his dues on his Guide. His Guide himself had a lot of mohamaatam to confess he was no sadhu and had to die of starvation.
All in all, mohamaatam is not an asset, particularly if you are in a position to dole out money or favors. By and by people start expecting that you are divine and take your largesse for granted. When your capital, financial or moral or spiritual or intellectual or physical, evaporates and you lose your mohamaatam and start saying 'no', folks who milked you all your life will turn your enemies and despise you and spread canards about you.
But you are helpless...mohamaatam is in your genes...try marriage...
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