************************************************************************************************************
Let us move on to the insect world.
Flies were our companions in our village Muthukur. They were so numerous...they were everywhere. Lots of jokes were told about what an American, an Indian and a Chinese would do if they found a fly in their coffee cup served in a restaurant.
But the metaphor: "fly in the ointment" stuck with me. I guess that the fly would die instantly if the ointment was at all good. And it would spoil the ointment...what a mess!
My best decade at IIT KGP was the 1970s. I found my feet as a teacher of large classes, and did a soul-satisfying Ph. D. with my Guide SDM. Leaned a lot that stood by me. And after SDM left, DB moved into my office and that culminated in a 20-year sojourn of fun and laughter and bonhomie.
But the fly in the ointment was that I was a bachelor living in the Faculty Hostel whose mess used to shut shop by 10 PM. And there were no eateries other than the Nair Canteen that too shut shop at 10 PM. And my Guide used to invite me to his Qrs A-26 every weekend afternoons for 'discussions', and would leave me at 10.30 PM after a lot of gossip that had nothing to do with Physics. And I had to make do with a cup of black coffee in my room and umpteen cigarettes.
There is this glutinous metaphor in Telugu:
"Kapham lo padda Eega"
which translates to:
"A fly that fell into phlegm"
meaning a helpless sticky situation.
Our neighbor in Muthukur was suffering from Pulmonary Tuberculosis and used to clear his throat periodically and spit into his front yard. And we used to watch the greedy flies getting trapped in his phlegm. Some scene that! In the 1950s, streptomycin didn't yet reach Muthukur and the poor chap died a consumptive death. We were ordered to never go anywhere near their house but who cared? That is the secret of my longevity.
While I was living in the Faculty Hostel at IIT KGP, there were half a dozen Army Officers, sponsored to do their M.Techs, living with us. They were all great guys and once they had a private party of their own. And one of them was dressed in suit and boot sporting a colorful tie. And I overheard one of his colleagues praising him:
"You look so fly!"
That stuck...although the fly there may not be our Muthukur house-fly.
Flies and spiders have a canonical relationship. Once I posted a rhyme on the subject:
Much is known about spiders and the strength of their fiber. But spiders are also known for their perseverance. Apparently, Robert Bruce, the Scots King (13 century), was driven away by the English and battled them many times and every time got roundly defeated. Ultimately when he was weary and hiding in a cave and thinking of giving it all up, he watched a spider trying to weave its web and failing a dozen times but never letting up. This gave him a sudden inspiration and he collected a large army (most of the armies then were mercenaries) and in one last ditch effort waged a battle against his enemy and won handsomely.
This was my Father's favorite story which he used to narrate whenever he talked about his cousin who failed to matriculate in seven attempts but succeeded in his 8th attempt...through devious means.
Father also used to tell us a tall tale that Kekule' got his inspiration for the hexagonal structure of the benzene molecule when he was watching the web of a garden spider...I watched a hundred at IIT KGP but by then the structure of benzene was already discovered...sigh!
***********************************************************************************************************
Let us move on to the insect world.
Flies were our companions in our village Muthukur. They were so numerous...they were everywhere. Lots of jokes were told about what an American, an Indian and a Chinese would do if they found a fly in their coffee cup served in a restaurant.
But the metaphor: "fly in the ointment" stuck with me. I guess that the fly would die instantly if the ointment was at all good. And it would spoil the ointment...what a mess!
My best decade at IIT KGP was the 1970s. I found my feet as a teacher of large classes, and did a soul-satisfying Ph. D. with my Guide SDM. Leaned a lot that stood by me. And after SDM left, DB moved into my office and that culminated in a 20-year sojourn of fun and laughter and bonhomie.
But the fly in the ointment was that I was a bachelor living in the Faculty Hostel whose mess used to shut shop by 10 PM. And there were no eateries other than the Nair Canteen that too shut shop at 10 PM. And my Guide used to invite me to his Qrs A-26 every weekend afternoons for 'discussions', and would leave me at 10.30 PM after a lot of gossip that had nothing to do with Physics. And I had to make do with a cup of black coffee in my room and umpteen cigarettes.
There is this glutinous metaphor in Telugu:
"Kapham lo padda Eega"
which translates to:
"A fly that fell into phlegm"
meaning a helpless sticky situation.
Our neighbor in Muthukur was suffering from Pulmonary Tuberculosis and used to clear his throat periodically and spit into his front yard. And we used to watch the greedy flies getting trapped in his phlegm. Some scene that! In the 1950s, streptomycin didn't yet reach Muthukur and the poor chap died a consumptive death. We were ordered to never go anywhere near their house but who cared? That is the secret of my longevity.
While I was living in the Faculty Hostel at IIT KGP, there were half a dozen Army Officers, sponsored to do their M.Techs, living with us. They were all great guys and once they had a private party of their own. And one of them was dressed in suit and boot sporting a colorful tie. And I overheard one of his colleagues praising him:
"You look so fly!"
That stuck...although the fly there may not be our Muthukur house-fly.
Flies and spiders have a canonical relationship. Once I posted a rhyme on the subject:
Said a very old Spider
To the older Fly:
'You can come nearer, dear,
My fiber's gotten dry'
Said the older Fly
To the very old Spider
'I can't come nearer, dear,
I can no more FLY!'
Much is known about spiders and the strength of their fiber. But spiders are also known for their perseverance. Apparently, Robert Bruce, the Scots King (13 century), was driven away by the English and battled them many times and every time got roundly defeated. Ultimately when he was weary and hiding in a cave and thinking of giving it all up, he watched a spider trying to weave its web and failing a dozen times but never letting up. This gave him a sudden inspiration and he collected a large army (most of the armies then were mercenaries) and in one last ditch effort waged a battle against his enemy and won handsomely.
This was my Father's favorite story which he used to narrate whenever he talked about his cousin who failed to matriculate in seven attempts but succeeded in his 8th attempt...through devious means.
Father also used to tell us a tall tale that Kekule' got his inspiration for the hexagonal structure of the benzene molecule when he was watching the web of a garden spider...I watched a hundred at IIT KGP but by then the structure of benzene was already discovered...sigh!
***********************************************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment