Friday, February 7, 2014

National Anathemas - 5

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Last week there were frantic calls to Ishani's mom, Sailaja, from Ishani's class-teacher, to ring back to her on an important matter. We were all worried that there were serious complaints against Ishani (apart from her genetic indifference to any sort of homework). The next day Sailaja stopped by at the Lily School on her way back from Eurokids. And entered the office, only to return smiling with a light heart.

Apparently there was going to be a Fancy Dress Ball sort of a thing in the Assembly of the Lily School today and Ishani had been picked up to act as a peacock. And she had to be dressed up aptly and coached to lisp the lines:


We are peacocks in boots
And we bring booties of fruits 

or some such silly stuff. The whole household went to work and Sailaja had to rig up a paper plumage that could fold and unfold, with printouts of peacock feathers stuck on it. Apparently Ishani's makeup went well enough...her teacher stepped down graciously to deliver the peacock plumage to me when I went to fetch Ishani back.

...A world of difference between Ishani's school and mine at her age...India has progressed beyond my wildest dreams.

Ishani had to be told that peacock is our National Bird:



"Indian Peacock has earned the glory of being the National Bird of the biggest democracy in the world. The biological name of the species is Pavo cristatus. Full of grace, pride, mysticism and beauty, peacocks have long been a part of the mythological tales of India and a symbol of royalty and divinity."



Quite obviously the choice of peacock as our National Bird is symptomatic of the romantic euphoria of India in its ideal-filled post-independence era. I am sure India today has nothing much to gloat about its implied 'grace, pride, mysticism and beauty'. There were only one peacock and its peahen in Muthukur in my childhood, striding on our neighborhood boundary walls, and both were eaten up duly by our wild cats, not necessarily political. 

Crow is the epitome of our Indianness. It is distributed all over the nation and will be everlasting and never be a threatened or endangered species in our motherland. And it was paid rich tributes by no less an acute observer than Mark Twain...to this day I haven't come across a better-written paeon in prose to the Indian Crow:   

And, next, guess what? Tiger is our National Animal:


Panthera tigris (Linnaeus) or the Tiger has been known long for his royal grace, strength, agility and enormous majesty and power. India hosts more than half the population of the tigers in the entire world and there are eight native species of tigers found in India.



Apparently its 'royal grace, strength, agility and enormous majesty and power' symbolize our nation...yet another instance of childish gloating. 

 Buffalo is truly our national symbol. It is the VVIP on our roads. It has right of the way everywhere. And it needs no red or blue beacons or sirens to halt our traffic. And its supremely indifferent gait epitomizes our slow and steady progress towards perfection.

It just happens that, all of 17 years ago, I wrote for my son, a rhymed story labeled:

Ms Buffalo & Dr Crow:


  http://gpsastry.blogspot.in/2011/02/ms-buffalo-dr-crow.html 

When my Literary Uncle, who translated the entire Gita into charming Telugu verse, read it, he wrote back to me a rhymed appreciation that I still carry in my wallet after all these years. Here it is verbatim:  


Dear Prabhu:

The verses sent by you are so brilliant
That we read and re-read to our hearts' content.

Sastry the Scientist, a renowned humourist
Now proves himself a poet and artist.

Is the buffalo stupid or crow anymore good?
This or that way, it may be said,
For, it all depended on how one viewed

But one thing is agreed: The poem is very Good!
For, its diction's vivid and idiom splendid
And whenever we read, we get pleased and amused.


To balance out this overwhelming praise, I have to quote a stout rebuke I got the other day from my elder cousin on a recent post:
Kittappa said... 

I think you should get rid of this penchant for "flown" (even in parenthesis) !

Think what our late beloved English professor uncle would have said about it !!

 http://gpsastry.blogspot.in/2014/02/national-anathemas-1.html


The fact of the matter is that I am aware of the official conjugation of 'flow'...for, it is there in the Table of my G. H. Vallins's  'Good English' under 'Some Confusing Verbs':


flee...fled...fled
flow...flowed...flowed
fly...flew...flown

But when did I claim I write chaste English? I write atrociously, not caring for grammar or usage...just by the ear. And 'flowed' sounds so ugly to me that we need to change it...as a due retribution to the English who enslaved us cruelly ;)

There is another entry in Vallins's Table that I like:


lay (down)...laid...laid
lie (down)...lay...lain
lie...lied...lied

Kittappa had earlier generously contributed a Guest Column to this blog:



http://gpsastry.blogspot.in/2013/06/guest-column-flower-story-g-m-k-sarma.html


It has a lovely photo of a flower growing within another flower, and a Kalidas verse to go with it.

Thank you, Kittappa! 


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