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A Two Penny Opera

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by ojaantrik, Aug 18, 2013.

  1. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear OJ sir
    That was refreshingly charming narration.
    I felt like reading one of R.K. Narayan's books.
    I have no words to describe the good feeling it brought.
    This is truly how nostalgic memories ought to be written.
     
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  2. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Satchi,

    Yes, it's been a somewhat long time. I didn't know that you too hadn't been posting for a while. As far as I am concerned, I have several excuses for not finding the time. I am not going to list them out here. But deep down in my heart, I think I knew that I was a spent force, writing-wise. At least, I felt that way.

    And then suddenly, this new thought invaded me. Something whispered to me that I should open up the windows looking far back into the past. I didn't open them up fully of course, but just peeped through a chink. And lo and behold, I found a whole battalion of people sitting there, looking at me more than just accusingly.

    Yes, Mahabharata will keep haunting me, I am sure, so will Wodehouse and my absurd attempts to produce humor by preparing a concoction of the West and the East. But close at hand, I think I now have a whole host of people whom I had ignored most of the time. I need to reincarnate them. No choice. They will not leave me alone.

    I hope I can bring them alive and create a highway for all my friends to accelerate down memory lane. So many of you have now told me that you remembered someone or the other, that I know that I have found a solution for the problems that trouble me so. Not big problems, but writing is a passion for me. And when I fail by my own estimate, I begin to bleed.

    Love.

    oj-da
     
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  3. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Kamal,

    To tell you frankly, what bothers me more than not receiving comments is that I myself don't feel too happy with what I produce. I remember that you brought me here with The Dog and I. That's just the sort of tale that touches sensitive people. And if it touches people, the author himself knows it. Whether anyone comments or not ceases to matter. One needs to master the art of simplicity. The more simple you can make your composition, the greater its merit. Only it's no easy task to simplify.

    Here is a translation of a Bengali couplet:

    "You ask me to write simply alas
    Simple writing is no simple impasse!

    As with my response to Kamla, I leave it to you to guess who the original writer of this couplet was.

    Ha, ha ...!!!

    oj
     
  4. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Kerman,

    I think you have hit the nail on the head! Probably I have indeed found a new style. I hope I am right in what I feel now. If my perception is not wrong, I won't have to worry too much about writing for a while now. The real world is far more interesting than what imagination produces. I am glad that you could see the characters in the tale. What more can an author hope for? I really hope I can continue with this.

    Love.

    Kaku
     
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  5. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Balajee:

    How Balajee-like this one liner is!! I suspect our present experience with inflation, rupee depreciation and so on had their ancient counterparts too. Very interesting observation Balajee. This old man had no way of knowing how much Kishore Kumar would be charging for each song in the not too distant future. Not that he was anywhere near Kishore's genius.

    Best.

    oj
     
  6. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Thank you kkrish. Yes, I too do not know exactly why R.K. Narayan is haunting me now. I always knew how great a writer he was. But I think I have now found out a little bit more about him. He was short and precise, much like Cheeniya. And inside that little canvas, he would put in eternity itself. I really wish I could the truth not the way he did, but may a thousandth part of what he achieved so effortlessly.

    oj-da
     
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  7. Kamla

    Kamla IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Oj-da,

    So nice of you to make time to reply to our fbs.

    You can now once again gauge what a hit you are here from all the responses you have received. Your old posts are being revived, read and enjoyed. Take it from me, they are going to remain evergreen and will always be freshly relished with every new generation. A well written and recorded word will never lose in its value and charm and we all know that, don't we?

    Perhaps the so called inconsequential incidents that happen in our lives are not really that? They say that every single thing we do, experience and act upon is already planned minutely by the All Knowing one! Who could ever have guessed that a quaint old beggar man would travel through the time and oceans to reach out to so many of us and all because a reluctant writer decides to introduce him to everyone at a moment of inspiration! Now he is a character, a hero of sorts -- the two penny opera singer!

    I am extremely happy if my words here along with those of others has acted as some sort of incentive to ignite the passion to write in you. For it would be a great loss in general if one who is as gifted as you would give up painting with words because you succumb to doubts about your talent! You were being an exemplary specimen of the Dunning-Kruger Effect I believe- -competent people doubting their own abilities while the incompetent over estimate their's!

    I am more than glad dada that RKNarayan has arrived back in your life bringing some sparks of hope and light. We are all attention and look forward to songs, poems and stories be it from beggars or professionals!

    All the same, it is not at all charitable of you to subject me to a quiz at the end of it all!! Oh my my!
    I have one very obvious guess but have preferred to keep it to myself for fear of damnation! Please let me know who it is and I will surely let you know if I was right or wrong! Ha ha ha...

    L, Kamla
     
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  8. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    @ Kamla

    Dear Kamla,

    I know this is not exactly the place to carry on a conversation, but I noticed that both Cheeniya and Srama had pressed the "like" button for you. And I tend to believe that they are waiting for yet another response from me, especially in view of the last paragraph you wrote. I am quite sure though that you had correctly guessed who the poet was. There could be only one poet from Bengal who would pen such thoughts. It was Tagore of course. This is a poem from his collection called "Sonar Tori" or "The Golden Boat". The collection contains a very famous poem which is itself called "The Golden Boat". You can google for it and you will surely find more than one translation.

    The poem I quoted from is of course a different one in the collection. It is called "Spending the Rainy Season". This English translation doesn't quite capture the Bengali nuance of the title ("Varsha-yapan"). It is a long poem that describes the poet's feelings as he sits alone in an attic on the terrace of his home surrounded by a heavy downpour. It's mostly about agonies felt by separated lovers as in the "Meghadutam". As he thinks about them and possibly feels lovelorn and tormented himself, he decides to write about such people. Stories, he says, that will capture the simple sorrows of ordinary folks.

    My translation of the stanza hardly does justice to the original, partly because it is very difficult to achieve the right effect, but also because I worked in a hurry. One needs to spend a great deal of time for such things. Right now, as I told you, I am immersed in a garbage can spilling over with professional work and am finding it difficult to isolate myself from these and watch the downpour. Yet we are in the middle of a full monsoon this year. And, miserably enough, I sit in a car or the other in a water-logged street, worrying if I can make it to the venue of a useless conference/meeting/classroom on time!! How absurd. I may not have too many monsoons left in my life and look how I am turning a deaf ear to the love-song of the one that's literally crying for attention.

    Well that's the way it is. A poet proposes and the economist disposes. How gigantic a tragedy can be!! A whole rainy season wasted, not listening to the song of the rainfall, but pontificating on the fall of the rupee against the dollar. :drowning

    Love.

    oj-da

    PS I have to admit that the last paragraph is partly addressed to Cheeniya, who, I know, expects such lines from me. I am not Dr. Faustus, but I detect a Mephistopheles symptom in him.
     
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  9. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    My dear OJ
    I'll refuse to play 'Mephistopheles' if you are not Dr. Faustus! I have no interest in tempting ordinary mortals! By tempting you, I can take the ILites to a literary heaven and heaven never figured in the scheme of things in the case of the original Mephistopheles! You can call me Mephistopheles with a difference.

    Your parting line 'A whole rainy season wasted, not listening to the song of the rainfall, but pontificating on the fall of the rupee against the dollar.' wrenches my heart. What a state to be in at this stage of our life! You are the right candidate for my 'Art of Non Living'. Take care of your spirits OJ. The Rupee will take care of itself! Looks like I have a tougher task than Mephistopeles because you are a harder nut to crack than Faustus!
    Sri
     
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  10. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Sri,

    Mephistopheles with a difference or no, I think you have finally manged to crack me up. You have taught me the magic of brevity and R.K. Narayan had taught all of us the magic of simplicity. I am trying to arm myself with both these weapons. I might, for all you know, come back here with a vengeance!!

    oj
     
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