Air

__

I busily did the bibliography at work today. What a bore. This endless requirement to stick to 'format' and 'standard procedure'. One can't type out a sentence without using parenthesis anymore! (I am a great fan of parenthesis, but only when they provide digressive relief- do you like 'digressive relief'? It's the sort of stuffy thing paper-presenters say.)

A child had mailed us yesterday asking if he could make friends with a certain editor aunty (I should probably stand before a mirror sometime with Ponds anti-ageing cream in my hand). And of course, I had extended my fullest, undying friendship to him. He then sent us this reply (edited only to prevent snoopy colleagues from finding this!):

Hi,

....Just telling frankly(dont feel bad) I used to think ********** was an ordinary
magazine and used to keep it aside......................................but now as
the new editions of ********** have stepped in it is one of the only books I dont
keep aside and wait eagerly how much ever it costs.I also use it for my
projects,charts and chatting with friends at school.It is indeed a garden in
a pocket![?]! And after all happy pongal(sankranti).Please reply about
this whenever u are free.

With regards,

******

Charming, charming, don't you think? I love how this kid does not want me to feel bad for saying that the earlier editions used to suck (I agree, champion, that's what got me this job). So this made my day- that I've made at least one kid like the new magazine. Hurrah. Editor aunty is most pleased. And after all, Happy Pongal to you too. When I get back from Bombay after boring myself to tears listening to a bunch of bird-haired people drone on, I shall write you a lovely letter of friendship. Really I shall. I'm honoured, son.

Also, N and I had worked on a book on gender for children. It's about a girl called Mayil and it's in the form of a story. Without a single reference to any theoretical book. We wrote this because we were pretty frustrated with the amount of jargon present in any gender book- besides, gender constructs are formed early on and there are no books really to explain these things to children. So well, we wrote this book for children because we believe it's important. There's a publisher who's interested in it, so if all goes well, you'll find elaborate directions on this blog on where to find your copy. I dream of an India in which nobody gets asked, 'Oh you mean MA General Studies?' *sniff*

I watched Troy for about the hundredth time. We'd watched it so many times in the Epic class in college. Of course, Troy is a far cry from the Iliad. But who's complaining when it's got Eric Bana and Brad Pitt! I was watching my favourite scene today- the one in which Achilles [I used to think 'Achilles' was pronounced 'Ashyles' in school] challenges Hector. HECCCCCTTTTOOOOOOORRRRRR, he yells. And then our dear noble Hector, kisses everyone goodbye and walks towards lion-maned Achilles, son of Peleus. And I was thinking how absurd it is, actually, that nobody thinks of killing Achilles while he is fighting Hector. King Priam watches his beloved son die, Paris watches his brother bleed for the sake of his love, and yet, no one steps forward to shoot an arrow at Achilles on the sly (like our Rama did to eliminate Vali...but even there, they included some great righteous explanation). Of course, this is the 'code of honour', but isn't it pretty daft to let someone you love die for the sake of this 'procedure' (same way we kill poetry by writing about it)?


Then, my mind leapt (my elders tell me, manam oru korangu) to this movie Pudupettai in which Dhanush falls in love with Sonia Agarwal, the bride in a wedding he's come to attend. As the guest of honour, he's asked to hand over the thaali to the groom and our man promptly ties the thaali around Ms.Agarwal's neck. All hell breaks loose and all. And then, we're shown the whole pathos and bathos of the situation. The bride obviously did not want to marry our man (mainly because he's ugly, also because he's a rowdy), but now, what can she possibly do?? Throughout the time I was watching this, I kept shrieking inside my head- "Kindly remove that thaali and stop pretending that this is an irreversible chemical reaction".

Not just in this situation, it is rather funny, if you think about it, how much significance we place on ceremony. It reminded me of what Falstaff says in Henry IV- What is honour? A word. What is that word honour? Air.

Or in contemporary language- gas.

I'm off tomorrow. Bye bye. And after all, do have a Happy Pongal.