A LESSON -TYPICAL OF HIM

 A LESSON -TYPICAL OF HIM

Who is this ‘HIM’, could be a natural reaction from anyone who has had a glimpse of this title. I am duty-bound to amplify my suggestion of ‘HIM’. He keeps coming to me on and off. If he doesn’t, someone brings him to me with no intention-- bad about it. Yes, the ‘HIM’ is a glorified reference to William Shakespeare, who manages to stare at me through the corner of his eye, to induce a certain degree of awe and respect for that ‘pioneer human psychologist’ who has laid bare the undercurrent of ‘thinking’ in human minds under a variety of circumstances. Who else but ‘HIM’ has said so much of our idiosyncrasies that seem to have entrenched in us, even as we were evolving to our present ‘form’. Be that as it may.  

 A greeting message from Prof. N.S Rengarajan, has set in motion the day’s blog posting. The message reads ‘Shakespeare said -“NEW FRIENDS MAY BE POEMS, BUT OLD FRIENDS ARE ALPHABETS. Do not forget the Alphabets, because you will need them to read the poems”.  Look at the lavish content of this apparent simplicity in suggestion. I am aware and concerned that my ‘understanding’ of the statement of ‘HIS’ SHOULD NOT IN ANY MANNER AGONIZE our friends who visit blog write-ups to look for something interesting. Yet, mind being what it is, ‘indulgence’ is more a response than any intention of trying to ‘impose’ opinion on others.

Coming to Shakespeare, in the present item, he uses analogies Poems and Alphabets respectively for friends --New and Old. I read quite some good message in this. Kindly do not jump to the conclusion that I read between lines. Honestly, on my very first reading it struck [to] me that the man had come into his elements while making the statement.

Let us consider the suggestion itself of choosing to identify the old with ALPHABETS and the New with POEMS. Alphabets written in any style do not interfere with our recognition of them; but can we right away recognize any poem for its beauty or content? One has to ‘engage’ all faculties of self to bring out the hidden value in a poem. Several encounters with a poem can modify and also mollify our natural responses in drawing the best out of the lines therein. On the very first reading we get some ‘meaning’ which need not conform to what the poet intended suggesting. Once you listen to the interpretations offered by critics / teachers / Professors, it dawns on us that poets / playwrights are intricate in their suggestions; none can dismiss them as of being ‘useless’.  After all, life is a package of experiences and experiences are derivatives of emotions. Emotions - foretold are Poems and Plays. Either of them uses simple words with complex purpose -played to rich effect by great minds.

Alphabets do not change in any feature ascribed to them [old friends]. But words in poems may mean altogether different things in different locales/ contexts [new friends].   How through a simple analogy, HE inducts so much information. Every time you read HIM, you get to have something new from HIS old utterance. I trust, my opinion is not misplaced.

Prof. K. Raman