Delhivision : Magic Of Montreal

My column Delhiberations, which used to appear every Friday in the Hindustan Times Evening News in New Delhi during several years in the 1970s and '80s, wasn't stereotyped, and didn't have a uniform mode of presentation.  It was basically a light-hearted commentary on passing events, with an accompanying cartoon drawn by myself;  but sometimes it could also acquire a serious tone and take a critical look at fundamental issues. And once in a while I would deal with a given topic in both styles in successive articles or on different occasions, reinforcing my reflections.   

And there was variety in the humorous approach, too:  sometimes there would be pure satire, and at other times there would be plain statements.  Quite frequently, I liked to put things in the form of a light-hearted chat between five intimate friends living in Delhi  --   one of whom was myself, of course. 

The familiar-sounding but non-existing names I had assigned to these imaginary friends of mine had special significance with reference to the great demographic diversity of India and some historic landmarks of its  capital city.  I shall explain this aspect some other time;  meanwhile, here's a typical conversation between them, on the slow but steady evolution of live television in India:

Evening News, New Delhi
23 Feb. 1977

Delhiberations

20 Eyes For Montreal

"There are times when we can curse TV to our heart's content, but there are times when it's a real blessing," Rajpath Roy said'

"Are you talking about the Olympics?" Kutubullah asked.

"What else?"  Rajpath Roy said.  "Delhivision is doing a wonderful job, rushing the Olympic films to New Delhi within 48 hours."

"I think it would be 36 hours, rather,"  I said.  "Don't forget that Indian Standard Time is 11 hours ahead of Montreal time.  That means when it is Monday evening in Montreal. it's already Tuesday morning in India.  And Delhivision flashes Monday's events on Wednesday evening here!"

"I still remember the Munich Olympics which I saw on Delhivision,"  Safdar Singh said.  "It was a memorable show."

"Of course, it's not the same thing, seeing the Olympics on TV and attending them personally,"  Janapathi said.  "I was in Munich in 1972, and saw the Games.  It was a remarkable experience."

"Nothing is the same seen directly and on TV,"  Rajpath Roy said.  "But it makes a lot of difference seeing the Olympics on TV and not seeing them at all!  Take these gymnastics, for example.  It's one thing  just to read in the papers that Nadia Comaneci got 10 points out of 10 in three different events, and it's quite a different thing to seeing her actually do it, even if only on the TV screen!"

"You are perfectly right,"  I said.  "The important thing here is the speed with which the shots are rushed to your TV screen.  I am sure even the best documentary on the Games wouldn't be so thrilling if you saw it a month after the events.  This is where Delhivision has scored another splendid goal."

"You know, actually there's an advantage in seeing the Games on TV rather than in person!"  Kutubullah said.  "So many of the games go on simultaneously,  I am sure you can't see all the highlights if you are physically present in the stadium.  But on TV you don't miss anything important which happens.  It is as if you were present in 10 different spots at the same rime, watching the games with 20 eyes!"

"Naturally!"  Janapathi said.  "There are so many other events too, like the Republic Day parade, which are better seen on TV than in person.  But still, I don't think a TV show is a satisfactory substitute for the real thing."

"Look here, Jani, don't give us a big lecture  just because you are able to go abroad now and then and actually saw the Munich Games,"  Rajpath Roy said.  "If you feel so strongly about it, why don't you fly away to Montreal?"

"I've just been to Europe on vacation." Janapathi said.  "What do you think I am supposed to be doing?  Enjoying a permanent vacation, eh?"

"In that case, don't grumble!"  Rajpath Roy said.  "Just thank Delhivision for letting you have a glimpse of the Games within 48 hours!"

"You mean 36 hours!"  I said.

How My Friend And Czechmaster Herzlik Solved The Mystery Of The Misplaced Handkerchief

The series of classic-looking English essays  in THE HINDU with which I started my half-century-old track record as an amateur journalist consisted not only of character studies (like The Marker, The Railwayman, The Liftman, The Vegetarian, The Old Boys and The Family Doctor, which I have shown you earlier), but also exercises in pure humor with a classical flavour, like the following piece:

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Glossary & annotations

(in same order as in text)

Laundry-man  --  50 years ago in India, a laundry-man (known as 'washerman' in English as spoken in British India, and dhobi in Hindi)) used to visit your home at regular intervals and collect the whole family's soiled clothes away, for washing on riverbanks or poolsides along with other families' clothes, and ironing in his hut or under a shady streetside tree.  Occasionally there were inter-family mix-ups, especially of handkerchiefs which weren't taken very seriously.      

Pen to be filled  --  Those were days when our basic writing implement in India was still the 'fountain pen'  --  which had a module fitted with a nib and a feeder, screwed on to a tube-shaped barrel;  and you had to unscrew them for re-filling the barrel with liquid ink now and then.  Today, in the era of sophisticated high-tech pens, many senior citizens like me still cling on to our vintage fountain pens (and actually use them sometimes!). Of course, some world-famous brands of the good old days still continue to be manufactured today in limited editions, to serve as status symbols or collectors' items;  and bespoke jewellers go on crafting  more and more expensive gem-studded fountain pens for super-rich customers.   

Crowded gallery --   Obviously where seats weren't reserved in advance but were occupied on a first-come-first-served basis --  not an unusual scenario in India those days.   

Harry Houdini (1874-1926)  --  legendary American illusionist, world-famous for performing miraculous stunts and escape acts.

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THE HINDU Sunday Magazine

               50 years ago

HANKIES GALORE!

I have lost hundreds of hankies as I have progressed in life;  I wouldn't know their number even approximately, for it's a long time since I lost count of them.  I wonder who did find all of them, and what use they were put to afterwards:  for a handkerchief, unlike perhaps even a shirt, is a highly intimate possession, and I can't imagine anybody just picking up an abandoned one in a cafe or cinema house and using it as his own.  Perhaps the management employs them for wiping the dishes, or for  dusting the seats.  Of course, a good number of handkerchiefs are lost in the washing, and I would give a lot to know what happens to them all;  no doubt sometimes they're merely palmed off by the laundry-man against the missing hankies of his other clients:  but even then, what did happen to those original pieces? 

But if you can't visualize any  use for your hanky after you've lost it, you are never at a loss to know what to do with it while you still have it.  In theory, of course, its scope is strictly limited to helping you wipe your hands or discreetly blow your nose (and, if you're a lady, delicately drain your tears);  but in practice its possibilities are almost endless.  Nothing comes in handier than a hanky when there is a pen to be filled, or a pipe to be cleaned.  At the table it can replace a missing napkin, in the nursery an over-worked diaper.  When you have your car's bonnet open, and can't find the cotton waste, what can be more natural than to pull out your hanky from the trouser pocket?  The inevitable and indelible stains hardly matter at all, since you're bound to lose the wretched thing soon anyway.  But the hanky is not without its more elegant uses.  Wiping one's glasses with it is often a glamorous act of showmanship;  and that little white rag which must adorn your dinner jacket could remain there for a lifetime without once needing a wash.

Reserving seats

Another admirable purpose served by the hanky is the safeguarding of space in a crowded gallery, whether in the theatre or in the sports ground.  You may without misgivings leave yours on a seat, and go out to buy peanuts or on any other errand;  you'll find both hanky and vacant seat intact on your return.  Surprisingly enough, the much-lost article never disappears on such occasions.  The crowd doesn't know you, and doesn't care two pins for your concerns;  and yet it respects, with a strange primitive instinct, your hanky and the rights it is supposed to represent, in much the same way as sovereign states acknowledge the explorer's ensign.  So far as my experience goes, it never occurs to anybody just to pocket your hanky and pretend to know nothing.  

So ingrained, in fact, is this will to surrender in the public's psyche that a friend of yours can easily reserve a vacant seat for you just by placing his own hanky on it ahead of your arrival;  and as you nonchalantly take your seat, you can watch the greenhorns who came before you gullibly milling around and trying to push other people -- but never other people's hankies, mind you!~ -- off their precarious perch. 

Romance and magic

The era of gentle romance has passed, and with it the subtler uses associated with the handkerchief.  We can now only read in the classics about resourceful maidens letting fall a discreet hanky and being happily wooed by the plucky man who picks it up.  However, there's still an element of gallantry implicit in the legendary piece of cloth.  The dandy who sports a colorful silk next to his neck seems to believe firmly in its powers to attract the opposite sex, and it's quite possible that he's rewarded for his faith more often than you and I would like to concede.  But while its romantic qualities have no doubt faded with the times, the handkerchief has lost none of its nostalgic appeal yet.  Appropriately enough, while it is waved by a thousand fluttering hands when a train pulls out from a platform or a ship leaves its moorings, it is seldom in evidence when long-lost friends and relatives are brought together again.  

The handkerchief has a traditional place of honor in the magician's bag of tricks.  He may not always pull out the celebrated rabbit out of his hat, but he never fails to produce his colorful hankies.  In fact, they have become such an integral part of his performance that we can no more imagine a magic show without hankies than a period play without costumes.  We may not readily see the reason for this;  but we don't have to, so long as the conjurer delights us (as he invariably does) with a spectacular exhibition of what he can accomplish with them. I'm not aware if the legendary Houdini ever exploited this marvelous material;  but if he didn't, I can only say that probably he withheld from his admirers the full fruits of his genius.

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PostScript, 2014

Lost and found

In the preceding blog I had mentioned Mr. Borivoj Herzlik, an English professor from Brno who was teaching English and Czech to the Czech and Indian employees of the High Pressure Boiler Plant project near where I lived and worked as a railway officer.  There were two sides to our friendship:  he taught me some elementary but excellent Czech in his home in the week-ends, and was also an earnest reader of my essays in THE HINDU.

When I met him in the evening on a Sunday when this article had appeared in the morning paper, he showed me an old handkerchief and said he had found it on his sofa a couple of months earlier, and was trying to figure out to which guest he should return it. "And when I read your article this morning, I thought it must be yours!"  he said.  As, indeed, it was.

Universal Image Of The Family Doctor, Who's Also A Family Friend

A few weeks ago (Collective Friendship. . . .  March 24), I had recalled an essay of mine published by THE HINDU in 1992, in which I had observed as follows: 

The goodwill which develops between an efficient doctor and his or her satisfied clientele is another interesting example of the friendly ties which bind a group of people to an individual.  

Now here's one of my earliest essays, published by THE  HINDU  in 1963 or '64, in which I had earnestly explored the subtle nuances of the family doctor's character and concerns:

 

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THE HINDU Sunday Magazine

            50 years ago

The Family Doctor

The family doctor is more than a mere physician;  he's a family friend, almost like a distant but very special relative.  He knows all about the physical troubles of the family members.  He's someone to whom everybody in the household has some special tribulation to disclose.  He's always a welcome guest, and his services are never thought of as just a business proposition.  Nor are his bills ever settled  in the same way as anyone else's; notwithstanding all the jokes we have heard about them, there's always an unwritten footnote of respect and affection in the check which the family sends him.   

Being a scientific man, the family doctor is naturally a very strict person, and wouldn't lightly tolerate any deviation from or disregard of his instructions.  But at the same time he's extremely good-humored, and puts up cheerfully with many a tiresome idiosyncrasy on the the part of his patients.  He rarely loses his temper, no matter what the provocation;  for his understanding of human nature is great.  When the family shows a tendency to question the appropriateness of his prescriptions, he usually puts up with it indulgently, and tries to explain his treatment without anger and in the simplest possible language.  It's true he sometimes assumes a glum and cynical air, but that's only the result of his drudgery.

Foundation of faith

Punctuality is not usually one of the family doctor's virtues, though it might be expected to be.  As a rule he has far too many engagements at any given time to be able to turn up at a place exactly when he's expected.  Often he's detained beyond reasonable limits by fussy relatives and argumentative patients;  and with infinite tact and resourcefulness he has to extricate himself for the next visit.  No wonder he finds it difficult to keep to precise timings.    Nevertheless, and perhaps not surprisingly at all, the Doctor is always present whenever he's most desperately needed.  He's not one to let you down when you rush to him for urgent help in a crisis.  Wake him up in the middle of the night on the telephone, and he'll be at the sick man's bedside within half an hour, if the situation really calls for his presence. 

The family doctor takes great pride in his work. That's of course why he's so touchy on the subject of any other general practitioner being consulted.  He's far too decent to deny permission when the family wants to call in a more distinguished or successful colleague, but he can hardly be expected to relish the experience.  One of the strongest forces which cements his good relations with the family is the confidence which the family members unanimously repose in him;  and quite understandably, when anything happens to undermine that faith even slightly, his whole personality suffers a set-back.  After all, the Doctor never does resent it when it's a question of consulting a specialist and not just another GP;  for he's quite rational, and is quick to acknowledge the specialist's superior competence in the latter's own sphere of study.  

True, he sometimes talks with bitterness and sarcasm about the specialist's ability;  but, like the bitterness of his pills and his mixtures, it's entirely without malice.  In fact, it's usually the Doctor himself who urges the family to consult a specialist, as soon as he senses that a case is beyond his capacity to remedy.  He's far too genuinely interested in the welfare of his patients to allow his professional pride to stand in the way of their possible recovery.

Stoic stature

Himself, the family doctor is no specialist, but an all-rounder.  His tools are not the elaborate devices of the nuclear age, but the simple stethoscope and the odds and ends contained in his familiar leather case.  In his heart of hearts, the family doctor wants to be, like his Creator, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent.  But he has no illusions, and knows only too well what his limitations are.  He's a constant eye-witness to the ruthless inevitability of decay;  his whole life is spent in watching the steady deterioration in the health of the homes he enters, in spite of all that he's able to do.  As the years roll by, the battle becomes quite hopeless, and the family doctor awakens to the frustrating truth that he can never hope to triumph over nature  --  whence his usually unassuming bearing, which perhaps the dazzling specialist, with his more circumscribed field of activity and his spectacular if transient successes, lacks.  

The Doctor never yields to despair, though.  He might not have a panacea for all mankind's ailments, but at least he knows where he stands, and certainly his are no mean contributions to society.  He fights disease and misery in his own stoic way.  The family doctor, one might almost say, is more a saint than a scientist.

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PostScript, 2014

Universal phenomenon

I was working as a railway officer in a South Indian city called Tiruchi about 50 years ago, when I wrote the above essay.  One of the landmarks of the city is the St. Joseph's College founded in 1844 by the Fathers of Society of Jesus.  I had picked up a fine friendship with the Reverend Fathers Bergeron and Pays who taught French in the college, and who spent a lot of time and energy cultivating my conversational skills in  French.  And I was greatly thrilled when Father Bergeron told me that he had read this essay in THE HINDU and it strongly reminded him of a typical family doctor in France.

I had also developed a nice friendship with Pan (Mr.) Borivoj Herzlik  (pronounced Borzhivoy Herzleek), an English professor from Czechoslovakia who worked for the Czech-aided High Pressure Boiler Plant near the city, where he taught English to the Czech engineers and Czech to the Indian staff.  I used to meet him almost every week-end, for some very special Czech classes.  He was a regular reader of my HINDU essays, which he said he would take back home, for using as excellent texts in his English classes.  And he told me this article had accurately captured the image of a typical family doctor in Czechoslavakia. 

And of course, these reflections were very likely to have been valid almost anywhere in the world 5o years ago, when families everywhere were much larger than they are today, and specialists weren't as numerous as they are now.   But even in today's vastly altered social and medical  environment in India, the spirit of the traditional family doctor still survives to a limited extent, so far as very elderly patients are concerned.  Which is perhaps likely to be true anywhere else  in the world also!

The Old Boys Are 50 Years Older Now -- And Still Remain The Same!

In several successive blogs in recent weeks, I had  shown you half a dozen panoramic essays on friendship which I had written in my column Articulations in THE HINDU in 1992.  In one of those articles I had mentioned how the Old Boys' Associations have a way of  falling into a rut and rarely flourishing  (see Archive, March/April 2014, especially Frontiers Of Friendship....., March 17).

And now I have great pleasure in sharing with you a much older essay I had written about 'old boys', in an article in THE HINDU.  I hadn't noted the date of publication, but it must have been either in 1963 or '64.

Reading this vintage text again now, I find it amazing to see how true it still sounds today, all of 50 years later!  

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THE HINDU Sunday Magazine

                50 years ago 

The Old Boys

Somehow the old boys have a chronic tendency to fall apart in pieces over and over again.  Not all the earnest efforts of successive  Principals and Headmasters can produce a real esprit de corps among them.  They do manage to meet now and then, it's true, but that wonderful dream of the college and school authorities, the Annual Old Boys' Meeting -- at which they so naively hope to collect sizable checks from their more  prosperous ex-students -- somehow never does come true.

Not that the old boys themselves lack enthusiasm, really;  on the contrary, they're all overflowing with goodwill for their Association, and would like to do everything in their power to keep it alive and active.  But they just happen to be too heterogeneous a lot to be able to stick together for any appreciable length of time.  The old boys are like the molecules of different elements which just won't combine, no matter what catalytic forces are set in motion.  

Of course, the boys were far from being a cohesive set even when they were still studying.  Assuredly there has never been such a thing as a young Boys' Association (or whatever it should be called);  rather, the alumni as a rule tend to fall into independent groups according to their departments and extra-curricular interests.  So long as they're all still passing one another in the campus every day, it hardly occurs to them to muster strong in an omnibus association, unless it is to launch an agitation.  It's only after they have finished their studies and scattered themselves in the world that they begin to miss a companionship which hardly ever existed anyway.

Elusive assembly

No one is quite immune to nostalgia, and what usually makes the old boys feel nostalgic is a mimeographed note from the present Principal or Headmaster, telling them how he is thinking of putting the Association on its feet again, and asking for their co-operation;  or maybe they just happen to see a notice to that effect in the morning paper.  The appeal is irresistible, and its impact decisive. 

 Though it frankly alludes to such inconvenient things as subscriptions and donations, the old boys' minds are quickly made up;  they sit down at once and compose warm and sentimental replies;  what's more, they even start sincerely hoping to attend the forthcoming meeting.

And that's about all that generally happens.  For one obscure reason or another, the meeting gets postponed again and again.  The old boys are all far-flung, and some important ones might write asking if a slight revision in the date wouldn't be possible.  And while the administration tries to make all sorts of adjustments, the old boys begin to play a game of hide and seek.  The projected meeting gets more and more elusive as the weeks and months slip away.

Naturally it can't go on for ever, and I guess the old boys do get together in the end -- that is to say, some of them do, for the majority are quite understandably forced to be absent.  But those who do turn up for the meeting have certainly been nursing great expectations, and greater illusions.  They arrive brimming over with mutual goodwill, and feeling positively sure that there are no barriers between them.  The High Court judge mixes freely with the humble what's-he, and seems to be liking it.  The bright boy of last year's class expounds his philosophy of life to the world-war veteran, and is somehow tolerated -- for a while.  

Anti-climax

But pretty soon protocol must, and does, assert itself, and the gathering breaks itself into smaller groups.  Snob seeks out snob, the smart set gets set, and the rest of the lot are left looking for someone to talk to.   Speeches are made as dutifully as on any other contrived occasion, and they sound as hollow as they always do.  Strong hopes are expressed that the old boys would be meeting again soon, but even before the party is over they all know only too well that it's far from likely to happen.  What does secretly surprise most of them, though, is the revelation that they hardly feel any genuine regrets.

No old boy, however, need in fact be unprepared for this anti-climax, if only he would care to understand the simple truth that what he has been missing all along is not the company of the other old boys at all, but the company of the old teachers.  It is they who most powerfully personify his alma mater in his inner consciousness;  for while the old boys all ceased being boys long ago and have grown up into unrecognizable manhood, the image of the teaching staff -- like the image of the institution itself -- has remained constant, almost immutable, over the best part of a lifetime.  

I can't help believing that if the old boy would only call at the campus all by himself -- which is something he rarely thinks of doing -- he's bound to make the happy discovery that unlike the old boys' rendezvous, such visits can never fail to re-light some of the old fires in his heart -- at least,  I am sure, till the last familiar face has disappeared from the staff room.

Friendly Relations Among Or Between Machines, Animals And Human Beings

And, now, here is the concluding section of my mega-essay on friendship,  which has remained so fresh, relevant and readable for more than 20 years now  --   as I am sure it will remain for more than 50 years from now!

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Glossary & annotations

(in same order as in text) 

Tom and Jerry  --  Uproariously  funny characters featured in a long series of classic Hollywood cartoon films, of an aggressive cat and a resourceful mouse engaged in an endless game of vigorous chasing and friendly fighting.

Tarzan  -- Famous literary character created by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) and glorified by American comics and cinema, of a dashing young man raised by apes in African jungles.

Mowgli  --  Main character figuring in The Jungle Book written by British author Rudyard Kipling  (1865-1936), and in a full-length cartoon movie produced by Walt Disney in Hollywood, of a lively and charming man-cub raised by wolves in an Indian jungle.    

pOPpe --  That's the way I sign my name when I write to my children and grandchildren.

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THE HINDU Sunday Magazine

Articulations - 11 Oct. 1992

Machines and other animals

There is a remarkable similarity between the relations which machines and animals have with human beings.  In the preceding section of this essay (Sept. 20) we had noted that the friendliness or hostility of machines towards men can be broadly identified in terms of their constructive or destructive potential as well as their manoeuvrabilty by the users.  In the same way, to the extent that animals interact with human beings, their attitude can be assessed in terms of their belligerent or peaceful nature and the co-operative spirit they show as close associates in work and play.  

We must also consider another dimension of the question when we talk of friendship in relation to machines and animals.  As conscious creatures, animals possess instincts of friendship or hostility not only vis-a-vis human beings, but also among themselves.  A parallel phenomenon is the compatibility or incompatibility which exists between different machines;  this concept is particularly important in the fields of electronics and computer technology.

Animal instincts and spirits

Friendship among animals is almost always collective in nature, and generally manifests itself between those which belong to the same species.  This is essentially a result of necessity --  the need for protection against harmful elements of nature and more aggressive species of animals, or for some productive endeavor as in the case of a beehive. 

It may be observed that generally the herd instinct is far more intense among vegetarian mammals than among carnivorous ones, and among milder varieties of birds than among predatory ones.  The clan instinct is conspicuous in the case of elephants and cattle, gregarious birds like crows and migratory ones like flamingos.  Have we ever seen eagles flying in a large formation, or ever heard of a battalion of tigers trekking in the forests?

Profound attachment between individual animals is very rare in real life, and even the intimate relations between protective parents and their offspring are generally short-lived.  In the romantic  imagination of men, however, different species of animals do pick up friendships with one another, whether collectively or individually.  In the fanciful world of animated cartoons, animals which are enemies in real life often turn out to be good friends in the motion picture.  Indeed, sometimes there is an undercurrent of goodwill even in the confrontation between mutually hostile animal characters.  Perhaps the most striking example of this is provided by the hilarious travails of the cat and the mouse called Tom and Jerry, immortalized on colorful film by Hollywood  --  although they are constantly engaged in an eventful personal war, one cannot help noticing that a deep and abiding friendship does exist between them.

In literary fiction almost all the animals in the jungle might love a Tarzan or a Mowgli, but in the real world very few animals develop strong emotional ties with human beings.  The horse and the dog are exceptional cases of animals which offer warm companionship to their human masters.  Here too the similarity with machines persists, in a subtle way.  Some machines, especially those which have mechanical features, have a way of adjusting themselves to the handling of habitual users and responding better to their commands than to those of others.  In fact, this kind of compatibility can sometimes create such a powerful bond that one might even imagine that the machine actually reciprocates the affection of its exclusive operator!  

Human instincts and and attitudes 

The collective attitude of human beings towards animals in an integral sense is closely related to their approach towards the natural environment as a whole.  Just as mankind feels alarmed today by the progressive depletion of valuable natural resources and the suffocating pollution of the atmosphere caused by its own indiscriminate technological and commercial ventures, it also feels greatly concerned about the decimation of many animal species resulting from its own destructive activities or indifference.

One may compare this concern with the anxiety being felt by people all over the world today about the steady deterioration in their folk arts brought about by their own distortion or neglect of them.  Just as all sensitive and unbiased persons have a compelling wish to see the surviving traditional arts preserved, they also recognize the need to protect the rich and varied animal wealth of the world.  The primitive hunter's spirit, which even the most advanced human civilization has done nothing to mitigate, is today moderated by the fear of ruining the very pattern of life which has evolved on this planet.  Out of this fear is born the 'friendly' attitude even towards wild and dangerous animals, as towards the whole environment. 

When we consider the collective attitude of human beings towards machines, however, we find that the analogy with the case of animals is no longer valid.  As machines become more and more versatile and indispensable, they tend to overpower people, undermining their affinity with nature and destroying their peace of mind.  Quite understandably, the cumulative human response to this is not friendliness but ever-growing animosity. 

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PostScript, 2014 

Additions and omissions

With that final spell of  my reflections on friends and friendships, I did think I had written an absolutely comprehensive essay, which could be enlarged only in the light of entirely new factors likely to be caused in society, lifestyles and cultures by the relentless progress of modern science and technology.  So I was quite surprised to get the following response to my recent posts, from Aparna, my daughter (-in-law technically) who lives in Australia:

 

"Dear pOPpe,  . . . Perhaps you can add the cyberspace friendships that are now being formed, as an analogy to pen pals. . . "

What comes as a surprise in this comment is not the concept of Cyberian friendships (which was obviously crying out for fresh reflections), but her reference to pen pals.  Of course, not mentioning them in my 'comprehensive' essay was a serious omission, of which I haven't been aware till now!  And which, of course, immediately makes me think of radio friends, another serious omission.  

Thank you, Aparna, for your sensitive reading of these tightly-written texts  --  just wait a little for the sequel!

Friendship With Phenomena : Environment, Machines, Gods And Aliens

And now, here is the next part of my marathon essay on friendship:

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THE HINDU Sunday Magazine 

Articulations - 20 Sept. 1992

Friendship with phenomena 

We had noted (Aug. 2) that the collective friendship of a group of people with an individual can either be personal or can take an abstract form, depending on the nature and dimensions of any given case.  Among the most striking examples of such abstract friendship is that which exists between a charismatic political or spiritual leader and the devoted masses.  The intensity of this collective emotional response to a powerful image is governed by a variety of factors, such as the personality and convictions of the individual and the people's faith in his or her credentials.

Normally a much larger segment of the population comes face to face with such a leader than with a performing artist or sportsperson, and therefore the precise character of such friendships is variable;  but in essence these are of the same kind.  Of course, when the image lasts beyond the leader's life, the proper analogy would be with the case of a writer whose works live on.  

Environment  and Nature 

Now let us consider the third and last category of collective friendship, viz. that of a group of people with assorted phenomena.  As we rush headlong towards the end of the 20th century, it has become fashionable to talk about the need for human beings to adopt a more friendly attitude towards the environment.  Since the relentless progress of technology has made this attitude increasingly unfriendly, one is tempted to imagine that it must have been absolutely friendly in the beginning.  

Such an assumption, however, would be quite mistaken;  for when technology did not exist, the environment would have been totally hostile towards human beings, and the reciprocal feeling could not have been friendly.  It was only when man had learnt to resist the forces of nature and protect himself against their fury   --  and also to harness them for his own benefit  --  that the question of his being friendly and protective towards the environment could have arisen. 

This question, moreover, arises only on a philosophic plane and in a very wide perspective.  Notwithstanding all the progress made by technology and civilization, the natural environment in any specific situation is still hostile to human life, which continues to need effective protection against its ferocity.  The expression 'friendliness' in this context is only a convenient name we have given to an attitude of caution which seeks to prevent the over-exploitation and eventual destruction of precious natural resources which are conducive to a good life.  The basic human response to nature has always been revenge and not amity, and it is likely to be so for ever.

Compatible machines 

The fragility of the human condition is underlined by the friendliness it needs and seeks from machines.  This elusive concept has two different aspects.  Machines, whether they are simple or sophisticated, are nothing but controlled forces of nature.  At a certain conceptual level they can be visualized as being friendly or hostile according to the constructive or destructive forms they assume.  This idea finds forceful expression in Asimov's First Law of Robotics, which lays down that the intelligent robot shall never kill a human being.  

At another level, it is in terms of their maneuverability by the users that the friendliness of machines is measured.  No matter how constructive a piece of machinery is, it fails to serve the purpose for which it has been made if its operation is a puzzle which the user cannot solve.  For this very reason, the potential power of many intricate gadgets often remain grossly under-utilized.  

Gods and aliens

Images of divinity constitute another phenomenon with which people all over the world tend to have a collective friendship.  This assumes a visible form in the acts of prayer enacted in a place of worship;  but it pervades the consciousness of all the people who share any given religious faith, cutting across regional, national and continental boundaries.  

Such a collective attitude is so formidable normally that the reciprocal friendliness of the divine figure is taken for granted and never questioned;  indeed, even serious misfortunes which trouble the believers do not usually diminish their faith.  The finest expression of collective devotion materializes in well-attended recitals of imposing sacred verses or worshipful music of a superior kind.

Mankind's perception of the universe in terms of hazards is basically the same as it has been in the case of nature's manifestation on our planet.  Therefore there can never be any question of human beings having an inherently friendly attitude towards the environment of space beyond the earth's gravitational field.  At the same time, being essentially inclined to look for peace as well as security, we do go on dreaming about our future friendship with extra-terrestrial life, even as we indulge in colorful fancies about interstellar wars.

          (to be continued)

Collective Friendship : Groups Of People Vis-a-vis Institutions And Individuals

In continuation of the preceding two posts, I have great pleasure in sharing with you today the third installment of my reflections on friends and friendships:

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THE HINDU Sunday Magazine

Articulations -  2 Aug.  1992

Of friends and admirers

In the preceding section of this survey (July 19), we had identified three basic categories of collective friendship, and also taken a close look at the first one  --  viz. the friendship between different groups of people.  Among other things, we had examined the nature of the relationship of different kinds of institutions with the users of their products or services. 

An interesting illustration of this aspect is provided by the nebulous friendship which normally exists between the artistic community and the State-funded institutions which seek to preserve and promote the arts.  Its features would be similar in kind (though far different in magnitude) whether we are considering a local scene or the country-wide scenario;  the implications are naturally more striking at the national level.  

It is obvious that a public institution which is responsible for enhancing the artistic heritage of a nation through its patronage cannot function effectively unless it develops a healthy and abiding friendship with the whole community of artists in the country.   However, the scope for cultivating such a collective friendship usually tends to be undermined by the absence of an esprit de corps among the artists themselves, and by the intense rivalries which exist between different groups of artists.  

The expression 'art' in this context refers to the performing arts as well as the visual ones;  and it includes those figuring in folk traditions to the extent that they attract the patronage of the institution.  Moreover, whatever is true of the arts and artists in this regard is also generally true of literature and writers, with appropriate modifications.  (In a wider sense, of course, literature is also an art and writers are also artists;  but it is convenient to think of them as parallel cases rather than as identical ones).

Visible and invisible rapport

It will be recalled that a few years ago a Committee headed by Mr. P.N. Haksar had reviewed the performance of the three national Akademis of music, dance, drama, visual arts and literature, with special reference to their relations with other cultural institutions all over India.  In a fundamental sense, what this panel undertook was (among other things) a quest for generating more friendly relations between these apex institutions and the artistic and literary communities in the whole country  --  and, as an essential criterion,  among the artists and writers themselves.  Unfortunately, the inherent nature of the cultural environment is such that the Committee's report, which pleads earnestly for friendship and harmony, has itself become a subject of fierce controversy. 

In sharp contrast with this, the second category of collective friendship  --  viz. that between a group of people and an individual  --  manifests itself forcefully in the cultural world.  This is particularly so in the area of performing arts, where it  acquires a visible form in the close rapport which exists between a popular musician, dancer, actor or actress, and an adoring audience in the concert hall or the theatre.  In a wider but invisible manner, such a friendship encompasses all the admirers who encounter the artist on different occasions in different places.  In the case of cinema, the friendship of the admirers is actually with the image of the actor or actress and not with the person, and it survives beyond the lifetime of the artist to the extent that his or her movies do.  This is also true in the case of music, dance or drama which spreads out and lasts in recorded form.

There is a striking similarity between all this and the abstract friendship which exists between a writer and his/her devoted readers.  Where a successful author's works are contained in books, this bond can last for decades and even centuries, particularly in the case of poetry.  The friendship between a newspaper columnist and the loyal readers has a much shorter span of life, unless the articles are collected in the form of a popular book;  but it can be quite an intense one, depending on the style and frequency of the communication.

  

Perhaps the most volatile among this type of collective friendships is that which arises between a glamorous sportsperson and the sports-loving public.  This can occasionally acquire a global dimension and/or reach dizzy heights;  but it can also shrink or even collapse suddenly.  Such a  friendship has a visible form around the playground when the sportsperson performs in front of an adoring crowd of spectators, but it is diffused and invisible in relation to the total strength of friendly sports-lovers;  in this regard it is like the friendship between a performing artist and the public.  Where a sportsperson's accomplishment becomes a legend which lasts longer than his or her sports career, the friendship is transformed into a purely abstract one, like that of a writer with posthumous readers.  

Classes, clients and colleagues

The relationship of successive groups of students with a popular teacher constitutes a special kind of collective friendship:  each class feels a possessive affection for the teacher, whose response rests on a far wider base.  The goodwill which develops between an efficient doctor and his or her satisfied clientele is another interesting example of the friendly ties which bind a group of people to an individual.  

In the interaction between a benevolent boss and loyal subordinates, we observe a set of collective friendships rather than a single manifestation.  Depending on the distance which separates the boss from any given set of subordinates in the organizational hierarchy, such  friendship ranges from the intimate to the abstract.  But no matter how close a boss and a subordinate are in the place of work, they can never pick up a true personal friendship as long as that relationship lasts.  It is only when one of them leaves the organization on superannuation or otherwise that such a transformation is possible.  By the same token, when a person is promoted in the office and begins to supervise the work of a close friend who had been his or her peer earlier, their personal friendship automatically tends to become strained.  

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PostScript, 2014

Actress & cookess

The above article was written more than 20 years ago, when feminine actors were known as actresses, and not as actors.  This reminds me of my dear father, a civil engineer in the British regime in India, for the following  reason.  

In the last ten years of  his service (up to 1949), when he was an Executive Engineer, Father used to employ a male cook who could accompany him when he went on extensive tours (for 20 days every month)  in his beautiful blue Ford-V8 car.  After he retired from civil service and became  a home-bound pensioner, my mother preferred to engage a female cook, and he always referred to her as the 'cookess'.  

Of course, I have mentioned my father in this blog before (see Marvels Of The Modern World -  Sept. 2010, and Raving About Radio!  -  Dec. 2012). 

Manifestations Of Friendship Between Institutions, Communities, Nations And Other Groups Of People

As I had mentioned a  few days ago, the 1992 essay of mine on friends and friendships turned out to be just the initial stage of an extended psychological exploration.  Now read on ...

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THE HINDU Sunday Magazine
Articulations  --  19 July 1992

Friendships galore!

In the first part of this essay (July 5), we had examined the nature of friendship between individuals, noted the distinction between friends and family members, and observed the contrast between the attitudes of men, women and children towards friends.  These are no doubt intricate issues;  but when we turn our attention to the manifestations of friendship in a collective sense, we find that they present an even more complex picture.

We can, however, get a clear focus on them if we classify their essential features in a logical manner.  Collective friendship is basically of three kinds.  First, there is the friendship between different groups of people.  Secondly, there is the friendship between a group of people and an individual.  Thirdly, there is the friendship between a group of people and certain phenomena.  In this context, the term 'group' covers everything from a small set of persons to the whole population of the world.

 

 

Catalogue of categories

 

To the first category belong the friendship between institutions, the harmony between communities and the amity between nations, wherever they exist.  In the same category we find the good relations between the management and the working force within an organization, and the goodwill between an institution and the people who utilize its products or services.

Under the second category we can count the vibrant rapport between the masses and a charismatic leader;  the adoration of the public for an accomplished actor, writer or sportsperson;  and the affection of respectful students for a popular teacher, or that of a grateful clientele for a successful doctor.  

In the third category can be included the positive attitudes of human beings towards their environment, to the extent that such an attitude still exists;  their compatibility with sophisticated machines;  their collective worship of divine images;  and their prospective friendship with extra-terrestrial life (if it does exist).

This catalogue is by no means exhaustive, and you can find other revealing illustrations if you just look  for them.  For example, where a person maintains a large number of marginal friendships with diverse people frequently encountered, it actually amounts to a case of friendship of an individual with an amorphous group.

Friendship as it concerns animals must be viewed in a special way, for it is many-sided.  Friendship between human beings and animals exist s both in the personal and collective forms.  In the latter case, we can think of it as an environmental attitude, or (stretching a point) as an instance of friendship among groups.  Within the animal kingdom itself there is friendship of the collective as well as individual kinds.

 

 

Reciprocal benefits

Now let us take a closer look at some of the examples mentioned above.  Institutions tend to be friendly to one another where their interests are complimentary and not competitive.  Other things being equal, the degree of their friendship is directly proportionate to the reciprocal benefits derived by them from the association.  This is true of institutions in every area of human endeavour, whether they are large ones or small.  Such friendships tend to grow only up to a critical point, beyond which the burden of association invariably begins to outweigh its advantages. 

The same principles are normally valid in the case of friendship between nations.  A complication which arises in their case is that a country which wants to have friendly relations with some other countries often faces a dilemma created by the conflict which exists between the latter.  This was the crux of the problem which led Nehru, Tito and Nasser to conceive and initiate the whole concept of non-alignment, which moderates friendship and hostility alike.  

Another complication which fogs the picture is a certain ambiguity which exists in the definition of the term 'nation' in this connection.  In the whole history of international relations, the people of a given nation have seldom determined its postures of friendship or hostitlity with other countries:  these are normally formulated by the ruling class, which does not always represent the true spirit of the people.

 

 

Spirit of harmony

Within a country, friendship between different communities distinguished by linguistic, religious or other factors is not usually governed by considerations of reciprocal gains.  In their case, the question is essentially one of civilized attitudes and a spirit of tolerance.  The  recent convulsions and ongoing tensions in what used to be Yugoslavia or the Soviet Union have proved decisively that communal harmony has to be voluntary if it is to survive the test of time, and cannot be permanently enforced by political constitutions. 

The friendship between the management and the working force within an institution (wherever it exists) is also not based on considerations of benefits, which are settled by negotiations or disputes as matters of reciprocal rights.  Here too the question is essentially one of spirit:  if it is positive on both sides, an undeclared friendship grows between the union leaders and the top management, which naturally leads to greater harmony in the organization and higher productivity.  Moreover, there can be friendly relations between individual managers and workers even if there is an ongoing conflict between the management and the workers' union due to their inability to match demands and concessions.  By and large, the nature of the relations between the faculty and the students in an educational institution is very similar.

 

 

Clients and consumers

The friendship between an institution and the users of its products or services assumes different forms, depending on the nature of the given activity.  It takes a visible and durable shape in the case of assistants in a helpful shop, or waiters in a good restaurant serving a regular body of satisfied customers.  The contact between the nursing staff and the resident patients in a hospital is always transient, though physically close;  but the nurses' concern for patients in many cases is a permanent emotion which flows in a friendly stream towards a group of persons which constantly renews itself. 

 

By contrast, the interaction between the staff and the customers in a busy post office or railway ticket counter is so rapid and marginal that the friendly spirit of the group of employees can only take an impersonal and abstract form vis-a-vis the kaleidoscopic group of users.  Strangely enough, the contact between the staff and the members of a large library in a college or school are also usually marginal, although the users themselves belong to the same institution and are not outsiders. 

Banks, of course, operate at two different levels.  Although most of the people who seek a bank's services are its regular clients, a large majority of them constitute only an impersonal entity;  but banks do maintain a close friendship with important clients.  Many business firms, so far as their relations with clients and customers are concerned, function in the same way as banks do.

 

Large industrial enterprises are physically far away from the ultimate consumers of their products, because of the vast network of wholesale merchants and retail sellers who come between them.  Nevertheless, if a product is excellent there is always a transcendental friendship between the consumers and the producers, which finds expression in the consistent growth of the business.

          (to be continued)

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PostScript, 2014 

Labyrinth of logic and insights

By the time I was half-way through writing the above essay, I knew this was going to be a marathon exercise which called for much more intensive meditation and extensive reflections.  And as I started earnestly analyzing several related concepts and aspects, the whole theme became more and more complex and intriguing, snaring me into a labyrinth of intricate ideas.  

Just follow me into these criss-crossing tunnels of  logic and insights, and trust me to lead you back to the base with a new-found panoramic vision of friends and friendships!


       (to be continued)

Frontiers Of Friendship : How, Beyond Natural Boundaries, Close Friendship Becomes Troublesome Bondage!

A few weeks ago I shared with you a thrilling story about the marvelous friendship between a black boy and a white polar bear, which I had told in my column Articulations in THE HINDU in 1992  (Stormy Britain, Snowbound America, And A Story Set In Iceboundland,  Feb. 17).  I had followed that up with some earnest reflections on friendship, and here they are: 

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THE HINDU  Sunday Magazine:
Articulations, 5 May 1992

A Friend In Need 

My Articulations (June 7) about the eternal friendship between a little black boy and a big polar bear attracted an effusive telephone call from an old friend who lives a thousand miles away.  This gave me the idea of making an inventory of all my friends, past and present;  but when I tried to do so, I had a problem.  I just could not complete the list, which kept growing endlessly till I lost my bearings and gave up the whole idea as impractical.  In fact, I discovered that I have (or used to have) many friends whose names I had never even known!

Then I tried to make a short list of persons with whom I have a friendship as beautiful and marvelous as that which exists between the boy and the bear in the story, and I could not find a single name.  This, however, did not come as a surprise;  for I knew well that perfection in friendship can exist only in our imagination, and never in reality.  It is true that on very rare occasions one may come across cases which may appear to be ideal;  but if these are subjected to a severe test, the chances are that they will only confirm rather than disprove this rule.

A perfect friendship cannot exist in the real world because it implies total bondage, which is not conducive to friendship at all.  There is intricate logic in this apparently contradictory statement.  A friendship becomes close when friends begin to feel bound to each other, and the bonds become stronger as the friendship grows still closer.  Bonds always impose a mutual burden on those involved. Up to a point it is light enough to be carried by all good friends cheerfully, but sooner or later a stage is reached when the burden tends to become too heavy to bear;  and when that happens, the friendship can usually grow no further without attracting serious complications.

It must be noted that the increasing bondage created by closeness tends only to restrain the further growth of intimacy beyond a critical degree, and  does not prevent a friendship from surviving in the form it happens to possess at the crucial stage.  Closeness, however, can have a damaging impact on a friendship  --  sometimes destroying it altogether --  when it stretches familiarity or possessiveness beyond tolerable limits, giving rise to powerful negative emotions like contempt or jealousy.

Friendship and family ties

In a way, what is true of friends in this regard is also true of family members.  Other things being equal, there is a discernible correlation between the closeness of a given family relationship and the tensions which govern it.  This explains why the interaction between husbands and wives is normally more volatile than that between parents and children, which is more troublesome than the relations between brothers and sisters, and so on.

There is, of course, a fundamental difference between close friends and close relatives.  In the former case, the affection which exists between persons is voluntary, and therefore always spontaneous;  but in the case of the family it is compulsory, and therefore often contrived.  This may be the reason why one seldom visualizes family members as friends:  for one cannot always be sure of the integrity of their apparent mutual goodwill.  The proximity of close relatives, moreover, is not something which evolves, like that of friends.  Specific family ties exist in the same form from beginning to end:  whether they are honored or not is a different issue.  

When a deep friendship between unrelated persons reaches the critical point, it tends to acquire the character of close family ties;  and that is what makes the burden unbearable  --  either arresting the further growth of that friendship, or beginning to brew a storm.  It is an observed fact in all societies that in general men have a better instinct than women for knowing when and where to draw the line, and therefore find it possible to sustain more stable (if less spectacular) friendships all round.

Childhood friends

Close friendships formed in one's childhood are entirely based on the joy of innocent companionship.  That is why children with very different temperaments and social or family backgrounds can still be great friends.  When they grow up into teenagers they become more selective in their choice, and look for common interests as the main basis for picking up intimate friendships.  In adult life the choice narrows down still further:  for as people grow older they tend to make more severe value judgments and assessments of character.  

Grown-ups do continue to take the character of their childhood and teenage friends for granted, of course;  but many of those connections have a way of cooling off in course of time.  The warm camaraderie which is professed when such old-time friends occasionally encounter is often simulated and not real.  This is one of the reasons why the Old Boys' Associations which are started or revived every now and then with tremendous enthusiasm by some idealistic alumni have a way of falling into a rut soon and rarely flourish.  But profound friendships made early in life which do survive the test of time are indeed wonderful ones, for they are totally free from moral pressures of any kind.

Men, women and friends

We have noted that men have a better instinct than women for identifying the natural limit of friendship.  In this they are also aided by the fact they are usually preoccupied with professional concerns and interact with a large number of people, which frees them from dependence on close friends for spending their articulate energies.  In this regard, women who go out to work do have a manly side to their character, and prefer to have a large number of marginal friends rather than concentrate on a few intimate ones.  Women who stay home as housewives have a very different perspective.  Their circle of friends being naturally limited, they are inclined to put more pressure on their intimate companions.  This often confronts them with tense situations of a kind seldom faced by men or by 'working women'.

Another difference between the attitudes of men and women in relation to friends is illustrated by their approach towards the friends of their spouses.  The husbands of women who are friends usually have no difficulty in picking up a comfortable friendship among themselves, even if there is a wide gulf between them in regard to professional or social status.  But the wives of men who are friends normally do not find it so easy to develop a good rapport among themselves.  In this context, intriguingly, the attitude of 'working women' is not far different from that of other women!

Friendship between members of the opposite sex has always been a thorny problem everywhere in the world.  Even the most innocent of such relationships is not always free from sexual overtones, especially if the concerned persons happen to be physically attractive.  Personal friendships between men and women are inevitable in the progressive working place;  but prudence and common sense do normally inhibit their growth to a great extent.
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PostScript, 2014

 Reflections -- and further reflections

When I wrote the above essay more than 20 years ago, I did think I had composed yet another text which would stand the test of time  --  and I was right, as you can see!  Actually the title I had given it was Reflections on friendship, but it was changed by the sub-editor to A friend in need, for no valid reason I could imagine. 

I also thought I had more or less said every significant thing I could think of about the extremely intricate phenomenon of friendship  --  but I was quite wrong there!  For during the next few weeks my further reflections on the theme flowed on and on, in four more substantial essays in my column Articulations in THE HINDU.  Let me share them with you one by one in the next few days!

Cold Weather Ultimum : Minimum Minimum Versus Maximum Minimum!

Having spent all my childhood and adolescent years in the predominantly hot-or-warm climate of South India, I've always been fascinated by extremely cold weather, whether I am actually experiencing it or merely reading or writing about its many-sided manifestations. . 

 

So, talking about snowbound and icebound countries  --  real as well as imaginary  --  in my preceding articulations (Feb. 17, Stormy Britain, Snowbound America . . .), I recalled some cold-weather scenes which had made forceful impressions on my mind.  I didn't always write about them, but luckily some of them are on record, like the following winter vista in New Delhi.

 

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Glossary & annotations

 

 

Shanthi Path  --  Meaning 'Peace Way' in Hindi, this broad and beautiful avenue, with wide lawns and lush trees on both sides, bisects the Diplomatic Enclave where some of the oldest and most spacious Embassies (of countries like USA, USSR/Russia, UK, China, Pakistan, etc.) are situated.   

 

Chanakyapuri  -- Diplomatic Enclave, meaning "City of Chanakya'  in Hindi  --  Chanakya was an ancient Indian philosopher and royal counsellor, whose ideas on statecraft are often compared with those of  Machiavelli, the famous Italian historian and philosopher.

 

Moti Bagh  -- Prestigious residential area near the Diplomatic Enclave.  mainly housing civil servants.

 

Russian Embassy  --  I made a faux pas here  --  I should have said "USSR Embassy' or 'Soviet Embassy'.  Or was I being unconsciously prophetic?  For, of course, today it certainly is the Russian Embassy!

 

Foreign cars  --  Another faux pas!  I should have said ' imported cars'  --  for one of the two exclusive brands of cars running on Indian roads those days was the 110o-cc Fiat, made in India.   But just as we Indians never think of English as a foreign language, we never used to think of Fiat as a foreign brand! 

 

Kautilya Marg  --  A cross road in Chanakyapuri  --  Chanakya is also known as Kautilya.

 

Patel Marg  --  Important road named after Sardar Patel, a leading freedom fighter (and very close associate of  Mahatma Gandhi), who narrowly missed becoming the first Prime Minister of India in 1947.

 

Razais  --  Quilts, in Hindi.

 

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Evening News, New Delhi

17 January 1987

 

Delhiberations

 

Winter Views

 

Driving to the office on a very cold day last week, I found the air thick with heavy mist on Shanthi Path. 

 

As I approached Chanakyapuri from the Moti Bagh side, I saw a long banner in bold blue letters at the circular traffic island. 

 

It screamed: "LE CONGRES INDIEN DE LA JEUNESSE FAIT ACCUEIL AUX DELEGUES PARTICIPANT A LA CONFERENCE INTERNATIONALE CONTRE L'APARTHEID."

 

I'm sure you don't need a translation of that, except perhaps for a couple of words:  JEUNESSE means YOUTH, and ACCUEIL means WELCOME.

 

The winter vista in Chanakyapuri was fascinating.  The trees and the Embassy buildings were all wrapped up in the mist, and the wide, lawn-lined avenue stretched in a straight line ahead.  

 

As I read the French banner quickly, I had a wide-angled view of the rose beds on both sides of the road;  and for a moment I had the illusion of being in Paris.

 

As I drove on, I saw many foreign cars parked outside the Russian and other Embassies, and the illusion was renewed, if I ignored the traffic on the road, which had nothing Parisian about it.

 

A few days ago I had gone to the railway station before sunrise.  Along Kautilya Marg and Patel Marg, the bright amber light from the sodium vapor lamps created  a strong impression of deserted London thoroughfares in the night.

 

The whole week has been not just misty, but quite foggy in the mornings, and there has been a biting cold in the air.  The silhouettes of heavily-clothed people standing at the frost-bound bus-stops produced intriguing impressions.

 

The dull and gray sky and the chill in the air has brought typical English weather to Delhi, which was accentuated by the day-long drizzles on Friday.

 

The evening bulletins on the TV yesterday reported a minimum temperature of 8 degrees Celsius, but we thought it was the coldest day of the season, though the minimum had dropped to 4 degrees earlier this month.  

 

This may appear strange  --  but only till we take note of the fact the peak temperature for Friday was only 13 degrees, the lowest maximum of the season. 

 

We are snugly tucked inside our rugs and razais when the minimum is reached, and we never feel the difference between 4 degrees and 8 degrees, unless we have night duty to perform in the open air. 

 

But we are all widely awake and alert when the maximum is touched, especially if we go outdoors during the afternoon instead of remaining inside heated rooms.  And that's when a difference of 4 degrees (between 13 and 17, or between 13 and 9, for example)  makes a big impression on us. 

 

The criterion for the coldest day, therefore, is not the minimum minimum, but the minimum maximum!