Of farewells, happy campers and swan songs

Harvinder Khetal

Saying goodbye is never easy. Specially to those with whom you have slipped into an ease of relationship, whether professional or personal. When Dr Harish Khare announced to us on Thursday that the next day (Friday, March 16) would be his last day as Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune group of newspapers, we were taken by surprise. As the situation sank in, a plethora of sentiments played out in my mind, with a flashback of the last almost three years with Dr Khare as head of the organisation. And that day later, as, for the last time, I handled his hugely popular column ‘Statecraft’, I sensed that he too was fighting emotions, — he too was dealing with his own flurry of feelings emanating from the development. For all the tough stance in his writings, he is a soft, humane person at heart, connecting with subordinates and touching their hearts in a way few bosses can. It is this connect, in the finality of the parting at his home over dinner with some close colleagues on Friday, that culminated into a cosy warmth of memories, an optimism... and farewells. 

It brought that same thought that lifts my spirit whenever I have had to say goodbye to all those good people who have touched my life and moved on. That famous feeling of Winnie The Pooh:

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” 

The feel-good feeling was back. A happy finale heralds a new hope that is strong, for it is built on a foundation that has been solidified by a rich and learning experience. With the eminent Dr Khare joining the list of the other distinguished editors who have helmed The Tribune before him, it was time to look forward to another worthy successor. For, as Seneca said:

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

Doesn’t the quote inspire you to be a happy camper? A happy camper is one who is pleased and content. Interestingly, according to one view, the phrase happy camper was initially actually ‘unhappy camper’ or ‘not a happy camper’. It referred to the homesick city child “who mopes about the countryside hating cows, cursing mosquitoes, refusing to make up a bunk, rejecting the hearty companionship of fireside storytelling and tossing his cookies with dismaying regularity.” And, how did "happy campers" come into being? The phrase gained currency after it was first written in an article written for The New York Times about homeless people in 1981. The article contained the line, "It is not a group of happy campers that gets off the bus".

Well, well! Life is what you make of it: whether you would rather be happy or not. This wisdom is beautifully illustrated in a story of the Buddha. In fact, it’s a tale about the testing of the Buddha’s wisdom. It is said that once a mother and her son were passing by a place where the Buddha was meditating. The mother tells her boy that the Buddha knows the answers to all questions and asks him to seek the spiritual guru’s blessings. The child wants to test the Buddha's wisdom. He keeps a butterfly in his hands and asks him whether it is alive and dead.  The boy has pre-decided that if the Buddha says that the butterfly is alive, he would crush it and prove that is dead; alternatively, if he is told that the butterfly is dead, he would not crush it and, thus again, prove him wrong. 

So, the boy asks, “Is the butterfly in my hand alive or dead?”

The Buddha smiles with compassion and replies: “The butterfly's life is in your hands.”

By the way, talk of happy and unhappy campers reminds me of stories of boot camp life that most of my Army officer friends love to narrate: of the hard and intensive training that they undergo in a military camps so that they become fit to serve the nation as bravehearts. They recall their days as military recruits when they were rigorously trained in combat, physical fitness, military drills. Just as gold is refined by fire. The final stage of gold production -- refining -- involves removing impurities that remain after the smelting process. Borax and soda ash is added to the molten metal, which separates the pure gold from other precious and less precious metals.

It reminds me of my holiday at Rajgarh in Himachal Pradesh where we camped out. Boot camp life is so far removed from the romantic and adventurous camping out that we as tourists enjoy in remote hills and forests. To camp out is to sleep outside recreationally, typically with a sleeping bag and/or tent. It is often combined with trekking and hiking. 

And what’s the phrase when you close down a campsite, when you pack up and move? It’s ‘break camp’. Originally, camp denoted a military encampment, but by the mid-1500s, the term had been transferred to temporary outdoor sites used by hunters and the like. By the 19th century, the current term was in use. Thus, "It is the hunter's rule to see that the fire is extinguished ... before breaking camp." (FH Guillemard, Cruise of Marchesa I, 1886). 

It takes me back to Dr Khare. It’s time for him to break camp and start new beginnings. But The Tribune assignment is definitely not his swan song (metaphor for a final performance or activity of a person's career). The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death, having been silent (or, not so musical) during most of their lifetime. This belief, whose basis is long debated, had become proverbial in Greece by the 3rd century BC, and was reiterated many times in Western poetry and art.

Meanwhile, thanks for the memories, Sir!

[email protected]