|
THIS ABOVE ALL
Keep it simple
Khushwant Singh
|
Khushwant Singh
|
While
engrossed in reading Rahul Bhattacharya’s The Sly Company
of People Who Care (Picador), my mind kept straying to its
likeness to V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr Biswas, in
which he wrote about the Indian community in Trinidad and the
kind of English they spoke. He went on to writing about Muslims
of different countries (his wife Nadira is a Pakistani Muslim),
and a prophetic account of Naxalism in India. At the time he
wrote on it, it was a minor irritant. It gathered strength and
has become a major menace to the security of India. He went on
to get the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Bhattacharya’s
novel is based in Guyana and has different communities who have
made it their home. Like the Trinidadian Indians, they have
evolved a brand of English of their own, which is at once lucid
and catching. I give one example: "A little provocation is
a dangerous, dangerous thing, bai. Learn that. Learn
that. Learn it over. You ain’t hear sparrow sing provocation
is against the law? You a yootman.
|
There is considerable similarity between the reading contents of Rahul Bhattacharya’s The Sly Company of People Who Care and V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr Biswas
|
Vibert’s cousin, Odetta,
you hear she story? She just a harmless chile but always like to
be seen as a bad girl, always carryin a knife pon she. One time
she uncle tell she dance like a goat. She flick out she knife
for joke, but in ketch the man straight in the jugular. Kachack.
The man dead. And I blame him. Yes! I blame that man of he own
death. Because why? Because he make the provocation. The same
thing going to happen to you one day. Y’unstand? Kachack."
Hitherto,
Bhattacharya was writing on cricket. This is his first novel.
And it is first rate. Watch out for this man. I advise the
author to change the title of his novel and make it simpler. I
speak from personal experience. When my first novel won the
Evergreen Award for the best work of fiction from India, its
title was Meno Majra.
Despite the
award, the sales were sluggish. I changed the title to Train
to Pakistan. The sales picked up rapidly and it went into
many editions and was translated into many foreign and Indian
languages.
Osama and
Pakistan
An apostle of
goodness, in the service of human race;
A picture of
grandeur, glory and grace;
It is being
said, Osama is dead;
And the rumour
is being spread;
That Pakistan
is in the face, red;
Whereas a
father-figure of
terror;
Osama was only
a mass
murderer;
An idea
personified, not meant for death;
And Pakistan
has its
commitment
against terror shown;
And in the
estimation of the world grown;
By perfecting
the art of
double-speak;
With a straight
face and
footwork
sleek;`A0 `A0 `A0 `A0
May the truth
forever shine in the Pakistani state;
And long live
Osama the great.
`A0 `A0 `A0 `A0
`A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0(Contributed by Kuldip Salil,
Delhi)
Coincidence
Some days back,
I, along with my father, was going for the evening walk. We
found a man standing near the house he was constructing. My
father said to that man: "Sat Sri Akal. I am Col. Partap
Singh, and he is my son Gurinder."
To our utter
surprise, the man replied: "Oh! I am Major Partap Singh,
and he is my son Gurinder," he said, pointing towards his
son.
I asked his
son: "Tusee kee kardey hon?" To my surprise, he
replied: "I am a teacher." "I am also a
teacher." Don’t you find this coincidence quite amusing?
Both the dads and sons share their names and professions. We are
almost neighbours.
`A0 `A0 `A0 `A0
`A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0(Courtesy: Gurinderjit Singh,
Amritsar)
Food talk
Santa orders a
pizza. Waiter: "Sir, should I cut it into four pieces or
eight pieces?" Santa: "4 hi kar yaar, 8 mere sey
khaaye nahi jayenge."
`A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0 `A0
`A0 `A0 (Contributed by Dr G.S. Narang, Indore)
|
