The Love Lives of Lovable Men

Courage is many things to many people. To me, it is putting in full public view that which one wrote when in college:

                                   The Love Lives of Lovable Men

‘Daschund puppies are cute’

The statement is subjective.

But those who dare refute,

Cannot share the adjective.

Madding Crowd

We like what we read when we can relate it to ourselves. And sometimes it takes some delusions of grandeur to be able to do so.

I took to the crowd and the crowd took to me and yet I never lost myself in it;  always I felt apart from it. From my separate mental perch I looked at it critically, and I never ceased to wonder how I, who was so different in every way from those thousands who surrounded me, different in habits, in desires, in mental and spiritual outlook, how I managed to gain goodwill and a measure of confidence from these people. Was it because they took me for something other than I was? Would they bear with me if they knew me better? Was I gaining their goodwill under false pretences?

I tried to be frank and straightforward to them; I even spoke harshly to them sometimes and criticized many of their pet beliefs and customs, but still they put up with me. And yet I could not get rid of the idea that their affection was meant not for me as I was, but for some fanciful image of me that they had formed. How long could that false image endure? And why should it be allowed to endure? And when it fell down and they saw the reality, what then?

                                                    - Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobiography

This was in 1940. Not a 'false modesty' piece written later. I see an honest befuddlement. And that he laid bare to the reading public with almost no consideration to his political 'future' is the kind naïveté that I find moving. Yes this is the kind of thing that moves me. Read the 'delusions of grandeur' line again.

கடும்நகை

         சாப்பிடுவதைக் குத்திக் காண்பித்தாலே குமரேசனுக்கு கோபம் வரும்.
"வடிச்சதெல்லாம் தா இதே முளுங்கிருச்சு" என்று அக்காள் விளையாட்டாக ஒரு முறை சொல்லப்போக, இரண்டு நாள் சாப்பிடாமலே இருந்துவிட்டான் குழந்தை.
முதல் நாள் யாரும் பெரிதாக கவனிக்கவில்லை. இரண்டாம் நாள் வீடு இறுக்கமானது. அம்மா மிரட்டினாள், கெஞ்சினாள்; அப்பா முதுகில் ரெண்டு போட்டார் ஒன்றும் மாறவில்லை. அக்காவை கன்னத்தில் விட்டார், அவள் அழுதுகொண்டே வந்து மன்னிப்பு கேட்ட பிறகு தான் சாப்பிட்டான். எல்லோரும் இலேசானார்கள், அப்பாவைத்தவிற . "இவ்வள வீம்பு நல்லதுக்கில்லடீய்" என்று கோபமும், பயமும் கலந்த தொனியில் அம்மாவிடம் சொன்னார்.