What does a publisher do when he cant get hold of enough good manuscripts? The easy way out, I presume, is to compile newspaper articles into a volume. Take a well known columnist, add a preface and an introductory note, bung in some illustrations and, voila, your book is ready. No editing hassles, no worries about the saleability of the book (after all if the columnist is well known there are bound to be appreciative buyers).
It was with this cynical thought that I picked up the Hindustan Times editor, V.N. Narayanans latest book I Muse Therefore I Am, a collection of his `Musings column which appears on Sundays in the paper. But as I began desultorily leafing through the pages, my interest was aroused and soon I was chuckling through the essays.
I must confess that though I get the Hindustan Times at home, I rarely look at it, largest selling daily in the Capital though it may claim to be. Thus, I have not really read Narayanans musings. But after reading this collection I have made a mental note not to miss his column. For, it is in the classical Stephen Leacock mould, humorous and packed with dry witty observations on almost any topic under the sun.
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What differentiates Naray-anans prose from the spoof writers and the parodyists cluttering newspaper columns today is his gentle, almost old fashioned style of writing, peppered as it is with quotes and anecdotes. The Pee Vees and the Wimps have begun to pall subjected as we have been to large doses of them. So has the Hinglish style adopted by several columnists proved very irritating. Narayanans style, on the contrary, is more enduring. Those of you who grew up on Mark Twain, P G Wodehouse and Bernard Shaw are certainly likely to appreciate it.
Take this excerpt from one of his musings:
In Bernard Shaws Man and Superman two men meet. One man says to the other: I am a brigand, I live by robbing the rich. To which the latter replies: I, sir, am a gentleman. I live by robbing the poor. The gentleman has become a devalued currency declining as rapidly as the rupee has been doing. it speaks eloquently of the overwhelming public squalor into which India, that is Bharat is sinking that there are very few men in the country who would not feel insulted, humiliated and outraged if someone called them gentlemen.
In todays politics, it would be far more damaging to call a man a gentleman than to call him a cheat, a thief, a pimp, a boor, a blabbermouth, an unprincipled lout or an unmitigated swine. In that not-quite-exhaustive catalogue we recognise many heroic figures of the post-independence era, whereas in the odd gentleman, we detect a suspicious alien whom we distrust simply because he is not one of us.
Almost every contemporary issue is dealt with here be it Hussains Madhuri series selling for Rs 35 lakh, the high society dos, the devaluation of the education system, inflation, Manmohanomics, cable television or beauty pageants. Whats more theres more to the articles than just the humour. Theres always some analysis or comment but always couched in witty words. And, on serious issues such as the Mandalisation of the country, although Narayanan writes in the lighter vein, he takes care that his humour is not jarring. One can say, that Narayanan has succeeded in his mission To be intelligible and yet be profound./ So that, once in a while/ In newspapers/ Thought and sense marry/ And stay true too!
Of course as in all collections there are some essays which do sound repetitive and do not really tickle the funny bone. But on the whole, the book is an entertaining read.
Sadly though, Sudhir Tailangs cartoons do not match up. And, although I admit Narayanans musings certainly deserves to be bound up, I am still not convinced about the need for so many compilations flooding the bookshops.
What differentiates Narayanans prose from the spoof writers and parodyists cluttering newspaper columns is his gentle, almost old-fashioned style of writing, peppered with quotes and anecdotes.