September 9 2003: This week happened to be a bonanza of sorts.
I sat up suddenly, on the morning of the 9th of September- it was the 104th birthday of one of my favourite authors- Kalki. (Strange picture forming in my mind- what would Kalki have said if ‘d accosted him with ‘Happy Birthday! You’re 104 today!’ ? Probably ‘Good grief! Who wants to be 104?’) On the other hand, he might have written around 20 more wonderful novels – the completion of which task now falls, sadly, on my exalted self.
K had a great sense of humour, apparently – which became more and more evident as I rushed through his works- all the headlines he’d ever written during his time in ‘Ananda Vikatan’, his satires, his reviews…his friendships, his wrenching away from AV to form a magazine called ‘Kalki’…
This man is awesome.
What if I held an interview with him??
All right. Imagination knows no restraint. (And you, my dear reader, are doomed).
Me: Good morning, Mr. Kalki. And how are you today?
Kalki: As well as can be, I suppose. My wretched Asthma will give me no respite, however. But that’s of no account. I’m lucky, in a way.
Me(surprised): How’s that?
K: Because Rajaji, my mentor, has it too. its evident that this disease affects only the…er…’biggies’ as you people call them. Hence proved that I’m a ‘biggie’ too.
Me: Weird theory…
K: You ought to have known that I’m quite weird. No one else would have chosen to write novels like ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ or ‘Sivagamiyin Sabadham’, in my time, you know. I quite remember Rasigamani counselling me not to start Kalki, as well. It would be a disaster, I was warned.
Me: But you were a trend-setter! You started the fad.
K(brightening): Is that how they think of me now? That’s encouraging. In my time, it was more like ‘this man has gone to jail thrice. And he’s a fly on Rajaji’s tail. Ugh.’
Me: The best things are appreciated only in their absence.
K: You can say that again. Take a look at the greats of yesteryear now. They were ignored during their lifetime- and now everyone is yelling themselves hoarse, screaming their praises.
Me (alarmed at K’s irritation): Er…um…you know, your proficiency in languages is remarkable.
K (grinning): In spite of my not completing school, eh? Accomplishments have nothing to do with attending classes, you know. I’m pretty fluent in English, Hindi, I’m conversant with Telugu and Sanskrit too. In fact, I quite like languages…but this is going far afield. Say… all this is a blog, right?
Me: Um…yes.
K: And aren’t they supposed to be short, precise and all that?
Me: Uh…normally…yeah.
K: In that case, you’ve made me- a person who’s known for precision- yak about a lot of things.
Me: Well…
K: Forget it. We”ll talk later.
K: In MY blog.
****End of Interview****
Now look what you’ve made me do. I start out reminiscing and end up interviewing.
Huh
