Everything connected
NOTHIG IS LOST - EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED
Many people who would like to think about life experiences in a positive way affirm that every incident in our lives has a purpose. They say that the particular incident happens so that we may learn a lesson from it. Personally I like the concept.
This is an article written in a lighter vein. So I would like to go further and declare that nothing is lost. I mean, eh, that nothing that happens to us - even the most trivial thing – is lost. It is said that the acorn lies dormant in the ground for twelve years and then sprouts at a proper moment.
Let me illustrate by a couple of instances. Nothing earthshaking or serious; just trivia. But I am sure that there is some humour in it. (Or even wonderment if you are in the right mood.)
1.We were just kids, the three of us, aged may be four or five years. We were walking on the outskirts of the city. There was a roadside stone bench and a muslim gentleman was talking with a young boy in Hindi. He was quoting from a poem and passionately expounding on it. We were from a small toen in Karnataka(South India) and were unfamiliar with the language and understood nothing of what was being said. But one word, "jumbheech" caught my fancy.
Thirty five years passed and I was in Hyderabad(Capital of Andhra Pradesh, India) and talking with an old muslim friend of mine. While ruing about his failing health he used the word "jumbheech".
That word was lying dormant in my memory for thirty five years. It flew all the way across the space of thirty five years and pecked at my brain. It is impossible to describe the thrill and wonder I experienced . For thirty five years I had never come across that word.
2.I was a kid of four. Mom had taken me to her parent's home. My uncle, her brother was fond of playing the gramophone.(It was a strange and amazing machine for us kids.) A Hindi song (again, that unfamiliar language to us in those days) was
playing on. I could not follow the song but the tune and one word "shagildaara" must have penetrated me deeply and stayed there.
Thirty years later I was in Bombay and my friend was talking about Hindi songs. He sang out the first line starting with "shagildaara"
Oh boy, I had never heard that song for thirty years. But still the moment my friend began the first line the memory was revived instantly .I was back thirty years ago at my uncle's house , listening with wonder to a strange language. As a tailpiece I would like to add that thirty years have slipped by and still I have not heard that song for a third time! I swear.
3. We were fourteen year boys studying in high school. We had a teacher for teaching the English language. He was great scholar and in our eyes he was the ultimate icon of knowledge.
On one occasion he explained the word "primogeniture" in his stentorian voice and wrote the word on the blackboard in a flourish. The word actually was not was not connected the lesson in the textbook prescribed for us, though.
FIFTY years have passed and I am sixty four now. I swear to you that I did not come across that word again in all these years.(I am not in the legal profession, I may add.)I do read the odd novel or book. What then was the purpose of that strange word, if I did not come across it again and if I did not need it? Joke – was it meant to illustrate the phrase "hapax legomenon" in my personal life?
Just the other day I was working on a crossword puzzle. One clue was about the legal rights of the eldest son.
Believe it or not, before the eye had completed going over the clue, the submerged memory of the word, "primogeniture' surfaced at the speed of light. I filled in the word, utterly confident, without even bothering to to crosscheck with the other clues running across.
Nothing is lost. Everything is connected, see.
Comment. Nature abounds in parallels. May be these memories were like the rare arrivals of some comets that visit the earth once in eighty, hundred, two hundred years. May be, who knows?
V.S.SURY
Many people who would like to think about life experiences in a positive way affirm that every incident in our lives has a purpose. They say that the particular incident happens so that we may learn a lesson from it. Personally I like the concept.
This is an article written in a lighter vein. So I would like to go further and declare that nothing is lost. I mean, eh, that nothing that happens to us - even the most trivial thing – is lost. It is said that the acorn lies dormant in the ground for twelve years and then sprouts at a proper moment.
Let me illustrate by a couple of instances. Nothing earthshaking or serious; just trivia. But I am sure that there is some humour in it. (Or even wonderment if you are in the right mood.)
1.We were just kids, the three of us, aged may be four or five years. We were walking on the outskirts of the city. There was a roadside stone bench and a muslim gentleman was talking with a young boy in Hindi. He was quoting from a poem and passionately expounding on it. We were from a small toen in Karnataka(South India) and were unfamiliar with the language and understood nothing of what was being said. But one word, "jumbheech" caught my fancy.
Thirty five years passed and I was in Hyderabad(Capital of Andhra Pradesh, India) and talking with an old muslim friend of mine. While ruing about his failing health he used the word "jumbheech".
That word was lying dormant in my memory for thirty five years. It flew all the way across the space of thirty five years and pecked at my brain. It is impossible to describe the thrill and wonder I experienced . For thirty five years I had never come across that word.
2.I was a kid of four. Mom had taken me to her parent's home. My uncle, her brother was fond of playing the gramophone.(It was a strange and amazing machine for us kids.) A Hindi song (again, that unfamiliar language to us in those days) was
Thirty years later I was in Bombay and my friend was talking about Hindi songs. He sang out the first line starting with "shagildaara"
Oh boy, I had never heard that song for thirty years. But still the moment my friend began the first line the memory was revived instantly .I was back thirty years ago at my uncle's house , listening with wonder to a strange language. As a tailpiece I would like to add that thirty years have slipped by and still I have not heard that song for a third time! I swear.
3. We were fourteen year boys studying in high school. We had a teacher for teaching the English language. He was great scholar and in our eyes he was the ultimate icon of knowledge.
On one occasion he explained the word "primogeniture" in his stentorian voice and wrote the word on the blackboard in a flourish. The word actually was not was not connected the lesson in the textbook prescribed for us, though.
FIFTY years have passed and I am sixty four now. I swear to you that I did not come across that word again in all these years.(I am not in the legal profession, I may add.)I do read the odd novel or book. What then was the purpose of that strange word, if I did not come across it again and if I did not need it? Joke – was it meant to illustrate the phrase "hapax legomenon" in my personal life?
Just the other day I was working on a crossword puzzle. One clue was about the legal rights of the eldest son.
Believe it or not, before the eye had completed going over the clue, the submerged memory of the word, "primogeniture' surfaced at the speed of light. I filled in the word, utterly confident, without even bothering to to crosscheck with the other clues running across.
Nothing is lost. Everything is connected, see.
Comment. Nature abounds in parallels. May be these memories were like the rare arrivals of some comets that visit the earth once in eighty, hundred, two hundred years. May be, who knows?
V.S.SURY
Tags & Keywords : Words. dictionary,language
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