Conversation with Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco appeared before me like a vision of God. Lately he has cottoned on to the fact that our state has developed a lot in the health sector and therefore he flew from Bologna to Guwahati for a consultation with a doctor from Gauhati Medical College. But as the luck would have it , there broke out a clash between the medical representatives and the doctors and as a result the OPD was cancelled. He had nowhere to go so he came to my apartment. He was in a flowery shirt that went well with his personality and the brown corduroy that hides his well-formed legs lent an extra dimension to his sartorial casualness. He was wearing a pair of sports shoes.
He seated himself in the computer chair in my small and cozy bed room that I sometimes use for reading my my electricity and medical bills.
In no time we launched ourselves into a desultory and freewheeling conversation. I hope it is conversation and not merely interrogation. Following is an excerpt:
NJK: Ever since I read your 'The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana' , I have become enamored of you and should you had been a girl or a lady-as you know I have special fascination for elegant elderly lady- I would have told 'I love you' and would have sung' drink to me only with thine eyes and I shall....
UC: Ha ha....(he laughed loudly and his chubby cheeks were sunk into tiny hollows).It is indeed a pleasure to have a fan like you who is half-sane and half-insane...
NJK: Can there be an absolutely sane person or mind?
UC: You are right. There can be no absolutely normal mind. The dividing line between normal and abnormal mind is very thin.
NJK: ...but where is mind?
UC: My mind is elsewhere.
NJK: Where?
UC: In the play I enjoyed last night. Bhul Nubujiba Bhupenda(Do not misunderstand Bhupenda). Oh! Just mind-blowing! The auditorium, you call it pandal right?, was crammed with spectators. Electrifying! I have come to know that the playwright has written more than thirty plays in a single year which is a remarkable feat and a record of a sort. Even Shakespeare could not write as many plays during his life time. How many did he(Shakespeare) write?
NJK: I do not know.
UC: But you told you studied literature in the university?
NJK: Yes. But that was the question which was never asked in my exams.
UC: OK. I see...
NJK: That is a good lead-in...
UC: Which one?
NJK: Bhul Nubujiba Bhupenda...
UC: Which way?
NJK: Bhupen Hazarika , of course...
UC: He is a great singer and composer. Bhupen Hazarika dead is more powerful than Bhupen Hazarika alive.
NJK: Very well said. Explain please...
UC: See the amount of soundbites and the reams of paper that have been wasted on controversies surrounding him.
NJK: And the latest one...
UC: Well Nayan, I must tell you that culture is a filtering process. What is relevant to our culture remains and irrelevants just sink into oblivion. Just see, Calpurnia was relevant as long as Ceaser was alive. After his death she became culturally(or historically) irrelevant. Have you ever inquired about Shakespeare's sons? Or about the family of Indira Gandhi's husband? They are just culturally irrelevant. So it boils down to the fact that a singer or a writer should be judged only on the basis of his or her work.
NJK:..so it is not necessary to know how many plays Shakeapeare wrote to appreciate him?
UC: Ha...(No this time he did n't laugh loudly. He became grave instead.)
NJK: What else did you like about our city?
UC: The big garbage can without lid installed by the city's civic authority.
NJK: A filth phile...ha ha...
UC: No.It stirs your thought. It reminds me of your great writer Raja Rao who said that there can be no India without( I was told that there is no crow in a place called Barpeta in Assam. Is any Barpetia reading this? Can you please verify?) crow. These crows feed on those garbage. Besides this provokes us into thinking if mankind as technological beings and mankind as civilized social beings are going hand -in -hand.
NJK: Can you crisscross the city without ever finding such a garbage can?
UC: Nayan, you have never been original. This is from Gerges Perec.
NJK: You have n't read Piere Manard?
UC: Ha ha....
NJK: no, I am serious. Can there be an Einstein without Newton? The very concept of originality is flawed Is Shakespeare original?
UC: NJK ,you so-called educated people are very intelligent or rather cunning. you can rationilse . And you always rationalise to your favour.
With due apology to Umberto Eco.
For the full text of the conversation, please log onto the website: www.njkmadtalk.com
Umberto Eco appeared before me like a vision of God. Lately he has cottoned on to the fact that our state has developed a lot in the health sector and therefore he flew from Bologna to Guwahati for a consultation with a doctor from Gauhati Medical College. But as the luck would have it , there broke out a clash between the medical representatives and the doctors and as a result the OPD was cancelled. He had nowhere to go so he came to my apartment. He was in a flowery shirt that went well with his personality and the brown corduroy that hides his well-formed legs lent an extra dimension to his sartorial casualness. He was wearing a pair of sports shoes.
He seated himself in the computer chair in my small and cozy bed room that I sometimes use for reading my my electricity and medical bills.
In no time we launched ourselves into a desultory and freewheeling conversation. I hope it is conversation and not merely interrogation. Following is an excerpt:
NJK: Ever since I read your 'The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana' , I have become enamored of you and should you had been a girl or a lady-as you know I have special fascination for elegant elderly lady- I would have told 'I love you' and would have sung' drink to me only with thine eyes and I shall....
UC: Ha ha....(he laughed loudly and his chubby cheeks were sunk into tiny hollows).It is indeed a pleasure to have a fan like you who is half-sane and half-insane...
NJK: Can there be an absolutely sane person or mind?
UC: You are right. There can be no absolutely normal mind. The dividing line between normal and abnormal mind is very thin.
NJK: ...but where is mind?
UC: My mind is elsewhere.
NJK: Where?
UC: In the play I enjoyed last night. Bhul Nubujiba Bhupenda(Do not misunderstand Bhupenda). Oh! Just mind-blowing! The auditorium, you call it pandal right?, was crammed with spectators. Electrifying! I have come to know that the playwright has written more than thirty plays in a single year which is a remarkable feat and a record of a sort. Even Shakespeare could not write as many plays during his life time. How many did he(Shakespeare) write?
NJK: I do not know.
UC: But you told you studied literature in the university?
NJK: Yes. But that was the question which was never asked in my exams.
UC: OK. I see...
NJK: That is a good lead-in...
UC: Which one?
NJK: Bhul Nubujiba Bhupenda...
UC: Which way?
NJK: Bhupen Hazarika , of course...
UC: He is a great singer and composer. Bhupen Hazarika dead is more powerful than Bhupen Hazarika alive.
NJK: Very well said. Explain please...
UC: See the amount of soundbites and the reams of paper that have been wasted on controversies surrounding him.
NJK: And the latest one...
UC: Well Nayan, I must tell you that culture is a filtering process. What is relevant to our culture remains and irrelevants just sink into oblivion. Just see, Calpurnia was relevant as long as Ceaser was alive. After his death she became culturally(or historically) irrelevant. Have you ever inquired about Shakespeare's sons? Or about the family of Indira Gandhi's husband? They are just culturally irrelevant. So it boils down to the fact that a singer or a writer should be judged only on the basis of his or her work.
NJK:..so it is not necessary to know how many plays Shakeapeare wrote to appreciate him?
UC: Ha...(No this time he did n't laugh loudly. He became grave instead.)
NJK: What else did you like about our city?
UC: The big garbage can without lid installed by the city's civic authority.
NJK: A filth phile...ha ha...
UC: No.It stirs your thought. It reminds me of your great writer Raja Rao who said that there can be no India without( I was told that there is no crow in a place called Barpeta in Assam. Is any Barpetia reading this? Can you please verify?) crow. These crows feed on those garbage. Besides this provokes us into thinking if mankind as technological beings and mankind as civilized social beings are going hand -in -hand.
NJK: Can you crisscross the city without ever finding such a garbage can?
UC: Nayan, you have never been original. This is from Gerges Perec.
NJK: You have n't read Piere Manard?
UC: Ha ha....
NJK: no, I am serious. Can there be an Einstein without Newton? The very concept of originality is flawed Is Shakespeare original?
UC: NJK ,you so-called educated people are very intelligent or rather cunning. you can rationilse . And you always rationalise to your favour.
With due apology to Umberto Eco.
For the full text of the conversation, please log onto the website: www.njkmadtalk.com
