Summary of the December meet

Hi friends,

The meeting of the club was held on 14th December 2008 amidst the picturesque surroundings of the Panshet lake, nestling within the folds of the Western Ghats. It was a meeting cum picnic at a resort called Suryashibir.

The drive to the resort was not without its share of excitement. As the car groaned through the narrow potholed track, mistakenly called a road, we often wondered if this was a road to nowhere as each curve revealed just another curve. But soon reassuring signs of Suryashibir winked at us from rock faces along the bends.

After breakfasting on pohas and uppama, we settled down to discussing the first of the two topics, viz. ‘A classic which according to you is most relevant today’.

We may well be a small group, but the views and ideas that come forth each time are as divergent as the legendary diversity of our country. That’s how the juices flow and they flowed once again.

As the title suggests, a number of classics were considered by the members and the relevance of their themes discussed. We talked of child labour as practised many decades ago and now, and the insidious nature of this evil which defies elimination. Light was thrown on the fetters that chain womanhood and her efforts to break her shackles and fly free to realize her potential. This eternally dormant force successfully rears up its head in the case of a lucky few who rewrite the rules and blow the myth that single or married women cannot be powerful and capable of taking charge of their own lives. We reflected on some despicable human traits that twist the law to suit themselves and exploit others with impunity. We discussed how basic human emotions remain unchanged no matter how advanced we may like to call ourselves. Greed and selfishness remain great motivators and the vast majority have to do without a Portia like messiah coming to their aid in times of distress.

Those familiar with the scriptures referred to how Lord Krishna’s exhortation could raise a weak-kneed Arjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Needless to say it is as relevant today as in the days of the Mahabharat. A little skid from the normal was introduced when a brainteaser was posed and answers sought by a would-be participant.

It was agreed that change is constant, but the basic human emotions remain unchanged. In the fast-paced march of technology we wondered which values as depicted in the classics would endure. Whether marriage as an institution would continue to exist or perish, whether the spirit of friendship - all for one and one for all - would still bind friends as they did in the years gone by, whether the young would pay heed to their elders or will their mental doors open only inwards were some of the anxieties articulated.

After an interlude of fun and games we had an early lunch as the games and the pure air had made everyone hungry. A few games tested our reflexes especially with the ball. Others were purely for fun. Post lunch a few tried valiantly to make themselves comfortable on the hard wooden benches to snatch their forty winks.
The classics that were resurrected were
The Three Musketeers- Alexandre Dumas
The Merchant of Venice-Shakespeare
Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte
The Mahabharat
The Lessons of Terror-Caleb Carr

The quotable quotes were:
At the entrance to The Indian Military Academy (and this is not verbatim):
“Country-The security and self-respect of my country always comes first
Men-Security and welfare of my men come second
Self-My own safety and security comes last and always the last.”

At the entrance to the Christian Medical College, Vellore:
“God grant me the courage to change things that I can,
The serenity to accept what I cannot
And the wisdom to know the difference.”

“Conventionality is not morality
Self righteousness is not religion
To attack the first is not to assail the last.”

In the second session we discussed the second topic- ‘Has your yesterday influenced your today?’.

This session was sombre. Terrorism and its implications were discussed and how the repeated attacks by terrorists have affected our psyche, especially when victims happened to be friends. Instances of individual tragedies and their real life sufferings were touching. The financial losses, the trauma, the slow recovery towards normalcy, were all brought alive. Our childhood is our past and the values we imbibe during our formative years make us what we are today. The values of the parents are absorbed by the children who then replicate the same values in their adult life because no other course of action would appeal to them. But what we perceive as wrong, as unjust, would surface again making it a point of rebellion. Children who are brought up in a highly male dominated society will not tolerate it in their own lives as they saw the wrongs it had done to their womenfolk.

The younger group showed how they were influenced by their elders and because of a generation gap between them and their parents, they lean more on older siblings to share their secrets.

The session over, we all trouped in for that ever welcome cup of tea. After our adieus and a promise to meet next mouth we hit the road again.

The return was uneventful. We knew what lay ahead.

Zulekha Merchant