Summary of the July Meeting

This summary courtesy Air Commodore (Retd) Pankaj Mehrotra

'Characters as depicted in literature’ as well as 'Travel as depicted in literature' were the topics discussed freely by participants invited by Brig. Satish Inamdar. The participants included Dr. Phiroze Poonawala, Ms Kusum Gokarn, Ms Shama, Mr. Vasu Ramanujam & Ms. Lalita, Ms. Ila Gautam, Ms Renuka Vijairaghavan and young member Mridula Vijairaghavan and Air Cmde Pankaj Mehrotra.


Satish conducted the proceedings. Renuka had researched the topic diligently and ook us on a voyage to 'The Treasure Island', complete with characterisation of 'Long John Silver' (eye-patch, tap-tap of wooden leg et-al!), graphic description of Pirates emphasising that we know these fictitious characters much better than real life persons. This generated a few observations from members present. Later she referred to Thomas Hardy, Pearl S Buck and Gerald Durrell's writings. Her comments on the masterly characterization of the protagonist by actor Anthony Quinn in the movie version of the (heavy) classic 'Old Man & The Sea ' prompted a parallel with 'Guns of Navarone' by Satish.

Lalita spoke on "Pride & Prejudice" and "God Father" eliciting favourable response from all. She spoke of the journey to Sweden to the city of Lund and the admirable concern common folk have for environment and ecology. She was impressed by their use of bicycles. Vasu was enthused by ‘Obelix’ and regaled us with his fixation with the magic potion. Tin-Tin also had a cathartic effect on him since he was in different cities all the time. Later, while commenting on “Samarkand” his quote of Vijay Nambisan: “Travelling is taking your unwantedness elsewhere", led to introspection & reflection. Star Trek and the Philedelphia Experiment drew attention. His narration of Singer Jagjit Singh's recounting of a joke on Darts & missing wives drew applause. Dr. Poonawala spoke about his journeys to Turkey and Greece and the pristine manner of preservation of Mosques, Churches and Chariot Tracks.

Kusum spoke sensitively on “Eat Pray & Love” ... Somerset Maugham's ' Way of All Flesh". and Ramayana/ Mahabharata. She alluded to the character Jeeves in P. G. Wodehouse‘s Creations.

Shama said that the topic on travel lends itself to classification. She recommended "Odyssey ' .. by Homer, Inferno by Dante, Area of Darkness by William Darymple , "Wounded Civilisation" and 9 lives in Search of India by V.S. Naipal and also on the subject of constructive wanderlust by referring to the 5 to 10 year long voyages of Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle wherein were chronicled the saga of painstaking collection of specimens of flora & fauna across continents centuries ago resulting in the magnum opus " Origin of Species ". During these voyages he came face to face with Orang-outang and the 'Theory' of the 'Survival of the Fittest' took shape.

Satish Inamdar also spoke about Pu La Deshpande's work 'Vyakti ani Vyasli' - on characterisation of people from various walks of life - and "Maneshi Mansay" by Sankaresh Mangukar.

Young member Mridula Vijairaghavan read out exquisite passages from her favourite books viz. 'The King and I' .. by Prerna Singh Bindra , 'Drunken Forest , My
Family & Other Animals " by Gerald Durrell taking us on the trail of Big Beasts.
She liked Alice in Wonderland, Her favourite character was 'SPIRO' .

Since I had brought some cookies and biscuits made by Tihar Jail inmates to supplement the hot tea provided by Dr. Poonawala, the captive audience could listen patiently to me when I spoke about HG Wells and "The Time Machine" and summed up the proceedings!

.. Air Commodore ( Retd.) Pankaj Mehrotra