The Commons

Musings with Old Friends : IV

In the carry forward days of the Indian Empire are many curious things that the Indic might shield today or flaunt it shamelessly. Among the many inexplicable beliefs that arose from early Indian civilization is the fact that the Indic believed everyone in the world is basically Indic.

No doubt the belief was based on the provincial nature of the Indic outlook about the world. The Thais, under King Chulalongkorn used to think that Thailand was as big as the Soviet Union. But in doing so, the people who experience such a provincial nature of experience come to view everybody else as essentially themselves without accounting for any difference.

It was in such a curious outlook that a friend of mine in college came to speak of his trip to Ireland some years ago. He obviously found the Irish hospitable but he went on to add further that the Irish shared the same passion for life as the Indic. He referred to the musical tone of the spoken word and the fact that both people seemed to share an attitude for life that believed in a certain fair outcome for all events eventually.

The thought occupied me in my own experience of my perceptions and one day I took the bold step of identifying the Indic experience and identity in western personality, at least in the way that its portrayed in the screen versions.

There's the notorious Johnny Ringo of the presentation ' Tombstone.' Silent, sometimes sullen but mysteriously challenging everyone with a ' play-to-the-end ' that is symptomatic of a mystical belief in life's immortality. Then, recently there was the personality of a young music composer in the screen presentation of ' Cloud Atlas.' He had a gay relation that didn't satisfy him, then he broke from his well known employer over the proprietorship of a composition they may have both worked on together. Finally he shot himself.

But my greatest curiosity is about the character Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Driven into obsession over issues, creates a discernment over the smallest details and observations and is fed by an insatiable drive to prove that he is as good as Dr. Moriarty. Curious. It would explain why the average Indic goes to great moderation of his personality these days. Someone is likely to think that he figures he owns the world. However this raises an issue about the integrity of passions and its inquiries.