Have you ever noticed how real life people remind you of those charecters in fiction or mythology, or books or movies or video games?I mean,well,it is the looks too, but then it is not so much the looks as the aura about them.
I was crazy about Nancy Drew books when I was around eight. By the time I was nine I had read all the hard bound books, and used to stealthily tiptoe to my sisters room to read "Nancy Drew files".(Which was supposed to be a more grown-up version, with some more smoochy scenes). I had conjured an image of Nancy,Bess and George. Nancy was , in my mind, slightly blonde(although the book says she was "titian haired") , lean-but-not-todays-definition-of-"Hot", with a slightly freckled face.
It just struck me !! Well, I have known this person for like 7 months now.And we have been really good buddies, and spend a lot of time bitching, laughing,discussing,learning from each other and pulling each others legs.It is really funny how suddenly you see someone you've known for so long in a totally different light.Today, as K sat accross the desk from me, It all fell in place.She was the image of Nancy Drew that I had in my mind.Yeah, she doesnt have a dashing, TDH Ned by her side, but the then small town River Heights bred Nancy and this mid-western girl- BINGO !!!!
Oh, that leads us to another story.The story of how I found Mr.Ned Nickerson look alike in real life. It was my ninth standard.Life was simple and fun. And me and M and a couple of my other friends used to lunch together, by the shade of a big tree, watching squirrels nibble at a stray rice chunk or a rajma bean.And then this junior guy walked by. He was tall, not too macho, and pitch dark complexion.Something about his demeanor reminded me of Ned Nickerson.Me and M turned towards each other and shouted in unison "Hey, he is Ned!!!". Thereafter he would be Ned, in our minds alteast. The fact that we knew his real name later and hear even more of his exploits through the school grapevine didnt help. He is still Ned to us.
Hmm, now that we are on the subject,Have you heard the biblical story of Jacques, the simple, hardworking old shoemaker of Marseilles who wanted to see God?(If not you can read it here).Well, it was those Trichy evenings when you were tired and dust smeared from playing a combination of street-cricket,shuttle and foot volley.Sitting on the parapet, a group of us would debate on which is the best way to irritate the obnoxious peeping-tom next door a la famous five.And then we would hear it. A rythmic "Ting-Tong" would herald the arrival of a rickety old wooden cart.
It was almost as if it was a picture perfect canvas titled "The sweetmeat vendor of a small Indian city" -A rolled big plastic bag containing dirty white crisp pori(puffed rice),an old rusted ancient vessel "temperature controlled" with a thick layer of mud in which the brown peanuts were tossed around until it was just beyond tender.He would then separate the mud from the peanuts, with an equally rusty seive. The man himself,well, age had withered him,leaving him slightly hunchbacked.The contours on his oily skin was only matched by a telltale hole on both cheeks caused by intermittent absences in the molar area. Thick spectacles, were held in place by very old, almost brown thick threads that threatened to give in any moment. He would smile broadly at us, and say "Pori, kadala yellam jora erukkum papa" and give us "samples" to taste-everyday.My fertile imagination would conjure up images of him living in a small,dimly-lit one room place huddling his rags together to brave the cold.(Well,"cold" and trichy??)In my mind, he was the simple, benelovent Jacques.
Hmm, are all fictitious characters designed to make you relate them to people - past,present or future?Or is it just a treat to my already overworked imagination to "match" reality and imagination?? GOK !!
