No Pulitzer Prize for you

So, I've figured it out. The lack of silverware in my trophy case (Pulitzer Prizes, Tony Awards, Grammy Awards, OBE's, etc.) is not really an indication of mediocrity and lack of achievement, but a testament to my great humanity. I get started on something and a furry critter distracts me or demands my immediate and undivided attention, and the perfect formula for cold fusion (or the theme and exposition of the Great American Novel) is temporarily shelved. I shift my focus and fully commit to fulfilling the pressing needs of the said critter. When I get back to it I can't remember what I was doing, much less the solution to world hunger. I will just have to accept the fact that I will only ever be as wonderful as my critters think I am—and that's pretty wonderful.

Gotta go. There's an affection crisis lurking.

Perspective of age

A friend and I visited Fort St. George in Chennai (Madras) some months back. This was the first English foothold on the Indian continent, established in the early 1600's. I had been once before a few months earlier, but there were some additional photographs I wanted to capture, particularly of St. Mary's Church which is the oldest Anglican Church in Asia, completed around 1680.

During the previous visit I had only seen the museum and the church. You're not allowed to enter the Secretariat, since it serves as the main government building for Tamil Nadu State. Actually, the Prime Minister of India (Dr. Manmohan Singh) was in Chennai one weekend to inaugurate the new Secretariat building which is under construction across town, so I'm not sure if the Fort St. George location will be opened to the public at some time.

On this visit, we wandered further afield and explored the complex. The old barracks has been converted into a storage depot for the Indian army, and the balconies were piled high with cases of stuff. We also discovered the old battlements and gun emplacements that protected the fort. The moat on the west side has turned into marsh, and we saw kingfishers, herons and many other birds. I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get a decent picture of a kingfisher who briefly landed on a tree nearby.

Then this elderly Tamil man came by and stopped to talk with us. He spoke very good English, but was still a little difficult to understand since most his teeth were missing. He was thrilled to see us and thanked us profusely for visiting his country. He had been an army officer and spoke of the old days and his fondness for the British. He spoke of Robert Clive and we both had the impression at the time that he was saying that he knew Clive, which is scarcely creditable since later research revealed that Clive died in 1774. It was clear the the man admired the British and was concerned about the condition of self-governed India since independence. There was even a hint of regret that the British had left.

This was astonishing to me at first, but I realized that there was significant turmoil and pain during independence and partition. All of those who lived through those times, and especially those who had success within the British system saw their whole world turned upside down. This man saw Clive (who was largely responsible for establishing British military control over India) as a hero, although I suspect many of his fellow countrymen would have difficulty with that characterization. Personally, I'm thankful that India is free and independent, but history is rarely as clean and neat as we would like to believe.

I was reminded of my trip to China a few years back with a touring choir. We did one exchange concert with the faculty choir for a large university in Hangzhou. They were kind and welcoming and passionate about sharing their music with us. It was a very moving performance. Most of the faculty choir members were elderly and I realized as I watched that most of them were old enough to remember China before the revolution. These were folks who had seen their world completely changed several times over. They had survived (and perhaps even participated) in the Communist revolution. They had survived the Cultural Revolution, where being a professor was a dangerous profession. Now they are living through an upheaval as significant as the others, with the incredible economic and social changes that are occurring in China today.

The perspective of first hand experience somehow doesn't always translate to history once the original witnesses are gone. I'm very grateful for the witnesses to history that I have met, including my parents, and I hope I always take in the stories that describe the personal side of history.