TALES OF TRAVESTY
DR. JITENDRA SINGH
The opening phrase of soliloquy in Shakespeare’s famous play “Hamlet” portrays the eternal dilemma “To be or not to be: that is the question, whether its nobler in mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of trouble…’’
The Shakespearean dilemma once again seemed to personify itself last week when the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the American President Barack Obama were holding a meeting and the common question facing both of them was… To quit or not to quit ? While in case of Manmohan Singh, the Indian media was debating the desirability of his quitting the post of Prime Minister in the wake of Rahul Gandhi’s public snub over the bill to check criminals in politics, in case of Barack Obama, the US media was debating the longevity of his resolve to quit smoking.
The sequence of events to follow was equally interesting. While Manmohan Singh, quite expectedly, refused to quit the office of PM though simultaneously expressing a desire to serve under “PM’’ Rahul Gandhi, Obama on the other hand, quite unexpectedly, declared that he had quit smoking out of fear of his wife. One refused to quit, the other agreed to quit… but both, subject to the goodwill of a woman pulling the strings from behind… Sonia Gandhi in first case, Michelle Obama in the second case.
The common historic fact shared by Manmohan Singh and Obama is that both managed to serve two consecutive terms as the heads of regime in their respective countries… Manmohan Singh becoming the only Indian Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to have achieved that feat and Obama joining the galaxy of American Presidents including Lincoln and Roosevelt in that bracket.
But, beyond that, the similie does not go very far. For example, while the post of PM is not easily obtainable after being quit, the cigarette or cigar can be lighted up all over again even after declaring to have quit.
That reminds of an anecdote when, while counselling the great litterateur Mark Twain to quit smoking, his physician gently suggested, “Sir, it is not so difficult to quit the habit”. To this, the inimitable Mark Twain responded, “I know, it is not so difficult…because I have quit cigarette more than once’’.
And yet, there is one similarity between the two.. that is, the conditionality for quitting. Manmohan Singh says he will quit but only if it is for the ‘‘noble’’ cause of serving under Rahul Gandhi, Obama says he has quit only in bargain for marital bliss.
But yes….. before one comes to accept this as the last word, let us not forget what Sir Winston Churchill, one of the most powerful world leaders who preceded Obama by over half a century and who was a chain smoker of cigar, had to say…. ‘‘I smoke, I drink, I am fond of women and that keeps me 200% fit’’.
Obama may or may not agree with Churchill but he cannot deny agreeing with one of his equally glamorous predecessors in White House, Bill Clinton….atleast on the theory of keeping fit through indulgence with women-internees at the White House. As for Manmohan Singh, it would be too unfair to cite any such reference because, all said and done, the Hon’ble Prime Minister is known to be a thorough gentleman and noble too.
In the final reckoning, ‘‘to quit or not to quit’’ is as difficult a question as ‘‘to be or not to be’’. And whatever the common man’s take on this, Umapathy sums up the eternal dilemma of mortal existence with a Ghalib phrase ‘‘…..Duboya Mujhko Hone Ne, Na Hota Main To Kya Hota ?’’
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