Chapter 6 Poets and Pancakes by Asokmitran
CHAPTER: 6
Poets And Pancakes Ashokmitran
SUMMARY
It
is an excerpt from the book My Years
with Boss written by Asokmitran. The whole story deals with the time
spent by the author in Gemini studios. It begins with the description of the
make -up department which once had been Robert Clive’s stable. There were
people from different castes, religions and places representing national
integrity. A hierarchy of employees was maintained there and among them there
was an office boy who entered the studios with the ambition of becoming a
star actor or a top screen writer, director or lyrics writer but could never
fulfil his aim. He always blamed Kothamangalam Subbu for all his misfortune.
Subbu was an extraordinary fellow who could write, act and always suggest
ways to take them out of trouble. The narrator’s job was to cut out newspaper
clippings on a wide variety of subjects and store them in files. There was a
lawyer also in the story department of Gemini studios. Officially he was the
legal advisor but he was referred to just the opposite of that.
The
narrator also talks about Moral Re-Armament Army of some two hundred people
who performed two plays viz. Jotham Valley and Forgotten Factor. The people
of Gemini Studios were quite influenced by them and imitated their style.
Later, one more person who was supposed to be an editor, visited Gemini
Studios but his visit remained a mystery to all. Years later when the
narrator was out of Gemini Studios and he happened to buy a book from
roadside, he came to know about the identity of the editor and why he visited
Gemini studios.
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Theme
It deals with the methods and merits of interview, and brings to us views
and opinions of different people regarding interview.
Setting
There is no physical background for it. It runs in the abstract form. One
interview of Umberto Eco by Mukund Padmanabhan is given to understand the
pragmatic aspects of interview.
Characters
In the first part there are no characters apart from the views of some
celebrities. In the second part there are two characters-
Umberto Eco – He is a professor at the University of Bologna, Italy. He writes
novels on Sundays. He acquired intellectual superstardom with the publication
of The Name of the Rose.
Mukund Padmanabhan – He is from The Hindu and interviews Umberto Eco.
Main Points
Part I
11. The interview has become a commonplace of journalism.
22. Opinions of interview- of its functions, methods and merits vary
considerably.
33. To some it is a source of truth in its highest form and in practice, an
art.
44. Celebrities despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their
lives or feel that it diminishes them.
55. V. S. Naipaul said that some people are wounded by interviews and lose a
part of themselves.
66. Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice in Wonderland, was said to have had a
just horror of the interviewer and never consented to be interviewed.
77.According
to Rudyard Kipling, the interview is immoral; it is just as much a crime as an offence against a person, an assault; it deserves punishment;
it is cowardly and vile. Yet he perpetrated such an assault on Mark Twain.
28. H. G. Wells referred interview as an ordeal but was a fairly frequent
interviewee.
39. Saul Bellow described interview as
thumbprint on the windpipe.
410. Despite the drawbacks of interview, it is supremely serviceable medium of
communication. Almost everything of moment comes out through one man asking
questions of another.
Part
II
11. Umberto Eco is a professor, at the University of Bologna in Italy.
22. He has already acquired a formidable reputation as a scholar for his
ideas on semiotics, literary interpretations and mediaeval aesthetics.
33. With the publication of The Name of the Rose, he achieved intellectual
superstardom.
44. Umberto Eco has some philosophical interests and he pursue them through
his academic works and novels.
55. He works in empty spaces which he calls interstices.
66. His scholarly work has a certain playful and personal quality about it.
77. Regular academic style is invariably depersonalized and often dry and
boring.
88. When Umberto Eco presented his first doctoral dissertation, it was
appreciated by his professor and he went on to publish it.
99. At the age of 22, he understood that a scholarly work should be written
by telling the story of research.
110. Eco’s friend Barthes was frustrated that he was an essayist and not a
novelist.
111. Eco never felt any frustration about writing a novel. Rather he started
writing novel by accident.
112. Eco
has written five novels against many more scholarly works of non-fiction but 1. he is known as a novelist than a professor.
213. The Name of the Rose is a very serious novel. It’s a detective yarn at
one level but it also delves into metaphysics, theology and medieval history.
Yet it enjoyed a huge success.
314. The publishers and the journalists were puzzled at its success because
they believed that people liked trash and not the difficult reading experience.
415. The success of the book was a mystery.
GLOSSARY
Pancake - Make-up material
Stable - A farm building for housing horses
Incandescent - Bright,
Luminous
Fiery - Intense, Fierce
Misery - Wretchedness, Distress
Subjected - Likely to incur, Exposed
Integration - Unification, Harmony
Hideous - Repulsive, Ugly
Potion - Mixture, Concoction
Hierarchy - Ranking, Grading
Vessel - Container, Receptacle
Slapping - Applying, Daubing
Barge
into - Bump into, Rush in
Pervert - Degenerate, Miscreant
Woes - Sorrows, Griefs
Refrain - Abstain, Forebear
Diction - Choice of words, Phrasing
Improvident - Wasteful, Careless
Intimate - Close, Bosom
Demeanour - Behaviour, Deportment
Resemble - Look like, Take after
Sycophant - Flatterer, Bootlicker
Incriminating - Accusing
of a crime, Inculpative
Tirade - A long angry speech, Outburst
Catapulted - Shooted forth, Hurled
Clumsy - Lacking grace, Awkward
Haunt - Resort, Hang out
Filial - Familial, Pertaining to son or
daughter
Conjugal - Marital, of or relating to spouses
Compunction -
Remorse, Regret
Homilies - Sermon, Preaching
Trapeze - A short horizontal bar used by acrobats
Surmise - Guess, Speculation
Peppered - Sprinkled, Mixed
Cultivate - Develop, Foster
Incongruity - Unsuitability, Incompatibility
Persistent - Stubborn, Obstinate
Persevering - Diligent, Enduring
Drudge - Servant, One who does a tedious job
Disillusion - Disenchantment, Free from illusion
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. How did the make-up department of
Gemini Studios symbolize national integration?
Ans: The
make-up department was first headed by a Bengali. He was succeeded by a
Maharashtrian who was assisted by a Dharwar Kannadiga, an Andhra, a Madras
Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese and the usual local Tamils. It shows that a
great deal of national integration was going on in the make-up department.
2. How did the make-up department maintain
a strict hierarchy?
Ans: There
was a strict hierarchy in the make-up department. The chief make-up man made the chief actors and actresses ugly, his
senior assistant the second hero and the heroine, the junior assistant the main
comedian and so forth. The players who played the crowd werethe responsibility
of the office boy.
3. Why was the office boy of
make-department jealous of Subbu?
Ans: The
office boy was jealous of Subbu because he thought all his woes, ignominy and
neglect were due to Subbu. According to him, just by the virtue of being born
in the caste of Brahmin, Subbu had a lead over him.
4. Why did Subbu have enemies?
Ans: Subbu
was very close and intimate with the boss. His general demeanour resembled a
sycophant’s. Moreover, he could say nice things about anything. These were the
reasons which created enemies for him.
5. How did the lawyer bring about an end
to the career of an actress?
Ans: Once
when a new actress blew over on sets, the lawyer turned on the recording
equipment. When she paused for a moment, the lawyer turned on the recording
device. This made her so much afraid that she could never overcome it and there
ended her acting career.
6. How was the lawyer different from the
other members of the story department?
Ans: The
lawyer was a man of cold logic in the crowd of Gandhiites and Khadiites. He
wore pants and tie and sometimes a coat whereas the others wore khadi dhoti and
a slightly oversized and clumsily tailored white khadi shirt.
7. What was MRA? What did they do in
Madras?
Ans: MRA
was the Moral Re-Armament Army led by Frank Buchman. There were around two
hundred people in the group. They performed two plays namely- Jotham Valley and
Forgotten Factor in Madras.
8. What did the people of Gemini Studios
think about a communist?
Ans: According
to them, a communist was a godless man. He had no filial or conjugal love; he
had no compunction about killing his own parents or his own children; and he
was always out to cause and spread unrest and violence among innocent and
ignorant people.
9. Who was the boss of Gemini Studios? Why
did he welcome MRA and the English visitor to the Studios?
Ans: Mr.
Vasan was the boss of Gemini studios. He welcomed MRA and the English visitor because both were against communism and Mr.
Vasan was of the same ideology.
10. What does The God that Failed refer to?
Ans: It
refers to the six eminent men of letters who took to communism, were
disillusioned and returned from it.
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. The author has used gentle humour to
point out human foibles. Explain.
Ans: Right
from the very start we find a touch of gentle humour in the story when he talks
of Pancakes used by Greta Garbo, Miss Gohar and Vyjayantimala but that Rati Agnihotri
might not have even heard of it. The depiction of make-up department brings out
how for the sake of bread people can work together irrespective of their caste
and religion. It also brings out the irony of on-screen and off-screen
appearances. The common tendency of people to be jealous of other’s success has
also been funnily brought out through Subbuand the office boy. Subbu’s presence
of mind has also been presented in a comic manner. The lawyer’s story tells us
of the people of cold logic and indifferent nature in our society. The way he
brought about an end to an actress’ career and lost his own job creates humour. Moreover the narration of the incongruence
of a British visitor at Gemini
Studios has been presented in all its comic detail.
2. Give
an account of the multi-faceted genius of Subbu.
Ans: Subbu
was a myriad minded genius.He had the ability to look cheerful at all times
even after having had a hand in a flop film. He always had work for somebody.
He was quite loyal and used his entire creativity to his principal’s advantage.
He was tailor-made for films. He was a
man who could be inspired when commanded. He always had solutions to every problem. Subbu made
filmmaking very easy. He had a separate identity as a poet and though he was certainly capable of
higher forms, he deliberately chose to address his poetry to the masses. He
composed several truly original story poems in folk refrain and diction and
also wrote a sprawling novel Thillana Mohanambal. He never aspired for lead roles
but whatever role he played he performed better than others. He had a genuine
love for anyone he came across and his house was a permanent residence for dozens
of near and far relations.
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