Today afternoon, I discovered in the Vikram Sarabhai library at IIM A, a slim volume that transported me back to the soporific summer afternoons of my childhood when I, after returning from school, would lay on my grandmother's ancient four-poster bed and read about the antics of Pagla Dashu, an adorable character created by Sukumar Ray-maybe the first eccentric hero of Bengali children's literature.
The book that I discovered today is an English translation of Ray's Abol Tabol by Sampurna Chattarjee, which contained a story featuring Dashu. One paragraph of Dashu: The Dotty One described the beauty of Dashu's lineaments.
Everything about Dashu-his face, his behaviour, the way he talks-makes it evident that he is a bit dotty. His eyes are as round as saucers, his ear are bigger than necessity demands, his head is a tangle of unruly curls.
Another adumbrates his talent as a wit.
Once he suddenly appeared in school wearing trousers. They were as baggy and shapeless as pyjamas and the coat that went with it looked like a huge pillowcase. He knew just as well as we did what an absurd sight he was but for some reason, this seemed to him a matter of great amusement. we asked him,"Why the trousers?" He laughed and said, "Why, to improve my English!"
On reading the story, I was reminded of a childhood yearning of mine-how I wished that I went to the same school as Dashu did! What a marvellously 'dotty' dude he must have been to befriend...
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