Among the Not So Great

Conclusion

(To an Unconcluded Book)

I read in some old book on Indian Medicine about a guru and his student. The student had, at the end of his studies, to pass an examination. The guru called him and sent him out on an assignment. He (guru) specified a few months’ time and a large extent of the countryside, and asked the boy to find out a plant which had no medicinal property whatsoever. The boy went out and made a diligent survey, noted and studied all the plants (cultivated, wild, weeds, trees, etc.) and returned to submit that he could not find a plant as wanted by his guru. The teacher was well satisfied and passed his student!

The above story sets, I feel, an apt and happy background to the twenty or so friends and co-weeds of this — our “Garden”. Most of them were quite close to me and helped me see and understand a bit more of the garden. I hope others too feel the same to a lesser or greater degree. If it can be so assumed, I would feel I have done a bit of my ‘home-work’ or ‘spade work’ — may be in a backyard. Yet it is our backyard.

There are more such friends that I wish would rekindle the memories of some, or be introduced to others. Unfortunately I myself was introduced, rather introduced myself to them very late. I did not have enough time to know them, get close to them. I do not have enough matter to justify and/or satisfy our collective effort to write, print, read and may be wonder and admire, or in some cases emulate. So I close this series for now, keeping ajar the door of a Past. Who knows some more old friends may just knock and enter our Present to rejoice us with a few moments of pleasure or even pass on some precious lesson they had garnered in their times. If I do not know enough, I would rather club two or three of them together to provide the reader a satisfying mouthful-bite — of a mental kind — rather than give them a complete go-by and lose them.

I have again foraged into our ‘backyard’ and found, to my great satisfaction, some more friends to get re-acquainted with. A good thing I kept the door ajar. The friends did knock and enter. Going by the past developments of events, I thought not to write any more “CONCLUSION”, i.e. just leave the door of my memory ajar and let thoughts and ideas in and out freely, to be perchance trapped and fixed with paper and pen — so redeemed from the Past.

In this second edition of the book, I have added a few more “greats” and “Non-Greats”. Yet I would that the title Among the Not So Great be held on to, for all the reasons already mentioned. I think this would be like meeting an old friend — unlike sizing up a new acquaintance!