DNA and Romantic letter reading by Aparna Sen

Aparna Sen was in Jaipur for the reading of the romantic letters exchanged between the illuminaries of our time.
The event was the highlight of Jaipur this week, but what a faux pas in the reporting of the event in todays issue of the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar in Jaipur
The Hindi paper linked Queen Elizabeth to Robert Browning. Fortunately the English edition DNA omitted mentioning Robert Browning altogether. Robert Browning was too early for Queen Elizabeth II and way to late for Queen Elizabeth I
The Elizabeth in question was poetess Elizabeth Barrett of Wimpole Street. Their romance was immortalised by Rudolf Besier in his drama "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" in 1930 and later in a film of the same name.
Elizabeth's father was so against their love affair that the two married and eloped to Australia
Some of Robert Browning's most romantic poems were written after meeting Elizabeth like "Men and Women"
and she in turn dedicated her "Sonnets from the Portuguese " to him. Incidentally , while alive,she was a more popular poet than Robert Browning.Some love story this.., and what a mess up.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ON VALENTINES DAY___BRUSHES WITH ROMANTICISM

                                                       It all started in 1957 when I joined St Mary’s Convent, Allahabad in my kindergartens. Back then, the school was co-educational in the nursery classes. There was this girl in my class, Kusum Bhatnagar, whom I had the uncanny knack of calling Kusum Bhattacharya, I do not know for what reason. The relevant fact is that I was then infinitely fond of that girl, and she probably likewise, for we always sat next to each other in class. We always had our tiffin together in the lunch break, and loved to share the food. We always helped each other with the classwork. That time it was customary for the class teacher to reward good work with scrap pictures often with glazes, and we always compared and admired our ‘scraps’. We always chose to partner each other when we were required to team up for craft work. At the end of the school, we invariably went out of the class and school, holding hands together and chatting along. Then, one day
Read more

RUMINATIONS OF A COLUMBAN

RUMINATIONS OF A COLUMBAN DR RAKESH BHARGAVA CLASS OF 1966                 I joined St Columba’s in 1959 in class 4 on transfer from St Josephs, Allahabad My class teacher was Mrs. Clark if I remember correctly. We used to have a ‘tables’ test after the lunch break. Mrs. Clark would rattle of twenty dash times dash for tables up to 19. You would get as many canes as the mistakes made. I imagined I would be able to get by with some mental math, but after receiving four to five canes for the first few days I got wiser and mugged up my tables.                 The construction of the swimming pool was started when I was in the 5 th , and by the time we reached the 6 th grade it was ready for inauguration. Admiral B S Soman, the Naval chief was invited for the same. He began his speech and, in the process, took of his shirt and trousers, and dived into the pool So was the pool inaugurated. With the 7 th grade began our art classes. The art teacher was called Aunt P
Read more

YOU, ME AND US

The young boy confronted his mother.”Who is this man who comes to our house once in a while or at weekends and stays the night, even sleeps in your bedroom?” “You shouldn’t speak about him like this. He is your father.” “Then how come he doesn’t stay with us like everyone else’s.” “He does. Only he works very hard and comes home when you are asleep and leaves before you wake up” Does this story sound familiar? It wouldn’t be your own story with a few modifications, by any chance? Let me see. Most doctors begin their day by patient consultations at 6 am or 7 am. The few health conscious one may go for a walk or a round of golf. Most of the wives being doctors start their work while seeing the kids off for school, or may even be off to work themselves. Those who are house wives settle down to attend to the household chores after seeing the hubby and kids off. In the afternoon, the kids come home, have lunch and settle down for their home work. The doc eats late or alone or both, and then
Read more