Peccavidillos
The story goes that in 1842, when Sir Charles Napier finally defeated the Amirs of Sind, he telegraphed the Governor General (or his, Napier's, brother; the stories differ, as apocryphal ones usually do), a single Latin word - Peccavi (I have sinned).
If the RSS has it's way, Mr. L K Advani will have to say something of the kind too. This time, the phrase will have to be meant literally.
The BJP spokespeople, on the other hand, might have to say Ppeccavi. I cannot but be amazed at the kind of spin they are attempting - I was watching the NDTV program The Big Fight tonight, where both the BJP and the VHP were intent on emulating our cricket pitches. Their argument was that Mr. Advani did not call Mr. Jinnah a secularist. I presume he said that Jinnah looked like a duck, walked like a duck, and quacked like a duck.
A guest columnist on the Rediff site echoes this hair-splitting view -
The man also alludes to the remarkably restrained manner in which the RSS has behaved in the face of grave provocation from across the media. I might be dim-witted, but the only person to have provoked the RSS through last week has been, in my opinion, Advani.
The language in the column leaves a lot to be desired, but wait, I found a D N Mishra who wrote the article Is CPM wanning?, for the BJP website (I am sure he didn't mean Is CPM Winning?). Ah, is the columnist with no introduction on Rediff the same ex-member of Parliament who waxxed eloquent on the CPM? I hope so - I shudder to think of two D N Mishra-jis imposing their linguistic skills on our nation.
I am also disheartened, though not surprised, by the lack of political courage demonstrated by the BJP leadership - they had clear cut options of either endorsing Advani's right to his opinion or accepting his resignation. Naturally, the BJP, political party that it is, rejected Advani's resignation, while obliquely criticising Advani by referring to Jinnah as the leader of a communal agitation to achieve his goal of Pakistan.
To get back to Napier. Ironically enough, Punch Magazine is supposed to have been the source for the Peccavi quote. The war for Sind was not popular back in Blighty, and there were rumours that Sir Napier won not as much by gallantry as he did through bribery. The magazine is supposed to have published a cartoon in 1843, in which Napier strides through the carnage of the war, apologetically saying, you guessed it, Peccavi. I am sure there are other Peccavi stories as well - Napier might have been more sinned against than he had Sind.
To plough on, the British army in India seems to have had a weakness for bad Latin puns, if these attributions are to be believed :
Commander of the British forces that successfully relieved their Lucknow garrison : Nunc fortuna est (I am in luck now)
Lord Dalhousie, after the capture of Oudh : Vovi (I have vowed)
[ Technorati Tags : Advani India ]
If the RSS has it's way, Mr. L K Advani will have to say something of the kind too. This time, the phrase will have to be meant literally.
The BJP spokespeople, on the other hand, might have to say Ppeccavi. I cannot but be amazed at the kind of spin they are attempting - I was watching the NDTV program The Big Fight tonight, where both the BJP and the VHP were intent on emulating our cricket pitches. Their argument was that Mr. Advani did not call Mr. Jinnah a secularist. I presume he said that Jinnah looked like a duck, walked like a duck, and quacked like a duck.
A guest columnist on the Rediff site echoes this hair-splitting view -
He merely noted Jinnah's forceful espousal of Pakistan as a secular State, which is quite different from certifying Jinnah as a secular person.
The man also alludes to the remarkably restrained manner in which the RSS has behaved in the face of grave provocation from across the media. I might be dim-witted, but the only person to have provoked the RSS through last week has been, in my opinion, Advani.
The language in the column leaves a lot to be desired, but wait, I found a D N Mishra who wrote the article Is CPM wanning?, for the BJP website (I am sure he didn't mean Is CPM Winning?). Ah, is the columnist with no introduction on Rediff the same ex-member of Parliament who waxxed eloquent on the CPM? I hope so - I shudder to think of two D N Mishra-jis imposing their linguistic skills on our nation.
I am also disheartened, though not surprised, by the lack of political courage demonstrated by the BJP leadership - they had clear cut options of either endorsing Advani's right to his opinion or accepting his resignation. Naturally, the BJP, political party that it is, rejected Advani's resignation, while obliquely criticising Advani by referring to Jinnah as the leader of a communal agitation to achieve his goal of Pakistan.
To get back to Napier. Ironically enough, Punch Magazine is supposed to have been the source for the Peccavi quote. The war for Sind was not popular back in Blighty, and there were rumours that Sir Napier won not as much by gallantry as he did through bribery. The magazine is supposed to have published a cartoon in 1843, in which Napier strides through the carnage of the war, apologetically saying, you guessed it, Peccavi. I am sure there are other Peccavi stories as well - Napier might have been more sinned against than he had Sind.
To plough on, the British army in India seems to have had a weakness for bad Latin puns, if these attributions are to be believed :
Commander of the British forces that successfully relieved their Lucknow garrison : Nunc fortuna est (I am in luck now)
Lord Dalhousie, after the capture of Oudh : Vovi (I have vowed)
[ Technorati Tags : Advani India ]
posted by daemon at 1:30 AM
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