Characters...

Characters...Yes, we meet so many characters in our life, that somehow, the derogatory sense in which the word is often used can also be ignored...
So, over the last few days, while doing what many others apart from me normally do, I have ended up discussing so many characters that finally a good friend, an Unparallelled bibliophile, at the risk of seeming to be indulging in flattery, suggested that I revive my "Normal blog" by posting about characters...

Works well for me, since I had lost hopes of people being interested in the "normal blog"..where people talk about themselves, their opinions, no holds barred...Without ever feeling the need for disguising/encrypting their thoughts and dreams...

So, here it goes..And I am suggesting fellow blogger friends to do this to their blogs...A neat idea for a blog topic when you either
1. Don't have much else to say
OR
2. Don't wanna say much (especially if you have decided to take a break from depending on a blog!)

Without wasting any more time/space, lets get to the act..
Although I have read very less fiction, I have taken this up..
I am gonna talk about 5 fictional characters who have influenced me, my thoughts and possibly my personality and life..
Here goes..

1. Sri Krishna/Sthiramathi/Disciple

Growing up, studying in Chinmaya Vidyalaya, a school where you are expected to memorise Samskirt verses as part of a course in the curriculum, you are bound to encounter some verses from the Bhagavad Gita...And the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, called Bhakti Yoga, is where Sri Krishna describes the ideal qualities and virtues of a disciple..Some of these verses which most of us only memorised back then and only later understood the full import when in our teens; they have an insurmountable philosophical value; insurmountable because one just cant get over them once they enlightened about the meaning of some of the Bhakti Yoga's verses...
Sthiramathi, the ideal disciple, easily ranks number 1. (Although I have mentioned Sri Krishna, The Lord, above for purely religious reasons! - The disciple is never supposedly spiritually superior after all!)


2. Sherlock Holmes

For his "singular" style of analysis and thought process.
What one admires is often what one also aspires for, it is said, and it is definitely true in my case...
Sharpness, presence of mind, superior mental acumen and a subtle disposition symbolising elegance and simultaneous effortless modesty...any one can be carried away..
And a light head like me is no exception!

3. Phaedrus

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - A book by Robert M Pirsig was something that TheOriginalVishwas suggested to me... ;-)
A book recommendation from someone who reads Philosophy and Programming alike was irresistible for even a magazine/newspaper happy reader like me..
ZMM was a very, very good read, marrying fiction with philosophy, and every bike riding guy should read it (girls and non bikers are also welcome!)
Phaedrus, at first appears to be your average biker, riding across towns and villages...until he starts talking about life, philosophy and especially about the human obsession with taxonomy, classification, stereotyping and judgment-making.
I really don't know why I could associate myself so much with him and agreed with most if not all of what he said....to the extent that his opinions became mine...

4. Howard Roark

The Fountainhead, another recommendation from TheOriginalVishwas, was also well received...probably because it was not "fiction" of the regular variety and had some of Ayn Rand's "Philosophy" blended into the "plot".
No double quotes would be required in mentioning the character development, since there were characters one would love to hate as well..
But, Howard Roark can influence a reader and then throw him/her into a weird state.
You appreciate Howard Roark and want to be like Howard Roark..and there lies the paradox...If you really like Howard Roark, or are actually in someways like Howard Roark, you would never be in a state where you want to be like someone else, or emulate another person...
Influencing, nevertheless! Thought provoking to say the least!

5. Richard

Richard Bach, in his book "The Bridge Across Forever", develops ideas and dreams around this character by his very name.
Apart from the fact that Richard is a pilot, what personally got me "hooked" onto him and the book was the fact that I had decided to consciously guard myself against attachment of any kind before I started reading the book.
I started reading the book on the train from TheCity to TheVillage, and completed reading the book only a coupla weeks after setting myself up in TheVillage...
This also explains why I said "hooked" with a double quote...Reading this book, the romantic idiot I can be at times, I would be carried away into the land of dreams before I encounter hard realities of distance from the past and the future, and resume reading again..
The book was my dope, and I imagined myself to be Richard at times, especially because the idea of a soulmate was as elusive to me as to him during the initial parts of the book....
I guess I am still hooked to some dreams produced as a by-product of reading the book, and if I cant fly planes like Richard, I can still dream of finding a soulmate like he did, in the later parts of the book...
Unfortunately, I am in this Bschool on an educational loan, apart from a zero percent interest "home loan" for working capital, and what with flying being expensive, including fuel, and air traffic in Bharat being what it is, I can cofortably blame it on "lack of infrastructure" inside, outside and above this B school ;-)