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There is this man called K.M. Thomas, who happens to be my senior in the profession by a few months.
He had a funny quote about Anecdotage from former top-cop V.R. Lakshminarayanan [VRL].
Here is the link:
http://tsvhari.com/template_article.asp?id=661
I am sure many in the modern era would not know the name VRL, ex DGP, Tamil Nadu.
He is the younger brother of former Supreme Court Judge V.R. Krishna Iyer.
VRL also happens to be the brother-in-law of one A.P. Venkateshwaran, who once was India's foreign secretary - the only man to be transferred into ignominy during a Prime Ministerial press conference by Rajiv Gandhi.
The three men I mentioned have an impeccable track record of honesty.
I had had a small quarrel with VRL when he was India's DGP.
It was over a Deputy Inspector General of Police - a certain Kandaswamy - who had been suspended on the basis of some of my reports but who had been reinstated and allowed to retire .
The reprieve had been granted by VRL.
When I had questioned him, he had smiled and said something to the following effect.
"You are a somewhat wet behind the ears conscientious journalist who will never learn to adequately earn. Your profession and those like me are meant for being compromisable beings. In the case of Kandaswamy, I will not tell you who above me requested me to allow his reprieve. But, consider the following: How many in your profession and mine will remember that I had once jointly headed the Central Bureau of Investigation whose officers had the temerity to arrest former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and that I had been shunted back to the state cadre upon her return to power in 1980? Will anyone bother to recall that my elder brother VRK is still considered India's conscience ... but would everyone concerned not merely point to his having given a reprieve to the same Mrs. Indira Gandhi during the emergency? And Rajiv Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi hates my brother-in-law AP Venkateshwaran. Kandaswamy the policeman has been alleged to have amassed a fortune worth Rs.25 lakhs in the form of real estate in Valparai. Will anyone bother to find out how much someone may have stashed in places like Valparaiso in Italy? And when it turns out that Rs.25 lakhs will not even be small change in the yardstick to measure corruption in future what will young whippersnappers like you do?"
Considering the huge scandals of today, running into hundreds of thousands of crores of rupees I must say, those were prophetic words from the incorruptible VRL.
Meanwhile, here is some more anecdotage - ancient and modern.
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai was a genius in using the English language, one is told.
He had been challenged to use the word because twice in a sentence by a few students.
And with facile agility, the man is believed to have said:
You cannot end or start a sentence with the word because, because, because is a conjunction.
In school to spite a female English teacher, I created an offbeat sentence thus:
To impress my teacher and prove a point, I shall use in a single sentence, not only not only but also but also in a repetitive sequence.
No sir, I am not equating myself to the Great Annadurai.
The only thing both of us have in common is a clever turn of phrase in Queen's English.
Meanwhile, here are some tongue-in-cheek usable quotes from the internet!
Have a nice weekend!
http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6872071/8-new-and-necessary-punctuation-marks
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