Double meaning

DOUBLE ENTENDRE OR DOUBLE MEANING

“No. No. You got me wrong. I didn’t mean that”- How many times have we heard such utterances from people in our day to day conversation? The fact is that no language is free from words and phrases which could have ‘double meaning’. English is no exception. Hear this one.
My senior colleague Ramakrishna is a remarkable individual. An agent for LIC, UTI, MFs, Shares, Bonds and what have you; he is a walking-talking encyclopedia on mythology as well. He does not look a day older than fifty though his actual age should be around eighties. He and his BSA-SLR bicycle are inseparable. At the drop of a hat he would be at Tirumala and when he is back he would have the famous laadoo for my (now late) father as prasaadam. For such a man to be confined at home, it had to be none other than the ‘cataract’ operation he had to undergo. The docs advised him rest for a fortnight. His feelings? “I have been handed over a sentence of R I”, he lamented.
“So what has these to do with Double Meaning? For Heaven’s sake, come to the point.” I can hear the readers saying.
Well take the word “Cataract” for instance. For me this word always brings back memories of SIES, King Circle, Bombay when my favourite pan-chewing, large framed, benign English teacher and school Headmaster of Pallasena origin Sree P V Parameswara Iyer, ever immaculately dressed, suited and booted with his large kumkuma pottu unfolding the beauty of poetries, elaborating the intricacies of the words and their purport as conceived by the poets who wrote them. I do not know from where he pulled out that day the poem titled “The Cataract of Lodore” by Robert Southey. But he shot out an open question to our class of thirty, “What does the word Cataract mean?” Without exception every one answered the obvious, “A cataract is the clouding of the eye’s natural lens. It can be corrected through surgery etc etc.” Sree PVP was not impressed. He had set his trap alright and every one got ensnared.
“So Raman? (That’s what he used to call me) what have you to say?” he stared at me over the lowered thin gold plated spectacle frame.
“Sir, I have read the poem before.” I confessed. Here it means ‘waterfall’”, I finished saying. I could feel that if I were close enough, Sree PVP would have hugged me. So I was given the honour to read out the poem to the class.
“So what is so great about it?” you may ask. Well…The incident left a lasting impression in me…….. Guru/Sishya relationship.
The Lodore falls flows down the valley over the edge into Borrowdale as beautiful as our own cataract of the Jog (falls) of Karnataka best seen after the rains! Robert Southey immortalized in his stunning poem the beauty of the falls. The poet laureate was actually yielding to the pleading of school children to describe the falls. The poem is a glory hole of magical description where Southey uses around 150 adjectives to describe how the water comes down at Lodore. Read it (The Cataract of Lodore) at the attachment below and become a child again: (don’t worry it is virus scanned)
Nearer home I have this story related to us by my late father ever so many times about ‘Meppattur Bhattatiri in a dilemma’. While Bhattatiri was spending his time in devotion at Guruvayoor, a worldly minded Namboodiri approached him with a strange request. He had quarreled with his mistress, and thought of effecting reconciliation with her by presenting her with a highly complimentary verse expressive of his love. Though himself without any learning or poetical talents he had the temerity to approach Bhattatiri with the request to compose such a verse for him evidently with the idea of passing it on as his own. Bhattatiri was in a fix. As a devotee he was bound not to use the divine gift of poetical talents for such purposes as composing erotic verses, but at the same time he did not want to disappoint his friend who was in great distress. So he composed the following verse with the double entendre, apparently erotic but really deeply devotional.
Narayaneeya Karunaa manojnaa seivaarthaneeyaa surathah uthsukaanaam/
Punyena labhyaa yadi labhyathe saa vasuvyayo api utsava eva nrunaam//
“The goodwill of Narayani (the name of the lady) is the one desirable thing which a lovelorn person should seek to obtain. Only by great good fortune can one have it. To obtain it one will not consider even the expenditure of all one’s wealth as misfortune.”
The real devotional import the poet has in mind and which could be obtained by a little change in construing it is: “The quality of grace belonging to Narayana (the Supreme Being) is the most desirable objective. That alone is to be prayed for by those who aspire after divinity. It is to be obtained only by one who has an abundance of good deeds to his credit. A devotee will joyfully sacrifice even his life to attain it.”

So I cannot be blamed entirely if to unwind myself I always remain intrigued, fatally attracted by Double Meanings, slips, puns, spoonerisms, and word plays always wondering whether what it reflects is in reality what it means; to laugh at the joke, to analyze it and then to laugh at it even more the next time.

Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, is reported to have said,
"I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse." One wonders how he would have completed, "and Sanskrit to…...” God’s own language full of wit and charm, embodying a deep appreciation of human and celestial behaviour in all its colorful manifestations.
You are richer today if you have laughed, given or forgiven!
-Anonymous.

rgds
V V R
17th Jul 06.