Great English writers have created characters who have made a greater impact on the reader than those authors themselves. Sherlock Holmes is more famous than Arthur Conan Doyle! Then there are Alexander Dumas’s D’Artagnan and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. But Oliver Goldsmith’s Beau Tibbs, in his book Citizen of the World, is a class apart.
Years ago, when we lived in Trivandrum, now Thiruvananathapuram, a relative of my grandmother used to visit and stay with us. He was Uncle Ramu. After the initial exchange of greetings with the family, he would start on his stories. Coming from Delhi, he dropped the names of politicians and top bureaucrats, the many evenings he spent at the Gymkhana Club or in their houses. He would refer to them by their first name.
We the youngsters and less-informed members of the family were no doubt impressed. Uncle Ramu felt delighted at the impression he had created in our minds. Sometimes, he would burst into Carnatic music and even western songs.
He would mention Gymkhana Club, saying he played tennis there every morning with the elite of Delhi society. He made us believe that most of the time he was attending parties hosted by well-known persons of Delhi, not to speak of the cocktails circuit. He talked of his busy schedule and hectic life. He moved in a society of fashion and glamour. His narration carried so much of conviction that the younger lot looked at him with wonder! Later we came to know that he had only a casual acquaintance with some of these people. He hardly knew them.
As I grew old and was exposed to many social gatherings, I came across many a Ramu! Once they left the gathering, people talked about them and we were reminded of Beau Tibbs. Now older and wiser and exposed to society, I tolerate them.
I also have learnt to pity them, for “the company of fools may first make us smile, but in the end we always feel melancholy”, as Goldsmith wrote. We are sure to discover that there is a bit of Beau Tibbs in each of us, which manifests itself at times without us being conscious of. Don’t you agree with me? We are all Beau Tibbs!
drgsundaram@yahoo.com
