Anya's Musings

You know how there are those interviews of people in magazines and stuff where they ask if there was anyone fictional figure they could meet, who would it be. I have always found it unfair for those people to be forced to choose just one. If it were me, I'd go crazy thinking which person to single out. I'd like to meet so many people straight out of literature! So here I am, blogging about the fictional people I'd love to meet (literature only, otherwise the list might never end!).

Here they are in random order:

1. Mr. Darcy

He really does top my list! My feeling for Mr. Darcy can be summed up in the following pic that I found online:

Many criticize that Mr. Darcy is just too good to be true and while that may be true, the fact that he is all Perfect isn't. Let's not forget that the first impression he gave to Elizabeth and her friends wasn't altogether favorable. He is a snob, and that's not perfect. No. But he is a gentleman, all honorable and so tall and handsome. And he does sweet things for love! Sigh.. I won't even bother defending him anymore. I love Mr. Darcy, and would want to meet him any day! 

2. Harry Potter characters

Even though my favorite characters from the Harry Potter series Dumbledore, Hermione, Remus Lupin, Minerva McGonagal, Ron and Harry, I would pretty much love to meet anyone out Harry Potter's wizarding world. Except maybe Voldermort and that'd only because he's not so fond of muggles and may want to kill me on spot with his Avada Kedavra. Harry Potter books are one of most cherished part of my childhood and now, my adulthood. Even after all these years, when I am low and need to get some tlc, I prop a Harry Potter book open and everything's okay again. 

3. Hercule Poirot

I love, love, love Hercule Poirot! I have this thing where sometimes in my ever so fanciful imagination, I deny to admit that all these characters aren't real people and then I imagine Poirot's reaction if I actually went up to him and told him how cool I think he is! I imagine him going all Belgian on me, muttering fake-modest replies in English and French, twirling his famous mustaches! I love that he is so intelligent, so emotionally aware and yet so immodest! I love that he's a little dandy who insists on wearing patent shoes even while taking a walk in the country. Definitely would be an immensely interesting person to meet in real life.

5. Sherazade

I've always loved her character. She is witty, beautiful and apparently a great story teller. Not to mention brave. It must take great courage to willingly get married to half crazed homicidal king who kills his wives after the wedding night and basically gamble on your life. She is the ultimate story teller. I would love to go up to her and pretty much bow down in front of her. 

6. Umrao Jan Ada

I read the novel Umrao Jan Ada for the first time last year as a part of my Masters syllabus. Many argue that Umrao Jan was a real person, a real tawaif in Lucknow but I don't think it has been proved. So I'll count her in as well. She wasn't out right pretty if the novel is to be followed, but had great charm, had all the social ettiquetes, could dance, sing and write poetry. Plus, the ordeals that she had to go through in her life! She was another strong woman that I have loved reading about.

7. Scarlett O'Hara and Melanie Hamilton Wilkes

Speaking of strong women... How can I leave these two behind? Gone With The Wind is one of my favorite books ever and more than anything else, I admire these two women in the book the most! Scarlett and Melanie are very diffrent people, in fact their characters are totally opposite. But I have learnt a lot from them. While yes, much as I admire Scarlett, I assume she won't be a picnic to meet up with. But still, I would love to observe her. She is so cool! Melanie is a true Lady, and so nice. I want to be best friends with her, yay!

8. Atticus Finch

Confession time: I wanted to be a lawyer because I was totally taken by Atticus Finch's character. I think if I had to pick any one novel as my absolute favorite, above all the rest, I'd pick To Kill A Mockingbird. I don't read it as often as I do other books like the Harry Potter series or Gone With The Wind, Rebecca, Wuthering Heights, Malgudi Schooldays etc but I do read it once a year, every year. I think one of the main reasons I left law was because I didn't have the dedication and more importantly the guts like Atticus Finch. Among all the characters in literature, I don't respect any one more than him. There is one particular part in the novel that describes him that's by his daughter about him that I love especially and it goes:

' When the three of us came to the house, Atticus would sweep off his hat, wave gallantly to her and say, “Good evening, Mrs. Dubose! You look like a picture this evening.”

I never heard Atticus say like a picture of what. He would tell her the courthouse news, and would say he hoped with all his heart she’d have a good day tomorrow. He would return his hat to his head, swing me to his shoulders in her very presence, and we would go home in the twilight. It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived. '

This description of Atticus Finch, this scene, this definition of bravery is something that has stayed with me. I may not love Atticus the way I love say, Mr. Darcy but his character affects me in a way that no other fictional character has.

9. Juliet Ashton, Dawsey Adams, Sidney Stark and Isola Pribby

I got a copy of The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society on my birthday last year and within minutes of beginning to read it, fell in love with it! While I wouldn't mind meeting any of the characters out of this book, I especially would want to meet these four. Here are the reasons--

Juliet because in many ways she is so like me. Not that I have ever thrown a tea pot at someone. And I totally get her possessiveness over her books. 

Sidney because every girl apparently wants a .. best friend, shall we say? No spoilers here. He is an amazing character though and I loved the letters he and Juliet exchanged. I am one of those people who enjoy writing letters but in today's age and time of technological development, have no one to write it to. 

Dawsey because he is so sweet! And such a gentleman! You have to read the book to know why I like him so much.

Isola because she is Isola. The girl's got spunk, I tell you. She's amazing! And so cute! I love her reactions and observations. Hee. I love how after she began reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice on Sidney's suggestion, she (in Juliet's words) "berates" Juliet for "never telling her about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.  Why hadn't she known that there were love stories not riddled with ill-adjusted men, anguish, death graveyards! What else had we been keeping from her?" And I love her for copying Miss Marple to the T.

10. Cathy H.

Never Let Me Go is one those novels that doesn't leave you so easily even after you're done reading the book and have put it down. It follows you, it effects you. I want to meet Cathy and give her a big hug and tell her that it is okay.

11. Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, Thompson and Thomson

But really, I do wish to read all these people up, whether or not I agree with them. Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Kafka, Dostoyevsky... the like. Hobsbawm, even, who knows? Okay, so maybe not Hobsbawm. I wonder, why marxists, core marxists, hate women. And then, how the marxists-feminsts emerged.

I have a feeling, that much as I want, it will be a while till I actually start reading them.

As of now, I'm trying to find some Oriya literature. Nothing too contemporary. And so far, I have managed to find just one short story. Central Library isn't as well stocked as they would have you believe. However, I shall keep looking.

Another project I have undertaken: to read all of Agatha Christie's. I'm starting on with Hercule Poirot ones. I'd have read Murder of Roger Ackroyd (brilliant), Murder on the Orient Express (again, brilliant), The Big Four (*blech*), Murder In The Mews, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Murder on the Links, Peril at End House, Lord Edgware Dies, The ABC Murders, Dumb Witness (stupid book) and Curtain: Poirot's Last Case.

So, with this new self-prescribed project in mind, I went to the Brit. Lib. and have, by far, read the following... Evil Under the Sun, Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia. The last book has such a stupid narrator, it spoils the book.

Hoping to read more.

Anyways, so law school isn't exactly a fairy tale. It's killing me, in more ways than you can imagine, trust me. Honestly, all those movies and novels, they over-hype the glory of law school. Ah, anyways, Criminal Law is more fun this semester. Also, I like International Law; such a pity though that I don't quite like those classes as much.

I've been reading a lot of Agatha Christie's off late. All Hercule Poirot. I like him way better than Jane Marple. About to read Curtain very soon, can hardly wait! :)

Also, I've been rather philosophical offlate (hibernation has a whole new level!). Life is like a flight of sorts. You are thrown from a cliff (a very dangerous one, at that) and either you take off gracefully and fly or you, well, fall down and crack your skull. A very dear friend of mine met with a ghastly accident offlate. I went to visit her; I wanted to cry when I did. I've never before seen anyone who has survived a serious major accident. I didn't know it'd be that bad. But she survived and I'm grateful to God for that. There really are so many things that can go worse in so many ways. She used to crib about pimples at one time, and now her face is in stitches. Life has its own (rather cruel) ways of teaching you to be grateful. I saw 3 Idiots after that and I almost laughed to see Sharman Joshi's character only in some casts even after a suicidal jump from the 3rd floor of a building. That's how I thought it was, all my life. I laughed because then it struck me that that's not how it happens in life. When you survive a near death experience of that sort, you don't just end up in ICU or comma where funny comments can wake you up, you don't end up with a few plasters. You end up with a body you wont recognize, that you'll need a physiotherapist to help you understand. You'll forget the names to little objects. Your face will change.

It is a sad revelation when you're the first or the second person in question. But also, an eye opening one.

I end this post with a prayer to God to make my friend ok.