Explaining Humpty Dumpty
Posted by anandrr on August 25, 2009
Today’s Hindu performs yeoman service by explaining to us the meaning of Humpty Dumpty as in the sentence,
The turmoil and discontent in the Bharatiya Janata Party deepened further on Monday as Arun Shourie, senior leader and MP, made an all-out attack on party president Rajnath Singh, calling him “Alice in Blunderland” and describing the party leadership as “Humpty Dumpty.”
Most newspapers would have left that there. Not Neena Vyas. Using that expensive education to good effect, she explains:
The reference to “Humpty Dumpty” was from Through the Looking-Glass, a sequel by Lewis Carroll to Alice in Wonderland. Just as Alice expected Humpty Dumpty to fall at any time, in the BJP, almost at all levels, leaders are expecting the “fall” of Mr. Rajnath Singh, whose tenure comes to an end in January 2010.
One might conclude that:
- The readers of The Hindu need to be explained references to Humpty Dumpty. They can read a newspaper that casually uses words like “turmoil” and “discontent,” but find themselves stumped with the most elementary nursery rhyme reference
- Neena Vyas used the most elementary trick in the high school student’s book of filling up the paragraphs when on deadline.
One wonders why she didn’t go on to tell us that Mr Shourie smiled like a Cheshire cat throughout the interview.
Samir said
Yeah, I thought it was funny too. To be honest, I didn’t know that Humpty Dumpty was from ‘Through the Looking Glass’ but of course I didn’t need to know that in this context. Desi newspapers are funny.
anandrr said
Oh Humpty Dumpty has a star turn in Through the Looking Glass. Such fine statements as: When I use a word, it means exactly what I want it to mean, neither more nor less. He also talks about unbirthday presents and such. Give it a read sometime.