Along the lines of the Devil's Dictionary

Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary" is one of my favorites when it comes to iconoclastic humor, cynicism and razor-sharp wit. Written in the period that it was, the name itself would have been iconoclastic enough, though even today vast swathes of the American heartland probably still shudders at the name; provided of course they've heard of it, and that's not an assumption automatically made. There is something of Oscar Wilde in him, the other great iconoclast who prevailed all too briefly on the other side of the Atlantic, shaking up the pretensions of Victorian society, exposing it's sordid underbelly, and being victimized in the process; a victimization that was unfortunately helped by the man's sexual orientations being out of tune to those prescribed in holy writ! And then, of course, there's George Bernard Shaw, iconoclast-extraordinaire, dissecting icons with abandon, with the rapier of his pen -- truly an instance of the pen being mightier than the sword!! "They" would surely have taken him "to the cleaners" as the modern slang goes, had "they" been able to detect some homosexual streak, or if not, they wouldn't have been displeased had he turned out to have some "other perverse" sexual life (in their definition), but unfortunately, to their vast disappointment, the man was a celibate. This made him fundamentally difficult to wreak major havoc on. He lacked "the" Achilles' heel!!

In any case, there's a lot that one could write about this trio. That is, however, not the goal of this essay, but staying true to the name of the blog, I will tend to ramble, digress and at times pontificate. Formal writing does not always allow such flexibility, but this is my own blog -- here, I am lord and master of all I survey and my right there's none to dispute.

What I have often thought of doing is building my own version of "The Dictionary", though not quite a Devil's Dictionary, since I'd like mine to have broader scope. Qualitatively, it won't be anywhere near Ambrose's stuff -- one can merely aspire to shoot for the mark he set, in their dreams -- but if it's at least a reasonable fraction of his stuff, it ought to be worth reading. Rest assured, there's going to be a stiff dose of the diabolical in it. So, as I keep posting new essays, I'll make sure to devote some space in every essay to new words and my interpretations of those every time (or most times). A Dictionary is seldom written in a day, and of course it never terminates, unless the language dies out, so this is the best way to pursue my desire of paying my own humble homage to Ambrose's very best. By the way, those of you that are familiar with Sashi Tharoor's writings (which is more likely if you happen to be East Indian (Columbus's historical gaffe is so bloody annoying, isn't it?)), Sashi has his version of "An Indian Dictionary" that was published recently in his "The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cell Phone". I plan to make mine more generic.

But, despite having lauded iconoclasts in the beginning, must I needs
be schizophrenic now and invoke Sarasvati, the Vedic goddess of learning, music and speech; one of my treasured icons from the ancient religion of my motherland (note my non-use of the word Hindu, a debate we will engage in some other day); to bless this intellectual enterprise I am about to embark on, to bestow on me her deep wisdom, that I should make the right choices in my endeavors and have the power to discern the essential from the mundane, like her accompanying swan that, ever so efficiently, filters out the water from the milk.