freaky flukes

Co-incidences never cease to amaze me though I believe they are ahabit with me. So, the other day, I had written about old movie hallsin which I had quoted an elderly gentleman saying no one named theirchildren Pran. The next day, we were chatting downstairs, teasingBarmaulah about his name. He said he's the only one with his name,unlike my name which is a common password. Panditji pan wale butted infrom behind, "His name is not the only unique one. Pran is a uniquename. Tell me one man whose name is Pran."Days before that I had declared in the office that Karan Singh, A KHangal and Mac Mohan were all born aged sixty years. Two days later,Karan Singh launched a biography on him and I was there; and two daysafter that I opened a newspaper to see a full page interview of A KHangal. Ann then there was A K Hangal all over the TV declaring MeraBharat Jawan. My features editor had declared Mac Mohan dead. Andthen I got an invite for the launch of a book called Ab Tera Kya HogaKalia, (a memory improvement technique book!) a title which has sofascinated me that I have already written about it twice. And therewas Mac Mohan, wielding a gun, in a coolie-red kurta, same beard, samepartially grey hair – back from the dead. I couldn't tell him how muchI adore him, and that his picture would become the wallpaper of mycomputer for a few days. Instead I pissed him off by questioning himabout his being the quintessential B grader and a perfect sidekick. Hedidn't know these were compliments.I was disappointed that the 'Mac' in Mac Mohan was not connotative ofa clan, like in Mc Donald or Mc Leod. In McLeodgunj, I had been to thechurch of St John, "in the wilderness". It has a graveyard that hasintriguing epitaphs. I had been grave hunting for a few days, and themost intriguing one had been of Alice, in Pune, who was "born atMelrose in Australia' and had died and was buried at the same spot.So, in St John's church, there was this grave of A. Rose fromMelbourne. A little juggling took me back to both Alice and Melrose.The church, by the way also has a memorial for James Bruce, morefamously known as Lord Elgin. So A Rose's epitaph said, just for itsintrigue value, "The flesh shall fly back to earth, and the soul shallfly off from the flesh."