Single

The other day I was reading an article about one of India's most inspiring and favourite bachelors, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. That led me to think of my own favourite bachelors - in real and reel lives as well as fiction. Here is a list of five that come to my mind immediately.

If I need to pick out one who teacher who frightened me and inspired me at the same time, it would be Prof. R. H. D (formerly of the Department of English, Loyola College, Chennai). His opening remark to my class was: "I hope my reputation has preceded me." (It had, all right!) My dear friend Siddhartha would vouch for our jitters when, on the first day of college, we waited after completing a "streaming test", not knowing whether we should go ahead and hand D sir the paper or wait for the bell to ring - though he had told us we could submit and leave if we had finished. He gave me a earful - in one sentence - when I approached him to ask if we could leave. Over time, the fear was thawed considerably until eventually only inspiration remained. D sir is the closest I have come to meeting perfection: his shirts, perfectly tucked in, which betrayed not a crease, his demeanour, his clipped accent, his soundless "good morning" followed by the briefest hint of a smile whenever we greeted him outside class and the way he taught British drama all spoke of someone in control without the need to impose it. Our batch was fortunate to have not only been taught by him but also seeing his lighter side. We would have been even more fortunate if he had taught us Shakespeare. He retired the year we completed our B.A. I was asked to speak at his farewell, and it was an absolute honour. Then, he left many of us in tears with his own speech, leaving us to wonder whether the department would see the likes of him again.

Alfredo James Pacino (or Al Pacino) was, surprisingly, just a name for me until a year and half ago. The association of the name with the face happened after I watched The Scent of a Woman for which Pacino won an Oscar: Pacino's monologue at the Baird School as Lt. Col. Frank Slade (retd) in defence of a wronged Charlie is one of those performances that gives you goose skin every time you watch it! Way shorter than the typical Hollywood hero, Al Pacino's Michael Corleone is no less effective, powerful or stylish for it. Imdb indicates that "in his personal life, Pacino is one of Hollywood's most enduring and notorious bachelors, having never been married." Ironically, one of my favourite quotes from the man is on love: "To me, it's not who you love...a man, a woman, what have you...it's the fact THAT you love. That is all that truly matters." And Pacino's sense of humour and magniloquence extend well beyond the screen as this quote suggests: "The problem with me is, I guess, the way I express myself, you have to be with me 50 years before you can get a sense of what I'm talking about." I can say the same about myself.

R Uncle is one of those people who entered my life a few years ago when I was biting off more than I could chew. Yet it took him just minutes to make an impression. During our first meeting his naturally persuasive voice struck me as much as the sincerity of his advice, which was neither contrived nor forced. Over the years, I have come to know, through appa as well as uncle directly, that we have quite a bit in common - our thoughts on religion, choice of idiom and objective discussion of cricket to name a few. I am not at liberty to discuss the reasons behind R uncle's remaining single but suffice it to say it exemplifies sacrifice and clarity in a self-centred and a confused world. If my life after 2008 could be looked at as my second innings, R uncle is one of a handful of people responsible for helping me get it started.

Prashanth Shankar is a comrade in words, - and also a Guru in them - a speaker you can listen to all day just for his voice, a senior I truly look up to and a bachelor whose marital status may change in time. Two of my all time favourite lines have issued from this man's wonderful but often unfathomable mind: "Time is God in the Realms of Man" and "My heart seeks affirmation at strange places." Whenever I write free verse, I wish to write like he does; whenever I speak I wish to speak with the gentleness and the authority that characterise his modulation and diction; and most importantly when I think of gentlemen I think of him. Prashanth belongs to that dissipating breed of people who take pain sans complaint, accept humiliation stoically and celebrate victories moderately. In his own way, this man is a champion.

The consulting detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a man to whom I owe many of my recent smiles. Though on the side of justice Sherlock Holmes is a  likeable jerk which is perhaps why Robert Downey Jr fits perfectly into the role! Holmes does not mind speaking of his talents - because in his considered opinion logic dictates that understatement is as wrong as overstatement - tests the good doctor's patience and kindness too much, believes that work is its own reward and is an eligible, but understandably uninterested, bachelor. The best example of the detective's emotional aloofness and intellectual curiosity is his relationship with Irene Adler. Guy Ritchie's Holmes loves Miss. Adler - while that is not faithful to the textual material, it could be justified as serving to satisfy the audience's expectation of a love interest for the protagonist - but Sir Arthur's Sherlock is merely amazed by "the woman's" resourcefulness and ingenuity. In fact, Holmes' readiness to give credit where it is due and to concede that he has met his match, subtly in the case of Irene Adler and more vociferously in the case of Prof. James Moriarty, makes him human for all his coldness of logic, and a character.