Beware the ides of March.” We have read the soothsayer’s words to Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s eponymous and historical play Julius Caesar. The words were uttered to remind the Roman general of the foreboding of a misfortune that was to strike him. The rest as they say is history and we know that Caesar was assassinated on the ides of March, meaning mid-March—the 15th of March to be precise—by his rebelling senators.
The ides of March since then has meant many things to many people. Growing up, it was for me the prelude to the exhausting final exams that would begin in the first week of April. Unlike in contemporary times where the number of subjects are limited to six or seven, the Madras State Board—as it was known in the days of yore in Tamil Nadu’s capital where I grew up—chose to have 12 gruelling subjects for its high school students.
And what could be worse, the syllabus for the final exams included the whole year’s portions. This meant that the vast majority of the students had to burn the midnight oil in a desperate attempt to finish the portions. It was a tiring time of the year when only the smart alecs and studious nerds escaped the ides of March. Later as a mother of two children, the ides of March had more to do with the pressing issues of bringing up a daughter and a son.
It varied from protecting them from the onset of summer ailments such as measles and chicken pox and helping them prepare for their final exams. It also covered a few exciting projects such as planning for summer activities or finalising a holiday elsewhere during their annual vacation. Cut to the present. With the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19, the ides of March this year could only mean fear and worry to all. From the rich to the common man, from the old to the young, and from an Indian to an international citizen, the virus has proved to be a leveller threatening all mankind. Yet, as history often repeats itself, the ides of March, we all can hope, will soon pass away. As Shakespeare himself wrote, “Why, courage then! What cannot be avoided ’twere childish weakness to lament or fear.”
Dorothy Victor Email: dorothy.victor@yahoo.co.in