My passion for the English language was kindled and set ablaze when I was introduced to the world of P G Wodehouse aka Plum. That was my first foray into the realm of humour.
His characters seemed to pop out from fiction into the real world. He ushered us into the world of constantly disapproving aunts, mischievous and unscrupulous uncles, damsels in distress and idle young men. The idle-rich gentleman Bertie Wooster, his intelligent valet Jeeves, the permanent resident of the Angler’s Rest Mulliner, the Fifth Earl of Ickenham with a penchant for impersonation, and Lord Emsworth and his pig The Empress have become immortal. “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled”—you cannot but simply laugh at this sentence from The Code of the Woosters. In Carry on, Jeeves, we have this: “An apple a day, if well aimed, keeps the doctor away.” In Right Ho, Jeeves, we have, “As for Gussie Fink-Nottle, many an experienced undertaker would have been deceived by his appearance and started embalming on sight.”
Psmith represents the tribe of expelled Etonians with delicate anatomy susceptible to inadequately pressed trousers! What about Ukridge? He is the master-scammer always in search of funds. However unscrupulous they are, one cannot stop falling in love with the lovable rogues. Blandings transports us to the ideal version of English country houses. Once in, nothing else matters!
Plum didn’t need all the 90-plus works to cement his place in history. Just Jeeves and Wooster would have done the job splendidly or just the Blandings Castle and Lord Emsworth. With Ukridge alone, he reached magical heights. If you still want me to pick one episode, it must be the one where Bertie’s friend Gussie presents prizes to students at Market Snodsbury grammar school. You will realise how true the Beatles’ line, “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away”, is.
Here is one man who made people, somehow hell-bent on finding criticism, run for cover. His mastery of the language endears the readers to him. We revel in those seemingly unending adjectives describing people. This doesn’t mean the plots are any weaker. Whenever I am stressed out, the infallible go-to remedy has been to wade into my library and dive into any of Plum’s books. My tryst with Wodehouse’s idyllic world continues unabated even after 30 years.
Swami Nagarajan
Email: swami.nagarajan@gmail.com