13

Jul

Memories of Charles Dickens

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Amitabh Srivastava

As Prime Minister Modi heads for Paris to take part in the celebration of the French National Day, also known as the Fall of the Bastille Day Parade, that occurred on July 14, 1789, my mind takes me back to my nostalgic school days.

I was never a student of history so all my knowledge of the French Revolution, symbolised by the Fall of the Bastille comes from my reading of 'A Tale of two cities' written by Charles Dickens.

Although my favourite in school was Thomas Hardy but 'A Tale of Two Cities' remains one book that has left a lasting imprint on my teenage mind.

Covering the events of the French Revolution the novel begins with the classic lines,"It was the best of times,it was the worst of times" that contrasts the lives of the aristocrats and the poor whose children get crushed under the wheels of their carriages.

All these atrocities are not going unnoticed though.

As far as the coming revolution is concerned it is characterised by the larger than life image of Madame Defarge, the owner of a wine shop where the revolutionaries gather to discuss their future strategy.

For the unaware, Madame Defarge is an innocent though dominating woman who keeps knitting all the time. But no one knows that she is knitting the names of the aristocrats who have to be killed.

But since a novel is not a documentary Dickens weaves his vision around an endearing love story involving Charies Darnay, Lucie Manette and the lawyer Sydney Carton who makes the ultimate sacrifice for his beloved a la Raj Kumar of our Bollywood.

Most characters of Dickens are stereotypes and slightly one-sided but since I read the novel as a child they remain a part of a dream sequence for us.

So if Madame Defarge is seen knitting all the time Sydney Carton is attending the court proceedings, apparently uninvolved in the proceeds, involving Charles Darnay he is the first to notice that Lucie is about to faint.

We did not know then that one day the Fall of the Bastille which was a fort to hold prisoners, would become so important that it would be celebrated as the French National Day.

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