Odds and Ends

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As a student Margaret Chatterjee read Modern Greats (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Oxford where she was awarded an Exhibition at Somerville College. Subsequently she did intensive research on Gandhi's life and thought on which she has written eight books. She had opportunities for teaching at university level in several countries and this made her familiar with many cultures and this continues to be reflected in her current work.

Reuben's mother was such a one for collecting odds and ends. You wouldn't believe it. But she'd say 'Might come in useful one day' and she would put another bit of string in the tin kept for the purpose. And of course coming in useful was just what it was a few days later.

And now it's my turn to collect odds and ends and you won't find a link between the bits and pieces, so don't waste your time hunting for one. Classification won't feature in what follows. But you're right if you infer I've still got a few things I'd like to share. I've already forgotten exactly where I've stored the first two items I had in mind. They'll turn up when I get on with my daily habit of churning through piles of papers looking for something or other.

'You don't half jump about in your mind', she said. 'Reminds me of that ad about not having a grasshopper mind. I think it was all about Pelmanism.' 'Anyway,' I replied, 'I prefer a dragonfly analogy. Skimming over ponds, with wings dazzling bright, avoiding quagmires and landing somewhere else tomorrow if tomorrow ever comes. Time must have a stop. But someone else has already said that. No harm in pinching a good idea, and a true one. An Israeli friend once told me that he was happy to be plagiarised because it showed that his ideas were worth appropriating. A generous thought.