Thus Spake Rebecca

It was exasperating to have a conversation with Rebecca. She had this strange habit of saying something obscure whenever she wanted. Sometimes this would be a quotation, but often her originality bubbled out in her sayings. When I said that I had to leave for Ahmedabad on some work related to the Institute where I worked, she said “Life is a journey, not a destination”. I asked her who said that, and she said Ralph Waldo Emerson.

She was a bright girl, brimming with self-confidence and youthfulness. Smiling face, very attractive. The exasperation one feels from the stream of pronouncements was a minor irritant. Her comment to my wife, who was coming in from the rain carrying an umbrella, was” Why stay in when you could be dancing in the rain instead?” My wife had difficulty hiding her irritation!

Rebecca’s pronouncements were legion, and she was remarkably unconcerned about the time, the place and the appropriateness when she lets off her barb. When the principal of her college slipped and fell under the concerned gaze of Rebecca, she said, “It was comforting to know you have fallen and could fall no farther.” while extending her hand to lift him up. When her friend discovered she had brought an empty tiffin box, Rebecca said with great compassion,”All you need is love. But a little food now and then doesn’t hurt.”

She became a subject of amateur psychiatric analysis by all those who knew her. Some said that she was very observant and had a talent for expressing her thoughts in a clever and concise manner. However, another…