Sherlock Holmes

I love drama and dramatic endings.. Something that captures the readers imagination.. What is life without drama? Talking about drama.. it reminds me of Sherlock Holmes.. My all time favorite detective.. And who would know him better than Dr Watson..

 "Watson insists that I(Mr.Holmes) am the dramatist in real life. Some touch of the artist wells up within me, and calls insistently for a well staged performance”

Being an avid reader of his books, I agree.. He is brilliant but mercurial, his intelligence, self assurance, his mastery of every situation and his unerring judgment are all stunning and very entertaining.. What can I say, I am his biggest fan.. or maybe I am a fan of Arthur Conan Doyle.. The brain behind the world’s greatest detective.. He has a witty sense of humor and sprinkles his stories with dry resorts and ironic asides, making It easier to simply adore his most beloved detective.. Sherlock Holmes’ abilities and character itself according to many are more machine like than human.. But the clever use of phrases like these makes him more human and likable..

‘You know Watson, that a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all. "

Holmes an ordinary individual?? No way.. nil, nada, never.. From the very first story I read, Holmes ceased to be fiction and became very much real to me.. i have lost count as to how many times I’ve read Sherlock Holmes.. the tall hawk like nosed detective never fails to amaze me every time.. Sometimes I am so involved in the stories and with Holmes , that I am tempted to try my hands on the power of detection ..But alas I fail miserably..

Like the other day,  I was supposed to meet a childhood friend, I had not seen in ages, but to whom I speak on the phone once in a  blue moon.. Waiting for her in the park, I was reading The adventures of Sherlock Holmes.. i sublimed with the detective in 221B baker street, and was busy interviewing a Mr. Joseph M. Stoddart.. So involved I was in the book that when I looked up to see my friend walking towards me, i automatically got my brain waves organized and tried to think like Holmes the conjurer ..In the 5 minutes it took her to reach me, I dove head first into the art of detection..

Fortunately, I was sitting in the shade, the light was not on my face and I could observe the object of my interest as long as i wanted, without being noticed.. The sun illuminating her face,  gave me the opportunity to put together vague assumptions of my friend’s past and present..  Something about the way she walked caught my eye almost immediately.. Wasn’t hard to miss u see, she was limping a little.. Almost dragging her left feet.. now what does this tell me? I went back to the few phone conversations I’ve had with her.. Did she slip and fall in the little messes her puppy left  behind in her house constantly? Or maybe it happened when she was learning to drive her unpredictable 2 wheeler.. I look at her face and was captured by the expression on it.. she seem to be in pain.. correction.. she was in pain.. Holmes is never in doubt ..his judgment is always unerring  ..ahh..hha…so that tells me something.. the injury was pretty recent.. hmm, cannot be her unpredictable bike lessons, for that was 6 months back and her messy puppy was even before the bike.. so what else can it be.. What would Sherlock Holmes do when he hits a brick wall I wondered, I know ..he would meditate with his pipe and lamentable tobacco ..Neither of it being at my disposal that very minute, I sought knowledge from one of his quotes..

"Perhaps when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own(Holmes), it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand. "

Maybe there is a simple explanation to this mystery after all, and so I expel another wave of powerful detections her way.. I looked at her feet.. The shoes are plain flat soled and open toed.. Something new for my friend, who is into heels and clickety clacks of the latest fashions and trends.. Or maybe these shoes are in fashion rite now..  I should get myself a pair, I think to myself.. focus G…focus.. says the voice in my head.. Ok..ok I am back to focusing.. Hmm lets see.. The injury being recent and open toed shoes..  does that mean.. and that is when I had another ahh..haa moment.. i know, she stubbed her toe on a rock and broke a nail, I tell myself.. and that hurts.. i know, I’ve had broken toe nails before.. That was it.. According to the famous detective,

‘when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?’

so that must be the truth.. A very simple truth.. i congratulate myself.. i did it.. OMG! I really did it.. Mr.Holmes would be proud of me.. and so will Dr.Watson..

Hi G.. says Sashi, wiping her hot sweaty face with a tissue.. It is so good to see you Sashi.. How r you, its been way to long, we should meet more often I tell her, giving her a ice cold bottle of water.. and so goes on the conversation about family, friends, childhood and all the mischievous days.. I try hard not to stare at her feet and try even harder not to grin celebrating my little victory.. Sashi wouldn’t  take kindly to being grinned at when she is in pain.. After 20 minutes of chit chat, we are on our way to have lunch.. Sashi is still dragging her feet, but has not uttered a single word  about it yet.. Not wanting to be rude by acting as if I dint notice, I tell her I am sorry that she hurt her toe.. Doing so I wait for her surprised exclamation about how I knew it and if I were a magician.. Sherlock Holmes gets that reaction from people all the time, u see.. But to my dismay, I don’t hear a squeak of surprise for the next 10 seconds, so I turn to look at her and the reason for her lack of reaction..

Sashi was busy looking at my toe.. U hurt your toe? She asked? Oh.. now I get it, she dint hear me.. and so I explained to her my theory of her injury.. The confused blank look she gave me, said it all.. ‘What ever put that idea in your head?’ she asked.. Flabbergasted, i am almost speechless.. i try to explain the ,‘when you have eliminated the impossible’ theory of Holmes to Sashi.. But i seem to have lost my voice.. So I take the easy way out and just shrug.. Since you were limping.. i said.. Her laugh sounded like sandpaper ( I must tell you, she does have a nice laugh, but right then it seemed like sand paper to me)  grating on my raw nerves.. oh Sherlock Holmes , oh Dr. Watson, how could I fail u, I moaned in misery.. So what happened then, I wondered..

Unaware of my despair , Sashi continued.. My shoe strap broke, see on the back.. So I am having a hard time walking she said.. Ahh do I dare feel relief? The strap in the back of her flat soled open toed, plain shoe broke.. no wonder I couldn’t see it, I consoled my poor over worked brain.. With that thought running over and over in my brain and the consolation having done little to sooth my bruised ego, we had lunch.. I wished Holmes was here to use his hypnotic power of soothing on me.. I could do with some serious soothing right that minute..

That evening I dint shun away from 221B baker street like I expected ..rather I was back with Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson, discussing another interesting case.. After all it was the great detective himself who said,

"To let the brain work without sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to pieces. "..

See what I mean.. I dint have sufficient material, I couldn’t have known the back strap of the shoe was broken.. Not like I had omnipresent eyes u know.. or so I console myself..

The number of disappointing detections under my belt had gone up a couple of notches since Sashi and her broken shoe, but I haven’t given up making harmless assumptions about the unsuspecting souls that cross my path.. someday I tell myself..someday.. I have a strong hunch that I will make Sherlock Holmes Proud and until then my less than perfect detecting skills will continue..