Flex Mentallo

When I first arrived there in 1982, the roof had not yet been erected. Nirmal told me of Mohan, a young student who had been his right arm, but was tragically murdered in 1978 for the sake of a few rupees, his mutilated body found floating in a pool. I suppose in time and through the course of many visits, I became a surrogate for Mohan in Nirmal s eyes, perhaps even in my own. In 1985 I returned to the village for an extended stay – the first of many.

In 1980 I fulfilled a lifetimes ambition and went at last to India for two years as a commonwealth scholar. I’ve been going back ever since. I met many interesting people there and indeed, it was there I learned that nothing is more important than to meet people who do interesting things, who live by their own lights. Like Werner Herzog, I will go anywhere to meet them. But then I’ve always thought he was slightly crazy. Of all the people I met there, Nirmal Sen Gupta was the most interesting, and the one who most changed my life. He had led an extraordinary life long before I ever met him. Imprisoned by the British for publishing seditious literature in the 1920s, he went on soon after to help found All India Radio. He published novels, exhibited paintings, became a linguist able to translate Arabic to Chinese - and when the war began, joined the Indian version of the army’s special forces. He was later tasked by Indian premier Nehru to help negotiate the surrender of Japanese forces in – I think – Indonesia. He would tell these stories in such a matter of fact way! After the war he became a high-ranking civil servant. On his retirement in the mid-60’s, he took up residence in a village outside Calcutta. Little by little, children came to him, and an informal village education movement was founded. Later to be called Paddy field School, after the first location teaching took place (literally a roofless shack by the side of a paddy field), the movement grew. The first generation grew up, began teaching the next. The Jesuits of St Xavier’s College in Calcutta took an interest, offered to build a school and charitable dispensary.

From Wikipedia: Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it. The word has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company.However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages. The first noted use of "serendipity" in the English language was by Horace Walpole (1717–1797). In a letter to Horace Mann (dated 28 January 1754) he said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of". The name stems from Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon), from Arabic Sarandib, which was adopted from Tamil "Seren deevu" or originally from Sanskrit Suvarnadweepa or golden island (some trace the etymology to Simhaladvipa which literally translates to "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island"). Christophero Armeno had translated the Persian fairy tale into Italian, adapting Amir Khusrau's Hasht Bihisht of 1302. One aspect of Walpole's original definition of serendipity, often missed in modern discussions of the word, is the need for an individual to be "sagacious" enough to link together apparently innocuous facts in order to come to a valuable conclusion. What follows is, in a manner of speaking, a tale from the islands of Serendip....

Les Yeux Sans Visage:

I also took inspiration from movies, none more so than the strange poetic movies of Georges Franju… Judex was remade around 1963 by Georges Franju (who also made a classic horror film called "Les Yeux Sans Visage", which I highjly recommend to anyone who doesnt know it) In his version of Judex, Franju sought to recapture the feel of the silent fueillades. As with Cocteau's "Orphee", the imagery is poetically surrealistic, and beats the pants of modern cgi -not because itis more convincingly realistic, but because it is dreamlike. Some stills:

JEAN DE BOSSCHERE 'An immense dragon lying by the waterside.' Illustration to The Reward of the World from Beasts and Men, Folk Tales Collected in Flanders (Heinemann, 1920) linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Bossch%C3%A8re

E. J. DETMOLD 'The Rukh which fed its young on elephants' Illustration to The Second Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor from The Arabian Nights (Hodder & Stoughton, 1924) linky: http://www.bpib.com/illustra2/detmold.htm

HARRY CLARKE 'For the love of God, Montresor, Yes, I said, "For the love of God." ' Illustration to The Cask of Amontillado from Tales of Mystery & Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe (Harrap, 1919)

HARRY CLARKE 'And the dead robed in red and sea-lilies overhead away when the long winds blow.' Illustration to The Dying Patriot by James Elroy Flecker from The Year's at the Spring, an anthology of poems compiled by Lettice D'O. Walters (Harrap, 1920)

HARRY CLARKE 'I am born of a thousand storms, and grey with rushing rains.' Illustration to All is Spirit and Part of Me by L. D'O. Walters from The Year's at the Spring, an anthology of poems compiled by Lettice D'O. Walters (Harrap, 1920)

HARRY CLARKE 'Methinks a million fools in choir/ Are raving and will never tire.' From Faust by J. W. von Goethe, translated by John Anster (Harrap, 1921)

HARRY CLARKE 'Is there anything in my poor power to serve you?' From Faust by J. W. von Goethe, translated by John Anster (Harrap, 1921) linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Clarke

VERNON HILL On passing to an open space we came. Where flared a raging fire, and one within Burned, and in flickering flame writhed too and fro, Around him spirits danced in furious glee. Illustration to Canto viii, The New Inferno by Stephen Phillips (John Lane, 1911) linky: http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/12/01/december-and-vernon-hill/

KAY NIELSEN 'This good fairy placed her own baby in the cradle of roses and gave command to the zephyrs to carry him to the tower.' Illustration to Felicia from In Powder and Crinoline, Old Fairy Tales, retold by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (Hodder & Stoughton, 1913)

KAY NIELSEN ' " Your soul - ! My soul - !" they kept saying in hollow tones, according as they won or lost.' Illustration to John and the Ghosts from In Powder and Crinoline, Old Fairy Tales, retold by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (Hodder & Stoughton, 1913)

KAY NIELSEN 'And this time she whisked off the wig, and there lay the lad, so lovely, and white and red, just as the Princess had seen him in the morning sun' Illustration for The Widow's Son from East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Old Tales of the North by P.C. Asbjornsen and J.I. Moe (Hodder & Stoughton, 1914) linky: http://nielsen.artpassions.net/

EDMUND DULAC 'The cup of wine which she gives him each night contains a sleeping draft' Original illustration to The Story of the King of the Ebony Isles from Stories from the Arabian Nights, retold by Lawrence Housman ( Hodder & Stoughton, 1913)

EDMUND DULAC 'The Princess burns the Elfrite to death', original for illustration to The Story of the Three Calendars from Sinbad the Sailor and other stories from the Arabian Nights (Hodder & Stoughton, 1914)

EDMUND DULAC Original watercolour for frontispiece illustration to Princess Badoura, A tale from the Arabian Nights, retold by Lawrence Housman ( Hodder & Stoughton, 1913)

EDMUND DULAC ' "It is gold, it is gold" they cried' Original watercolour for The Snow Queen in Stories from Hans Anderson (Hodder & Stoughton, 1911) wonderful linky: http://dulac.artpassions.net/

RENE BULL Ah Love! could thou and I with fate conspire To grasp this sorry scheme of Things entire, Would not w shatter it to bits - and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire. From Quatrain L X XII of The Ruba'iyat of Omar Kayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald (Hodder & Stoughton, 1913)

RENE BULL Come fill, the cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Winter Garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To fly - and Lo! The bird is on the wing. From Quatrain VII of The Ruba'iyat of Omar Kayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald (Hodder & Stoughton, 1913)

RENE BULL 'After a long and careful course of magical enquiries' from Aladdin; - or The Wonderful Lamp in The Arabian Nights (Constable, 1912) linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Bull

ARTHUR RACKHAM 'The wooing of Grunhilde, the mother of Hagen'. Original for Siegfried & the Twilight of the Gods by Richard Wagner, translated by Margaret Armour (Heinemann, 1911) Dont pass on the linky: http://www.artpassions.net/rackham/wagner_ring.html

WILLIAM HEATH ROBINSON 'The Respectable Gentleman' from his Bill the Minder (Constable, 1912) linky: http://heathrobinson.org/index.htm