Its a most wonderful phrase. Simple and yet complex. Lucid and yet ambiguous. Harmless and yet powerful. Precise and yet all encompassing. Its the phrase that characterises the everhungry Newgen like no other does ...and yet it doesnt exactly exclude the old.
My tryst with "and yet" started during my college days. Me teacher used to say India is an underdeveloped country and yet its the land of opportunities; making it to the IIMs is diffult and yet it's easy enough if only you know how to do it; marriages can be happy and yet....
....and yet by the time I got to my MBA school, the phrase had assumed epidemic proportions and was threatening to displace our national anthem. It was a huge hit everywhere, especially with women's magazines. So we had so many of those nubile models saying - "My Man? Well he has to be tall and yet he has to be short (enough for me), he has to be strong and yet he should be weak (enough to surrender to me), he should be sophisticated and yet he should be an animal (in bed), he should be clean shaven and yet he should have a stubble (couldnt understand how that was possible).... And so the list went on and on and yet everybit of it was just as fascinating to listen to.
We were a group of 3-4 friends at the Institute and our dislike for the phrase had brought us together. There were times when we felt like tearing off the hair on our heads and yet I confess having had one whale of a time with the phrase, oftentimes having almost laughed to death discussing it. Times have changed since then. And yet, the phrase has given way to others. I get to hear of it only ocassionally now, and yet I miss it. But then life's a cruel thing and Laughing can cost you dearly.
All of us are married now. Before marriage, we liked to think of ourselves as the "Quieter Kinds" & recall wishing "Our girls would be very talkative", to keep the conversation going. But little knowledge they say is a dangerous thing; and using half phrases is absolutely lethal. Now we're resigned to being the "Quietest Kinds" and wishing "Our girls would be very talkative and yet they would let us speak once in a while...."
