I was once asked — and I wondered — which among the alphabets is my favourite? The first alphabet of my name or anyone dear to me or maybe the month in which I was born or…. the possibilities were endless. And this kept me thinking.
If there was no ‘A’, then how would we express our desire to act, accommodate, articulate, be affectionate or affirm, or assist? ‘B’ lets us smile at the babies, brush off animosities, bring back the bloom, eat a bagel, join a band put a balm on a burning forehead or stand on the balcony on a balmy evening. Chit chat and candlelight, camping, celebrations, caring and being charitable — all start with a ‘C’. From dawn to dusk, from being deferential to defiant, to detach a destroyer, to desire, to design and never to despair, ‘D’ devoutly does it all.
Eager to escape an ear-boxing? Edify each effort and exercise caution. Rather than encumber embrace, emerge emphatic. ‘E’ shows the way. Fight for freedom, never forget friends or family, feed the famished, fear the fake, return a favour. Don’t fret ‘F’ covers it all. Gentle, generous, gallant, genuine, gifted, glamorous, graceful, gracious, gregarious — are wonderful ‘G’ words that describes some of us. Having a hard time? ‘H’ hauls you into the halo of your hard work. We remain hale, hearty, happy, we hope, honour, live in harmony, are humble and sometimes hysterical.
A kiss is the internal show of love
‘I’ wish to be idealistic, impeccable, inspiring, intrepid. ‘I’ helps us to see the intrinsic, invincible, incredible, the intelligent. Jokes and jokers make us laugh. A regular jog prevents joints from jerking in pain. Want to jump in joy? ‘J’ juggles it. We are familiar with the keyboard. The kindergarten is the kick off point. The ‘K’ reigns in the kitchen with knives. A kiss is the internal show of love. Laugh out loud, love your fellow men, looks could kill, the last straw, left him in the lurch, lie low — are all ‘L’ phrases, so true in life.
Motherhood is the cornerstone of life. Moonlight is marvelled at. Manners maketh a man …. difficult without ‘M’. Never say never, ‘no’ is not always negative, we should start nurturing nature — possible only with ‘N’. Oops and oh are common exclamations. Openness leads to opportunity where we can opt to be oppugnant or optimistic. ‘O’ overseas it all. Philanthropy is the need of the day. Being pleasant, patient, peaceful, placid, polite are expected. Being proper and pure is priceless and precious. ‘P’ reigns here.
Quiet is quite good as is quitting quarrels, and quenching the thirst for query. Would it be possible to be quaint or to quake without the ‘Q’? Rest and revive, refine and reform, refuse not a request, refrain from risks so as not to regret. Without the ‘R’ we are resistless. ‘S’ helps us to see, have a sound sleep. Saying sorry saves a skirmish. To serve seldom is bad, together we can, time and tide wait for no man, tongue twisters are fun, tolerance avoids tragedies, we toil, trade, we pay tribute and we try, try and try again with a ‘T’.
Understanding, uncomplaining, unparalleled, upbeat, up front, upright are uncompromising ‘U’ qualities we all want. Vegetables are great, variety is nice, a valid point is vital, visual vista vividly impresses, Valentine’s Day begins with a ‘V’. Water is the source of life, wave off, wade through troubles, all whys, whats, whens, start with a ‘W’. ‘X’ has given us the Xylophone, X-ray machine, the X-ray fish and of course the X mass tree!
Yoga and yoghurt are good for us, how would we describe the 365 days if there was no ‘Y’ for the year? To reach the zenith in zeal is good, zero is the start and children love the zebras in the zoo. Last but not the least ‘Z’ does justice to each.
So, each alphabet is there in its own right. Which alphabet I like? All. I love the script.
Mamata Bandyopadhyay is a homemaker based in Dubai.
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