Lalanti was our house guest for a week, and quickly made herself popular by baking apple pies and cupcakes. She also got us a basil plant, and left it in my care. The plant is doing well, considering we have
denuded it already on two occasions (for French toast and pesto).
Eschewing my usual policy, I have not given it a rhyming name: instead I
have named it Rathbone. The Basil Rathbone.
This morning I was idly gazing at the plant, and wondering
if it bears any similarities to its namesake. The two things I know about Basil
Rathbone (the actor) are: (a) he played Sherlock Holmes and (b) he was a good
fencer. My plant, in its short life, has failed to secure any Hollywood contracts, and basil plants are not known for their fencing skills. But Wikipedia says Basil
Rathbone was known for playing morally ambiguous roles, and there, I believe,
we have hit upon a similarity.
For when you come to think of it, what can be more morally
ambiguous than a basil plant? There it sits on our kitchen-window sill, its
leaves ruffled by a gentle breeze. Does it have ideals? Can it distinguish right
from wrong, and does it believe they are distinct? Does it believe in the
transmigration of souls, or the common ownership of the means of production? What
gods does it pray to?
3 comments:
So that's why the snake in A Clockwork Orange was named Basil. How better to exhibit ambiguity than to have a forked tongue? And not just two tongue tips, but--well, I'll let Wikipedia explain.
I know I've made it big when I make it on your blog! You'll see a perfectly poached egg on mine soon enough.
@Tommy: I didn't know that about snakes. Amazing creatures, reptiles. In our college hostel we had a lizard with two tails.
@lalanti: You have a blog?! Send me the link!
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