Just returned home from a fun evening with Arun Kaul and his wife Neelam. Reminisced about things and horses over a few glasses of red wine. Arun has shot into stardom over his equestrian accomplishments, but he had a candid confession to make. This was not mentioned in the Madhouse because it remained unknown till today.
When the horse was found and brought to H4, the obvious task was to look for someone who knew how to ride horses. Ravi Tilak, the then wannabe musician was one who qualified. Tilak was tall, fair and handsome. Unlike most IITans, he knew how to play the tabla, drive a green Fiat and date women.To top all this, he also knew how to ride a horse. But there was a caveat to this. Tilak could only ride horses that were meant to be ridden.
The horse that Kaul found was abandoned, sickly with a visible rib cage, sans a saddle, a bridle, reins and neighs and maybe did not have even horseshoes that could harbinger some good luck for the riders. Ergo, Tilak could not ride the horse that did not want to get rid. Can you ask an accomplished tabalchi to do a "Dha tirikat dhoom, takninadhin dha dha dha" with a sand bag? So Tilak departed and Kaul had to move in. Advantage Kaul was that he knew as much about riding horses as that horse knew about getting ridden. There was a compatible chemistry between the two, never mind the fact that Kaul knew less about organic chemistry ( or as much as the horse knew...depends on how you look at it) than he knew about matters equestrian.They both could start from ground zero... the rider and the ridee.
After a few trials and more errors, the equilibrium was reached. Horse performed horsely duties and became Tilak -worthy. But it was too late for Tilak. Horse was identified as a distinct Kaul-ean. Getting ridden, getting parked in cycle sheds and getting photographed for a future bestseller were acts Kaulean and un-Tilak-ean. Thus, history was enacted with the Kaul version as we know it. It was powerful enough to induce folks to re-enact this scene after 35 years. What remained unknown till today is the fact that Ravi Tilak stopped short of a shot at fame a la his more famous namesake of the Lokmanya flavour. Who would have guessed that knowing something well is actually a disadvantage? In this case, Tilak's knowledge of horse-rising did him in.
When the horse was found and brought to H4, the obvious task was to look for someone who knew how to ride horses. Ravi Tilak, the then wannabe musician was one who qualified. Tilak was tall, fair and handsome. Unlike most IITans, he knew how to play the tabla, drive a green Fiat and date women.To top all this, he also knew how to ride a horse. But there was a caveat to this. Tilak could only ride horses that were meant to be ridden.
The horse that Kaul found was abandoned, sickly with a visible rib cage, sans a saddle, a bridle, reins and neighs and maybe did not have even horseshoes that could harbinger some good luck for the riders. Ergo, Tilak could not ride the horse that did not want to get rid. Can you ask an accomplished tabalchi to do a "Dha tirikat dhoom, takninadhin dha dha dha" with a sand bag? So Tilak departed and Kaul had to move in. Advantage Kaul was that he knew as much about riding horses as that horse knew about getting ridden. There was a compatible chemistry between the two, never mind the fact that Kaul knew less about organic chemistry ( or as much as the horse knew...depends on how you look at it) than he knew about matters equestrian.They both could start from ground zero... the rider and the ridee.
After a few trials and more errors, the equilibrium was reached. Horse performed horsely duties and became Tilak -worthy. But it was too late for Tilak. Horse was identified as a distinct Kaul-ean. Getting ridden, getting parked in cycle sheds and getting photographed for a future bestseller were acts Kaulean and un-Tilak-ean. Thus, history was enacted with the Kaul version as we know it. It was powerful enough to induce folks to re-enact this scene after 35 years. What remained unknown till today is the fact that Ravi Tilak stopped short of a shot at fame a la his more famous namesake of the Lokmanya flavour. Who would have guessed that knowing something well is actually a disadvantage? In this case, Tilak's knowledge of horse-rising did him in.
Arun Kaul replies.......
Bakul,
Two things:
First: The horse did have shoes even if his rider did not!
Second: If you remember your course in industrial psychology, there is a condition called Negative transfer of training where an expert has to first unlearn what he knows before he can learn a new skill. So the deck was definitely stacked against Ravi. Moreover, anybody who is struggling so long against the ogre of Organic chemistry, develops a fierceness of purpose against which a mere horse has no chance of bucking. If I can't master Organic chemistry, so what, I can definitely master a dumb animal. By the way, the horse did not know any chemistry organic or otherwise. I had from the horse's mouth when I fed him his jaggery after every ride back to the hostel.
Arun
