Cheerio, Titan.

My acquaintance with George Bernard Shaw is cursory and anecdotal at best. His only two plays I’ve read are Saint Joan and Pygmalion, the latter because My Fair Lady fascinated me. Of the Irish and self-confessedly communist playwright, Sean O’Casey, I know next to naught. My abysmal ignorance happened to be brought to an end pleasurably last week when my copy of Cheerio, Titan by Elieen O’Casey magically resurfaced. I must have bought it at least four years back from Lotus Book House which sadly is no more. This thoroughly enchanting account of the friendship between GBS and O’Casey with fascinating photographs of the chief cast of characters and key locations is a compact 154-page hardcover volume published in 1989 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. The pivotal incidence in the narrative is the rejection of O’Casey’s anti-war play, The Silver Tassie, by WB Yeats and the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 1928. The book title is taken from the last sentence of the letter GBS wrote to Sean expressing his admiration for and whole-hearted support of the play. Elieen O’Casey writes without guile and with total candour and sincerity. In her account, GBS stands out as charming, witty and human who befriended and defended Sean and admired Elieen to the extent of calling her to his death bed (she was practically the last friend to see him before he breathed his last). Try as I might I could not somehow warm up to Sean in spite of his steadfastly loyal wife’s best efforts to paint him in the most flattering colours – and my own weakness for left-leaning writers and artists. It’s a wonderful read all told, though. http://www.ria.ie/projects/dib/ocasey.html.

IIITTII?

Not really. Considering we troop to swoon over KJ’s made-for-NRI KANK in the newly opened Metro Ad Labs (soon to be shortened to MAL no doubt) at Rs.500/- a pop without blinking an eyelid to watch SRK, AB, AB Jr, RM, PZ and KK. Or, KKKG, KHNH and other initial poppers (IPs – not IPOs) of like ilk before it. I guess it’s a sign of the hurried, harried times we live in. We don’t have a moment to rest in peace (RIP). We’re afraid of getting ripped off if we do. Who knows what might happen in that unguarded moment if we were to stop and take a leisurely breather? A real WI conundrum, what? For acronym impaired folks like me, here’s an alphabetically arranged, easy-to-use glossary to mug up so that you get my drift.

Glossary for the Acronym Impaired starts here.

AB (sometimes also called the Big B) = Amitabh Bachchan

AB Jr (often called Abby’s Baby) = Abhishekh Bachchan

Aka = Also known as

IIITTII? = Isn’t it idiotic to talk in initials?

IP = Initial popper

IPO = Initial public issue

KANK= Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

KJ = Karan Johar

KK = Kirron Kher

KHNH = Kal Ho Na Ho

KKKG = Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

MAL = Metro Ad Lab

NRI = Non-resident India (aka born desi ab pardesi)

PZ = Preity Zinta

RIP = Rest in peace

RM = Rani Mukherji

SRK = Shah Rukh Khan

WI = What if

Avantika recommends http://www.aim.com/acronyms.adp?aolp=0 for acronym finding. For a second opinion, try http://www.thatwasrandom.com/content/view/44/50/.