The Old Man and the Sea

Author : Ernest Hemingway
Genre : Never mind that, read it, read it, oh please read it. Short story otherwise.

Thank you Harshu for making me read it.

It is the story of a fisherman and his experience when he finds the biggest catch of his life. Of course it is much more than that but we live in a world of “In a nutshell” and that would be the worlds most basic and disrespectful ‘nutshell’ I have put it in.

The book is beautiful because the old man respects his prey. The awe that the fish inspires in him when he first sees it, the patience he exhibits when he knows the fish is hooked but waits for it to come to him on his own terms, his hunger, frustration and when he almost gives up saying “ He is my brother, I don’t care who kills who.”
I don’t want to tell you what happens after or after the after.

I have read some pages twice or thrice, only to remember because I really want to remember.

I loved it enough to have the guts to share some passages with my SD-5 maddies, because I was sure they would laugh at me if they thought I was being silly. Well they didn’t so here goes.

“He remembered the time he had hooked one of a pair of marlin. The male fish always let the female feed first and the hooked fish, the female made a wild, panic stricken, despairing fight that soon exhausted her, and all the time the male stayed with her, crossing the line and circling with her on the surface. He had stayed so close that the old man was afraid he would cut the tail which was sharp as a scythe and almost of that size and shape. When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed her, holding the rapier bill with its sand paper edge and clubbing her across the top of her head until her colour turned to a colour almost like the backing of mirrors, and then with the boy’s aid, hoisted her abroad, the male fish had stayed by the boat. Then, while the old man was clearing the lines and preparing the harpoon, the male jumped high into the air beside the boat to see where the female was and then went down deep, his lavender wings , spread wide and all his wide lavender stripes showing. He was beautiful, the old man remembered, and he had stayed.”

Or

“You did not kill a fish only to keep alive or to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?”

Definitely in the treasure chest.

PS: Let’s keep Sanjay Leela Bhansali away from this one. He will have an opulent red and orange sea with Amitabh as the old man and Salman as the fish, maybe even singing, “Dekho Shark Aaaya, shark nazar aaya!”