The
words ‘role model’ usually and ostensibly refer to a parent or a sibling or a
teacher or, in rare cases, a sportsman. But will I be digressing from the norm
if I state that my one true role model (whom I always look up in awe and
admiration) is a character from the pages of fiction? Perhaps yes, perhaps no!
After all, making a choice of that one role model out of dozens of nominated
names that buzz inside your head is a challenging task. Hopefully, you will
spare me this dare of picking up someone who is more of a public figure than
someone whom I can call my own (completely my own). But then when I am reading his
books, it seems quite like a real face-to-face talk between me and him, as if
two people sitting on two sides of the page sharing some fascinating
conversations and falling in love with each other.
But
then when the person in question is as great as Albus Dumbledore is, all rules,
restrictions, norms and conditions have to be discarded. They simply lose their
worth before a man of such gargantuan persona. It is the way he speaks, it is
the way he carries himself and it is the way he runs an institution (Hogwarts)
with so much aplomb that I wonder if I am the only one in the world to have him
as my role model!
Dumbledore’s
shrewd mind, his sagacious eyes which seem to see everything around, his beard
that is perhaps as old as some of our politicians (or even older), his cheek
for grinning even at the face of death, his armor of immense wit and that undeniable
gift of the gab; how can you not fall in complete, utter and irrevocable awe of
this man?
Dumbledore,
through his words and through Harry’s eyes, has not just conveyed some plain
truths of life to me but has also been a constantly looming presence during all
my times, good or bad. Twirling his words through my mind, I have found solace
in them at times which were bad enough to crush me to pieces. His wisecracks have
been shockingly real, so earthly, so easy to agree upon and so astoundingly relatable
that you feel scared lest this man was standing behind you all your life,
observing every act of yours with his all-seeing eyes and witnessing every deed
(heinous or wise) you ever committed.
With
so many other indefinable and unexplainable traits ingrained deep within this
mystically flamboyant character, I wonder if I am the only one in the world to
have him as my role model!
And so during one moment of random hallucination, I closed my eyes, looked clearly at him over the misty air and tossed an unsettling query at his smiling visage,
“Sir,
is this blog post real or is it just happening inside my head?”
And
he tossed back a rather unconvincing reply accompanied with his queer chuckle,
“Of
course it is happening inside your head, but why do you think it is not real?”
Wow, you wrote about Dumbledore. In the initial Harry novels, I quite admired his warmth, wisdom and his love for his students especially Harry. I also saw his practical side when Harry sees Snape's memories. A benign elder for sure.
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