Book Review:
Town Talk
Vade Mecum is, of course, not a recipe for lentil snacks (vadai) but
something which also can be chewed on and digested.
It is a book recently published by Neptune Publishers under that
title which is a Latin expression that has found its way into the Oxford
English Dictionary, Literal meaning they say is 'Come/go with me' Vade
(vah-day) is a shade from "Quo vadis, Domine?" The author's translation
is 'Be my companion'.
The author is one of the final generation of local classical scholars
tutored once upon a time by the irrepressible don, Prof J L C Rodrigo
(alias Adonis). Vade Mecum is an Anthology of thoughts captured over a
lifetime of readings and listenings - 'what oft was thought but never so
well expressed' - at times verging on the sublime (humility is the crown
which makes a man a King) through the irreverent (Is a plunging neckline
a booby trap?) to the ridiculous (How can a dark man get yellow fever?)
Indeed, Vade Mecum is not a book to be put away on a shelf but should be
kept handy on the bedside table to be dipped into at leisured intervals.
The 230 page hard cover book is presented in a rather uncommon manner
where excerpts are printed sigzag in two colours on the cover. At the
end of the book provision is made for the reader to make out his own
index.
- H L D M W
|