'The Numlian' — A Rant
Recently, I received, as a gift, two issues of The Numlian , the creative outlet of NUML, one of Pakistan's leading public sector universities. As I browsed through it casually, I came across a response—no, a parody!—of T. S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men." Before discussing what is wrong with that response, let me reproduce, for the reader, the words of the original bard: The Hollow Men Mistah Kurtz-he dead A penny for the Old Guy I We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion; Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us—if at all—not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men. II Eyes I dare not meet in dreams In death's drea