'One-liners', many think, form the prerogative of politicians and/or leaders. An example could be the "in big, big cities, small, small things happen" version of the Bombay blasts. Such notorious comments get roasted properly. Many memes, both pictorial and verbal, thereof emerge like the mushrooms during the monsoon or the wild fires of blistering summers.
Yet another community often associated with 'one-liners' would be the actors. "Jinke ghar kanch ke hote", the "dhai kilo ka hath"could be a few famous examples. The master, however, in this field would be Amitabh Bachchan, especially of the "angry young man" era of his career. "Ye pulis chouki hai, tere baap ka ghar nahi" to "rishton me to hum tumhare baap lagte hai", "nam to suna hi hoga" to "don ko pakdana mushkil hi nahi", wonders these are.
In fact, it would not be totally wrong to say that"Sholay" sizzled because of multiple such 'one- liners'. Yet be it "Pushpa, I hate tears" or "Zindagi ek rangmanch hai", every superhero's superhit delivery of such one-liners is undoubtedly his/her art, but basically it is the script-writer's superb creativity.
No wonder, the field of literature bursts at seams with such quotable quotes. Be it Shakespeare's "to be or not to be" or Shelley's "if winter comes, can spring be far behind?", to quote two exceptionally famous wise saws, the literary 'one-liners' cross the boundaries of space and time.
Two such Sanskrit literary quotes would be "Ashadhasya pratham diwse" and "Ma Nishadh: twam", respectively by Kalidasa and by Maharshi Valmiki whose birth anniversary was recently celebrated. All such literary 'one-liners' are not merely artistic. They are basically a wonderful mirror to and deep reflection on real life and the poet's emotive yet intellectual response to multi-layered realities.
In this aspect, literature competes with religious texts which brim with the best quotes. The Biblical description of lilies, for example, shows how religious quotes can be very simple and yet deeply meaningful. Our very own Bhagwad Geeta has very many such pearls of wisdom. No wonder, "yog kshemam" becomes the soothingly pithy promise of a life insurance company.
'One-liners', in brief, are not merely "words, words, words" full of "sound and fury, signifying nothing". Rather, they are priceless diamonds whose glitter lights up our very lives. Long live quotable quotes!
Pratima@ My childhood hobby was to read up, and write down such 'one-liners' in a special notebook i still have as it was my first prize. At school, i was assigned the duty of writing such "subhashit" on the school notice board. One of Papa's special gifts was the Reader's Digest subscription which he continued for years. The first column i would read in those childhood wonders was, yes, you guessed it right, "quotable quotes".
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