Yes, Mr Paul !

As one of my favorite tv shows,Yes Minister series stands at the top.Honestly, the master list itself is pretty small. There are few things,occasions,movies,songs,moments which remain anew and full of life every time you touch them. They have that unquestionable and repetitive sense of vitality which can be attributed to an ardent fan watching his role model perform the best of the trade and simply revel in it. Like the effect of a song sung by a mother to her child to make him sleep.Its original every time its sung and is equally effective.

I get into a similar state of trance when I watch the performance of Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds in the famous series. The way Paul expresses the helplessness of a minister through Jim Hacker is amazing. Especially his ability to portray a person who is expressionless in utter innocence when the dark humor is played on him.I guess in real life such a quality is possessed by only those who either cannot understand humor at all or those who understand it completely and yet ignore it in and out.I guess this planet is bereft of both,"actually".

Yesterday,I saw his last interview which he gave in Face to Face .
Paul had a rare form of skin cancer which directly affected his face and hence his late acting career .I am sure he was more grieved of losing his life rather than his career. It was so poignant to watch Paul say that if a journo were to ask what his epitaph would bear , then it would be "I am someone who did very little harm.." At the same time, his voice was naturally artistic, full of inner energy to live and raring to vocalize any actor's role.That characteristic of a person to remain aloof yet mildly alert, to ignore yet be aware of things can be seen in each and every act of his and is spellbinding.

I believe what Paul said came out of a human's request and a deep urge to live.He succumbed to the disease very shortly after wards.It was a desperation for an answer ; may be for justice. May be that is what death is all about. You simply cant fight it.He had some very "genuine questions unanswered",or may be unexplained.

In one of the Yes prime minister series, Jim Hacker (late Paul Eddington), preparing for the funeral of his predecessor quotes "...so wonderful thing (is this) death ..so uncontroversial.." May his soul rest in peace.