When Pinching helmets was a pastime and newts got painted orange

I was in deep mourning thinking of the wasted years I spent when I did not read PG Wodehouse’s works. How did I miss noticing Lord Emsworth and Jeeves and Wooster books beckoning me from their colourful covers is beyond my ken!
My memory takes me back to the days of apna doordarshan, which did indeed telecast good programmes apart from Krishi Darshan.I would have been about 13 years old and the Jeeves and Wooster series would be my side dish for my afternoon lunch –of course I think most of the British humour was lost on me then but still I think that is my first meeting with this maestro of humour.
Once again I bumped into him in college on the recommendation of gud ole Akila (mental note to myself: try to locate her) I read a couple of golf stories of his but I still did not appreciate the writer too much or perhaps it did not appeal to my then rebellious mind (which was busy devouring Ayn Rand).
Almost a decade later I started again with “The Inimitable Jeeves” and only then I really started appreciating PGW. Having just completed “What Ho! - The Best of P.G. Wodehouse”, I must say that I have a lot of catching up to do but like the saying goes “Better Late than never”! What Ho!.. has the best of PGW’s collection with an excellent introduction by Stephen Fry and came to my rescue in my long waits in airports where the weary passengers were left wondering what made me laugh so much after a 5 hour wait and a 9 hour flight!! I did pity them indeed for not being able to look at the brighter side of life through the eyes of PG Wodehouse.