Mario Miranda had his cats, R K Laxman his crows. Monet his lilies and Chaplin his tramp look. For those who seek pleasure in physics, H C Verma's monkeys were no less iconic. They were the sign of unbridled force, irrepressible energy and the epitome of work under pressure. The induce awe, reflect shifts, and propel you into a projectile where the learning graph is anti-gravity.

"Who is H C Verma?", unlucky uninitiated ones may ask. A more Asadaullahish response could have been. "pūchhte haiñ vo ki 'ġhālib' kaun hai, koī batlāo ki ham batlā.eñ kyā". Well, what Clayden is to Organic Chemistry, what Lehninger is to Biochemistry, what Odum is to Ecology, H C Verma is to Physics, nay, he is physics to millions of NEET aspirants. No book has captured the imagination in stoking a lifelong interest in physics like H C Verma's. Resnick-Halliday is too 'red shift' and Irodov too 'Red'. H C Verma is that laal (child in Hindi), you would like to wrestle and tussle with. His monkeys would keep you tantalized.

A generation or two (me included) never knew how he looked like. His textbooks had no photograph of him. He never bothered to insist one may be, allowing his crystal clear exposition of physics concepts do the talking and help learners conjure up an individual and deeply personal image of a savant of physics. While buying, sorry owing, sorry possessing his two books, the title goes missing first, then the 's and the bookseller knows what does it mean when one says, 'Give me two H C Vermas'!

He came, he solved, he conquered. When the writers of TVF did a tribute to professor H C Verma when he retired from his alma mater, they were tipping their hats to the author, as most of them were highly qualified engineers, who owe their initial steps of their success to this great sensei. A la Simpsons. Thanks to the brilliant English subtitles, you will get the humour and the physics jokes, too.

Allen Funt's Candid Camera has many celebrities surprising ordinary people popping out unannounced. Here is one clip from the mid-70s. I am sure, the kids would be recounting this chance 'sting of the greatest butterfly'!

And these lucky 8th graders also had their Ali moment. They had an audience with the H C Verma, the pied piper, the 'monkey-man' who made physics learning dancing to his toons.

By the way, how much force monkey A need to apply on the rope?