Sherlockian Searches
By Don Hobbs

Sherlockians are familiar with searching and searches. Sherlock Holmes was searching for clues, searching for criminals, searching for knowledge. Dr. Watson was searching for logic in his flatmate, Holmes. Sherlockians are also searchers. They are looking for people, books, or the newest angle to approach their passion for Sherlock Holmes.

I am always searching for some Sherlockian something or another. I search for Sherlock Holmes in unknown languages. I search for speakers of languages I have translations in but still lacking bibliographic information. Recently, I was even the subject of a Sherlockian’s search.

Unbeknownst to me, Ms. Karen Murdock was searching for me. She came across an article in The Hindu Times about a man who was translating “The Dancing Men” into Tamil and it was being serialized in three issues of the magazine Manjari.  Karen knows of my collecting mania for non-English translations of the Canon but had lost my email address. Doing her best Sherlock Holmes imitation, she went about finding it in the most logical manner. First, she did what all good Sherlockians would do, contact Mr. Peter Blau.  Peter should be every Sherlockian’s first attempt at finding out needed information regarding all things Sherlockian. Carrying out her Sherlockian ratiocination, she deduced that Mr. Blau would be in New York City for the Birthday Celebration Weekend and her deduction was correct.

She next sent an email to Brad Keefauver but using incorrect logic, she assumed he would be in NYC too. Her next action was the one that paid dividends. She sent a message to The Hounds of the Internet. She knew I was once a lurker there but was not sure if I was still on the Listserve. She received my email address from several members of the Hounds. I too, received many messages regarding Karen’s search for me.

The information I got from Karen prompted a new round of searches by me. I searched for Manjari’s  website but found it to be temporarily down. Then I sent The Hindu Times an email requesting the article’s author email address. I also sent an email to K. N. Srinivas, better known as Korattur Srinivas in the Tamil literary circle. He is the person who translated the story. I tracked his email address down through the Crescent Engineering College, where he is an associate professor. I have not heard back from any of these people yet but I am full of searches and do not give up easily.

I guess I will do what all Sherlockians are noted for, keep on searching.

Happy Collecting!!