The Giant Rat of Sumatra

I am a great fan of Sherlock Holmes. For me, his stories are not just literary masterpieces but much more - a guide for leading a better life. For me, Holmes personifies the great virtues of man - intelligence, sagacity, leading by example and action, a steadfast sense of duty, chivalry and much more. He is an inspirational role model.

Dr. Watson's accounts of Holmes are a treasure trove of myriad human emotions. The many characteristics of these stories include the fleeting mention of those cases that Holmes solved but the good doctor didn't have the time or energy to pen down. Dr. Watson usually mentions them at the beginning of his stories to show the context of the times in which Holmes solved the case to be detailed in the story. Most of them have pretty bizarre descriptions. From the 'abominable story of the leech' to the 'amateur mendicant society' to the 'man who wound up his dinner by throwing his false teeth at his wife' to 'the man who stepped inside the house to get his umbrella and was never seen again in this world', these stories have always evoked an amused smile in my face.

But again, you may laugh and point out that all of them are figments of the imagination and it doesn't behoove a sane person to take them seriously.

But are they always in the realm of fantasy?

One such intriguing snippet is mentioned in 'The Sussex Vampire'. In the initial conversation with Watson, Holmes mentions about Mathilda Briggs which is a ship associated with the 'giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared'. No further detail is given. There is no evidence of these rats in the subsequent story. It was almost as if Dr. Watson used to conjure them up to enhance the dry humor of his writing.

However, I read something very very interesting last month about the rats.

On a chilly Dec morning, the 18th in the year 2007 to be precise, I opened bbcnews, as is my daily routine and was stunned to see the following news item,

A giant rodent five times the size of a common rat has been discovered in the mountainous jungles of New Guinea.

The 1.4kg Mallomys giant rat is one of two species of mammal thought to be new to science documented on an expedition to an area described as a "lost world".

(Complete story at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/g2/hi/science/nature/7149569.stm)

Fact and fiction are entwined in strange ways. New Guinea is very close to Sumatra, both of them being in South East Asia Pacific. What an astounding coincidence! The imagination, allowed to run free, offered other alternatives. The rats might have moved from New Guinea to Sumatra, or they might have existed in both places. Or there was another explanation. Often Dr. Watson deliberately altered the true facts of a case to preserve the anonymity of the people involved. The case of Matilda Briggs could have taken place in New Guinea but Dr. Watson had changed the name to the nearby island of Sumatra and still left a subtle hint as to the geographical location. There were so many possibilities and interesting speculations...

Of course, at the end of the day, I am a sane person and can distinguish between fact and fiction. Nonetheless it gave me an overwhelming sense of thrill and happiness to read the article and imagine that Holmes had figured out the existence of these singular creatures long before modern scientists with all their modern gadgets could.