To mark the 150th birthday of George Bernard Shaw known as G.B.S in the literary world, it will be most fitting to think back on his life. Born on 26 July 1856 in Dublin, Ireland, G.B.S’s life almost spans a century. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, he was indeed a man of many-sided genius : greatest playwright of the English-speaking world since Shakespeare, critic, lecturer, philosopher, satirist among others. He died in his 95th year on 2 November 1950 from a fracture in his thigh after falling from a tree he was pruning.

Shaw’s own favourite description of his early years were “anarchical”. About his mother, he writes “she went her own way with so complete a disregard and even unconsciousness of convention and scandal and prejudice that it was impossible to doubt her good faith and innocence, but it never occurred to her that other people especially children, needed guidance or training or that it mattered in the least what they ate or drank or what they did so long as they were not actively mischievous”. Referring to his father he says, “he was a lonely drinker at the grocer - publican’s. He was never carried out blind; drink did not affect him that way, nor did he drink enough to take him quite off his legs. But he was quite unmistakably drunk, stupefied, apparently sleep-walking and, if remonstrated with, apt to fly into sudden momentary rages in which he would snatch something up and dash it on the floor”.

For an absence of intimacy and emotional bonds between the two sisters and the brother or between parents and children, nurses, governess and apothecaries were looking after them. Still very small, George Bernard Shaw was taken out by his nurse who came from the slums. Those visits touched the child so deeply that he developed a “life - long hatred of poverty”.

It was partly his uncle , partly the rector of St. Bride’s and partly a governess who were responsible for his early education. Westley Conne-xional , the school to which he had been admitted, he remembered as a “damnable boys’ prison” and his years there were a sheer waste of time.

Yet Shaw's early life did not discourage him at all. In spite of all the adverse conditions that came his way, he rose above the horizon. Schooled in poverty, squalor and want, he would wait on life force as his mentor for inspiration.

As a student of English Literature at the University, I felt much uplifted by Shavian philosophy of life force – vital energy for the progress and survival of Man. Why Man ?

Everywhere you go, there is the manifestation of life force. Man's journey from his state of being a caveman to the skyscraper is a living proof. On the other hand, none of his fellow creatures no matter how cunning, fast or strong has not made any evident progress. From down the ages, the birds’ nest, holes of animals and habitats of others have not undergone any real change; yet, Man has emerged and worked wonders only thanks to life force. And more is coming and will continue to come.

It was life force that propelled self – taught Shaw to leave Ireland at 20 for England and could become what he has been yearning for. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature long after his epic struggle , he refused the coveted prize money saying that “the money is a life belt thrown to a swimmer who has already reached the shore in safety”. At his request, the money was donated to the Anglo- Swedish Literary .

Nothing great happens as a matter of course . There is a price to pay. Says H. W. Longfellow,

“ The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not attained by sudden flight

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upwards in the night”.

And so, deep down in every achievement, every success lies life force – the essence of George Bernard Shaw’s philosophy in his major plays. After all, his own long life unfolds what life force is and its meaning.

<B>By Kaviraj SOHUR</B>