Who is Pappettan?

A few years ago I started a series on this blog called Pappettan Says. It grew quietly, post by post, conversation by conversation. Then I stopped writing and the series stopped with me.

Now I am back. And so is Pappettan.

Which raises a fair question for anyone arriving here for the first time. Who is Pappettan?

The short answer is: a superhero.

Unlike the popular ones, Pappettan does not wear a mask or a suit. But like them, he prefers to remain anonymous. Pappettan is a pseudonym.

He started as one person I met in Paris many years ago. Someone who could walk into any situation and walk out having made it more interesting. He had a gift for saying the most unexpected thing and somehow making everyone in the room either blush or laugh. He knew exactly where the line was and never crossed it. Anger was not an emotion you found in him.

Over the years, Pappettan has grown beyond that one person. I have met others who carry the same spirit. The same ability to look at an ordinary situation and find the angle nobody else noticed. The same quiet logic that cuts through the noise. In that sense, there are many Pappettans in the world.
Some readers have suspected that Pappettan is my alter ego. He is not. I have always been an observer. Someone who gets drawn into the things happening around me but rarely the one who shapes them. Pappettan is the opposite. He walks into a room and the room changes. I walk into a room and take notes.

That is probably why I find him so compelling.

Once, the original Pappettan said something that stayed with me. He was talking about his passion for photography and said: “I am documenting my life. When I retire, I can look at these photographs and remember what I accomplished.” Then he paused and added: “In a way, you are doing the same with your blog.”

He was right. That is exactly what this is.

Some of the old Pappettan posts will find their way here, rewritten where time has made them relevant in a new way. And there will be new ones, because life keeps producing the situations and Pappettan keeps finding the angle.

I hope you enjoy them.