E-LEMENTARY

This is a message received on Whatsapp today from two sources.

"Once Iswarchandra Vidyasagar jokingly  asked Michel Modhusudhan-  as you are a master in English can you make a sentence without using the alphabet  "E"?...

He wrote this  :

"I doubt I can. 

It’s a major part of many, many words. Omitting it is as hard as making muffins without flour. 

It’s as hard as spitting without saliva, napping without a pillow, driving a train without tracks, sailing to Russia without a boat, washing your hands without soap.  

And, anyway, what would I gain? An award? A cash bonus? Bragging rights? Why should I strain my brain? It’s not worth doing...."

Firstly, which era did Iswarchandra Vidyasagar live in and was he a contemporary of 'Michel Modhusudan'?

Yes, they were contemporaries! 

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar CIE (26 September 1820 – 29 July 1891)

Michael Madhusudan Dutt, or Michael Madhusudan Dutta (25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873). 

Secondly, were words like 'bragging' common in those days?
I'm not sure. But the word doesn't feel like one that said gentleman would use in the era he lived in.

A simple web search revealed this thread on Quora where it shows up as being published by Marcus Geduld, Published author, lifelong reader. This is the only credible listing on the web that I found for this passage. I'm not sure if Marcus Geduld wrote this, but he says more than what's mentioned in the Whatsapp message - it just so happens he made a reference to Quora. It's a far more interesting thread than the Whatsapp message.

But I'm pretty sure the story doesn't involve Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar or Michael Madhusudan Dutta.