Arundhati Roy is again in the news for her advice to give ‘azadi’ to Kashmir. There is nothing wrong in giving a comment on the state of the nation (or subsequent prescription to soothe wound). But being opportunistic after giving an impression that you are an activist is highly condemnable. Her stand on protection of forest land and tribal rights should be highly appreciated. But unfortunately it is easy to profess but tough to practise. She made a house in forest land where non tribals are not allowed to make settlements. I could only laugh on her double standards when she refused to accept sahitya academy award instituted by govt of kerala while blissfully holding on to the british award( though not instituted by british govt) Man Booker purposely ignoring their imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan( she only blames US for atrocities). I was amused when she criticised Amir Khan who took a brave( but foolish) stand on sardar sarovar issue. She had said celebrities associate themselves to public issues for cheap publicity and fails to help the cause. Did she make such a childish comment for the fear of losing the centre stage in the movement? I think she should focus on writing (strictly fiction) as many others had advised her. `
I respect Pinarayi Vijayan for his utter lack of interest in building an image using media(unlike his bête noire). But he is known for the pseudo socialist aura that he has developed around him. Here are a few of them
1. He opposed introduction of self financing colleges in private sector though his daughter studied in a private self financing college outside the state.
2. He opposes opening doors for foreign university to set up centres in India but sends his son to study MBA in England( paradise of capitalists).
3. He had opposed computerization introduced in India in 80’s. But these days he carries a laptop with him (with bullets along with it!!!!)
I wonder why these people cannot take a solid stand on serious issues and adhere to it or simply never take a stand on an issue which is not simple enough to have an unambiguous stand.
I saw a poster of the students union of CPM terming the recent murder of a teacher in a brawl related to the cluster meetings in schools as Guru Hatya. They went on to add that they will never forgive murderers of a teacher. I wonder whether they have forgiven the murderers of KT Jayakrishnan, a teacher who was murdered before the students while he was taking class. Oh sorry that was a revolutionary act against a fascist and the executers should be hailed right?
Kerala is like the mega serials which are popular here. Not viewing multiple episodes will in no way affect the understanding of the story. Life in here is so predictable(Its very notorious for being the nightmare of IT professionals working around the country. The most non vibrant city in the country is thankfully mine). Kerala is famous for its reluctance to join the new india bandwagon. When sprawling flyovers and highways are coming up all around the country we still have the worst roads. I must confess that i found it like defending the devil when I had an argument with my cousin ( who happen to cater a strong dislike towards this place) over the future prospects of my state. Why we couldn’t live up to the expectations of the country? We were expected to have a growth comparable to the west or the asian tigers after our remarkable achievements in health sector and primary education. I will try to put down my analysis for this pathetic performance of kerala.
1. Today morning my mother(who happen to be a teacher in a govt school) got a call from a parent . She asked whether there would be regular classes today. She said a student had committed suicide and thought classes would be cancelled as usual. I am not blaming any political party for conducting bandhs or hartals. It is the aspirations and wishes of the public that these outfits are fulfilling. Keralites hate to work in kerala( cliché statement for many keralites). I remember my father regularly checking the health of prime ministers and presidents in the hope of getting a holiday in case they die( though he was the hard working type when in service unlike me). These days general strikes have become more like onam and vishu with channels broadcasting the latest movies and liquor outlets running out of stock on the day before hartal. Recently we made the hartal protesting the Amarnath issue a grand success with as much zest as Kashmiris themselves. I remember days of strike against power tariff hike by the youth wing of Marxist party ( with ubiquitous vandalism of this outfit). Now it is the turn of congress party with surcharge increased by 50ps for every unit. What amuses me is the deafening silence of the youth wing that vigorously opposed previous hikes. The bottom line is why stall the production in the state if both parties know that hikes are inevitable.
2. There is a story about Lalu Prasad Yadav when he was the chief minister of Bihar. He was visited by an angry group of villagers who complained about the pathetic condition of roads in their villages. Lalu answered by saying that these roads are useless for ordinary peasants like ‘us’ as we use bullock carts! The same attitude reflects in the attitude of mallus in their attitude towards roads here with a small difference. What difference does it make to me if a I am going to gulf next year( Bangalore these days). Places like Trichur( which used to have prosperous industries) are fast becoming holiday homes for retired people. The most profitable business here is shockingly real estate(which results in lazy millionaires).
3. We fear foreign aid and investment as it is another form of masqueraded east india company with the horn of imperialism. I wonder if ever that is the case don’t we have the power and smartness to make these investors toe our line like what we did with smart city (I appreciate the CM for being smart in this case)
I can unequivocally say that if we change,all the political parties will change( though they don’t wish to). If we stop celebrating strikes, if we stop yearning for holidays, if we stand together against bad roads and poor universities our state will grow. If not we can blissfully read newspapers in Chayakadas( with our version of an issue) and migrate to gulf afterwards to do our traditional job of serving the world.
I am presently travelling in a train from aluva to Trivandrum. Just now I met a person which provoked me to write this. When I first saw him he was giving a lecture on Hindu spirituality to a passenger( whom I swear was not interested). I was deeply immersed in reading . After ernakulam when his sole listener left the ‘guru’ started his conversation with me. I listened to him and proactively conversed. It seemed he had read a lot of books and had sound knowledge in the Hindu thought. He said if you do this you will become good and if you do that you will have an enlightened life etc etc (but the uniqueness of Hinduism is the freedom of worship it gives to its followers including the rationalists). Anyway when he was about to leave he saw a big bag and accidentally uttered ‘’ it seems to be of a fat muslim, who knows what is inside that’’. What should I say about these people who speak about jeevatma and paramatma, those who follow the doctrine that the jeevatma that kindles our soul is the same in every being( human or not), no matter hindu or muslim and caters annoying prejudices about a particular community in reality. I have come across numerous people like these. Another being the father of my very good friend who is both educated and cultured but couldn’t help saying ‘’we all know these muslims who are nothing but frauds’’. Unfortunately his audience included two muslims( he didn know that) and had to apologize later. I have read about similar people in a book by Mr Nassim Nicholas Taleb- The Black Swan. It mocks those individuals who can easily solve a logical question in a competitive exam which goes like ‘’All terrorists are muslims but not all muslims are terrorists, is a muslim necessarily a terrorist?’’ correctly by saying a no. But the same person feels insecure when he sees a bearded man in an airport boarding the same flight he is about to take.
Sorry couldn’t write for 3 days. I am presently in cochin. I had gone to college to collect certificates. College has not changed. The one thing that is unique about our college is the eternal rivalry between two factions of staff. People in the nearby shops( especially in the ubiquitous ‘chayakadas’) say they have never seen such teachers fighting against each other and openly mocking their colleagues before the students. In fact everyone’s intentions are good but unfortunately they are not understanding that their PDH( public display of hatred) is unbecoming of an ideal Guru and equally entertaining for the students.
Finally, finally India won an individual gold medal in its 60 year long history. The nation is proud of Abhinav Bindra for his performance which saved us for the time being. I am even happier that Abhinav never looked carried away and handled flattery of the insane nation with utmost maturity. He is an example to all those sportsmen whose actions outside the field and melodrama on the field make more headline than their achievements( one cricketer who happen to be from my state was actually dancing with Mandira Bedi on a stage show recently, and his acting prowess was evaluated by none other than Mandira who has made such a profound impression for her performances in bollywood). Abhinav keep up the good work on and off the field.
I watched a Malayalam movie in theatre after a long time (of two months). As usual the mohanlal flick thoroughly disappointed me. The movie was ‘’Madampi’’ which is an undeserving hit over here. The film had nothing new about it and was a poor mixture of some old movies( like valsalyam and balettan). I don’t know why Mohanlal the most gifted ‘’actor’’( I hate to call him a star) is stooping himself into such disgusting depth. He is the most talented actor of the country and those directors who are castrating his stature should be cursed for their naivety in handling cinema. Its high time that Malayalam industry should subject itself to serious navel gazing and do meaningful cinema like the ones they produced consistently in 80’s
13th august
So the flop show has begun. News about Indians finishing on 43rd position, 32nd position, failing to qualify has started coming. We are keeping up the tradition of being as low as we could in the medals tally. This time I expected some kind of solace from the shooting contingent representing India which looked promising. But the initial results shows that they have preferred to remain good Indians than great champions. The media now banks its hopes on two individuals who are sworn enemies to work together and bring home gold. The last time India came empty handed Olympics was on 1992 in Barcelona. God save our country from that kind of shame this time. I am least interested in supports and don’t know the rules of 90% percent of Olympic events. But somehow victory in these kinds of events makes us feel a sense of solidarity towards fellow Indians which is exactly that we are lacking as I had mentioned earlier.
9th august
I don’t think I am going to publish yesterday’s blog. It is pretty depressing. The routine here is almost killing me. I don’t have anything to do here. If ever I go out money gets spend like anything. I haven’t learned how to spend money judiciously (if not frugally).I was seeing the Olympics opening ceremony. It was awesome. When is our country going to host an event like that? In the opening ceremony the Chinese were showcasing their inventions that helped mankind in their advancement (like the paper, compass, gunpowder). Do we have at least one invention to show the world other than the Arabic number system which includes zero (even that is contentious). All that we have been doing is serving the world for 400 years and before that simply creating a fantasy world around ourselves that reiterated to its lazy citizens that we are the best. We are still doing that. We always maintain that Indian culture is the best with its rich philosophical content and tradition (the same tradition that divided us into a zillion castes). This country is made upon a myth. This was a bargain that we got from the Britons. They wanted to dispose this lose making enterprise( though it was called the jewel of the crown) which we inherited, which was on the verge of collapse. But we keeping up the good hindu tradition were sterile even to start a civil war. The anomalies in our country is so profound that if it was in some other place a civil war would have definitely transpired to fragment this union(like the soviet union) into pieces. But a lot of people say it was our strength that made us stick together. I believe we are weak or impotent even to initiate a movement for integration of different souls( read the lack of political will even to force upon us a common language no matter what it is) or even the more comfortable disintegration. I am not a separatist, I love my country. But I feel our federal cum unitary system which they say is a synergetic combination of American and British system( but actually happen to be a glorified third sex) sucks. We have to be either unitary or federal. Paddling two boats in opposite directions wont help moving forward. The tamils don’t like the kannadigas, malayalis don’t like the tamils, they are all hated by the north Indians and still we say we are all bhais( like we used to say hindi chini bhai bhai and then fought a war). Every Indian faces this identity crisis, this inner war. Who am I a malayali or an Indian. A Hindu or a Nair( its a caste). These questions torment every person. Even the caste less Christianity or Islam were not spared by our tolerant culture. Today we see priests of different sects of Christianity fighting in the streets for the possession of churches( only profitable ones). The great ideology of communism which envisaged a classless society got maligned in India with highly hierarchical party structure and dormant but strong male chauvinism. The party until recently produced CM’s from only upper class people( though its major support base comprises the deprived or the used to be deprived section) with Mr Achutanandan being the only exception( because all the upper caste big brothers expired). It is interesting that Kerala with a very healthy sex ratio(1076 women for 1000 men) have not seen a single women mass leader. Every woman who may have become an imposing entity in the political ground was tactically uprooted by the highly chauvinistic party structures. This class war even in entities which work for classless society is the contribution of our glorified culture. There is no room for collaboration and team work (with the possible exception of army which remains secular and united but not necessarily compassionate due its redundant british culture) in our country. We can only remain hostile and indifferent towards our country men.
So coming back to Olympics, the Chinese will go on showcasing their might on the world stage. They will go on breaching our borders. We will sit here blissfully ignorant watching the Olympics On TV and praying for a bronze( that is another big story) while the world will move on while we will remain the epitome of stinking obsequiousness.
8th August
Another uneventful day passed. I don’t know why I am craving for novelty on every day of my life. Maybe it is because I get bored easily. Have started reading a new novel by Frederick Forsyth( The day of Jackal). Everyone down here says I should I have read it earlier. It seems to be a masterpiece. Life was so different when I was in college. Every minute used to pass quickly. I had so many people to talk to. I love Cochin, as it gave me great friends and very new experiences. I fondly remember all those idiotic movies I used to watch with my friends. On a lot of occasions I used to drive back home on my bike and it would start raining. It may sound ordinary for sane a person. But I am a dreamer and I relish these small instances of joy which I terribly miss these days. I am in deep quandary now. During the last 2 months I got letters from my recruiters saying that I would be able to join only around April next year, exactly one year after my course completion. I cannot blame them because I know how pathetic situation is. I recently heard IT companies in Bangalore is facing severe power shortage and are finding it extremely difficult to function. Adding to that there is acute shortage of diesel which powers the generators during power cuts. An IT professional whom I met last week told me that offices are like ghost houses these days with most of the lights put off during night. I don’t know what the fate of the proposed smart city in Cochin would be because Kerala already faces severe power shortage. My question is why this is happening to me? Why the sky is falling when I was ready to fly???
- August 6th
The play was touching and the performances were excellent. The story was a bit cliché. It dealt with the same old subject of unexpressed love. May be I couldn’t figure out the other nuances in the play. But me (who has suffered a lot from unexpressed love) and my friend (who has suffered a lot from highly expressive love) thoroughly enjoyed it. I am not going into the details of the story as i would like everyone reading this blog to watch it with all the freshness. I had thought of writing about love( especially how much it matters to me) in this blog, but I don’t have much time today. What else..... I went for CAT coaching as usual to IMS( I am having it only on Tuesdays and Fridays). The office got shifted and I was late for the class. Finished reading a Sidney Sheldon novel ( The sky is falling). It was superb as usual. I got a copy of the magazine ‘WEEK’ today. As I am not in Kerala and here we don’t subscribe to Malayalam newspapers i was not getting the daily dose of thamashas provided by the politicians in my home state. I came across a hilarious comment made by our CM who happens to be an octogenarian buffoon. I think the comment was made during the heydays of congress left standoff on nuclear deal. Everyone from both sides was debating on the merits and demerits of the deal. In between that some journalists asked our CM why the CPM is not taking into account the support given to the deal by the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. His answer was ‘’Abdul Kalam is (just) a scientist who sends rockets to the sky’’. This statement implicitly means his opinion of deal is not to be given much importance. I believe nobody told our CM was just a tailor and his comments are unimportant. I make it very clear that I have no disrespect towards tailors who do a fabulous job, but to classify the former President of this country( who also happens to be a recipient of the highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna) and one who was closely associated with the Pokhran Nuclear tests of 1998 as just a rocket scientist is simply unbecoming especially when it comes from a veteran politician( who is supposed to have a lot of wisdom). All I can say to our dear CM is that ‘grow up sir the world is watching and expects better from you’
- August 5th
I have tried blogging many times earlier. But as all my friends know I am not a meticulous person who follows a routine. Now I feel like writing regularly as it would be a catharsis especially when nowdays i have a very few people to talk to( As a matter of fact once upon a time I commanded the interest of a large number of audience, but these days I am more of a humble listener). I envisage this blog to develop as a platform which discusses a wide array of issues from politics (my favourite), history, philosophy, relationships, success, career and many more. Today happens to be the 4th of August, and all the readers ( if there are any...) may wonder why it got published so late. I am in Bangalore, far away from my home in Trivandrum. I want to make sure that I write at least 5 pages before I go back to Trivandrum after August 10th. So what to begin with? Let me start with something pleasant and new.
Yesterday I had gone to watch a play in a theatre named Ranga Shankara in Bangalore. The idea of watching a play was mooted by my friend Nipun with whom i share a lot of interests. I am a complete novice as far as theatre is concerned. My cousin had warned me that you need to have multiple experience in watching plays to understand the nuances in acting. So I went there with my fingers crossed. As usual I was late( thankfully same with Nipun) and we did not get a ticket for the matinee. So we planned to come back for the evening show. We started our usual conversations about politics, history( with a never ending right left conflict) entrepreneurship and electronics( which happens to be our subject). As usual the conversation continued in the cheapest bar in the area(it is interesting that two big dreamers earnestly talk about creating a multi crore corporation and subsequently changing the future of our country in the most unlikely place. Did the Father of Nation tell that The Future of the Country lives in Bars???). We were back in the theatre at around 6 O clock and Nipun suspected I was a bit over drunk as always ( why my life is so mundane, so very insulated to change). Believe me the theatre complex was filled with so many vibrant women that we rarely find in my state. They smoked, they talked about sex and most importantly they never cared about what the world thought of them. I was out of my mind and suspected my ability to maintain a decorum inside the theatre. Then I saw Rajit Kapur the handsome actor(I hate to call men handsome but can’t help this time) who played the lead in the play. I liked him very much for his performance in ‘Agnisakshi’ a malayalam movie based on a popular novel. The name of the play was ‘Love Letters’. The play also featured Shehnaz Patel who played the female lead( as it turned out the play had only two actors). For those of you who don’t know Shehnaz Patel- she played the mother of Rani Mukherjee in the movie Black.
– August 4th