After two serious blog I had decided that the next post would be something light and personal. A lot of interesting things happened in the last two weeks. This blog is basically an assortment of those.
At Irinjalakuda
This time the trip home was eventful and helped me forget all the bad things that have been happening with me for the last 9 months. Vinu and I went to Vinu’s rubber estate in the eastern part of trichur driving his old but mighty tata sumo. The worker in the rubber estate has a good looking daughter (what you call the village beauty). I always mock vinu by calling him ‘Kochu mothalali’ reminiscing the old villains like ummar and jose prakash. Everybody would remember their class acts depicting rich youth who would regularly molest the daughters of their workers after sending them away. The most ubiquitous dialogue of villains of those days was ‘oru glass vellam tharumo’ (can I get a glass of water) before attacking the women in the kitchen. Poor vinu is always irritated with these accusations. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see her this time.
We also went to Pambumekkatu mana the famous snake worshipping temple near Mala. It is a customary practice to get inside the temple with wet mundu after dipping in the nearby pond. When we were to enter the temple one of the guards stopped us and asked in a low tone- ‘’are u nairs?’’. We said yes and got in. Suddenly I remembered that the temple is one of the last places in kerala where lower caste people are still barred from entering. I am not a racist but it felt good to enter a place where there is reservation for forward caste people.
Near our tharavadu there is a B grade theatre which is incidentally larger than most of the theatres in cochin. I have seen a lot of movies in that theatre in my childhood days. It has been a long time since I last visited the theatre. This time it was the latest james bond flick ‘quantum of solace’. I went with my cousins vinu and nithu. It was real fun because we were the only audience in the balcony. Vinu and I even thought of bringing some brandy from home at the interval though we did not do that. Vinu went back to Bangalore on Sunday.
Seeing new people
I went to trichur and with vijayini cheriamma set off to invite our relatives for the marriage of my cousin. I haven’t gone to most of these homes spread around irinjalakuda. Anyway one thing I can swear is my hometown is the most beautiful place in the world. It was a great experience to drive through paddy fields and small water bodies on country roads. All the new people I met were warm and nice.
Technopreneur 2009
I went to ernakulam to attend the annual seminar conducted by Yi (junior body of CII) of which I was a member. It was conducted in gokulam park hotel with a lavish budget. It was a wonderful experience especially because last time when we conducted the event we had a very small budget and it feels good to see the event growing. The speech of sharath babu the IIM A alumnus who rejected offers of MNCs to become the idli magnate of india was truly captivating. It was a very innocent and rhetoric less discourse about his journey from the slums of Chennai to become a millionaire. His dream of becoming an education minister at 41, health minister at 46, and finance minister at 51 though impractical is a silver lining to the current political situation. The very thought of aspiring to changing the country by entering politics among educated men is a welcome sign especially when they are not inheritors of political dynasties. We had another budding politician for the event (who incidentally switched back to her previous Christian surname though married to a hindu to appease the supreme leader of her party) who made the funniest remark ever that politicians should become entrepreneurs (and not vice versa). Thank you for speaking your mind out Young Turk.
The director of VSSC, who is the head of chandrayaan team, Mr Radhakrishnan was the last speaker. My father had asked me to meet him. Though I was initially reluctant, persistent cajoling from Lakshman made me go and meet him. We then went to his room where he said his father and my grandfather were friends. I suddenly started wondering whether he really knew who I am and had mistaken me as someone else. I had never heard such a story. Then he said about Sreedevi dictionary when my bulb glowed. He was actually referring to my maternal grandfather who was a renowned lexicographer who completed a mammoth Malayalam-English dictionary. It was a tryst with a great legacy and personal ignominy when he asked me “what are you doing these days’’
I came back to Trivandrum yesterday. The dull life is back after a good week. My father is calling, I have to go, I need to drop the mechanic who brought my bike after servicing back to the workshop. When you are unemployed the first casualty is your dignity.
I saw a very good movie ‘The American President’ recently in TV. It is not a political drama, but a romantic comedy featuring Michael Douglas (my dear friends would definitely remember him in basic instinct). The movie ends with a captivating speech by Douglas which turns the tide in favour of him in the story. The content of the speech was very interesting. He in the speech defends his girl friend who is under fire from opposition party for her act of burning the American flag 13 years ago. He says the idea of America does not reside on a flag but on the concepts of liberty, freedom and democracy which it upholds Liberty which gives the citizens to burn the flag and consider national anthem as just another song.
On Friday there were reports on national news channels about Shashi Tharoor (former UN undersecretary) disrespecting national anthem by interrupting it. He reportedly took the microphone and asked the audience to keep the right hand on the left chest when they sung national anthem (the American way) contrary to the ‘’lawful’’ way of standing in attention practised so far in India. A PIL has been filed against Mr Tharoor by an ‘informed patriot’’ asking the court to punish Mr Tharoor.
There are two aspects to the issue. One being whether there is any guideline given in the constitution on the posture of a civilian when singing national anthem. The second, whether any law which demands the citizens to respect some symbols and songs (even if I don’t like the tune of the anthem or the colour combination of the flag I am forced to respect or love it) in tune with the spirit of our constitution which assures liberty and freedom of speech and expression (without harming the tranquillity of the society). So if somebody dictates someone as distinguished and erudite as Mr Tharoor not only to respect the anthem but to respect it in a particular way (as imagined or conceived by him) it questions the very fundamentals on which our nation was built. The same issue comes up again in the singing of Vande Mataram (our national song). Vande Mataram hails India (bharath mata) as God. Now Muslim community does not accept anything other than Allah as God and are not ready to worship anyone else (keeping up with their stringent monotheistic doctrine). So they have serious reservations about singing Vande Mataram. Now we can’t question their right not to sing or respect a song. Nor can we force them to sing vande mataram.
I remember during my school days my PT teacher(an ex army personnel) asking me to keep the shoes (or feet) in V position, chest inflated (though I didn’t have much to inflate) and head held high when national anthem is being sung. So I used to look at my feet (whether it remained a V and not U or T) throughout the recital in assembly. It’s an army practice to stand in attention during national anthem and salute in a particular way which we inherited from the British. No one in this country has the right to tell me the way in which I should stand when national anthem is being sung (the way I should respect it). Whether I should prostrate, stand on my knees, stand at ease during the anthem is entirely up to me.
It is also worthwhile to note the way in which movies deliver an overtly jingoistic representation of respect for national anthem. Two Tamil movies stand apart in this. It is funny that the same Tamils whose persistent impudence towards national symbols prompting the hasty enactment of the earlier version of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act,1971(prohibiting desecration of or insult to the country's national symbols, including the flag, constitution, and anthem.) by state legislature of Madras take a completely different stand now. One is the famous scene in Roja where Aravind Swamy uses his body to put down the fire on the flag burned by terrorists. I remember enjoying the scene then (especially because of the fantastic background score), but later laughing at the sheer foolishness of a person who believes a nation’s dignity lies in a piece of cloth (or its desecration would harm the country). The second movie has an even preposterous scene. I don’t remember the name of the movie. The hero Sharathkumar (sabse bada budda) is a police officer. He is standing in attention during the recital of national anthem. Suddenly villains come and drop his sister laden with explosives on ground. He does not move (as he respects the country). The villains finally losing patience blasts her and goes away. He finishes his song and runs towards his sister who by now is just ash. I am shocked by the sheer frivolity with which movies handle the concept of nationalism and patriotism. They tend to give the message that the person who won’t breathe (to be most idle) during a patriotic song (national anthem) loves the nation more than the numerous social activists who fight for the rights of citizens in this country. I would seriously recommend the removal of all the acts and subsequent amendments asking the citizens to fake respect towards nation.
