Momentary Jabber..

Oh, Pussy! How do I
Go about taming you?
A game it is.
An alluring one at that.
A unique case-
Of the nation
Versus me?

The Insect- the last
White one out of
Pandora's box, peeps
From within. But that,
Is not the lone quencher-
Of a nationwide thirst-
To don the professional suit.

Counter-Revolutionary

Reading maketh a man-

Most of the people who would be reading this blog entry will be staunch believers in the above adage. Still there are some who would term experience as being the best teacher of life. Experience does teach us a lot about how to live our life, in the environment that we are accustomed to. But if a greater, more comprehensive knowledge is needed on a variety of issues that we do not come across in our daily life, there is no option but to read.

Friends, this is not a boring formal post on the reading habit. This post has been inspired by the churning of the stereotyped opinions in my mind about issues like slavery and communism, due to a couple of books I read recently. So, if you believe that slavery is not humane or communism really gives everyone equal rights, read on..

"Slavery- the greatest sin ever perpetrated by human beings on earth. Abraham Lincoln was a God's messenger to the slaves; he freed them from the tyranny of the South Americans." - my history books told me this much. But there is a flip-side to everything and this fact was proven by Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind". This is the first book that showed the Yankees( the North Americans) as cruel specimens and the blacks as being safer under their bondage as slaves. There are a handful of lovable blacks who remain loyal to their masters even after their emancipation. The reader's heart simply goes out to them. But there are a few instances which did make me feel that the slaves were what they were because they were rigorously trained to be so. After all, what would a man-controlled machine do if it is taken out of its comfort zone and asked to work on its own?? They were taken out of the African Jungles, given food, clothing and shelter and made to work. The book portrayed slavery as a kind of a mutually beneficial establishment between the blacks and the whites. But the author failed to convince me of its benefits, solely because, in a few scenes, the slaves are physically tortured to do the masters' biding, heedless of the slaves' individual opinion. For instance, the house niggers are asked to work as field niggers and they are scolded for refusing to do what they were not trained to do. After all, they were nothing other than poor brainless machines programmed to do just certain specified things. Ms. Mitchell did churn my heart a bit but the final opinion was definitely against slavery. They could ve been given normal human rigths when they were taken out of the jungles. That part was a snag in her justification, though.
We the living- Ayn Rand... This book definitely showed the uglier face of communism of which i was unaware previously. Though I am no political wizard who knows the nuances of the policies of the various parties, I did have a nescient soft corner for any party that was anti-religious. This book, showed that how much ever one feels like sacrificing himself for the sake of the people, there are certain limits- certain things which cannot and should not be sacrificed by anybody gifted with human life. One's aim in life, personal likes and dislikes and the spending of one's time are all individualistic and subjective characteristics. If any change is effected in these aspects, without the whole-hearted assent of the person, it would be the end of his life and the reason for his living. Basically human beings should be clear and firm about their purpose in life and should not sacrifice their hearts' desires to get down to a level where all are equal, for there is no such thing as equality among human beings each of whom is distinct in atleast one aspect from the other. Sacrifices for the sake of humanity have been done by great people like Mother Teresa. But that was her calling in life. It cannot be everybody's calling to serve humanity. If an average human sacrifices his desires to help others in distress, it results in more distress because he ends up feeling more pitiful towards himself than towards those who were suffering. Also, the book highlighted the abuse of power by the hypocritic communists in the USSR. Hats off to Ms. Rand for boldly bringing out such a candid book!

Serene Snaps taken by yours truly in God's Own Country...

Beauty of Fall

Royal Slumber

The Fastest takes Rest

Trivandrum

Kochi Lake

Harbour @ long shot

Landscape @ Kochi

The Queer Indian Epidemic- with no Cure so far

"Unmarried young couples seen exchanging pleasantries in public on Valentine's Day will be forcibly married. If they resist, the girl will be forced to tie a rakhi on the boy's hand."
- Pramod Muthalik, Head Goon, Sri Ram Sene

A wave of shock and anger spread among the entire youth clan in India. News Channels had a good time (and TRP of course ) interviewing youngsters on their opinion on such a declaration. "Boy-Girl relationships are not classified into just husband-wife and brother-sister! There exist several beautiful friendships!"- the cry rang out from the young Indians. I was not quickly angered by Muthalik's statement. On the contrary, I was initially amused at the parochial mindset of Muthalik. I dismissed him from my mind as a person who knows nothing of a good friendship that can exist between a boy and a girl. "He does not belong to this millennium! He'll learn his lesson soon." , was all that occurred to me.

But I was not at peace, for, there was something about his parochial attitude that nagged me constantly. It was not anger. It was... I could not trace that out for a couple of days. Then, it struck me. Walking into my class ( which has an invisible partition at the centre ), after ten days of holidays, with memories refreshed, the hidden feeling became clear. Well, Muthalik's party is not the only narrow-minded group that does not believe in a casual friendship existing between boys and girls.

I have been in a co-educational institute only for the past one and a half years. It has been too short a time to know the mindset of boys and co-exist with them amiably. I do not have a habit of making enemies out of boys. But I do speak out openly sans inhibitions, argue openly if I find something to be unjust and I seriously lack one characteristic that describes most girls as "SHY". I remember my tamil teacher in high school being bewildered when we asked her what is "naanam" and why girls should feel it, looking at boys, like in those poems present in our textbooks. I still haven't gotten the answer for that question.

Out of these last 20 months, the first few months were spent in getting to know the names of all my new classmates and assessing them roughly. I did develop quite cordial relations with some boys. Two were actually very good friends of mine. The friendship's prow took a blow from an iceberg which chilled out one of them exactly a year back .

My lack of patience when dealing with hyper-sensitivity made the next few months intolerable. A firm decision was taken. I decided that continuing a close friendship is meaningless when both friends know that they are of different wavelengths. Staying close would only harm whatever respect each had for the other. So came the declaration, of a formal 'hi-bye' relation, from yours truly. But the friend couldn't understand it. And thus sunk the friendSHIP totally, in a span of one year.

Now my class exists, in an imaginary bubble of happiness of girls communicating only with girls and boys only with boys, unless there arises a definite need like borrowing an observation note ( when there is utmost tension and humility seen in the faces of the members sitting at the corners of their benches, nearby the partition, as they do the formidable task of calling out to someone from the other side of the partition, with giggles ringing out in the background).

At least, I am happy that I am not the only soul who is unhappy with the situation. Today, a friend of mine was discussing about solutions to this issue (despite another questioning the need for them). I do not know if solutions are being sought on the other side of the partition.

This situation exists inside almost every classroom, as far as I know, in my college as well as in some others.

I am in search of the Elixir- not one that will make me immortal, but one that will make my life in the next 2+ yrs more tolerable to live.

An Evolution

Innocence as the veil
Was torn to reveal
The nitty-gritty
Of a world dirty.
Is it true? Can it be?
Why did I not see-
People as they are,
Their souls with many a scar?

Candid, I was at a loss,
Speaking my mind was gross.
Losing a friend
Who minded my trend,
Failed to hinder
The spirit of blunder.
Blunder it was to be blind-
Blind to the tact of mankind.

A trait so discrepant,
A heart so buoyant.
Penchant of the sensation
Who earned American reputation,
Affected the guileless soul-
Change- plays well its role.
Lack of tact , obsolete.
Adult soul nigh complete.

Dog's Bite better than Tiger's

You never get what you expect. This is the unwritten rule for anyone watching a movie or reading a book after getting the reviews of other people on it. This rule did prove to be true in two instances in my recent past.
I read the booker prize winning novel "The White Tiger" after listening to great reviews on its wonderful portrayal of what the critics called as "the stark reality in India". I did not of course expect a catalogue of the "glorious shining India" in the book, but what met the eyes was an overdone exaggeration of the darker side of our country. I do not deny certain facts in the book, like poverty and illiteracy prevailing in many parts of the nation but the portrayal of these was gory. I do not believe, for instance, in the women clawing at the men for their meagre earnings and feeding the cow before feeding the men. And the servant community is shown in such a poor light. This is the India of the 21st century and I see the chauffeurs, cooks and housemaids being given respect and proper rights and independence. The master community is shown to be perpetrating slavery of the worst kind. Mr. Adiga's exhibition, be it of the Dark or the Lit face of India, is in poor taste. In fact, the very theme of his book is against the Indian culture wherein a family, despite many an internal strife, tries to present a pleasant face to a visiting guest, to make his stay enjoyable. We do not write a letter to a visitor, prior to his visit, telling him that this is wrong and that is bad in our family. We know that each family has its own problems for there would be no excitement or interest in life without those. The same applies to Mr. Adiga's theme of a visiting foreigner with a populous country full of problems. It is simply not in the Indian tradition to give away our family ( Our Nation ) to an alien whose family ( nation ) is no better than ours.
Then, came the Golden-Globe winning, Oscar-nominated "Slum Dog Millionaire".
Here I had heard too many rave reviews on it and watched the movie, expecting a picturisation of "The White Tiger". But this movie, in my opinion, was mild; milder than what I had expected. The symptoms of boiling blood showed up a little in the scene where a lady "shows the True America" by gifting a 100 dollar bill even while she had not yet recovered from the shock of having the tyres of her car stolen. Well, their country is no better than ours and even worse things can happen there, for, with their so-called "sophisticated techniques" they could have stolen an entire car, before the blink of an eye, in America. And to think that America with its unhealthy culture should be shown in a good light on comparison with our ethical Motherland!! Not only America, but every country has thieving rogues, who are driven to do what they do, because of their poverty. So that particular portrayal would have truly hurt any Indian who might have liked the rest of the movie.
Barring that unpleasant scene, the rest of the movie was not intolerable. I will frankly accept that all those kinds of people portrayed- kidnappers, pimps, drug peddlers, common thieves, underground goons- exist in India. Nothing was exaggerated.
The actors have mostly done justice to their roles and Rahman's music is undeniably good. Still, a nagging persists in my mind that his "Vande Mataram" was a tad better than "Jai Ho".
Reality sans exaggeration is very difficult to portray as the thin border line is almost negligible and the story-writer himself is unaware of crossing it, if he does. The Englishman Danny Boyle has proved to be better than the Indian Aravind Adiga in portraying India, without as much exaggeration. A proud moment for the nation! :-/

Unwelcome Holiday

"All colleges in Tamilnadu closed for an indefinite period. Hostelers forced to vacate in a hurry."

The news flashing on the TV screen affected me in a way that was very much different from how it affected most students all over the state. Many were happy to be away from college with its interminable classes, labs where the outputs have to be conjured and calculated rather than observed before jotting them down and the most tiring phase of getting the observation signed by the staff members after a long wait in front of their cabins or a long search involving a walk around the department for a minimum of four times in search of the respected person in need.

Well, frustrating though all this may seem to be, I'd rather endure them all instead of sitting at home, supposedly for a cause that, in a round-about way, supports terrorism. And the way the hostelers were rushed home, as though they would grow into violent chaos-creating specimens if left to stay for some more time!! Let alone the Engineering students, for I am not partial to that clan, no student who has a proper thinking head on his/her shoulders would ever get involved in riots and bring his/her future career to an abrupt standstill.

The simple outcome of this is that the normal lives of students are interrupted.

Classes cancelled: sounds good to the ear of any student. But what if compensation classes are held in the following weekends??!!

Culturals becoming a failure: this is that time of the year when most colleges, including mine, have arranged for technical and non technical inter-collegiate events. If hostelers who would form a main part of the visiting students as well as the organisers from our host side are not there, what would happen of the arrangements, plans and dreams of the entire college which takes pride in hosting such grand events. Events can be postponed to our convenience, at the maximum. But what of the video conferences and the workshops?? The dignitaries and the organisations do not have all the time in the world to spend with us alone!

Dear student friends who are reading this, I am not a pessimist out to destroy and crunch every bit of hope and good feelings of an unexpected holiday and time to spend with friends and family at leisure. Just look at what we gain of this act- a big NOTHING, unless you really want to take into account the fact that we'd be labelled as hot-blooded youth who can't tolerate the defeat of terrorists who take shelter behind innocent civilians in a neighbouring country. It is a well-known fact that the civilians of SriLanka were given time to leave the targeted place by the army. So, in the wreckage that ensues, if we find that any innocent civilian has been killed, it would be only due to the fact that he was used as a shield by the very people who claim to be fighting for his freedom.

Terrorists are freedom fighters: sounds like a good enough oxymoron to me.

People say that one man's freedom fighters are another's terrorists. But in the case of the SriLankan Tamil civilians, it is not so. For, more civilians are being killed by their alleged freedom fighters more than by the army.

So, in this peculiar case, we do know that the tigers are true terrorists to almost the entire world. But think as I might, I cannot figure out whose true freedom fighters they are!!

Ok... In any case that the respected reader is a believer of the tamil eelam, I have a question for you.. If I believe in a cause or an organisation, I will always defend it by reproaching its abusers, saying that what they tell are plain lies and probably even substantiate my stand. Won't the worst-ever approach to defend a cause that has been exposed and found to be wrong, be to ask the offender not to lift the curtains on the unpleasant truth?? Well, the honourable defenders of the eelam have done just that. A few months back, they had publicly written

தமிழ் நாட்டில் பிழைப்பு நடத்திக் கொண்டு தமிழர்களை காட்டிக் கொடுக்காதே!!

addressing a bold journalist and a newspaper editor.. Well, their own last two words highlight their guilt. No other offence or exposure is needed.