pareltank

Nothing compares to you,Amma...

2011-11-14T16:00:00.004+05:30

She rocked my world: in all my time with her, away from her and now without her.As hard as this is to write, it had to be written.For this day too has come ..To describe one’s mother in a few paragraphs is all but a futile attempt ; how can a few words fully capture a life time of love, sacrifice and more love? What I loved most was that to Amma, her universe was not limited to her children and

Anna Hazare, Please leave Gandhiji alone!

2011-09-01T19:53:00.003+05:30

In the past so many months, watching English news channels was an absolute pain. Team Anna, Civil Society, second Independence Movement were terms traded freely to describe what i think was a movement which projected a noble cause but was executed in a manner which lacked dignity, sense of propriety and aimed at feeding the insatiable appetite of the media for sensationalism. A former IPS officer

A Tribute to my Favourite Aunt

2011-08-26T18:24:00.005+05:30

She was a wonderful person and I loved her. My world would be different without her in it. Not that i visited her often. Of late, me being away from kochin, and then my illness had prevented me from what i loved doing – looking up my aunts and uncles. I regret it now. Intensely. Whenever we get a chance, we must visit them. Having not enough time should not be an excuse. For we’ll have all the

Oh, these veggies!

2011-08-01T12:44:00.003+05:30

My husband’s (Sunny) friend and his wife dropped in once without notice. Sunny had gone out, and so i was left entertaining them. That was the first time i was meeting them. As i got up to make tea for them, his wife said to me.“Mrs. Joseph, we are vegetarians. We don’t eat eggs too’“OK”, i said sweetly. I had no intention of giving them any snacks but since she announced her expectations, i

FAIR & LOVELY

2011-07-26T23:37:00.002+05:30

My father was one of the earliest people in Kerala to manufacture soap. He had a soap factory in Thevara. My mother used to go into fits of laughter each time she related the story of my aunt’s – my father’s doting sister – effort at marketing her dear brother’s product. My aunt was doing her graduation in St. Teresa’s college. She had a friend - let’s call her Theyyamma- who was deeply

Autograph

2011-07-08T11:37:00.003+05:30

My cousin Martinette (name changed, of course), about ten years older than me, held her hand behind her back and asked, ‘Where’s aunty’ ‘Upstairs, with the seamstress’. I replied. She walked backwards till the stairs, giving me vicious looks all the time, then whirled around so fast that i couldn’t see what she had in her hand, and bolted upstairs. Martinette – i hated her. That look on her

HINDIKAAR

2011-07-06T04:49:00.002+05:30

A new word has gained currency in Kochi now. HINDIKAAR, which takes my mind back to the few years i was in Mumbai where the average Mumbaiker referred to us from South India as Southies. The less literate or sensitive ones used, without any qualms, the term Madrassi to my face. A couple of times i reacted saying that there are four states to the south of the Vindhyas and Madras is only one of

I Miss Trivandrum

2011-06-22T12:18:00.005+05:30

Looking out from my apartment in Kochin, my mind travels back to my four year stint in Trivandrum, in the 11th floor of an apartment in that capital city. The feel is different. it was the tops of coconut trees that greeted me there, with a few high rises here and there peeping out apologetically for interrupting the vast stretch of greenery. It’s different here in Kochi. The view is perhaps very

Kochin Flashback-The Paris Tailor

2011-06-13T23:52:00.001+05:30

“Where do you stitch your blouse?”This is a query which is bound to pop up where ever two or three women gather for whatever purpose. I have lived in five states in India - Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra, and i have found that all sari wearing Indian women, regardless of the circles they belong to, can relate to each other on this issue. It’s a common ground for the

Monsoon ramblings

2011-05-31T09:39:00.003+05:30

Monsoons is a stale topic for writers but it continues to invade the print, electronic, audio and virtual media the same way it does my mind, flooding it with memories which spread in my being sensations that defy description; sensations that warm my whole self with feelings pleasant yet sad, feelings of longing for days that have been claimed by the past. I have always loved the monsoon. I

Adjustments

2011-05-27T14:21:00.005+05:30

The word “miscellaneous” is a standing joke in my family.My father gave us, his children, access to the cash box in which money for weekly expenses was kept. He also had his famous account books – you know those long broad ones used in offices. Whoever took money from the cash box had to make entry in the cash book. At the end of the day, he used to check the account book. The difference between

Indian English

2011-05-17T10:09:00.002+05:30

“I want curtain material”. That was the monsoon (since kerala doesn’t go strictly by the spring summer, autumn pattern) of the year 1976. I had just joined the most reputed women’s college in Changanasserry and wanted curtain for my room in the staff hostel.The sales man looked blankly at me for a moment, and then said “We don’t have it here”.“What”, i exclaimed. You don’t have curtain material

Elections 2011- stray thoughts

2011-05-15T01:30:00.003+05:30

Kerala elections – it was a nail biting finish. The narrow scrape of the UDF makes me happy. The narrowness of the victory is indicative of the disgust of the people with the scam-ridden Congress at the centre. This election will be a lesson to politicians against taking the people for granted.Tamil nadu too protested strongly against graft. The laptop promise was pooh-poohed by the praja. You

Political goondaism in Kerala: DISGUSTING!

2011-05-06T08:23:00.003+05:30

Too much! A remark against VS and the party goes berserk vandalizing NSS property. Should the NSS now go around attacking party offices, now that VS has indulged in nasty talk? If this is the to be the practice, every day some one or other should be vandalizing and attacking?Why do we ALLOW this to continue in our state? How long are we going to sit back and watch political goondaism? The people

What Anna Hazare should keep in mind

2011-04-23T11:15:00.005+05:30

Peaceful and violent revolutions are destabilizing well-entrenched political dispensations around the world. The mood indeed is catching. It is sweeping over India too, but on a more complex level. The movement triggered off by Hazare is not a fight against suppression of man’s inalienable rights. It’s against the rot that is endangering a political system that ensures fundamental rights. And

Of Old men, Amul baby, Shashi Tharoor and Kerala elections: Post election disconnected reflections.

2011-04-15T11:18:00.006+05:30

The elections are over but the generation war continues. In the media, which is trying to prolong it.Yesterday, Shashi Tharoor, the super diplomat (a misnomer? – has been getting his foot in the mouth every time he opens it) took up the cudgels. The Amul Baby is a symbol of development, he tweets. Of White Revolution, of the success of cooperative movement and what not. And the NIE, 15th April

Narendra Modi’s letter to Anna Hazare

2011-04-12T12:07:00.003+05:30

A strange letter. It thanks Hazare for daring to praise him, but “him” is equated with Gujarat. ‘And it was yesterday that I got the encouraging news of your expressing kind words for Gujarat and me.”The letter betrays the desperation of a man who has been smarting for over a decade from the political ostracism he has been subjected to after the post Godhra riot. Modi uses the open letter to

I'll miss Shikha!

2011-03-23T08:18:00.004+05:30

Strange. She exists only in my imagination. She was born there, bred there, suffered there, evolved there. Now she has outgrown me, as children outgrow their parents. That’s how it has to be. But that doesn’t change the truth that this weaning is painful. I’ll miss Shikha when my e novel The Holy Nazrane Family concludes this week. Once the final chapter is uploaded, the umbilical cord is

Celebrate

2011-03-08T12:21:00.004+05:30

Today is women’s day. For some strange reason, I am in an expansive mood and so not in a frame of mind to contribute my mite to the gender war today. Ever since I came out of my illness, I slip into these euphoric moods and I find myself thanking those forces which decided to give me another lease of life – not once but twice. Today is one of those days when I feel I have won the battle against

Every Malayalee/ Keralite should read this.

2011-02-22T01:34:00.003+05:30

This is a comment on my post I am a Malayalee. I thought we Malayalees should know how the world sees us.Brigid said:I am from Germany and had settled in Kerala for a year due for doing a humanities project I was doing for my job. I was very much excited to go there first because I got to explore a new culture and country, but now I must say I will never step foot in Kerala ever again. Yes, it's

THE HOLY NAZRANI FAMILY - AN E-NOVEL

2011-02-14T21:50:00.006+05:30

My desire to write a novel saw me at the computer day in and day out for ten days in February 2010. The skeleton was over. I thought i'll fill it out at a relaxed pace. That never happened. That will not happen too. Dont feel up to it. Then the thought came to me. Why not blog it? in this skeletal form? yeah, why not. Maybe, the brevity is ideal for a blog post. And my efforts will not sink into

The Bloodless Coup: My Emotional Take on the Egyptian Revolution

2011-02-13T13:06:00.003+05:30

Yes, the title is a preemptive tactic against charges of me being only superficially informed and the subject not being properly researched. I write this before I read all those editorials in hard and soft media, on the quiet and peaceful dignity with which the people of Egypt drove out an autocratic ruler who had the backing of the mighty big brother and the small brother who piggy rides on

Mohanlal and Mammooty

2011-02-07T05:14:00.001+05:30

Some are born great, some achieve greatness. I’d always put Maohanlal in the 1st category – a born actor, a natural; and Mamootty in the 2nd. There was a time I would never have believed that hard work and commitment could over take natural talent. But it can, and it has happened in the case of these two great Malayalam actors. He (shall we call him Mahavir?) was an English movie buff. I guess scriptwriters are all movie buffs. That’s one source of inspiration for them. Allow me to deviate for a minute before I

Muktha's Eyebrows

2011-02-01T14:49:00.007+05:30

Mukta was a wonderful person to have around. She was doing her Masters in economics and was my roommate’s classmate. She used to come to our room often and create an impact akin to a whirlwind sweeping through the room. She had thick eyebrows. By thick i mean really really thick. They joined at the center quite unapologetically, and then took off on

abandoned

2011-01-30T04:29:00.003+05:30

my muse deserted me leaving behind a vacuum which grows and grows and engulfs. how did I frighten it away? will it ever return? dwelling in a vacuum is no fun. thoughts drift in and drift away. like

Of Sabarimala, Makara Vilakku and Rationalists.

2011-01-24T05:42:00.003+05:30

Every disaster is followed by a cacophony of protests. Some of these sounds are those of legitimate, rightful anger, like the ones we have after the terrible Sabarimala tragedy. Nevertheless, I stubbornly insist on including them in the cacophony. Anger, though legitimate, blinds and blind anger usually causes discord rather than harmony. The

The Nurses of Kerala: The Unsung Heroines

2011-01-12T20:28:00.003+05:30

Some years back, i was invited to give the keynote address at the graduating ceremony of nursing students. As usual, i went with a well prepared speech. But i hadn’t bargained for the intense solemnity of the occasion, and when my turn came to speak, i couldn’t. I was overwhelmed by the sight of the forty odd graduating nurses dressed in white, looking up at me expectantly, seriously. I suddenly

Of Onions and Terrorism

2011-01-10T13:25:00.005+05:30

In the late nineties, the price of onions soared, aiming, as it were, for the abode of Gods. We were in Mumbai then, and this phenomenon gave nightmares not only to the government which was on the verge of being kicked out by this bulb plant, and domestic cuisine managers like me, but also to my school going son!The phenomenon now returns. Looks like the average Indian’s purchasing power has

death

2011-01-04T23:15:00.004+05:30

Why do you weep? Did you think I was immortal?Louis XIV, King of France A post I read a couple of days back triggered off these thoughts on Death, that only certainty in life.No one who is, ever asked to be born. I am sure if we were given the choice after being comprehensively informed about the balance sheet of life, many - except perhaps the very adventurous and dare devil types - would have

My first effort at New Year Resolutions

2010-12-31T12:53:00.005+05:30

Another new year round the corner, and as usual I asked my self what I resolved to do or not to do in 2011.I still haven’t found the answer, cos presiding over my deliberations on this issue was my own face, looking on with a mocking smile as though to say why this farce? Have you ever kept your resolutions?That sets me thinking. Have I ever given any thought to my New Year resolutions beyond the

The Great Love Story of Christmas

2010-12-25T04:08:00.003+05:30

It’s three hours past midnight on December 25, 2010 and I decide to liberate Christmas from the habits and memories of childhood that surround this festival. Of course cakes and ale, crib and carols, appam and stew and the lunch spread I would not give up. But surely Christmas is more than all that, I tell myself.What is it? Why is it what it is?I pause and think –

MALAYALEES AND BENGALEES

2010-12-20T00:44:00.004+05:30

Initially, I wanted to give this post the title MALLUS AND BONGS. Then I settled for the present one ‘cos I felt it’d invite more hits:-)What provoked this post is an oft-repeated claim (which I heard today again) that mallus and bongs are very similar in many aspects. A couple of years back, a junior research scholar brought in this idea in her presentation at a

On Being Secular

2010-12-16T11:12:00.002+05:30

I visited a cousin whom I respect much. He’s a level headed, intelligent, generous, soft spoken and honest person - you know the type of person who never intrudes into your space but who’s always around when you are in need.We were talking in the family room on the first floor when I noticed a beautiful rare picture of Christ. Seeing me looking at it, he gave me its history, and added without my

True story: Chaya - Part 1

2010-12-11T00:35:00.002+05:30

This story was told by Rejini. Chaya is one of the four women whom Rejini tried to help out. There is much in common in the tales of all four women. The resilience and the sense of responsibility of the women are the most common factors. Rejini has come to the conclusion that Indian men from the economically backward class are usually worthless creatures. A sweeping generalisation? Or is it true?

Strange are the ways of the human mind!

2010-12-08T19:31:00.004+05:30

I’ve always considered myself to be a level headed person and so I’ve been a little embarrassed to talk about my reaction to the totally unexpected news that my mother had passed away. I rushed to kochin from kottayam early morning when my brother informed me that amma was hospitalized in the small hours if the morning with a chest pain. He assured me that the doc said it’s not really serious.

What's The New Indian Express's Agenda

2010-12-06T08:27:00.004+05:30

I’ve become very suspicious of the media. I see agenda where, perhaps, none exists. The New Indian Express’s editorial coverage of the recent Bihar elections appears suspect to me. After the initial accolades showered on Nitish Kumar for his victory in Bihar, this paper has been systematically trying to discredit him. A week back the editorial made a serious effort to dampen the public

On Bharkha Dutt - When Idols Fall

2010-12-01T20:21:00.004+05:30

Watching the discussion of the panel of editors on the Bharkha-Radia Controversy on NDTV yesterday added to my confusion rather than resolve it. I’d have liked it much better if it had helped to decide whether the media queen was guilty or not guilty.In the past six months, a few of my idols crumbled. For me, the most painful fall was that Of Bharkha Dutt, Sashi

Missing Artefacts

2010-11-20T09:54:00.003+05:30

In my saner moments I think i must be mad.Mind-boggling philosophies that'd dethrone NietzcheShed blood at the altar of paradigms.No hoax, this sacrifice.Clinging to roots that clutchAnd to the steel bar with a toe on the footboardWhile eyes dart franticallyNow the clock, now the milk about to spill over,Now the name boards on superfasts.Wincing at the ‘over’ signalOf the BPL washing machine,

Sister Jesme of AMEN Fame at the Hay Festival

2010-11-15T08:13:00.006+05:30

I had not reacted to Sister Jesme’s Amen ‘cos it was not worth reacting to. The book has no literary value – at least that’s what I think. It’s a very pedestrian forgettable piece except for the sleaze and scandal about convents. To tell you the truth, the book bored me to death.I’m glad that the Nuns and the Church did not ask for the book to be banned. I’m glad that

Deliriously Disgusted

2010-11-11T11:27:00.005+05:30

The Commonwealth Games, Adarsh Apartments and the mind boggling G2 scam – too much.Rot has entered the soul of the congress party. Time it reinvented itself or got ready for its own requiem.Disgusting – absolutely.How much are we citizens supposed to put up with?How much do we have to get looted before we kick this party out ?We look back at those days when a Shastri

Obama's Indian Visit - The English Channels - and India's Children of Tomorrow

2010-11-07T20:38:00.007+05:30

With the arrival of Obama in India, the English national channels blocked out everything else. It appeared as though the whole country ground to a halt with the arrival of the American President.Then Obama made his first speech at the Taj – and BJP reacted. Obama didn’t utter the P word (Pakistan). When he spoke of 26/11, he didn’t put the blame at Pakistan’s door. Then the party felt it had

That Terrible Divali Day

2010-11-05T20:05:00.007+05:30

The stray isolated crackers of Divali down here in Trivandrum takes me twelve years back to an evening in Mumbai when sheer terror seized me on the festival of lights.It was evening and the condominium was celebrating divali with crackers. My husband Sunny got ready to go out into the Mumbai streets to see how the city was celebrating Divali. Normally, i don’t accompany him on these trips to “

The Marginalised India - Can I Wish it Away?

2010-10-31T12:32:00.003+05:30

When I got this forward, I opened it reluctantly. I thought it must have something to do with the BPL versus the rest of India - APL and above, reaching all the way up to the India of billionaires. Bachchan’s two Indias were 1. the India on the leash, rearing to go charged by optimism and 2. the leash that is India, that skeptical India looking

Ms. Arundathi Roy - Stop Meddling Please!

2010-10-27T14:29:00.005+05:30

I love reading Arundathi Roy’s articles, even though she tends to ramble. I love her language – its surprise turns. She is a lover of human race, and an ardent advocate of equity. Her earnestness reflects in her style, in her imagery. She becomes extremely poetic at times. She is genuine, not a publicity monger, as many make her out to be. I can sense that when i read her works. But her position

THE GULLIBLE MALLUS AND THE POLITICAL IAGOS

2010-10-22T18:11:00.005+05:30

I wished mother earth would open up and swallow me when i read this story in THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS yesterday.The burden of the story is this: Lakhs of rupees is being given to head load workers as ‘nookucooli’ by the KERALA MINERAL DEVELPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED (KMDCL) as per the agreement arrived at between the LDF government and the head load workers unions. Both the LDF and UDF were equally

Annual Fete and Cashew Nuts

2010-10-18T22:30:00.002+05:30

‘Molly, i hear that you get the best cashew nuts in Kerala – and cheap too”, said Mother Peter, our HM, arching her eyebrows , enlarging her large blue eyes and shaking her wimpled head vigorously up and down in that typical European style. ‘Write to your father and ask him to send us some for the fete’.It was to be my first fete about which my friends had raised such expectations. It was a two

Obama at it again.

2010-10-16T09:12:00.003+05:30

Education arms race with India and China! That’s the latest verbal gymnastic by the President of the USA.Ever since he settled comfortably/uncomfortably in his official chair in the Oval office, Obama has been harping on the threat posed to America’s future by ‘those’ Indians and Chinese. This othering of this particular group with its ubiquitous presence in the USA which has been reeling under

The blog comments I reject

2010-10-14T21:10:00.005+05:30

It does not matter to me whether my blog visitors don’t see eye to eye with me, or if they ridicule me or my understanding of the issue i deal with or my style. In fact i like comments which reflect such views and i publish them unless they use terrible obscenities or they hurt religious sentiments, customs and practices. I do get such rejectable comments once in a way. The two categories of

Thou Shall Not Bend

2010-10-08T15:03:00.002+05:30

‘You must not bend”, said my doc. I had gone to him ‘cos of back pain – something a person like me fighting a deadly disease should not ignore.‘Not even to pick up something from the floor?’, I asked. ‘No’, he said quietly. ‘It’d be nice if you use a walker at home. When you go out, use a walking stick’. The doc is a soft spoken man of few words and he seemed appalled that the instruction he had

The Media Menace

2010-09-29T14:03:00.002+05:30

For the past few days, the media was full of what would happen when /if the Ayodhya verdict is announced. TV channels flashing news, breaking news, newspapers carrying banner headlines – both indulging in speculation of a future that might never happen – rather that would not happen if the media did not provoke, subtly coerce and tease the aggrieved (allegedly aggrieved) parties into violence.

A letter to the Editor - ignored by The New Indian Express.

2010-09-27T16:56:00.005+05:30

The following post is my letter to the editor of The New Indian Express in response to an extremely offensive article by one Ms. Alexandra Delaney, an English lady, who confesses that, while in Kerala, she pretended to be a French national in order to be spared the torture of having to listen to “Kerala English”. Needless to say, my letter was not published. I admit i overreacted – but then,

National award for Bachchan - for what?

2010-09-22T11:41:00.002+05:30

Amitabh Bachchan’s performance in Paa wins him national award for acting! :-)It would have made plenty of sense if the award was for fancy dress.Am sure the poor Big B himself is embarrassed to be caught up as the protagonist in this national joke.I don’t know if i can i call it the national blunder of the decade? We have to wait for the completion of Commonwealth Games to know which is the

The Tragic Dismissal of Professor T J Joseph - a teacher's point of view

2010-09-13T17:56:00.005+05:30

The sacking of Prof T J Joseph disturbed me just as it had all right thinking people of the state. I was itching to write about it but my usual hesitation to criticise the church held me back till now. Now i can no longer rein in my feelings of extreme distress.I am a college lecturer myself, and so i understand how things happen in a college, how the question papers are set.Paper setting is not

I dreamt of Brutus and Mark Anthony in Kerala

2010-09-09T13:23:00.006+05:30

I had a dream some years back. A strange dream it was. Why I should have dreamt of Brutus and Mark Anthony, I haven’t the vaguest idea. I had’nt thought of them/spoken of them around that time. Yet I dreamt about them. I do not remember what Brutus had said. But I do remember seeing Brutus standing tall a erect, in the fatigues of a Roman soldier, earnestness and sincerity writ large on his face

It was just another day and then - - - - - -

2010-09-01T18:54:00.006+05:30

I felt an icy hand clutch at my heart, squeezing my life breath out, as Sunny, my husband said “Molly, I can’t read. Everything looks blurred” .We were in the car, on our way to work, he to his bank and me to my college. I’d noticed that he had been alternating between fiddling with his glasses and adjusting the distance of the Economic Times ever since he got into the car.“But you were reading

Carriers of Oral Tradition

2010-08-30T13:04:00.003+05:30

This topic suggested itself to me yesterday when I came across a reference to Chanson de Rolland. The very mention of the epic and I found myself in the midst of a royal banquet in honour of Charlemagne emprior (Malayalam corruption for emperor . Tho’ chakravarthy is the word, this is the term my story teller used). A little hungry boy runs into the hall and snatches the hors d’oeuvre from the

Truth has set me free – the English language and me. In a rambling mode - -

2010-08-13T11:09:00.005+05:30

I think every human being is an artist. Every child, unrestricted by the dos and don’ts and fatwas that shape our minds in straitjacket moulds, is an artist. Its unfettered mind sees the world through the prism of unconditioned imagination. As it grows up, there are two ways in which it can develop. It can cling tenaciously to the perspective innocent of life’s schooling, thereby develop double

When old order changes - - -

2010-08-10T11:44:00.002+05:30

“He loved me unconditionally”, sobbed my son when he was informed of the death of his grandfather, my father-in-law. My children were his favourite, others said. That might have been true – I ‘m not sure. But the reason is not definitely because they were the son’s children. It is commonly believed that all Nazrani men have preference for the son’s children which definitely was not true in the

Wishful Thinking!

2010-08-06T10:31:00.007+05:30

RAJA ORDERS IMMEDIATE HALT TO UNSOLICITED TELE-CALLS.It took a call to the Central finance minister for the telecom minister to swing into action to issue orders against unsolicited marketing through cell phone.I hope when Sonia Gandhi comes to Kerala next, the AC of her car breaks down and she is forced to drive down

Nightmarish Vision

2010-08-02T15:22:00.003+05:30

Sometimes I wish aliens would attack our planet. Redemption for mankind breaking up into fragments by narrow political religious, racial, ideological walls seems to lie only in such an invasion. I have learnt in history classes that a common enemy can unite a divided country. So an ET invasion might unite this fractured world. Not that mankind does not have common enemies. What else are poverty,

Permission not to pay tax

2010-07-20T14:16:00.003+05:30

Every time we go out, we wonder what has happened to all the good practices we’d seen as we grew up in the city. I’m talking of kochin. Once upon a time, municipality workers with tall brooms used to sweep the streets and leave them clean and tidy. Where has that category of people vanished? Doesn’t the municipality or corporation employ these workers any longer? Have these bodies relieved

Nuns' tales - 3

2010-07-18T11:59:00.005+05:30

My friend Sister Rose (name changed) was waiting with the crowd which thronged the pavements on both sides of a street in Ottawa (I think) waiting to see Nelson Mandela who was visiting Canada. This was soon after his release and so the halo around his head shone luminous and bright. It was a summer day and so bright and hot (I was surprised when she told me this ‘cos my idea of Canada was that

Nuns' Tales - 2

2010-07-09T14:21:00.006+05:30

It was 6 in the evening when Sr. Goretti entered one of the dimly lit bathing rooms which were built in a long row. The thunder showers of October were just over and it was dark. The Septuagenarian sister Goretti pulled the tin door behind her and sent the hook latch home with a flip of her fingers. She then started discarding layers of clothes, something she hated doing. She flung them one by

Nuns' Tales - 1

2010-07-05T21:27:00.003+05:30

I love nuns. They belong to a category of people I’m perfectly comfortable with. Of course on most issues I don’t see eye to eye with them. But I know I can’t but be different in my approach to them. More important, they know it too. From Baby Class to PG i studied in convents. I served in a college run by them. They gave me my sense of values, which, Of course has undergone mutations as I grew

MALAYALA MANORAMA – THE SEXIST DAILY

2010-06-06T14:55:00.002+05:30

Guess I'm not mistaken if i claim that mallus all around the world buy Malayala Manorama for its obituary page. AS the paper which enjoys the highest circulation in the state, it is the most sought after paper to announce death. People forget their political and religious affiliations when death happens in the family. Manoram it is – and no other paper. Recently my father- in -law passed away

Cell Phones

2010-03-18T18:57:00.005+05:30

My cousin’s children were to come over to my house in Bombay for the weekend. I’ll call them jack and Jill in this narration. Jill lived in Bhayander and Jack in Churchgate. For those who are not familiar with Bombay, Churchgate is the starting point of local trains and Bhayander is way out beyond the suburbs and is the terminus for many trains. I lived in Parel, closer to Churchgate than

Of Amitab Bachchan, Narendra Modi and Kerala

2010-03-12T10:51:00.006+05:30

The newspapers are playing it up - the fact that the party which kicked out Abdullahkutty 'cos he sang the praises of Narendra Modi has officially invited Amitabh Bachan, the brand ambassador of Modi’s Gujarat, as Kerala’s posterboy. MODI’S POSTER BOY, BIG B, IS AMBASSAOR OF CPM-RULED KERALA TOO, says The New Indian express of today, Kerala edition It’s a happy coincidence for the media that

Is the New Indian Express stirring up a Storm in its V-Cup?

2010-03-07T00:09:00.004+05:30

I’ve been loyal to The Indian Express for ever so long – probably from the Emergency days. In the good old days when I had enough health to sit on the floor(thara in Malayalam) , my day began on the floor with my legs stretched out, back against the diwan, a cup of light tea and the Indian Express which my son always thought was a crappy paper. Seeing me on the floor with the paper, he’d say

GM CROPS in India: Are we being betrayed by our own Judases?

2010-02-26T11:38:00.005+05:30

Bashing GM crops may land you in jail !!!The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill ( BRAB)of 2009 is going to be tabled in the current session of the parliament! The provisions of the bill are absolutely scary. Whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the organisms and products….shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that shall be not

The 11th Commandment

2010-02-26T00:32:00.002+05:30

I pamper my right leg, cos it was the victim of a surgery. My left leg grinned and bore this partisan attitude for three years. But, like the saying goes, the smallest worm will turn being trod upon. A week back, the left leg did the true Left act. It struck work. Enough was enough, it seemed to say. It protested – at the knee.I was left with no choice but to concede to its immediate demands. I

The agony of glamour

2010-02-24T16:50:00.004+05:30

Waiting in the lobby of an eye clinic in Mumbai, I saw a couple of young ladies look around, as though searching for someone. One of them saw me, and walked towards be briskly, with a broad smile as if she knew me all her life. Needless to say, I was confused, and sure that she had mistaken me for someone else. She sat down next to me and said, not exactly for me alone to hear, “Hello

Party Spoiler

2010-02-19T06:44:00.003+05:30

Recently, I was invited to a dinner which gave me considerable digestive problem on account of the presence of a person who was not exactly the type I would invite to an occasion where genteel people gather. He had strong opinion on every issue . And he was in his elements when he spoke of the religious profession. I’ve known him to be a convent basher never missing a chance to speak of nuns

Terror in Pune and Terror by Shiv Sena

2010-02-14T19:41:00.004+05:30

One of the channels made a very pertinent observation about the blast in Pune. It appears there was heavy deployment of police near the Jewish Chabad House and Osho ashram till two days ago, but it had to be withdrawn from the vicinity because of the law and order problem let loose by the Shiv Sena on the My Name is Khan business. The police maintained its beefed up security in the Ashram and the

Forward Ho!

2010-02-04T07:52:00.006+05:30

When my heart is overwhelmed Lead me to the rock That is higher than I That is higher than I Somebody asked me the other day “Does Time really heal?” One does not need to be a very perceptive person to detect the skepticism inherent in that query. “Most certainly it does”, I told him. “Civilization would not go forward if not for that property that Time has – as a healing agent”

GREAT NEWS : Police Books Rally Organisers for Paralysing Traffic.

2010-01-23T09:50:00.003+05:30

KOCHI: On a day the SNDP organised a massive rally and held a convention in Kochi `to get due rights denied to us,’ the police slapped a case against its general secretary Vellappally Natesan, his son Thushar Vellappally and prominent SNDP leaders for violating the directions of the High Court and organising a rally in the city ……………….. A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday

Knocked down with a feather!

2010-01-21T12:13:00.004+05:30

The influence of the Bible on the English Language was the topic I wanted to cover that day, as part of a dozen lectures allotted to me on Creative Writing in English. Some misguided soul had suggested my name to the Director of the Press Club, which was offering a short-term course in Journalism and in a weak (or confident) moment, i agreed to do those lectures. (I must confess that I was not

THE MOST POWERFUL PROTEST - THE BT BRINJAL ISSUE

2010-01-18T23:19:00.008+05:30

Striking work, mass leave, dharnas, demonstrations, setting buses on fire, pelting cars, buildings and policemen with stones, beating up fellow citizens – these are some of the most common and, sadly, accepted forms of protest in our country. This speaks volumes about the leadership post independence in a nation which experimented successfully with nonviolent resistance to overthrow the British

Home, Warm Home

2010-01-17T06:20:00.003+05:30

The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow,And what will poor robin do then, poor thing?He'll sit in a barn and keep himself warm And hide his head under his wing, poor thing. This nursery rhyme kept coming back to me from 22nd of December when it started snowing in Chicago. The tiny flakes of snow floating down fascinated me and from the window of the house, I looked out to see it

DISASTERS

2010-01-15T01:24:00.002+05:30

Here now, gone the next moment. The age old truth is ever new and never ceases to fill us with horror, resignation and a sense of futility of human existence.The appalling figure of the Haitian tragedy – Is human life so worthless? Are human achievements so fragile?What are we going around for, with chests inflated with the air of perceived omnipotence, with a smugness and complacency fed by

What's wrong with Amir Khan movies?

2010-01-12T21:45:00.006+05:30

I saw Three Idiots and laughed my guts out. I loved the movie. A super entertainer.But if I have to vote for the fifty good movies I’ve ever seen, will I vote for it?The answer is NO. As for that matter, I wouldn’t vote for Lagaan, or Tere Zameen Par. The latter would perhaps just about make it into the 100 best movies. But I’m not sure.Why is it so, I asked myself. I never go by the critics

The Curious Case of Dr.Shashi Tharoor , the Thinking Minister.

2010-01-10T17:33:00.009+05:30

“I think his (is a) very clear summary for us of the way in which Indian foreign policy drew from our founding fathers’ sense of our civilization heritage, the extraordinary contribution of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to the articulation of that civilisational heritage, the manner in which that both enhanced India’s standing in the world and gave us the negative reputation for conducting

The Aishwarya Rai Complex

2010-01-08T20:23:00.003+05:30

She came to me to ask for an extension for the submission of the assignment on the date which was already an extended one.“Sit down, Jasmine”, I said, pointing to the seat in front of mine at my table in the staff room. I made a mental note of the fact that she chose a time when she knew I’d be alone in the Department.“You know I can’t extend it anymore. It was already done – and I made it clear

Christmas Then and Now

2010-01-06T19:29:00.003+05:30

Was reading a few blogs and looking at pictures and reports on Christmas – in Dubai, New York, Florida, in the giant metros and in small cities, towns and rural areas too in Kerala. And my mind slid back to sixties and seventies - - - My earliest memories did not involve Xmas shopping, ‘cos I was a kid. Shopping must have been there, but the instant ready to use items, I’m sure were not there.

God's pet

2010-01-04T22:30:00.002+05:30

I am God’s favourite.Now hang on! Don’t jump to the conclusion that all my castles in the air have materialized into bricks and mortar.No. Far from it. Far far from it.Guess that wil happen someday. But by then, I’d, perhaps, have made greater acquisitions besides which all those realized castles will pale into insignificance.What irony, eh?The long and short of it is, our aery castles are not

How I tackled the Obama dispute

2010-01-03T00:10:00.008+05:30

Christmas 2009 found me in my niece’s house. It was a beautiful family affair with ten adults and eight children.The celebrations began with drinks and starters. That company of adults consisted of maximum- two -pegs and teetotaling young men and women below 45. I mention this just to tell you in advance what followed was not the upshot of inebriation.By the way, it was a bitingly cold winter day

New Year - Happy or Unhappy?

2010-01-01T16:02:00.008+05:30

Happy New Year!What does it mean?Is it in our hands or any of our well wishers to decide the nature of the year to come?When I opened the blog page to write about the yet another rise of a new year, I wasn’t sure what my thoughts on the issue were. But then, as it always happens, my fingertips took over, flying over the keyboard, guided by thoughts I didn’t really know were floating around in my

The irrepressible Shahsi Tharoor

2009-12-30T19:49:00.005+05:30

Mr. Shashi Tharoor does it once again! Once again, he has chosen to air his views on official matters on twitter. This time it is about the government decision regarding visa. The very act of doing it once again, knowing fully well the repercussions and impropriety of sharing in the social networking site his personal views on an official decision, cannot be dismissed as the super diplomat

Tsunami – On a personal note

2009-12-26T20:50:00.002+05:30

I am one of those who become temporarily dysfunctional at the news of a disaster, natural or man made, leading to huge loss of life. Bhopal gas tragedy, Orissa floods, Lathur and Gujarat earthquakes, mass killing in Kosovo, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, Godhra have all caused me a lot of sleep and peace of mind. Hitler's holocaust happened before I was born. But when I first heard about it, studied

Halleluiah Chorus

2009-12-24T18:58:00.004+05:30