Interim Solutions

Quotes ..

2012-02-03T12:06:00.002+05:30

Found some quotes that I had collected

First step to knowledge is to know that we are ignorant

Socrates (469 - 399 BC)

The man who has ceased to learn ought not to be allowed to wander around in these dangerous times

M.M.Coady

Why, a four year old child could understand this; sombedy get me a four year old child

Groucho Marx

You can observe a lot by just watching

Yogi Berra , NY Yankees

If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen

Harry S. Truman

The game's not over 'til it's over

Yogi Berra

It isn't that they can't see the solution, it is that they can't see the problem

G.K.Chesterton

Comic strip art

2011-12-31T07:48:00.005+05:30

Some comic strip art I came across in Brussels, the global capital of this.

M

Debt to GDP ratio and Development

2011-12-30T15:05:00.001+05:30

I was reading an article on the election results in Jamaica this morning, apparently the opposition has won the elections with a thumping majority against what was forecast to be a close result.Anyways, the point of interest was that, this time around economy was the key election issue - over shadowing 'violent crimes' that used to hog the election debates in the past. So what is with the Jamaican ecenomy ? In terms of numbers the government debt stands at 130% of the GDP and going by the report from BBC, the people of Jamaica think this is a big deal.

I set out to do some research, to get a perspective on this and to form an opinion on my own on if this is really a big deal. I first compare the salary to loan ratio that me and my peers have and found that did not help. Most of us are worse off than Jamaica and are not worried to say the least and are mostly behaving as rich people do. Next on I leave the personal analogy and brush up my macro economic fundamentals - I look up definitions of GDP, Inflation and Government debt and although I find numerous versions I am satisfied they are close to what I had in mind, only mental note I make is that "GDP" , generally refers to GDP that is already adjusted for Inflation (good !!).

I continue to google and wiki around and stumble on this amazing graphic (Link 1 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Public_debt_percent_gdp_world_map.PNG) (Caution : it is from 2009). I compare the graphic with a night time photo of earth taken from space (Link 2 : http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001127.html) (Vorsicht ; this is from 2000 !!) and make the following observations, questions

1) The brightly lit countries (in simple terms the "rich"/ developed countries) , generally speaking have a high debt to GDP percent
- This could be because the rich find it easier to get debts and conversely the poor find it difficult to get loans (Italy as example of former and Sub Saharan Africa as example for latter)

2) There are very few countries of notable size that are 'Green' on Link 1 and well lit on Link 2. Examples : China, Brazil, Russia, Sweden
- It will be useful to device a measure of some sort to link data on these two Links (pun unitended) and thereby have a truer measure of development that is not debt correlated

3) What is the underlying dynamics of this ? Does it take more money for the countries with high per capita GDP to retain that and grow compared to what it takes for a country with lower per capita GDP. Does it take a rich person more money to continue to get richer / maintain to be rich than it does for a poor person to get rich ? where does the threshold lie ? Is it right to say that the debt that the rich countries take are actually 'Operational expenses of the wealth / quality of life / environmental and safety standards " they maintain ?

And Jamaicans out there - nothing to worry about , as per World Bank , debt to GDP ratio of up to 150% is not worth worrying about !!
M
P.S: What is with Canada ? I can't find any reason as to Why Canada is deep red on Link 1 !!

Big brothers !!

2011-12-28T16:17:00.001+05:30

I have been observing numerous instances in the recent past of big brothers troubling siblings who are smaller, yet growing in confidence and financial prowess.To cite some examples I am seeing an element of this in the Kerala - Tamilnadu row over the Mullaperiyar dam ; have always been an aspect of the Indo-Sino relations and I am sure those of us with big brothers at home can easily establish the parallels and add a lot of personal perspectives to this.So what exactly is this "Big Brother Syndrome" ? Generally speaking the syndrome is symptomized by the hostility and ill will that emanates from a stronger, larger entity (country, state, individual etc) towards a smaller entity (country, state, individual etc) due to the smaller entity finding a voice of its own and trying to stand up to be counted as opposed to an earlier state of submission and obedience. Usually, the "coming off the age" of the smaller (and younger) entity is the trigger that gets the bigger (and older) entity to turn publicly intolerant and sometimes even violent.

So what are the tips for the younger and smaller entity to hold ground and protect its interests
- Be open - lot of times younger entities assume that the big brother is enimical to them when that may not be the case
- Be nice in public (read international forums in case of countries)
- Be firm and hold your position in private and be nice as well
- Give the due respect (especially in public)
- Be strong - build muscles , show case military strength
- Find a strong ally - preferably bigger than the big brother
- Study about Israel for survival tips and some more

M

RNG - results

2011-12-03T23:28:00.001+05:30

1) - 2432) - 30803) - 16784354) - 225) - 8900

RNG

2011-11-19T21:09:00.001+05:30

I have been interested in Random Number Generators (RNG) and the limitations of deterministic computational algorthms in generating absolute randomness for a while now. I have set out on a experiment using the best random number generator that I have access to. Here is my plan. I will in the span of 5 days at random moments , note down the random numbers that come to my mind, not at designated times but as and when I remember about the experiment or care to. Idea is that since the trigger for generating the random number would it self be random (atleast at a superficial level) this would enhance the quality of the randomness. At this point , I am not sure what this will prove, I will share my findings once the results are out.

No Idiot Box

2011-10-29T21:00:00.000+05:30

Got rid of the Idiot box !! So fa so good ..
Very many advantages observed
Few as below
- Comparing cricinfo commentary to live telecast has ended ; hence able to appreciate the commentary better
- Notable reduction in sofa wear and tear
- Improved appreciation for the newspaper that gets deposited at the door every morning
- Improved wear and tear for the above (yes the newspaper, no, not the door)
- Reduced real time news stress (I did not know this existed until I got rid of it)
- Improved appreciation of the internet news portals
- Better appreciation for cinematic music and the realisation as to why the radio music of childhood was so melodious - there were no visuals to corrupt the sound of music
- Enlightenment on what the marketing mantra of our times is ( this is a paid service, can't disclose as per the advise from the marketing department ) ; Clue is Connect News channels to iPod.
and yes - I can't find the remote - which is nothing new ; but the best part is there is no need to search for it or the @#$% batteries that always jump loose

Domino Set - Random Pics

2011-09-11T19:51:00.000+05:30

Ladies' Man

2011-08-13T12:10:00.001+05:30

During my college days, I and my friends were what I consider now to be a fun loving lot. Our ‘gang’ constantly endeavored to have fun and on hindsight I think we were pretty successful at that. This is not to suggest we did not have our share of worldly woes and worries. We were quite concerned about our grades, our perennial shortage of money and our future (with a vague, far-away haziness).However, as might be the case anywhere, any time with adolescents (how about a brand of perfumes called “Adole-scents”) most of our “concern energy” was spent on the topics dealing with specimens of the opposite sex. I have rambled on thus far stating stereotypical factotums about young college going males to get you to appreciate the nuances of an incident involving one of our gang members.

Thomas George was his name and he hailed from an affluent back ground (in comparison with most others of our gang). In line with what is expected of the affluent class, he almost always obliged to pay up the petty expenses that our company cost by way of cigarettes, snacks and the occasional drink or two. Thomas was a short, hefty giant with bushy eyebrows and generally lot of hair all over him expect were it mattered the most. He seemed to have a receding hairline (which interestingly, seems to have maintained its general characteristics even after all these years) and surprisingly the countenance of a lamb. As you may have imagined, he was a privileged member of the gang mostly on the grounds of the power of the contents of his wallet. One other characteristic that is worth mentioning is that he hardly said anything, I mean the guy hardly spoke anything if he could he help it. If I may add, his was not the silence of the wise or of the intelligentsia but of the lowest quality, the one that stems from a general lack of imagination. In short he was quite remarkable by way of his physique and quite the opposite by way of his intellect. I will not go into the gory details of why he was still an integral part of our gang (which he was, I assure you) but you should get the picture by now.

It was the third year of college and one muggy night we were all lying on our back on the terrace of the Men’s hostel (as was customary on the nights before the semester examinations). It was mid-summer and the meager supply of drinks (bought with Thomas’s money) was not doing much other than making the bite of mosquitoes slightly more bearable than when one was sober. Thimman (name roughly translates to “the glutton”; real name I have forgotten, I am told even his mom started calling him Thimman after four years of college) said “Guys, we need to help our Thomman (affectionate nick name for Thomas)”. Thimman waited for a few seconds and having made sure only the crickets responded to his suggestion continued.

“We need to find Thomman a girl friend, he is lonely and needs female company” Thomas made an attempt to protest from the far corner of the terrace and as it happened usually with him , what the rest of us heard was a groan that sounded like “umm..rr.umm” or something like that. Gaining confidence that he never needed anyway or lacked, Thimman went on articulating the problem statement further.

“There are 60 odd girls in Electrical and I can bet, till date he has not even smiled let alone talk to even one”. “That’s true” – interjected Jose who was Thomas’s class mate and the master mind behind having got Thomas into our gang.

“So what, why does he have to talk to girls, I mean aren’t we good enough company” questioned the cynical realist of our lot - Kanchan. As usual, we ignored Kanchan and got into planning the next steps to convert Thomas into a Ladies’ man. There were several ideas put forward in the next few minutes and everyone agreed that Thomma had to be given a make-over to convert him to be a Ladies’ man.

Hair dressers, beauticians, tailors were pressed into service at a war footing. Fashion magazines were consulted, close-up pictures of film stars analyzed and height enhancing foot wear purchased. A few days later and a few thousand rupees lighter, Thomas landed for the semester exam in a complete new look. He stood at least 3 inches taller in his fat heeled shoes, had gleaming gelled up hair covering any indication of impending baldness and a gentle yet strong perfume seemed to fill the room as he walked in. He wore a swanky T-shirt and in-style worn out jeans and a watch with a huge dial that seemed to weigh a ton going by how he held his hand up. Truth must be said, lot of heads turned when Thomas waded in to the examination room and for the first time ever Thomas felt how it was to have a room full of girls stare at him in unison. Exams are taken very seriously by the females and as is their habit they all quickly returned to their books trying to get the maximum out of the last 5 minutes before the start of the exam.

Thomas’s fashion parade continued on the remaining exam days and by the time the exams were over there must have been some discussions among the girls on what had hit Thomas. College re-opened after a short holiday and we re-grouped to evaluate the success of our Thomas strategy and to chalk out the plans to meet our objective. Terrace was again the venue and Jose started saying he had overheard Ranjini and Kavitha of his class talking about Thomas’s hairstyle. He could not hear them clearly from his perk on the back bench but he could bet he heard “awesome”, “stylish” and “Thomas” which were words no one had used in one sentence ever before. Thimman the initiator of the project was not satisfied, “this is not good enough, the girls, at least the ugly ones need to start talking to Thomman, we can say we are at least barely successful only after that”.

Thomas took all this in usual silent inexpressive way and if he had any pleasure or discomfort he chose to not exhibit it. He continued to pay “the cost of our company” and as far as I was considered that meant all was well. I got little busy with studies as I had some “targets” set by people at home and finally I realized I may have to work hard to get through college. Two or three weeks passed with me getting no regular updates and one night I joined the star gazing gang on the terrace to get up to speed and also to get out of the stress of studying hard for the first time in life. I could not hold my curiosity any longer “So, how is the Ladies’ man project going on?” Thimman was first to respond “Don’t tell me you don’t know”, Jose added “How will he know, he hasn’t looked up from his books last few weeks”. “Thomas, why don’t you update Mr. Studious yourself” Kanchan proposed. I turned around and from his corner in the terrace Thomas emerged. I could see his hair gel gleam in the moonlight and for the first time I could see a faint smile on Thomas’s face. I snorted in whatever was left in my glass and sat up to listen. Thomas started speaking, not the mechanical grunts that I was expecting to hear but clear words spoken with a conviction and confidence that I had never even dreamt Thomas could have. It was wonderful to hear him speak - replete with facial expressions, meaningful body movements and that faint smile in the background. I must say I was mesmerized by the change and did not hear a lot of what he said but the message was loud and clear. He did not feel shy talking to girls anymore and neither did they run away from him. There were lot of common topics of interest and he had made at least a handful of good friends and was in talking terms with all others in his class. He had phone numbers of many of the girls and was proudly showing me the contacts list on his phone, I felt thirsty and slightly dizzied by all I heard and saw in the past few minutes and looked around to see if there was anything left to throw down my throat. The bottles were empty and knowing Jose always kept some stock in his room for emergency needs I pulled him up and walked towards the stairs. I kept my voice as low as possible “I know for a fact that it is not the makeover, I have a strong feeling you are behind all this, what did you do?” “Oh, me? nothing much, I spread the rumor among the girls that Thomman is gay and rest sort of worked out itself”

This is obviously a fictional piece, but the personal connection to the story, I do not attempt to deny .
© 2010 Manoj Chennamangalam 'Reclusive Bloggers of the world Unite !!'

Treasure !!

2011-07-01T16:18:00.002+05:30

As I type this, few of the cellars of the ancient Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram have been opened under government and judicial supervision to reveal unexpectedly huge amounts of ancient treasures. The partial inventory that has been released compares well to the treasures Sindbad finds in exotic palaces on his maritime sojourns. As of now there are two cellars still left to be opened up and already the conservative estimates of the wealth runs into hundreds of billions of Rupees. The treasures were apparently stored in secret chambers complete with code marks and other rich symbols and symbolisms of a bygone “treasure” era.

Pay respects to the erstwhile rulers of Travancore who kept these assets in safe custody for all this while. Point to note is that lot of the artifacts could easily fit into the definition of personal articles (example: the throne of Kulasekhara Perumal that was used for the consecration of the King) and could have very well been kept in the personal possession of the rulers. Much has been written about the righteousness, simplicity and the achievements of the Travancore rulers and many more told to us by our parents/grand parents’ generation but this just proves them all to be possibly very true. In this age of rulers who cannot hold of a pot of public money/honey for a minute without putting their dirty fingers in, it is refreshing to know that there existed a dynasty that kept safe riches that would shame King Solomon for the sake of the Lord on behalf they ruled (they called themselves Padmanabha dasas – servants of Lord Padmanabha) and for the people they ruled.

a) If this is not divinity, what is?

b) Can such rulers be identified via a democratic process?

Back on to the more romantic topic of the treasure - I am reminded of the verse 8 of Vishnu Sahasra Nama that goes as below

The second stanza “Hiranya garbho bhugarbho madhavo madhusudana” in my translation (with a vested interest to commemorate the occasion) is “In the golden womb, Residing underground, Lord of the fortunes, O Madhusudhana (Slayer of the demon Madhu))

For more on the temple, the rulers and the treasure read on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhaswamy_Temple

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travancore

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/171905/secret-cellars-padmanabhaswamy-temple-opened.htmlhas

Monsoon arrives ..

2011-05-30T17:40:00.000+05:30

in much splendor, across the forested defense lands and across vast swathes of urban and rural landscapes and from across the Arabian sea and may be even further from the coast of Madagascar and unknown seas and lands beyond. Shaking everything in its path winds blazing across, pummeling down huge walls of water. Nostalgic moment this , the arrival of Monsoon in its full glory, cant help thinking back to my childhood, was it more beautiful, did the fear of nature's fury and loneliness add colors to my memories of this beautiful rhapsody of nature. Can't say - i am drinking in every bit of it standing in my balcony , oh what magical treasures the rain clouds behold in their dark, swollen bellies and long noodly hairs waving madly in the winds !!

Microcosm of India

2011-05-25T15:48:00.001+05:30

List of interesting reasons why the apartment complex I live in is a microcosm of the nation ( should read as country) at large.

-- Very undemocratic , around 55% of Indians take part in the national elections and roughly the same percent are members of the residents association
-- There is a looming security issue and a greater infrastructure issue (read water, roads, sewage) and the focus continues to be on trivial stuff like fighting over the color of the national anthem
-- There are scams abound - 2G , 3G etc at national level and G2A, G3A etc at the apartment level ----
-- Actually speaking , nobody cares anything about the community at large
-- Beautiful scenery - located between 2 lakes and a forest on one side , but lot of shit around
-- There are many wealthy citizens and the poor ones are not far away
-- High rates of inflation but there are two cars per house
-- North Indians are all over the place and many of them think "Kannad" (not Kannada) is a language that is spoken in Canada
-- There are stray dogs all around and there are people who secretly feed them
-- There are lot of maids , servants and security guards around and they generally have a good time in the dark corners , open terraces and empty lifts
-- You can spit pan and pee whenever and wherever you like
-- There are foreigners (westerners) as well who live here and they love the colours and diversity and generally think the place is complex and hence cool
-- Cricket is a religion , people of all ages play it wherever they find the bare minimum space required
-- Lot of people took part in the one day fast with Anna Hazare and finished off the day washing chicken 65 down with blue / black dogs and Anna Chapman for company on youtube
-- Porous borders , there is a community roughly the size of Bangladesh full of Bangladeshis within the premises

Prince Rama Varma Interview

2011-05-21T13:46:00.000+05:30

Found an ancient BBC interview of the Prince. Amazing how he snubs the interviewer ( around 4:55) !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MScv3KpdeE&feature=related

Also, watch the series of his explanations on Shankarabharanam - amazingly lucid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyQS5quY6d8

Motorbikes as machines that facilitate important decisions

2011-04-28T15:40:00.000+05:30

Not sure if this has happened to you , but if you do drive around in Indian cities it is highly likely that it has.
Off late there is a remarkable increase of this phenomenon in the city I live and hence it has prompted me to crib about this (admittedly, I do not need much of a trigger)

a) Scenario 1 : How to decide where to go ?
This scenario seems to happen more on the narrow city by lanes (higher probability of this happening narrower the road). You would find two (usually two, more the merrier) bikes sort of idling near the middle of the lane with their riders actively engaged in discussing some topic of immense importance. You have no choice but to slow down and stop and honk and if you pay attention you can make out that the topic is usually about deciding on which restaurant to go to or which movie to watch or better/worse still which girl to ogle at !!

b) Scenario 2 : Friends for life travel together
Again best done on narrow lanes, you would find two best friends on two bikes hogging most of the road space and driving parallel to each other at speeds which do not disturb the important conversations that are being had. There would of course be traffic coming from the opposite direction, pot holes and curves in the road, but you see, these are not great enough to separate friends for life .You wonder if parallel lines would ever meet / collide !!

This is all labored sarcasm and I am sure these meetings and discussions are very important and the motorbike greatly helps in arriving at a common decision.

P.S: State leaders should learn to ride bikes asap like one Mr. Putin, imagine the Kashmir issue getting discussed on bikes ridden by Indian and Pak PMs - would get resolved in 3 mins straight , I bet !!

I want a Cycle ! Not a PhD titled "Features of Bi-cycles and their application to meet 'marketing' created consumer needs"

2011-04-15T17:44:00.002+05:30

I have a feeling that if a study of content being introduced into the internet is done, new blogs explaining the nuances of some commonly used product (ranging from a seeming trivial thing as an umbrella to the latest mobile communication device), would emerge as the most active and prolific source of new content on to the www today.I guess the throne was earlier adorned by porn and has been taken away by products and their features. It is highly likely all the young people who were frequenting porn sites for freebies have figured ways to deal with their 'those' particular needs without the help of the www and have now earned enough money and free time to specialize in analysing niche products like bottle openers, shoe tongues and whatever else you cannot think of.

Let me explain the woes I have had due to this take over.I have been planning to get myself a new TV and a cycle for the past few months and have almost given up as I type this, primarily due to these rampant information excesses I am exposed to.I thought a bicycle was a simple two wheeled device that would move solely on my mechanical efforts or at least I am sure that was what it was the last time I owned one. No not anymore !! Technology apparently wants to permeate its prowess into simple devices and make them complicated and obviously cool !!

What is your budget ? Do you want a hybrid or a model with LBQJ (whatever that is !!) ? Do you want to ride on the road or on the margins of the road or on the side walk ? Do you have hard buttocks or soft ?, were some of the questions the blog answered and not surprisingly what the blog fed sales man at the store asked. I like to be discreet about most of the questions listed above (and about all of the questions which I did not feel like typing down here) and looks like nobody worth their salt would sell me a cycle without the above data - after all they say it is not about a cycle purchase but something infinitely scarier -making me a cyclist for life !!

And with the TV ,as you can imagine, it gets even more complex as the components are invisible electronic wizardry which is all the more difficult to comprehend given the challenges I had with visible mechanical components of a two-wheeler.Do you watch your TV from 6 ft , less than 6ft or more ? Do you want a HD ready HD medium ready , HD almost ready or HD burnt ? I hold up my hands in despair by the time the budget question is on me and trudge out of the shop and vow to keep myself away fron the dreaded product blogs and hyper salesmen

I analyse little further and find sparkling and glaring similarities between some of these product analysis blogs and the requirement and technical design documents that IT folks churn out to design/build medium to fairly complex software systems.Is it that the tech designer by day is applying his craft on to the product analysis blog he has at night ? Seems very likely..

So what is that I am bothered about ? I want to buy a simple , uncoomplicated bicycle and a simple uncomplicated TV without doing a PhD in aerodynamics or QED (I did not make this one up, it is Quantum Electro Dynamics - google it out if you like) and by not having to be an expert on complex sounding hollow abbreviations (HD is High Definition,that is all !!) and as Geoffrey would say "even my granny knows GCP stands for Great Cheap Products !! ). Impossible you say and I continue sulking and wishing that good and simple sense would prevail ..

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite !!
-- Manoj Chennamangalam

More travel ..

2011-03-18T16:44:00.001+05:30

Travelling continues threatening my carbon neutral goals and claims.

Kothambumanikal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGt357_0kuI) at 30000 ft above ground, gazing at the uninhabited, arid Arabian coast = Sweet Melancholy

One liners

2011-03-09T12:37:00.001+05:30

Sudden take offs -> nasty headaches, bright blazing sun light, precious little food, beautiful blue skies with white fluffy halos , missing the target and peeing on the lavatory seat = Air travel

Great food , hopeless cabbies, zombie watchmen , beautiful females = Gurgaon

Chaotic traffic , ‘350 is a paltry 50 over score – Chinnaswamy stadium, business as usual South Indian psyche, Home sweet home = Bangalore

Freedom

2011-01-24T13:01:00.001+05:30

© 2010 Manoj Chennamangalam 'Reclusive Bloggers of the world Unite !!'
Disclaimer : Any resemblance to anyone is purely coincidental

Looking up from my window I can see him on the balcony

Covered by a thin blanket, shivering in the cold

Short, slightly built and a big scar on his chin

He looked 10 or 11 but may have been more

He was a slave and slept in the balcony of the house across mine

Teary eyes, worn out clothes

I see him look out into the night and at the stars

I perceive blankness in his gaze where I am sure dreams played around in the past

Occasionally I have seen him on the ground floor walking the dog

He never looked up at me and never returned my half smiles

He was a slave and existed in the balcony across mine

Was he good looking, was he intelligent?

Did he have loving parents, naughty siblings or even a home somewhere?

Did he get stolen, sold or did he run away ?

I don’t know and may never know

I know he is not hungry or sick but is not free

He was a slave and existed in the balcony across mine

He worked all day and came to his perch late at night

And was gone again before dawn

When I hear people shout at him

I want to teach him to fly so that he can fly off the balcony

But I forget that he is a slave and has his wings clipped off

What is freedom ?

Is there anyone who is not bound to anything ?

Some are bound to their past, some to their current thoughts and

Few others are prisoners of their destiny

Is there anyone who is truly free , I don’t know ..

“No child labor” the newspaper ad shouts , “No slavery” the TV says

The name plate says a Doctor lives in the house across mine

Can the hand that saves lives hold them chained?

Alas, the sign of our times..

I live across from a slave who has forgotten what freedom means

Sahyan (Sahyadri / Western Ghats) - majestically overlooking Palghat pass @ Walayar (Kerala - Tamilnadu border)

2010-12-30T19:52:00.004+05:30

An hour in the life of Aaakash Gupta (All of 3.5 years)

2010-11-30T17:33:00.002+05:30

© 2010 Manoj Chennamangalam 'Reclusive Bloggers of the world Unite !!'
Disclaimer : Any resemblance to anyone is purely coincidental

-- Sunday morning on a cold winter day

ACT 1
The wake up drill

Aaakash (first 2 'A's for conquering the world numerologically and third as triple insurance to be first in the attendance roster) is sleeping blissfully on his double bed with his nappies on (the quilt is imported and cannot be risked for the one in a million statistical risk of him peeing in his sleep)

Maid servant/ child governess enters (All of 7 years - you frown thinking child labor and I say aha!! read on for gorier crimes!)

MS/CG: Aaakash wake up!
Aakash, Akash (accompanied by pushes and shoves) - the most glorious one please wake up! Today is Sunday; you have to go for Swimming, Skating, Walking, Painting, Drawing, Piano, Football (in no particular order) lessons!!

Hey @$%@^%# wake up you filthy rascal - I have to get you ready in 2 minutes!!

That works.

Aaakash (the most glorious one) replies: Brrr, hmmm where is mom and dad?
MS/CG: They are drunk; I mean they were drunk last night so are hung over
Aaakash (the most glorious): Brrr, hrr, hmmm.. ?
MS/CG: (louder this time) they are sleeping

Aaakash slowly extracts himself from the bed and deposits himself on the chair next to it.
MS/CG performs her morning magic and within two minutes Aaakash is brushed, cleaned and adorned in his skating lesson gear complete with the rollers on his tiny feet.

MS/CG pretty much carries him out of his room and into the drawing room where the party runs into some very loud sounds emanating out of the nearby room. Text is as below (lack of clarity attributed to after effects of alcohol and not the distance from the source)

ACT 2
The division of labor

Alcoholic Source 1 (Feminine): Sid, Wake up
Alcoholic Source 2 (Masculine): Brr. hrr gluglg
Alcoholic Source 1 (Feminine): Siddd (not numeroligically driven this time), Wake up!!
Alcoholic Source 2 (Masculine): Silence
Alcoholic Source 1: Sid, you @#@^%$ wake up!
Alcoholic Source 2: Why Roma?
Alcoholic Source 1: Roma, who the **** is Roma?
Alcoholic Source 2 (sensing danger): Who Roma? I asked why you are shouting, Uma?
Alcoholic Source 1: Whatever, get up and get dressed, you need to take Aaakash to the skating lessons
Alcoholic Source 2: Skating lessons, the imp doesn't even know how to walk, why do I have to take him? (Mumbles on - walks like a bird, like your dad and brother - "Wadhwas - the waddlers") Ha Ha!!(Louder)
Alcoholic Source 1: What is so funny? gets drunk on a whiff of vodka and keeps giggling for two days, hurry up now - Aaakash has not managed to move two inches on his own on the rollers and is the laughing stock of the entire apartment.
Alcoholic Source 1 (continues): You are the cricket champ - athletic macho right? Go get him trained
That touches a rich vein and gets the AS 2, semi energized
Alcoholic Source 2 (getting up): Yeah, I guess the kid did not get my athletic genes
Alcoholic Source 1 (mumbles): I am not surprised
Alcoholic Source 2: What?
Alcoholic Source 1: Nothing, you are getting late. MS/CG get the son of a gun, I mean get Aaakash!

ACT 3
Prep and Pep

Alco source 2 gets him self a 'pick-me-up" drink from the bar and wears his short knickers and short tees and ambles on to the drawing room.
Alcoholic Source 1 shouts from the bedroom: Sid don't wear your short knickers, it is cold and Aarti is not bringing Aarush for skating today
Alcoholic Source 2 (mumbles): Damn!! Never mind, there sure will be some other *****!!

AS2 now becomes Athletic Macho Coach Dad (AMCD)
AMCD and Aaakash stumble on to the lift and AMCD begins his coaching
AMCD: Aaakash son, don't worry about you being not good at skating
Aaakash: No, not worried, I hate it
AMCD: Good, not worried is good, that is the catch in sports, you win your mind first and then your body. If you in mind your think you have won, then it is easy to go out and win. Remember “Mind over matter” and “Where there is a will, there is a way”.
AMCD: Let us pump up some energy, do as I do. AMCD jumps three times in the air, hits his chest hard and shouts Hakka, Hakka, Hakka!!
Lift shakes up vigorously due to a jumping gorilla and comes to a halt on the ground floor.
Lift door opens.
AMCD (panting heavily): Repeat what I did before getting out of the lift.
Aaakash jumps and bangs and shouts (with the rollers on) with people watching at the lift door, waiting to get in

ACT 4
The skating rink

The couple stumbles further on to the apartment common area - converted skating rink filled with tiny kids and short knickers wearing dads and one over zealous skating coach. There is pandemonium and all around and the heroes head straight to the center of it all, towards the jumping jack that is the coach.

AMCD: This ain't happening!
Coach: What?
AMCD: Aaakash my son is not learning fast enough
Coach: What the ****? Can't hear you, this is not your son?
AMCD(shouts) Aaakash my son is not learning fast enough
Coach: So?
AMCD: I need a refund, you have charged me 1000 Rs per session - I need all my 10K back
Coach: I don't know you, I have been dealing with Mrs. Gupta so far and as such I don't do any refunds
AMCD: Blast you? Why don't you teach him to skate then?
Coach: He has a breathing problem
AMCD: What? what the **** are you talking about?
Coach: Watch your tongue, don’t ***** about here, there are kids listening
AMCD: What do you mean breathing problem
Coach: His breath is not harmonious that is why he loses balance on the roller
Coach: Does anyone in the family have walking problems? I mean does anyone walk like pigeons?
AMCD: Yeah!
Coach : See I told ya, it is the same problem, breathing problem leads to walking problem, skating problem and so on .,
AMCD: So what now?
Coach: You need to teach him to breathe properly
AMCD: How?
Coach: You need a breath stop watch (which I can get you for a discount) and using that teach him to breathe at regular intervals and not randomly. Here take this (gives the breath stop watch) for today and try it out, whenever the stopper goes red, you need to ask the kid to breathe , do that for 10 minutes and tell me how he is doing
AMCD: Why don’t you do it?
Coach: Additional services, special kids are charged a separate tariff, read my contract for details
AMCD: You have a **** contract
Coach: Survival of the fittest

ACT 5
Breathe, Stop, Watch!!

AMCD: Aakash you heard what the coach said, every time I shout breathe you need to breathe and not breathe any other time, clear?
Aaakash (meekly): Yes

AMCD: Let us start
AMCD: Breathe In!!
(3 seconds later)
AMCD: Breathe Out!!
(1 second later)
AMCD: Breathe In!!
(3 seconds later)
AMCD: Breathe Out!!
(1 second later)
AMCD: Breathe In!!
(3 seconds later)
AMCD: Breathe Out!!
(1 second later)

A strong perfume wafts in the air and ACMD shifts his gaze to the very attractive Aarti flowing past him in a very short skirt and even shorter top. He forgets about the mission critical activity he is engaged in and fixes his eyes on the feast that has unraveled itself in front of him.

Thud!! Somebody falls on the ground!!

ACT 6
Money making machines

Doctor: Your kid is suffering from a condition
AMCD: Condition?
Doctor: Yes that is the medical term for a situation
AMCD: Situation?
Doctor: Yes the kid was awaiting an instruction to breathe, which was not received / delayed leading to this condition, I mean situation.
AMCD: What now?
Doctor: Oh! nothing to worry, we will nebulize, disassemble, assemble, wash, service him, change his engine oil, brake fluid and put him through the numerous expensive machines we have, and charge a lot money for all that would have required two slaps and then let him go.
AMCD: Ok, whatever - just let him stay overnight so I can charge the insurance company? What about the two slaps?
Doctor: They are not needed now; one should have been on the kids back to get him to breathe normally after the fall and the other on your face, a long time ago, to get you to think.

Minor clean-ups

2010-11-24T14:06:00.000+05:30

Minor clean-up done on a wiki link that badly needed a face lift. WIP as yet, but here is the current version authored by me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnayi_Variyar

M
"Reclusive bloggers of the world unite"

Fragments of random thoughts

2010-11-12T15:52:00.001+05:30

Thoughts - they come from all directions at almost all times ,some come straight at me and sometimes straight from me. Few have been captured and tied firmly to the letters below.Others ? well others I don't know - look around you , they must be floating around freely.

--
Contrary to the majority belief, majority is seldom right.
--
Many a times I hear an interview on Teli or read a famous person’s experiences and feel “hey, that has happened to me, still happens to me”. I feel slightly happy, gently elated and vaguely hope may be our paths will cross at some time so that you can share the experience and multiply the emotions. Thoughts like these, however are like unfortunate rivers that end in deserts – casually disappears into the maze of mind and life
--
Purity is a myth, the closer you get to it the farther it goes away
--
No man is an island, hell - neither are they Oceans !!
--
Inside of Aero planes, new bags and air conditioned data centers smell the same to me and in my mind the word I have for the smell is “phenk”
--
I don’t drink - for I am afraid I may become more inebriated than I normally am.
--
For me, Jordan is the most boring sounding country name. I am told they have one of the Seven wonders of the world and I wonder if that is a boring wonder and also why not six and why seven wonders ?
--
Google for Alexander and the first finding is ‘Alexander the Great’, no more doubts – he was certainly great. By corollary search for Ivan and the first entry is not “Ivan the terrible” – Ivan wasn’t all that terrible after all.

© 2010 Manoj Chennamangalam 'Reclusive Bloggers of the world Unite !!

On walked the lambs ..

2010-10-28T12:43:00.000+05:30

Nodding their heads in unison
Bright orange garlands on their neck
Marble green eyes dripping innocence
On walked the lambs as if on a picnic

Walking in rows of two
Tethered to a soft cloth rope
Bright white from a nice fresh bath
On walked the lambs as if on a picnic

Past the lush green fields
Onto the tarred main road by the lake
Accompanied by a loud saffron crowd
On walked the lambs as if on a picnic

The drum beats became louder
So did the chants of the frenzied crowd
The temple was looming around the corner
and on walked the lambs as if on a picnic

Pick them up all and run away
I wish
Atleast mellow the hearts of stone
I wish I could
Slowing down,they entered the place of worship !!
Celebrate, dance and sing,
Eat,drink and make merry - for the gods are being sacrificed by mere humans !!

© 2010 Manoj Chennamangalam 'Reclusive Bloggers of the world Unite !!'

Pranchiyettan and The Saint - A review

2010-09-27T18:17:00.001+05:30

Trying my hand at a different genre this time - 'review'.The inevitable phase that all self respecting blogs go through - restaurant reviews, movie reviews, book reviews are some of the common 'sustainability tricks', but end of the day what better way to be creative than feed off some one else's creativity.

Pranchiyettan and yes of course The Saint was a charmingly pleasant experience.First and foremost I am amazed at the deftness with which Renjith blends in the essence of Christian theology into what could otherwise be easily called a 'Comedy Film'.I am willing to argue to no end that the movie is a spiritual one - a new brand of spiritual movies that was pioneered by Renjith in his 2002 hit Nandanam (read my earlier post titled Monsoon Wedding for a little more)and almost perfected in 'Pranchiyettan'. What has gotten into Renjith ? Is it the same guy who delivered obnoxiously loud scripts supporting larger than life movies like 'Devasuram,'Narasimham','Prajapathi' and so on ? I continue to scan the list of movies against his name (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renjith ) and I see a pattern - at regular intervals Renjith has gotten involved with appealing (to me,it is my review I am the reference point) movies like Nandam, Mizhi Randilum and now Pranchiyettan.There seems to be a plan in place - something has been getting into and out of Renjith periodically.

Back to the movie - plot revolves around the quintessential thrissur based rice merchant C.E. Francis (lovingly called Pranchiyettan and not so lovingly as Ari Pranchi).Pranchi epitomises the fun loving, free flowing yet philosophical thrissur karan,played to delicious perfection by Mammooty. Story evolves in flashback as the narration of his life's story by Pranchi to St. Francis of Assisi, his saviour and lord.Mammooty speaks the sing-song thrissur vernacular like he has lived all his life there and leaves the audience wanting for more !. Inevitably Pranchi falls into the pit fall of trying to get ahead of his own inferiority complex, which is fuelled by his lack of formal education.First half is one hell of a fun ride filled with details of all the tragicomic experiences that Pranchi undergoes to get some formal 'respect' from his fellow citizens of Thrissur.Post interval the plot comes alive and throws light into what Pranchi is doing late at night at a church talking to The Saint.Renjith manages to tie the loose ends in a masterly fashion and like I mentioned before blends in the core message of the movie (what I would like to call the 'spark' for/of the movie) without any overt exertion.
Pranchi through his life preaches (Pranchi, Preachy ? Nah !!) a brand of spiritualism which even though uses some Christian symbols remains secular and appealing in much the same way as he used to get the message across in Nandanam.
All in all great fun and some food for thought !

Priya mani has a fringe role that she does justice to and the side kicks of Pranchi in Eeyappan,Subra and Menon played by an actor whose name I could not find out ,Tini Tom and Innocent respectively, play their roles to perfection.Interestingly, Mammooty is playing more and more roles that only he can to such perfection and if not anything else that leaves rest of the current crop of actors in Malayalam (at least) miles behind.

Reclusive bloggers of the world,get out there and watch Pranchiyettan !
M

Soulful ..

2010-09-16T12:55:00.001+05:30

Wasn't too sure myself if 'Music is language independent' (as is often quoted), until I listened to the below from the movie Karuthamma. Soulful rendering by Smt. Swarnalatha (won the national award for this song and sadly, passed away last week) goes beyond limitations that language and words pose on music. Results from a few people who I tried this song on (who did not know any Tamil and had not heard this song before) has convinced me that there is at least some Music that is language independent

http://www.raaga.com/player4/?id=157251&mode=100&rand=0.3655574460453274
(Courtesy : Raaga.com)

If you don't know any Tamil and have not heard this song before and feel moved by this song,let me know.In the spirit of empirical skepticism let me know if it does not 'move' you as well.

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite !!
M

True Self Confidence

2010-09-08T19:02:00.001+05:30

is perhaps the "Ability to look at the world without the need to find signs that strokes one's ego" -from N N Taleb's persuasive book - "The Black Swan".Cannot miss the convergence with another persuasive body of knowledge - The Zen.

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite and (be skeptical as well) !!]
- M

Platforms ..

2010-08-27T20:20:00.002+05:30

For a change another of the short stories I have scribbled, copyrighted. Also – please note it is a fictional piece of work set in a narrative style, resemblance to any person/s known or unknown is coincidental.

© 2010 Manoj Chennamangalam and before I forget 'Reclusive Bloggers of the world Unite !!'

The train was gradually approaching the gray coloured cement platform of the station. A bright yellow board announcing the name of the station in three languages characteristic of the Indian Railways slowly started becoming visible. Station names are written in black bold letters in 3 languages – English, Hindi and the local one. I remember as a kid when I used to travel in trains, I used to read the English alphabets, followed by Hindi and finally Malayalam. All that has changed - reading, writing and dreaming in English has made me thirsty for reading the well rounded letters of my mother tongue. I read only the Malayalam alphabets – ഒറ്റപാലം
(Ottapalam) and blissfully ignore English and Hindi. In a smaller font at the bottom right of the board it says MSL + 32 M.This is I think interesting enough to digress on .. I had asked a lot of people what that was for a long time (once even a station master) – with no luck.Until in my first year of college a soon-to-be civil engineer came up to me without any provocation and told me what it is – Mean Sea Level + 32 M , meaning you are safe in Ottapalam until the sea level rises 32 meters above the mean level – time to invest in Ottapalam for “global warming proof” assets. (I still remember the name of the soon-to-be civil engineer - I digress way too much, that is for some other time)

Its half past 3.00 in the morning (or night?, never figured this one), there is hardly any soul on the platform and the train seems to be in double minds on whether to stop or amble ahead. The station master is all covered up in cheap artificial woolen blankets with only his face and hands visible. His thin hands are waving a green flag so vigorously as if to help the train make up its mind. And then as if driven by the energy from the flailing arms, the train picked up speed, gradually.

Next station is Shoranur

Memories from G.K (General Knowledge) classes in school started wafting in (forgot to mention I am sitting on the first step of the open train compartment door)

Longest railway platform in Kerala – Shoranur Junction
Longest river – Periyar
Only 3 rivers that flows east – Kabini, Pambaar, Bhavani

Memory fails and stops wafting in, I imagine the smell of that beautiful, once mighty Nila river. Again memories start wafting in – the river flows through some of the most sweet sounding place names I have ever heard – Thirunavaya, Ottappalam, Thrithala, Cheruthuruthy, Thiruvilwamala – list is endless. I used to imagine I was a driver driving a KSRTC Express (the green bus, yes) connecting these small towns on the shores of Nila. I used to put a towel like the drivers do, on my chair, use the circular steel cover (removable) of our washing machine as the steering, give an imaginary ticket to my sleeping sis, look out of my half open window and go !! . What fun !!

What is with my affection for Nila? Is it true to say that I have always fallen in love with ideas in my life ? People, things, rivers, ideologies – all fall into my affectionate list because of the ideas they represent. What is it in Nila? I don’t know – the smell of my memory of Nila gets stronger, I open my eyes and I see that the train is on the bridge the british built across Nila, in the pitch darkness I can feel her down there as a thin stream. Enough has been said of her plight – I can’t compete with the stalwarts on describing her sad state..

Present tense bites me, my heart is pounding. The train slowly reaches the station and grinds to a halt, I step out and there is a thin crowd, most sleeping on the floor of the covered waiting area – awaiting a train which is late or just because this is home, this is where they sleep. I am the only one who stepped out of my compartment and an enterprising tea vendor approaches me eagerly – “Chay” “Chay” – no I say, sorry I don’t drink any. I read the disappointment on his face and look around eagerly, is she stepping out of the darkness towards me – as she did the first time I came back from Bangalore after going away for work. The oily smell of her well oiled curly hair and the soft smell of her clothes daunt me. I remember that her skin used to be always cold to touch and was the best medicine for the highest fevers I ever had. I climb back on to the train to see if I can spot her from the height. No – luck, she has no idea I am coming and even if she had will her husband let her come? I feel lonely and am sad. Train shakes up all over and starts to move. Suddenly I feel cold and feel like throwing up and want to be a kid all over again ..

Where are you my sis? How can there be such a void between us? What harsh words have driven us apart?

Platform seems never ending, there seems to be a race on and the platform is reluctant to give up. Finally, the train wins and speeds up as if to establish its superiority. “Longest railway platform in Kerala - Shoranur Jn” keeps repeating itself in my head ..

© 2010 Manoj Chennamangalam

To read on about Nila : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharathappuzha

Discoveries emerging out of experiments on an unbridled mind

2010-08-24T18:00:00.000+05:30

Made couple of path breaking discoveries over the long Onam weekend.Of course the discoveries are on myself and I am amazed at the scope of experiments one can do on one's own psyche and rest assured one will be doubly amazed by the outcomes.By the way the title may be misleading, post did not turn out to be as complicated , kept the title unchanged for the kick it gave.

Discovery 1) Cribbing seems to be a general theme of my posts. Did a wordweb on "cribbing" - apparently doesn't mean what I meant, so please replace("crib", "complain'). What does that mean ? should I be worried ? am I becoming a 'bellyacher' ?? . Time to get the towel - DoN't pAnIc (mixed case helps as well in keeping it down)
((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Panic_(The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy)#Don.27t_Panic))

Discovery 2) I am not punctual as I used to be say a few years back.I clearly remember that some 20 years back I used to be on the dot (so what if I was in primary school and all the hard work was done by others at home ?)

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite !!
M

Palms of irony

2010-08-07T00:41:00.004+05:30

There was this tragic incident where in the hand of a college professor in Kerala was cut-off. They have apparently got hold of the chief pepertrator and guess what every single image of the culprit that flashes on the TV channels has a tiny toddler's arm extending across his shoulders. News channels/ law enforcement have obviously cut his photograph out of family albums for display and in the process have cut the rest of the toddler's image off. How ironic - tiny, beautiful, loving arms around the "hand decapitator". Weird world we do live in ..

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite

M

Monsoon Wedding

2010-06-26T13:33:00.002+05:30

Planning to (more like, need to) attend a wedding next week. It is monsoon time in God's own country and I am hoping the monsoon wedding does not disappoint or atleast the monsoon doesn't.It has been 6+ years since I have been in full attendance for a wedding ( last one being , my own ), not sure if the procedures or the processes have changed in this short span of time, anyways it doesn't matter. For some reason the various visuals from Nandanam ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0357946/) is coming to my mind whenever I am thinking about the wedding.The real life parallels I am led to believe are not much, the movie revolves around a wedding (not sure if that was in the monsoon time , there are a few rain scenes but that is not conclusive enough), the happenings are in a place near by to where I am going and I suspect there will be celluloid like larger than life, colourful characters.None of that dampens my enthusiasm , the monsoon beckons and so does that little idol of the one and only Krishna Vasudeva Yadav , the merciful one.

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite
M

Contact Sports

2010-06-25T15:36:00.004+05:30

FIFA World Cup is in full bloom. Enjoying it thoroughly , nothing like watching a ferocius football match at midnight with rain lashing out on your windows.Vuvuzela, rain, wind, vuvuzela, rain ... bliss.. half asleep ... GOAL !!

Fascinated by the various ways one can tackle a oppostion player who is running super fast with the ball ((without getting penalized)).An important step to succeed in this 'art' is to tap on the fallen 'hero''s shoulder and outstretch your palm to give him a helping hand off the ground. Parallels with off the field life are oh so stricking.Tackle your best friend / colleague from the back and get him off the ground by the time the referee rushes in (searching in his pocket for that elusive card). Always maintain the 'benefit of doubt' in your favour by being jovial and well mannered (except at the moment in discussion).Also ,shake hands as much as you can and practise 'baby face' expressions sufficiently to be safe !!

Isn't life a contact sport too ? Can you really attack and score a goal without making the "right contacts" ?

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite !!
M

Small, Middle Nippans and almost Pathos !

2010-06-09T16:58:00.004+05:30

I am thoroughly, absolutely, completely pissed (surprisingly,typing that down makes me feel better - try writing the exact same words immediately after you are pissed off with something ,may be it will help).

I am walking to my car after a sumptous lunch at the 'almost shady' Mallu mess near office when a bike cut right across my path and came to a stop. I gave my customary ineffective stare at the bike driver and was walking on when I noticed the people scrambling off the bike. A 40 something goon , his 30 something understudy and a 5-6 year old boy with long hair got off the bike in that order and walked towards the Nippan (translation from Malayalam : stand and deliver) liquor bar/store that was right opposite to my 'almost shady' lunch house.By now I had really slowed down my walk and the sight of the kid walking into the bar made me stop completely. The 'almost goon' exchanged a few words with the bar tender and the bar tender disappeared behind a pillar out of my sight. He returned in a minute and three glasses with brownish liquids were presented on the table. I am praying the brown liquid in the middle glass on the table almost the height of the kid is Coke/Cola and not what is usually served on middle glasses in such shady tables in such shady enterprises.Without much delay the liquid/s are quickly gulped down by the occupants of the Nippan place (coincidentally , also known as Nippans) with the ease that regulars command and the bar tender disappeared behind the pillar again at a nod from the goon. I walk on pissed and hoping that the middle glass just disappears or atleast the middle Nippan disappears ..
M

DNA - the Master speaks at University of California

2010-04-29T18:03:00.002+05:30

Listened to Douglas Adams - creator of h2g2. 87 minutes of pure bliss !!
http://www.ted.com/talks/douglas_adams_parrots_the_universe_and_everything.html
"If one feigns to have the solution or believes to have the solution - one becomes part of the problem "

--M

Mountains and temptations

2010-02-17T17:46:00.004+05:30

Gentle breeze oozing through the gap in the shut windows woke me up from my nap,I could feel the cool breeze caress my face.I opened the window with a jerk and let the breeze hit my face full blast.This was a different coolness – not the moisty coolness that the monsoon wind brought back home, gentle coolness of the mountains,I could see them loom far away in the dark. Some bald,some sharp edged– all huge. Reality check – elder one is trying to take control of the keyboard – he wants to watch aeroplanes land – on you tube. Back to the softness of the breeze, did they get soft and cool caressing and rubbing on the mountains? How does it work - is it the same piece of wind that travelled all the distance from the mountain to my face or was it a relay of some kind? The bus is slowing down,I can hear the driver change gears – must be a hump on the road,the breeze slows down as if on cue and I am tempted to run out of the bus and towards the mountains,how far are they,who cares ? has any one climbed the one I see right in the middle of the horizon – may be this one was missed out by the people who went chasing Mt Everest and K2 ? I will become the first one to scale the baldy –ofcourse I will not tell anyone.. My thoughts are brought back to the bus rather rudely by the rather inhospitable hump, my neighbour is disturbed by the jerk and decides to continue sleeping with his mouth open.I can hear some sounds as the bus stops for a milli second atop the hump – I hear crickets, I hear the paddy fields murmuring – ah my imagination – of course they don’t murmur that loud. I look on to the road through the windscreen and in the headlight I can see the green paddy – the paddy before “Go green” and “BT Green” – they have a luminous quality about them – the shadows seem to make the paddy look dark and almost scary. .

The bus speeds up and I am tempted again, more strongly this time to run out and head to the looming old baldy. I don’t do it – I am not a man to be easily tempted. I tempt my temptation – there will be another hump – may be I will get another chance at running towards the mountains.

Duality

2009-12-06T21:52:00.002+05:30

Duality it is , I am convinced – think of the atom – positive and the negative all in perfect harmony (well almost always). Nature embraces duality with all its fervour leading to the myriads of complex structures that are all around us. Yin and Yang and their mutual tension imply dynamism and a constant churn and this very tension provides to richness akin to what the churn of Palazhi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazhi) produces. The vivid imagery is a perfect tool to explain the concept – Asuras (negative,yang ,low)on one side churning clockwise and Devas(positive,yin,high) in the other direction producing exotic ideas , concepts and even materials !
Back to the atom , the heavy nucleus (if you imagine one a pea size) and the force field and a revolving electron/s at the distance of a foot ball field away or more under the influence of the pea with a charge opposite to that of the pea can signify only one thing – tremendous balance !!. We all whatever,however,wherever we are need that complimentary , balancing influence to keep as moving, stable and most importantly as colourful as nature meant us to be .

Till I get to Advaita – reclusive bloggers of the world unite!!

P.S: The below post was my feeble attempt to get back (literally) at a fairly stupid ad that is doing the rounds now on TV !

Tu Tu Do Tu Tu Do .. Mo ko do Mo ko do ooo

2009-11-28T18:17:00.002+05:30

Why dance with others when you can walk alone ?

-- Reclusive bloggers of the world unite !!

Head Shakes of a “Hair dresser”

2009-10-06T16:07:00.004+05:30

For a change one of the short stories I have penned .. needless to print copyrighted

Head Shakes of a “Hair dresser”
Erstwhile owner of “Ambili Hair Dressing Saloon” and once the most famed barber in Mattom ( area in square miles : nearly “four” including vast stretches of paddy and numerous basketball court sized ponds). Vasu, now lived in a thatched one room hut on the shores of the meandering Achankovil river that flows through the northern border of Mattom. The hut once the resting room / changing room for the womenfolk who worked in the adjacent lush green paddy fields was abandoned once paddy cultivation got out of fashion and unprofitable. Growing big then growing small then up and then down again , Vasu had seen most of it. The meaning in the meaninglessness of it all.Vasu was born Vasudevan in a poor ambattan family (traditional hairdressers) sixty years ( some long, some not so) ago , called Vasu by his friends and famly for the first 15-20 years and then Vasu Ambattan for the next ten and then Vasu Modalali (literal translation of which would be Vasu “the Capitalist”) upon success of “Ambili” for the next fifteen and then back to Vasu upon the failure of his small edifice of capitalism in a small pocket of a big world.

Paddy workers borne children who grew up to be electricians,plumbers,mechanics and nurses to repair, service and mend automobiles, machines and humans in lands far from Mattom. They earned in foreign money which when brought home became ten or fifteen times more valuable magically.The magic led to huge houses being built,paddy fields being laid barren (and later turned into landfills) , imported cars being driven around in the still narrow Mattom roads and bakeries being setup to feed obese kids with their daily supply of junk food.Vasu thought it was funny that dark and thin but muscular parents who toiled hard to produce food directly from the ground had kids who struggled hard to get away from the smell of earth and obese grand kids who had no clue as to where food came from ultimately.

Vasu did not recollect how ait all came about, was it his wife Ambili who left him first or was it Ambily the saloon ?. His thoughts and memories that made him happy on the onset and then took him to the depths of despair were now hidden in the cob webbed corners of his mind. There was a time not long after returning to the second “Vasu” phase when alcohol used to visit Vasu’s mind everyday as a maid who would clean the cobwebs and open the box to let the owner enjoy the contents.The maid then started staying for longer and longer durations, cleaning and breaking mud pots full of thoughts and then finally left Vasu for good when there was no money left..

Vasu walked silently on the narrow edge of the narrow road that led from his hut to the Mattom temple wearing a clean but dirty looking mundu which was white once upon a time. Vasu had washed his mundu as he bathed early morning as he did everyday in the river, but there only so much whiteness that a old rag can produce. His mundu fluttered about him, sometimes hugging him and sometimes trying to fly away from him in the mid morning breeze as we walked past the last of the once-upon-a-time paddy fields. His naked torso was darkened by all the sunlight that he had collected and reflected over the period of his existence. Under his armpit he held his tool kit, the one he had inherited from his father Narayanan Ambattan. The tool kit contained his Made in England stainless steel scissors (gifted by Munro Saipu to his father when the British left) that still had not lost much of its gleam or its sharpness thanks to the occasional grinding that Vasu performed on the grinding stone which was another of his valued tools. Besides, the tool kit also contained couple of plastic combs, couple of old used shaving blades, couple of old unused shaving blades, a rectangular mirror with mercury peeled off at the edges, a shaving brush, and a lather soap and its pad. This was the very same tool kit that Vasu Ambatttan had started his career with when his father Narayanan(Nanu) could no longer walk to his client’s homes to perform his operations. The tool kit was given a much needed rest at a corner of Ambili Salon , when Vasu moved into the Modalali phase of his career, and there it remained unmoved except for the slight movements imparted by a passing broom,until the end of the “Vasu The Capitalist “phase.

Vasu ambled along with an intention to check if any of the oldies who too an occasional haircut from him had made it to the temple, most didn’t have much hair on their head or much money to spare for their old acquaintance. His potential customer base was dwindling by the day due to deaths, sickness and old age homes taking up his clientele. His head shook from side to side as ever as he walked, with the speed of the vibrations reflecting his sight change of speed in walking or changes in directions. Nobody in Mattom even the oldies could say for sure when the head shaking started, some thought it all started after the end of the Ambily Salon/Wife phase, some thought it has started even before. There could have been a physical reason for the shaking head but Vasu’s deep, melancholy but occasionally gleaming eyes gave the whole head shake a meaning. It was a head shake of gentle disagreement, of mild despair and deep wisdom of the meaning of the meaninglessness of it all.

Knowledge and "Understanding"

2009-08-30T10:55:00.003+05:30

Thanks a ton to Microsoft (finally !!) for doing something really worth while . No second thoughts or questions about the agenda this time - Project Tuva !! Damn good samaritan Mr. Gates has become. http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/ Get silverlight installed and enjoy the precious moments with clarity at its best - Richard Feynman on physics , nature , knowledge and everything in between. Got me going on Feynman cherry picking across youtube, wiki etc and what struck me again (been a decade since I read 'Surely You're Joking Mr.Feynman") is the vitality and the original thinking of this genius. Look up what he has to say about knowledge - epitomizes the problem most 3rd world educational systems still face . Learning the sound/word for "duck" in 25 langauages and not "knowing" a bit on what in the blue world a duck really is !! All this cherry picking brings a tear drop nevertheless to the corner of the eye , that pang that one feels that one was not born on the same side of the planet and the same generation as such a great specimen of our species !! TGFI (Thank God For the Internet :-))
Reclusive Bloggers of the world unite

Garland of Myths

2009-08-16T17:43:00.002+05:30

I have been reading the legendary (almost mythical himself) Kottarathil Sankunni's ഐതിഹ്യ മാല (attempted translation : Garland of Myths) - all of 600+ pages and 100+ stories comprising of myths , exaggerations and arabian nightish fantasies written in chaste malayalam. For the uninitiated the book was compiled over 100 years ago stringing in the beautiful pieces of folk lore and fantasy prevalent in the social fabric of the time. An excellent bed time read for children and adults alike the myths paint a clear and real picture of the early 1900s in Kerala with strong allegiance to the ruling and elite class of the times ( rebellious writing wasn't in vogue , obviously) . May be despised today by the proletariat for strong feudal over tones and the glorification of the elite , the book can make an excellent read if one sticks to one principle "Everything is a miracle or nothing is " (paraphrased from a quote by one Herr Einstein) .
I have been picking and reading stories from "here and there" and one cannot deny that there is a "feel good" feeling that the stories leave me with and a slight envy on the "powers" that the protagonists posessed and the general quality of life

Associations .. (Aw !!!!)

2009-08-01T08:58:00.001+05:30

First came the apartment association (which the founders claim God/s created in his/their own image) ,soon followed by apartment association founders's (AAF) wives association (gossip being the most harmless of their objectives) and then the Senior Citizen's association (yes , AAF's parents !!) and smaller and less potent kid's associations. The left outs obviously wanted their cut of the pie (Oh Yeah , there is always a pie !!) to found their own and then the mushrooming of the regional associations started .. Bongs , Tamils , Mallus , Gults (they were the first to form an association in the literal sense to share Gult movie CD and spicy food but not the first to call it an "association") followed in quick succession ( in the same order as above).
There is still scope for that apocalyptic monster - an association of the association office bearers so that all associations are co-ordinated by a general sense of purpose !!

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite !!
M
P.S: How about a common fund collection system ? Affiliate associates can plug in at a nominal fee and save themselves of the pain of collecting the funds !!
этих людей!!

Ozzy, Ozzy !!

2009-07-15T15:34:00.000+05:30

I am moving away from the reclusive , inward looking perspective of my initial post , quite a bit but then to keep the blog alive , I need to do that. Existentialism or Blogxtensialism, if you will.

I am intrigued by how much hatred the Australian team can generate among the cricket watching non-Australian public, be it in their off-white Test outfits with 19th century design baggy green caps or in the latest golden yellow T20/One-day outfits.

What is going on ? I remember getting up at 3.30 AM in the early 80s to watch Boon and Marsh thrash the Indian and Kiwi pacers and absolutely adoring the Laurel and Hardy combo. The Australian team those days were not hated for their winning habits , that came later .. Dean Jones , Greg Mathews , Mark Waugh , Mark Taylor to name a few, were good at what they did and were part of many a winning sides but definitely not hated.

The hate started building I think with Steve Waugh and his steely, boring and mechanized captaincy . His protege par excellence Ricky Ponting took it to the great heights being witnessed all over the world now. Does the Australians think that their so called "attitude" is part of the recipe to consistent success ? Look at Roger "crying on the floor" Federer or Tiger "melancholy" Woods or the samba singing Brazilian footballers of 90s to change that.

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite !!

Whos bad ?

2009-07-07T20:47:00.000+05:30

Okay, I know it was going to be bad but not so ..
First of all it has been 17 days since my first post and I have not had a single visitor except my own alter ego peeping in over the weekends to see if the cobweb on the main door of my blog has been cleaned up by a visitor on his/her way in . Alas !! not yet , so here I go again..

Second of all - MJ - the end was as bad as it could get , I guess most of us knew it would be bad but this was tragic , sad and all that rolled into one ..

So Whos bad ? or Who's bad ? or Who is bad ?

Reclusive bloggers of the world unite !!

The Origins

2009-06-20T15:59:00.000+05:30

After dilly dallying for almost an eon in blog terms ( 5 years may be in simple human terms) I have given in to the urge to start scribbling on the internet. More on why the dilly dallying later ..

I did my fair bit of googling to see how a first blog should be written to make sure my baby steps are right and after 10 mins of wandering in the search engine's attempt at untangling the entangled web , I gave up and decided to go on my own and therefore here I am . If the baby step analogy can be extended ay further I guess babies seldom go wrong with their first steps (from a long term perspective , of course !!)

Now a bit about myself and why I gave in :
I am a self proclaimed recluse (as reclusive as one can get without going hungry) and enjoy and take pride in reclusiveness and fostering reclusiveness among the masses !! For the intellectually inclined you must have realized that I have a paradoxical goal as far as my "spread the reclusiveness movement" is concerned and a feel of how succesful it will ever get !!
Being what I claim I am , I will not share any more of my personal details (out of fear of loosing my reclusivity !! (damn the English - there is no such word )) in this forum and the sole objective of the blog is for personal satisfaction and for the pleasure of reading my words on such a wide canvas (is it really ??) as the web

So the question I ponder will be "How can a recluse maintain his/her reclusivity in 21st Century and what Interim Solution/s can he/she apply till the world accepts or atleast understands "

Answer of course is 42 http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A997581
(Courtesy : The great master - Douglas Adams and BBC !)