"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." -JFK.
Am thinking ... If I was not born here... my country could have saved a lot of money.
My primary education: Wow!!... It was almost free for me!!!
Still I don't know what integration is. :-(
(Alla..ithokke padichittu njan enthu nedi? enthinenne ithokke padippichu?)
My B.Tech Education: I (Err...my Dad) had spent only Rs. 10000/- or less including books.
But if I start calculating the amount spent for me to acquire a Graduate degree... fuzzy !!!
See the infrastructure of Govt.Engg. College, Thrissur. Divide it with number of students.
Count the Lab equipments and its maintenance cost.
Count my Professor’s/lecture’s salary.
And What I offered to my country? Nothing.
My Social Awareness: If I don't throw waste papers and never spit on the roads, My country could have spent lesser amounts on the cleaning army.
If I have a clean and healthy habits... My country needn't invest huge sums on healthcare.
Each time when I buy a cheap DVD (just Rs. 30 ) carrying three Indian Movies, I am nailing the Film industry here and I am not bothered about it. The rumors has it that this money is going to fund anti social elements/terrorists. If I didn't born, I wish :-(
I had spent so much time watching cricket. My unnecessary craze on this lazy game killed many other sports in the country. At least I could have spent more time with my mother on purchasing something from market, or helping her. huh!!!
If I were a responsible driver, with a sense to avoid mad rush in traffic jam, it could’ve saved considerable time for many other people on the road.
I am not daring to measure the amount of food I've just wasted; but I am sure that if I do care my country will be surplus in its resources.
I am sad... Not a single Indian has got benefited from me.
I am living for myself, for my family. I am selfish :-(
Whatever talent I have ...I am using it only to curse my country.
Oh... JFK... my salutes !
I was searching for a reason ..why India is not progressing towards ‘developed’ country!!
It didn’t take much time to get an answer. Yeah it is in my blood too. Laziness !!!
Indians are bright, intelligent, educated and Indian economy is fairly good shape. Still one thing is missing “Hardwork” I am not expecting people to work for the nation. But why can’t they work for themselves?!
In the software industry, engineers are aware of the health problems ahead in their life. I don’t think that an IT engineer can lead a normal/trouble free life after 35. Everyone knows the importance of regular exercise. Still you won’t see much people in Gym, outdoor/indoor games, Yoga etc.
The common reason is ..”I don’t have time to do all these”. [a very good reason to hide their laziness] Yeah they have to work in the night/overtime. They forget that they are missing their life itself for ‘money’. Noone ever gets this life back with the money they have earned.
At least Be selfish !!! Don’t wait others to do your work. You can not buy health with your wealth. So spend a bit time to stretch your body.
All mallus are familiar with a saying
“സമ്പത്തു കാലത്തു തൈ പത്തു നട്ടാല്
ആപത്തു കാലത്തു കാ പത്തു തിന്നാം.”
Apply it in the same in health too.
Yes invest something in your fitness now.
You may breathe well in your old age.
Part 1: Mother-in-law
I paused with a question.
Should I give full mark to my mother or to my aunts or to my grandma for making peace in the family?
You may give 10 marks to my grand ma, 60 marks to my mom and aunts. To where the rest of marks going to?
30 marks go to my father and his brothers. Why?
They did care their parents more than anything else. They found more value in paying attention to them rather than playing Cards. They never even hesitated to halt helping their kids in their homework, the moment they hear a call-of-duty from their parents. In another way, they taught their children a good lesson through their own act. It is nothing but "Obey your parents". It was fun to see that they were choosing the shortest path to reach Grandpa in no time. I still remember my father (even at his 40s) running down the slippery wooden stair-case is like sliding down. I may even compare with that of the style of son-and-father-relation in 'God father' (Malayalam Movie).
I always observed an utter silence whenever my Grandpa indented to speak. You may see one example from this page. (George +10). No one ever spoke to my grand father louder than his voice.
Ee abhyaasagal (chittakal) kandu kondu kayari varunna pennu enginne avare dhikkarikkum?
(How can a new bride disobey their parents-in-law after watching all these discipline?)
One event.
Sahikkettu (after bearing a lot of firing) my mother hesitated to obey my grand mother (to do something). Mom clearly told to my father that she will not do those for her. Surprisingly my father didn't say any word and went out and completed what his mother asked his wife to do. and returned back. and asked her politely. "If this women were you mother, did you disobey her?...if you found difficulty to obey this old woman let me know I'll do it for you".
He successfully balanced his wife and his mother!!! Baseline of successful married life :-)
From where he could have learnt all these things? (Might be continuing...)
Footnote:
How could you say your children to obey you without yourself obeying your father?
How could you say your wife to respect your parents without yourself respecting your parents?
Once I asked my mother "How could you stay with your mother-in-law for 19 long years!!!"
I continued "Did you effectively treated her as your mother?"
"NO Never...she is my mother-in- LAW only". Her answer suprised me.
"My mother might be ready to forgive me, if I did something wrong..she might be ready to forgive me ..if I ignore her..." She explained "..But this woman is my mother-in-law only... So I never want a mistake from my side... I cared her more than I did for my mother". She continued her theory. She was sure that her mother-in-law used to get hurt easily it seems.
It was not easy to live in a huge family. I had witnessed her struggles. She might got firing from my grandmother for not replacing something in place. The same thing might be in use with somebody. But in Grandma’s point of view she saw my mom taking it. Now, it is neither in my mom's hand nor in the place!!! or my mother don't know where it was either. Obviously she got mistaken. Also Grand Ma was very particular about using oil in kitchen. If she found slightly over use, who ever last used it got the punishment. Real root cause might be somebody else!!!
The reason for firing might vary for different issues from not ironing grandpa's shirt to giving extra something to the servants. It might be my mom's fault or somebody else’s fault. No matter... all daughter-in-laws has to share their part of punishment.
I even fed up with the ration system in the big family. x number of soaps, y number of bar-soaps, z number of ABC etc per family per month. I had waited till 9th to get a full egg !!! it is a kind of 'CMM level'... 9th std and above get full egg. 3rd and above get half egg others get 1/4th etc. this list may extend to a couple of pages.
All of these may happen round the clock everyday. Still nobody said a word against Grandma. She (mother-in-law) treated her daughter-in-laws equally. Otherwise with a thinner physique my grandmother can not control her seven daughter-in-laws in a raw. That too different types of women. She could be a great manager ;-)
Were my mother and aunts fools to obey a woman in 60s (even she couldn't walk fast)? Can't they ignore her? Can't they fight with her? Were they so dumb?
They (1) tolerated for the peace of their husbands. Their children. More over, they cared her age. They had a simple theory too... "Without two hands you can not clap.... to make a sound"
Can we give full mark to my mother or to aunts or to grandma for making peace in the family? (to be continued...)
Footnote:
(1) 'They' is a general term. There are a couple of exceptions.
Tail: Thought of my cousin motivated me to scribble down this.
She is living with her husband (who is a single-ton son of his parents) in a rented house. It didn't take even 7 months to separate her husband from his lovable parents. Pennerumbittal ennu kettetteyulloo (If woman decides!!!). Avalu aare kandu padichathanavao? (From where she learnt to do this?)
But frankly, I have no wonder !!!!
How can you expect a woman to obey/respect her mother-in-law if she is not even obeying/respecting her own mother?!!!!
(If you get time, try to watch a classic Malayalam movie 'Vidheyan'- A Mammootty film.
While I was watching Ind vs WI (DLF cup; tri-nation series; Ind-WI-Aus), an advt. popped up with a famous face. He claimed that there is no pesticide in his favourite-cola-brand. He verified all the work of their factory and seemed satisfied and he randomly choose a cola-bottle and he took a sip with his 'head up'. I expected this advt. much earlier :-) [and if they really interested, I have a better one]
Whom should I believe to?, the experts who tested the soft drink and shocked India 2 or 3 years back or this 'Vidheyan'?. After all, I hope that common man will distinguish this advt. from the declaration of their matinee idol.
I remember a Cricket series Ind Vs Eng, Year 2002 I guess. A couple of England players got sick during the match. And I don't know ...after that particular event all the England players started using the cola imported from Singapore (or Malaysia?).
WHY?
If my memory is correct, A newspaper reported that the employees of American embassy are using non-Indian colas (I don’t know the authenticity of this news). If this is true....?!!
My question is…WHY?
When people will get to know that this Cola-company’s are just doing their ‘business’. I guess a single Hindi movie ‘Corporate’ is not enough to open the eyes of Indians. But they coolly described the dirty-business-tricks.
Now US government itself is forcing India to check on this cola-ban. They threatened Indian Govt. that they will not invest further in India, if we didn’t use their Cola products again. I have no surprise in this move.
But what surprised me is that another ‘Vidheyan’ even dare to say that
“Test the breast milk, you might see the pesticide!!!”
Enthoru Vidheyathwam (What a subservience)?!!!
One of the great movie of this 'Vidheyan' is still running in packed house in a Mumbai theater even after 500 weeks (10 years) !!! I wonder when these people will have a Vidheyathwam to their fans?
Wishing a Happy Teacher's Day to all my respected teachers, especially my class teachers from 1 to 10.
std 1 C Rosily teacher
std 2 B Annama teacher
std 3 A Kathrina teacher (amazing capability to teach)
std 4 A Kathrina teacher (my father influenced HM to move myself into her class)
std 5 D Davis mashu.
std 6 B Annie teacher (rarely she was known by that name)
std 7 C Limcy teacher (she was very pretty and very good/dedicated/young teacher; I guess, She was the only one without a nick name)
std 8 C Maggi teacher
std 9 C Chinnma teacher
std10 A Susaanth mashu (the person who forced his students to think)
but my all time favorite teacher is Malathi teacher. She taught us Malayalam in her fabulous way. Her story telling capabilities were highly impressive. Through her I knew Mahabharatha and Ramayana in its passion. She broke the ice of 'vrutham', 'alankaram' etc like tough things. Some teacher's presence motivated us to study their subject. No wonder why I hate Chemistry from 9th onwards. No wonder why it became one of my favorite subjects after Prof. K P Antony’s lecturers. No wonder why we (B.tech classmates) love Prof. Radhakrishna and Vrinda Madam.
Surprisingly I was also a teacher. Couldn't I motivate my students? Couldn't I influence them to study programming? Apart from making my lectures interesting, my main focus was to create a Linux oriented culture through out the department. It was the-best-page in my life. A handful of good students!!! Amazing
I love all my teachers. I can not forget two teachers for their contribution to my programming skills. yup... our favorite pce and prof. Manoj Kumar.
Hello Teachers!!!
Teaching is the best profession in the world as far as I know. You are the best person to guide the youth of India. You are THE person to show the value of values to your children. Do not afraid to take responsibility to set a good culture. Your students will follow you. The future of India is in your hands.
All the Best.
After “Respect Women” and “Food for -scarf- thought”, a few people think that I am
an Anti - feminist. No fault in it, since the contents were directly targeted the female brigade. But how could I turn against a gender which includes my dearest Mom and my Sis who calls me Chetta (bro) with all her love and respect.
Mind you, One and Only once Jesus got angry, Bible says. Why he became so angry to
“Cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of money exchangers, and the seats of them that sold doves”?
“and said unto them, It is written, My house is called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves”
Hope you will not make him angry for converting the “house of player” into the ‘ramp of models’!!!
PS: This is applicable for both the sexes who wear ‘revealing’ clothes and those ‘6 pockets’ inside a church.
Ok I am going a step backwards. If you (1) dare to wear such things in your official meetings with your Boss (Chairman, CEO etc.); yup… “Do whatever those make you to concentrate on prayers?”
(1) Under assumption that you are not a CFO or COO ;-) hope you are just an officer or below.
I do admit the Communist on one thing (most likely only on one thing). They contribute a lot to remove communalism. And most admirable was their fight against Ayitham (untouchability). That in turn was a fertile soil to many other revolutions.
My Question to myself is (You may ask the same to yourself too).
Am I free from untouchability?
Untouchability between rich and poor. (beggars are also human beings; It is not his fault that he was born to a poor family and ‘Myself’ in a better one)
Culture to ‘Cultureless’ (Usage of fork and spoon doesn’t mean that it is the best culture)
Vegetarian to Non-Vegetarians (Phaah… eating dead-bodies)
Communists to ‘boorshua’ (bourgeoisie) [they think that rich men have no right to live in this world]
Handsome/beauty to ugly [Are they vanaras (monkeys)]?
‘Decent’ fellows to Drunken. (These decent fellows never mind a person who fell down on road-side thinking that he is drunk. He might be dehydrated, on other hand :-(
KFC-iers to ‘Thattukada (street-shop)’-iers (Uncultured fellows; not humans at all !!! But puzhukkal (worms)
White to black (A few people are reluctant to sit near by black/not-fair people in a bus; a few might be thinking that what does this bus means :-?)
Did you find anything similar to untouchable near to you?
Finally everything categorized as two streams: Rich and poor.
Foot-note:
I found two type of religion there exists no ‘untouchables’.
Smoker’s Religion: They do not mind to share same cigarette.
Boozer’s Religion: They do not mind to share same chalice (in case of shortage).
Sarah’s post in her immigrant-in-canada kick-started me to write this post. This is purely my opinion and do not mean to offend Sarah or anyone else.
Why should women use scarf in church?
Clearly it is to show our respect to the GOD we worship. Then why should ONLY women to cover their head? Partiality?
Old- testament says that those with long hair (men or women) should cover their hair while praying!!! How the long hair has become disrespect? Watch Brahmins [or kings]; they do keep long hair just to show their supremacy. If you think that you are superior to your GOD, fine ..it is all upto you. He may not be going to punish you for this reason. It is all human imposed rules to improve the quality of your worship. God may not be interested in some fake show!! If somebody follows his words, he (Jesus) considers him or her as a friend (HE says); So, for sure he will not ask a friend to show respect.
Why should we fast one hour before Holy-communion?
It is more scientific than religious aspect, I guess. You can concentrate sharply with an empty stomach. You can concentrate more on your prayer. There was a history of 6 hours restriction to the same in Church. Later it found that it is tough for common people to take owe like this. So it was cut down to 1 hour + 3hour long Holy Mass (effect 4 hours). Later length of Holy Mass shortened to one hour. So effectively 1+1=2hours. Now it is explaining that one hour is included in the length of the Holy Mass.
Other reason might be to improve your Aasa-adakkam (self control) against food. That is why Christians (at least Kerala Christians) are asked to refrain from eating meat on Fridays.
I clearly remember my brother’s weak argument to resist Appachan. In his opinion, all these things are cost-cutting methods of his grand-father (or his great-great-great grand father ;-)
A word to end with:
I never did a research on these topics but I heard it from my father and seemed logical. Do whatever for keeping your faith, it will be good.
---Edit--
My concept is a bit wrong; read Wesley's comment to know what Bible says
Sometimes I think...women deserve more respect. Why people ogle at them? Even I am not an exception :-(
She takes pain to give birth for a new life, she adjusts a lot to build a home, she absorbs everything especially others pain, She has that magic touch which heals all your pains.
I remember one Bob Marley's song, "No women No cry". Was he very sad to see a woman crying or did he mean that if there were no women in this world, we needn't cry? Just kidding…his lyrics is striking out the later. Yeah, no one wants to see a tear is running down her cheeks. Why is she crying?
Mahatma Gandhi once said that he would call India an independent country only when a woman can walk on the roads at midnight without fear. At that time he could only dream about it. Why not today ?
Frankly, I won’t blame men in all cases.
Respect should come from our inner self. I won’t respect a womon who clearly shows her anatomy. Why do they wear such revealing clothes?
Don't they have any value for what they have?
Or Do they think it as freedom? Luckily Gandhiji is no more;
I would like to share my new hobby. Whenever I see such a woman (Girls are much better I would say), I will start watching the surrounding people. Last weekend I went to Landmark and I saw a slut. I couldn’t get a better word to describe that junk woman. She wore her pants in such a way that, if she lower it an inch down, the purpose of dress will be meaningless !!! So I thought that this is the best time for my hobby. I saw a few boys around her. they were looking at her like"evidunnu varunnadai ee charakku" ( from where she is imported?)
Not at all a surprise for me. I kept on scanning more people and my eyes stuck with a lady, I guess she was a Mallu and her expression was so strange.
"savam" (dead body). I can see her anger at the corner of her eyes.
So my point to make for ladies is ....
If you are not in the flesh trade, I mean ..if you are not a pro, wear decent clothes
It attracts respect!!
Penmakkale sleevelessum microminiyum dharikkan padippikkunna ammamare mukkaliyil kettiyittu adikkanam.
(Those mothers who train their daughters to wear sleeveless dresses and micro minis should be punished in the public.)
Shall I change the title to "Allow me to respect women"?
might be in my childhood :-? Not with my real sense.
Since I am interested in mangos a lot my father influenced me to plant some buds. Also he forced me to plant some coconut tree since it 'was' integral part of Kerala ( also it was a money earning tree). A Mallu proverb is strengthening the concept. "sambathu kalathu thai pathu nattal , Aapathu kalathu Ka pathu thinnam" ; If you plant a tree while you are rich, you may eat its fruit while you bankrupt/
May be one of the thought keep wandering on in my mind these days is "What I have done for my society ?"
I am not sure whether planting a tree is something worth for our Nation or not. Still I am going to do that.but where ? In Chennai ? Can I plant a tree inside my rented flat ?!!!! I didn't own any single inch in Chennai . neither in Thrissur.
But my father owns a land(may be around 1/4th of an acre) and belongs to a middle class family. He married a village girl before 30 years and has 3 descendants by now. Still She is a typical village woman with a great generosity towards nature and plants.No doubt that she inherited those qualities from her father who was a Head Master of a High School by profession and a farmer by birth.
Whenever she found a space in her small 'estate' she plants something. it was a kind of mini-forest. Believe me, the sun rays couldn't even touch a lion part of her territory. And was very cool to walk in between tree and most of the time with a bent head (not to hit the lower part of trees) .But later that forest was cropped down to build a home. You may guess her sorrow. Was grown up in Acres of land;then replanted to the heart of 'business' centre of Kerala; yet happily designed and maintained her own small land in the City. Now she is struggling to get a significant land to plant a big tree. :-(
What do you think ? How long she sits idle ? now she found that our terrace is enough strong to carry at least 1 banana tree + 10 Kolli kada + 5 'instance of' chembu etc. Also she planted green chili in between. Now she extended her territory to the roof too !!!
If I ask her "Mother, I wish to plant something, Advice me what to plant and where to?".She might faint down !!!or at least she will look at me with open eyes for long time. Whatever, at the end of it, she might Roll on floor laughing :-) and Say with a laugh "You ..you my son...". she has no expectation that I will follow her legacy on these matter compare to my bro or sis (they clearly shown their interest to help her before I though about it)
Or there is a chance for a serious comment too
"What happened my child, are you OK?".
...are lazy to wake up before sunrise. we are no exception. So we targeted to watch sun rise.
If you have room mate like 'aith' aka rbk, you need to just wish. he will plan/execute it on the very next possible time.
---footnote---
This might be my 5th or 6th earliest wake up. First one was before 20 years !!!!
I woke up on 4AM to see Pope John Paul II. On February 07,1986 Thrissur was blessed to host the Pope.
Exactly 75 year by now. Three youngsters sacrificed their life for our nation. They have a vision ... they have an expectation... Do you value it?
Yesterday Morning I saw their faces on news paper and decided (with in no time) to watch Rang de basanti. Bhagat Singh was my childhood hero (still not much change) . I still remember the scene I was listening my father with wide open eyes while he was narrating his brave stories. I don' think that my eyes were wet while hearing that Bhagat faced his death with a smile. It was further open with pride.
Bhagat... We Salute your courageousness !
The first scene of the movie itself was impressive. Smiling face of Bhagat just before death with a special AR Rahman's music!. Though last scenes are unrealistic, the movie as total with its great theme is marvelous. Aamir Khan as DJ and Atul Kulkarni as Laxman Pandey were excellent though I like the Siddharth’s Bhagath Singh. Because that character is my all time hero :-)
I do remember the day I first sipped Coke. It was on 1996-world-cup; Ind-SL semi-final. Paid around 60 Rs for 2 bottles and planned to drink after
After a few months I changed my mind to Pepsi and finally stuck in sprite since it is colurless and felt more taste. And I was happy to see that Sprite contains less harmful ingredients (still more enough to trouble humans). Anyway thanks to Plachimada strike against Coke which atleast brought out some naked truths.
On ‘my’ latest new year I had thought about a new resolution and decided to quit Cola.
it is tough to ignore Sprite on each train journey.
I can not add Pepsi to Rum to deduce its intense smell and taste.
What I will drink after a trip or a ‘cricket’ match ;-)
A lot of hurdles!!!
Now I started carrying water along with me in train journeys. (I am used to it nowadays)
Only Soda (or chilled water) to Rum. (it is horrible; so eventually reduced to 1 peg and now not much interested ;-) . But sure I will go back to fulfill my fifth wish
Drinking Soda or tea or even lime juice after a trip. And quit playing Cricket ;-) “eliye pedichu illam chuduka” –its a mallu proverb to narrate the foolishness of burning your house in the fear of rats inside it. People have feeling that they must drink Coke after a cricket match. Or Ad guys think that people must do it. “Piyo siar udakke” ;F*** .
Now I would like to follow Mahatma Gandhi's path of 'The non-cooperation movement'.
"Quit-Cola save water"
Here is one heart shaking flash demo about My Frustrations.
http://www.ekincaglar.com/coin/flash.html
Why people eat so much!!! I really don't care how much they are eating. But what frustrating me is Why they are wasting those much. it is very sad to see a lot of eatables are swiped away to waste basket. a lot of people are dying in hungry.
What I can do !!! to stop poverty !!! man .. a lot of people worked , still working for that. They couldn't !!! hopelessly nobody can :-(
This is not an open mail to those who taught me in school/college days. I had written earlier in this blog that this is for boasting only me up, nothing more.
Yesterday ( July 2nd, Saturday), I went to attend the betrothal of Paul (and Emilda) . Ranjit as said earlier couldn't attend the function. I, irrespective of what I said earlier, able to attend. The cost is just a cancellation of Munnar trip with Melvin and Bijoy. Due to heavy rain we cancelled the Munnar trip, but in front of Paul I 'll say that I cancelled this trip just to attend his function. you may take it in any way.
With out Ranjit, I had expected that this function might have boring to me. Anyway Vineeth, Cousin of Ranjit and Paul, was there, that brought me some relief. He was in-charge of a car to drive. Since there in no vacancy in his car, I went in a van to the Church. The Van driver was very good in driving and seems that the route is pretty clear to him. So we reached there so early.
That church was new to me. Even though the church was small, the front view impressed me much. Many people were already reached in church from both the parties. So I started reaching for a familiar faces in that crowed. It seems that a girl's face resembled to somebody I know. But couldn't recollect who she is. and yaa ... another girl standing nearby her also trigger some flash in memory. Still I failed to remember who they are.
"where is this vineeth gone!!!", I turned my face and started searching for his car. No. it is not reached yet. Bash !!!! Suddenly I noticed that a group of youngsters were around me. 2 boys and 6 girls. Ohhh they were my students-cum-juniors in Thrissur Engineering college. I forgot everybody's name other than Rajeev. And surprising part is I even forgot the beautiful faces of my students with in a time span of 16 months !!! too bad :-(
They are the classmates of Emilda's Sister. Means Emilda is elder sister of my student Gimilda. From the talks with my students I came to know that Teaching is the best profession in the world I know. Still they are giving respect to me. May not be fake. I mean need not be fake, since they are not expecting anymore session marks from me
The function went well. had a good mallu lunch. cool...
foot note:
you may call it as warning ; I'll update the benefits of a teaching profession later in this blog.