Ma, Dan is getting married!

I really don't think people will be reading blogs in heaven ma! And I'm pretty sure, you are there. If you had not gone there for the person you were, surely I won't be allowed there either. Anyways, that is for another day!

Ma, your younger son, the young innocent boy we all know him to be, is suddenly getting engaged! Phew, am I getting that old?

It is still sinking in ma; How I wish you were there when we went to see his girl! You would have seen him blush ma; He did! He looked confused, but still he blushed. Chithi was there around ma and so was athai and of course Jessie, to handle the womanly things which should be done when we go to see a girl; Yet, your absence was palpable. You were the calming presence which is very much absent in our men only house now.

Do you know ma, that a year from now, Dan will be guiding a girl around a city? Just last week he got down from a bus in the wrong place ma, and as usual called me to tell he had made the mistake; Now, another girl will be getting down in the wrong bus stop along with him ma!

Ma, the innocent young boy, the boy whom you always said was nothing more than a child, is a man now! You remember the times, you said, 'Dan paavam, avanukku yethuvume theriyaathu'! That very same boy is a man now ma.

As I sit alone typing this, tears flow down ma. Tears of happiness and yet of sadness. Happy for Dan to have whole heartedly taken the next major step in life;  Sad, that you will miss the next wedding season of the family also.

I hope people watch weddings from heaven ma! If so, you will see no longer see the young boy you begot ma! Look for a man! For Dan, is going to be a man now.

Christianity and caste system - Oxymoron

Rohith Vemula, a young Dalit(hate using the word here) research scholar and student activist of the University of Hyderabad, would certainly not have wanted to die. No one with dreams does, after all. Yet he killed himself! He was in fact killed by the phantom limb of caste system on which this pretentious democratic credentials are superimposed.

This gutter called caste system! Is it all worth it? Worth the life of a brilliant young mind? 

When I read this news I was at the same time fighting against this within a community which considers itself morally superior to others, yet follows this sham called caste system. Yes, the christian community, one which I am part of for a pretty long time, shamefully still follows caste system.

Why do I talk only about this community? I know them well enough and I'm pretty sure that the holy book which this community adheres to absolutely does not support this

Sadly, almost everybody I talk to, know that its origins should have nothing to do with the so called christian principles which they claim to follow; Yet, in the inner most hearts, they desire their children marry within the same caste! They want reservation for their children and the grand children!

Dear christian community, Casteism is plain wrong. The Holy Bible does not prescribe to marrying your children within the same caste. The christian religion does not support anybody belonging to any caste. The church should not be based on casteism, and if they are it is a sham (For want of a harsher word). Please respect every single human being, as a soul wanting to live a happy life. In the name of a stupid, baseless, discrimination called casteism, if you continue to divide people, woe unto you! You do not deserve to be called the followers of the Jehovah God. Period.

PS: Sorry for the harsh rant; I vent out anger on blogs you see!

Happy new year people!

One more year in life? It was just like yesterday I sat in a church thinking the year 2000 will bring in more joy and it is already 15 years since. Life!

It has taken turns and twists! Brought me immense joy and of course the many many unfortunate incidents. More people and more people came in; And of course they came in and went out. Life changed from being dependent to periods of immence independence and then slowly back to dependence again. There were turbulent periods and of course the insanely sane and calm periods. Life!

Has life been the same it was supposed to be? Did it follow the drousy dream I had on that 31st december night in 1999?

Surely not! Life had to take paths different from the dreams, I presume. And if not, may be it would not have been interesting after all.

I swear I have no idea why I am writting this blog! Yet, December 31, 2016 brought back memories of that day and thankfully I have people like you reading this:)

Happy new year people! May this year bring in many more surpises and happiness just like it has brought in over the years.

Going deep into Indian Villages!

How is it travelling deep in to an Indian village in interior Madhya Pradesh?

So you board the typical mission hospital Jeep! And 8 of you and a big tyre are squeezed into that Jeep and off we go on the pot holed national highway. Then inevitably you turn into one of those roads/mudpaths and go further. And there you are, after a few kilometers of riding/rafting you enter one of those villages

Typical poor Indian Village! the buffaloes, the poorest of huts built of mud, the dirty pond where people wash their clothes, the broken panchayat building, the empty school, children playing without dresses. All of them it had. All of them straight from the class 2 social book I studied.

Class 2? And that is a looong time. 20 years! Phew, I'm that old! 20 years and nothing has changed? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! 

Of course, The one I went to was one of the posher villages. They have television sets now! Saw a few bikes. And yes, an odd car too! But is that all the change we can bring about in a village which is 3 hours travel from two of the bigger cities called Bhopal and Nagpur? 

Ah, the reality of it all had to be brought before me all over again! 

India, the India of the IT, the multiplexes, the Audi's and of course the Ache Dhin! But there is another face, the real one. If you want to see that, go in to one of those deep Indian villages.

The real India lives there.

                                                                   The bike and the dish! modern Indian village

The national highways connecting Bhopal and Nagpur

The road leading to the village

  

Stay proud, stay angry chennai!

It feels terrible when you are not in the middle of the activity that is going on in Chennai! No,not the floods. But the relief that is happening around in chennai.

The day it rained and when the News of floods were coming in, it felt even worse when the city you loved and had been part of is being devastated. Just that, the business of life was taking its toll. The human being inside me which wanted to be part of this mamoth tragedy just lost to the everyday monotonies of life!

And then the beauty of Chennai and its people unfolded. Twitter and Facebook were so full of people waiting to help and everybody I know (Both real and virtual) were extending helping hands. An army man quoted this, "For the first time I'm seeing more volunteers than victims", and I felt proud.

The Chennai of our dreams had stood up in times of crisis and held hands together and I could feel the pride!

Then, there was a tinge of anger in it! Anger at the political apathy, anger at people like me who just sat back in comfy homes and watched without lending a helping hand, anger at themselves for this situation which they had brought upon themselves to a certain extent and anger towards God!

Hold on to that anger Chennai! The next time when the politician comes to you asking for votes stay angry. When the real estate advertisers encroach another of the water bodies stay angry. Next time when the 'God men' blesses you for money, stay angry!

I'm proud of you chennai! Lest we forget, if we lose our anger, like we lose it everytime, Our pride is a useless virtue.

Stay proud Chennai! Stay angry too!

The computer emotion! Artificial and bland!

Ting Ting Ting! The train from Chennai to Bangalore has been delayed by an hour! The inconvenience caused is deeply regretted came the recorded message for the umpteenth time.

The incessant rain, the terrible traffic, a bad auto driver is enough material to handle for the nerves. And when you have not had breakfast and your hunger pangs start to scratch the surface, you have a wild guy at hand. And then this delay.

What with railways and delays? I don't know! Do they even care? I was cursing every politician around (My favourite passtime anyways), when this message came.Arghhh!

My mind becomes very philosophical when it gets irritable! And so happened today.

How does the computer know my pain to regret for the inconvenience it has caused? Can't the railways just tell us that the train is late and keep its mouth shut? Why should we get to hear from a computer that it regrets for the inconvenience caused?

My mind! My mind! It was angry and filled with questions. As usual!

Do artificial emotions have a role in this society moving towards artificial intelligence? What will be its implications? How will it be if the next generation will have the iPhone as their best friend? So, by the end of the day, what if there is a prerecorded message at home which says, 'how you?' 'how was your day?' What if in 10 years time I share my happiness and sadness with a toy? Celebrate my success by taking a robot to the resort? Have an electronic shoulder to cry on?

I dread such a day! And I dread we are going towards that sadly!

Keep the cow aside for sometime plz!

I can almost imagine cows standing in a queue to vote in the upcoming Bihar elections!

That is how much importance cows have been given off late by our stupid media and the developmental BJP and the annoying opposition parties.

It all started off with the now famous 'cow urine' which was supposed to be the cure for cancer, jaundice, and every other disease you know off. Then came the cow dung and now the cow meat (I meant the beef). Holy cow! I spelt the word; Do they lynch even for this? And ya, I'm now even wondering, the term 'holy cow' had a sanghi influence.

The last I saw the cow, it was lazily lying in the middle of the road. Very soon, the way it is going, we may be naming roads after the cows. Who knows, we may even have reservations for cows.

Politics over beef found a new address today as the Kerala House in Delhi took buffalo meat off its menu after a "raid" by policman who had received a complaint from a fringe group. So the Chief Minister of Kerala wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of the country saying the Kerala house does not serve cow meat! Don't those two guys have better works than that, other than playing hide and seek with a bloody animal?

Keep the cow aside for sometime I say ! We have enough and more important jobs to do!

P.S : Should I write to the PM about the dog meat I had next time? Or dogs not as important as cows?