The Corner

Yesterday I was talking to a old friend. The conversation veered to a college mate who passed away due to rare heart condition

I remembered all the old fun we had.What if we knew what our lives would turn to in another 15 years

As I was dozing off to sleep, I remembered a visual. 

My childhood, where as usual I was always late to the bus. I would run to the bus stop to see bus coming from far. It had to take a turn at the signal. 

So if I saw the bus at the signalit was a happy moment, knowing that I haven,t missed the bus

As I lay there half asleep a thought came to my mind. I may have another 20-25 years in my book

What if I got a chance to go back to that bus stop and waiting for the bus to take the turn

Engineering

This morning I was sitting back, brooding the loneliness, when I got a call. The true caller said he was a friend from college

I thought a full few minutes, deciding if I should call him back and finally decided in favour of it.

We spent a full hour talking. He is a lecturer in Engineering

Among other things he was talking about how this 'Kerala Technical University' destroyed the course

I remember when this KTU came into being with fancy names how it was said it to change the landscape of Engineering courses

The teachers coughing up the old yellowed pages would find it difficult to survive in the new age courses

But over time they pushed in faculty from private colleges into the board of KTU. General Life courses with no connection to Engineering came up and old core subjects were moved out of syllabus

The aim was to increase pass percentages of private colleges and reduce advantage of government colleges

Today children learn less of Engineering and more of 'communication' and 'management'

The lecturers have almost nothing to teach now. 

The Core

I was watching the recent Malayalam movie, Kaathal, which had run on to become a great hit. The story revolves around the lives of a homosexual man, who had to come out of the closet in his middle age

Something that stuck me towards the end of the movie was a particular scene where he contested from his Panchayath. He was contesting as a independent candidate from the left bloc. The screen was filled with red flags.

Cut to present political scene, a party which was seen as liberal and peaceful has become a bunch of people with priorities lying in becoming a soft saffron or christian brigade. Congress has totally lost the ability to lead a narrative

Don't eat with wicked men

I was returning from work yesterday. The society was adorned with bright colours and DJ music as 'Shri Ram was coming back to Ayodhya'. Makes me wonder where was he all these years.

The ladies were having communal dinner at the basement. As usual I made my way to the elevator, pretending not to have seen them.

'Sir, please have dinner with us.'

I was slightly surprised. 2 years here and I know the hate and loathe hid behind their smiles. No one really invites me over for dinner or their functions. Infact whem I moved here an active area of discussion was why a non Gujarati was rented out a home. 

Probably, they thought I was from the 'other side' and wanted to celebrate the victory

In a moment I saw threw the loving smiles. I politely refused, for the food will turn poison in my stomach

Memories Die

Early morning phone calls means bad news mostly, especially when you have old people in your family. 31st December was not expected to bring such a news. I was to sit at home and ruinate on the memories. But the phone rang. It was turn of my uncle, father’s eldest brother. I planned to meet him on the last trip but couldn’t. 

20 years ago my grandparents passed away and now it’s the turn of the generation above me. I might labour and struggle until my turn arrives in the next few decades. 

When the new of passing away of my uncle came, with him ended years of family feud, mainly started over the partition of land. That was the period dad felt isolated mentally. We, as kids, also struggled to digest the ugly side of relationships. The joy and innocence of childhood gave way to the realities and greed of life. We moved away from ancestral property, and with time sold off the land. 

Thankfully, Dad and his brother came to peace during the last days 

Curry and Cyanide

Netflix releases a documentary on one of the most sensational murder spree.  The documentary might have been well made except for the part that the whole thing looked too amateur. No proper research/ investigation was done.

As the narrator himself, inadvertently admitted, there were too many red flags still not looked into.

The murder didn't became a sensation just because 6 people were killed. But the executioner was a home maker and an epitome  of ideal mother and wife. The question was how could she bring herself to do this?

Sadly the question still remains unanswered. The whole documentary seems to be shot by a wedding photographer and ends up with making the sister-in-law of the murderer a heroine of the whole drama.

One essential question remaining to be answered is, why were the entire family silent through out the period and even more strangely, how did the person who first cried foul on the mysterious death kept visiting the accused so that he become her next victim?

All said, the decadence of 'family' once the strongest and most sacred unit in society has fallen into decadence. The contradiction of material and at the same time the cultural and spiritual myths have churned out a very depressed generation in denial with themselves

Concept of Consent

I am a person who rarely gets into an argument in social media platform. One thing being half the population are stupid and stubborn. I mostly listen and smile.

But the last day a friend posted a video of a interview bit with a politician in Kerala. This guy, Mr P C George, more or less who has been in the news for his ‘populist’, ‘machoistic’ views on matters of interests doesn’t have any political party but he has been able to stand at the right places and take the right positions to stay in the limelight

The interviewer, more of a pretty novice, asks him about women’s safety in Indian public spaces during odd hours. He curtly replies ‘ Women from respectable families need not go out in odd hours’.

This was a wildly popular interview clip years ago. The interviewer was a less known pretty lass who looked too eager to please and the TV channel were in look out for attracting some eye balls. So here this guy has come up with a  solution to abuse, defined ‘respectablity’ and solved public safety all in a single go.

Coming back my friend shared this clip with a caption ‘Pwolichu’ a new generation slang for ‘Rocking’ (my generation slang). I was surprised and stunned. I asked her, a post graduate student, what about women who work late nights? There are women who work as menial labourers to top executives who commute late into night. What about them.

I don’t know was the the reply.

I went on to talk to her about this consent the concept of consent and definition of decency. Sad part is women are conditioned to think that men, that too strangers, have the right to abuse their personal space if the compromise on some society-drawn-boundaries on decency. This abuse of personal space have no age barrier and has normalized even rape over these years.

Saying that it is not just indecent looking street guys who abuse a woman. Even decent looking people like I do. But coming into terms with the fact is not easy.