Happy New Year...!!!

2012. A flashback itself is annoying. This will be one of the most chaotic years of my life. Twists and turns happening one after the other. The three words I can use to describe the whole course of the year – Bad – Worse – Worst…with a smile. J

But also this year had tons of lessons to teach me too. Each accident or mishaps had something to tell or teach me. Rather than explaining about mishaps, I would like to share my gains. I was taught to hold the calm no matter the wreck I’m engulfed in; to control the negatives and unleash the positives, admire beauty and smile always.

Also you become a better player when you stop competing with those around you and start competing with your past performances. Let it be in any realm of life. Things change when you start observing and understanding the real you, the ‘self’ from within. It is indeed an interesting practice. There is an inexplicable beauty for the thing you own or that you already have. We don’t have to fish for happiness once we set ourselves free to discover and admire that beauty. Everything happens for a cause for sure.  

I think, in life we all need to be alone for some time. Being alone helps to pull ourselves from the rush outside and get into to think. Solitude in the beginning wears the dress of a curse which I later felt as a course of our journey from the outer rush to within us. It seems to be so disturbing and annoying. But once you are in, once you see the ‘you’, then you find answer for all your queries. This difficulty won’t obstruct you the next time when you meet Mr. Solitude. You simply slide into you like the state of ‘Aleph’. It is a state where you have everything at a point. Like a number that contains all the number. And slowly you start loving that reckoning.

As I understand there are two fears thinking of which we feel that the land beneath of feat is shrinking. One is this solitude. Solitude does not always mean being alone in a room. A person can feel this loneliness even in the crowd of Thrissur Pooram. It’s not of how many of them are there around you, it’s about how many are there with you. And the other is the fear of death. I understand these two are the most prime fears etched on us, which can be rubbed and leveled, that are still left undiscovered for many. Once we gain the strength to overwhelm this fear then no one born or yet to be born on earth can pull down the smile on your face.

Now here, as 2012 melts down, when it’s time to make the New Year resolutions, I think this time I have a new set of resolutions than my years so far. Yet all those mishaps couldn’t win to take the smile off my face as the year signs off. Here are my resolutions... J

·         Read, write and learn more.

·         Go for longer walks.

·         Loosen up.

·         Click more photos.

·         Laugh more.

·         Remain optimistic.

·         Be happy.

Being Happy is the goal..!!! 

Happy New Year..!!!! God Bless..!!!

Delhi gang rape.

I was a bit lazy to push aside things and make some time to jot down those that shook my mind ‘even’ as an FB status. In that, one was Sachin’s retirement. Of course, he won’t play forever. But still all of a sudden when his retirement was announced, I went through a very silly course of disturbance like any young man who grew up hearing about Sachin’s records and centuries since kindergarten. Yet, my laziness was strong enough to overwhelm that silly course of disturbance and keep me sit idle even as my friends filled Facebook with posts, pictures and video of Sachin. Everywhere Sachin..!!!

But then the next thing happens today. The 23-year-old gang-rape victim passed away this morning. I can hardly bear the agitation this mayhem has triggered. This was something beyond the circumference of humanity around me. Unbearable!! We were there with Sachin for the past 23 years of his career. My one silly post is negligible regarding his retirement. But this girl who unknown to us all and who became our sister gaining all our prayers… I think I’m obliged at least to let some space in my Aphorisms for her even though it won’t bring in a change a mild breeze would bring. 

Dear GOI, the way you deal with the protestors can only help the people of India to transmigrate from voters to terrorists or naxalites. It’s a shame. Is it for this freedom those generations’ kept shedding lives for 200 years? For God’s sake, understand..!!!

Whatever is your sign or your flag’s color, those in a position, who fear to react or whose blood doesn't boil seeing and hearing these atrocities are impotent. Or maybe you are much worse than these criminals. You still managed to set your blood ‘cold’ as ever even as something that stirred the hearts of all Indian’s happened. Thanks a lot to the Indian media world by the way. They did not dare to bring out Sachin’s retirement to sink down this issue.

I can’t complain about her death. I would say its better she died rather being a live martyr and wishing to have died.

To finish this just as a mere Facebook status won’t satisfy me. Not that spreading some words makes me feel better. I’m disturbed...totally and thoroughly like the thousands of brave protestors down there in my country.

I don’t know which way to choose to show my protest. Should I go out and kill. Like any Indian, I’m also ready to breach the so called ‘circumference’ of humanity and kill. But whom to kill? Will that bring some kind of an improvement? No..!! The change is something that needs to come from within. Such an incident is not the first of its kind to be so disquieted. At least, let the perpetrators receive their punishment in the public. Let India keep the heritage and traditions aside for some time and perform an atrocious form of punishment that would be a warning for any perverted souls born.

I don’t know her. But she is related to me by the universal bond of humanity, I hear that loud yell of a sister then a mother… that’s what disturbs me the most. The agony she went through… The agony which that mother have to live with for the rest of her life… That’s what brings the moisture in my eyes… Even a prayer, for her soul to rest in peace will be an irony…

Smile

Smile; sometimes a mirage,

Sometimes a collage of emotions.

Improbable is its capacity

To grant face for millions of significance.

And inexplicable is its gratifying aura

When conveyed straight

To heart from heart with an essence.

Either way, a face with a smile

Cause you to come out beauteous.

Either it’s an angel or demon in you

Forcing to paint that stroke of smile on your mind,

Hesitate not, to muse on your face that stroke.

For that cause you to come out beauteous.

Hesitate not. Hesitate not.

Smile...smile...smile... :)

Dear Pain..,

Dear Pain..,

You have shattered me.

You have confused and isolated me.

You snatched my energy and my confidence,

In each step you climbed to reach the peak though slowly.

The space within me that drained energy created,

Echoed fear and anxiety.

But, that was only until you conquered the peak.

I exist even after that.

Pain, oh dear…, now you are my best addiction.

You imparted a cute shining crystal of wisdom that

I am mightier than you are.

And as I inhale more of that wisdom-breeze,

I slowly reckon that you never even existed

And that you were just an enigmatic creation

Of my ignorant mind.

The most stupid creation of my thoughts…

The Meeting

I was sitting on the steps on the bank of Nila River (Bharathapuzha) drenched after few dips in her, for offering annual after-death rituals for my father the 16th time. The Sun was just born. The breeze that gave me a freezing shiver penetrated into me. That made me feel a communication which I’d like to believe was from heaven, through the baby Sun, as that tender breeze that came to me caressing the beautiful river and then into me. I felt abstracted totally. That was when I felt the touch of warm fingers on my shoulders. This wasn’t new to me. This is what forces me to this place every year. To feel this touch. But the warmth was deeper and more intense this time. May be because I was a little worn and weak time. All I could feel outside my skin was the cold drops from Nila that rolled all over me.

I could see or feel like seeing an energy that I always liked to call ‘Soul’, everywhere over there. Some were leaving, some trying to converse and some unwillingly flying back. The wonder in my eyes seeing the more than 64X or 128X fast forwarded motion of all beneath me, the Soul who stood next to me said, “The time-wheel have a longer diameter here than that of Earth. One heaven-day is one earth-year.”

Death was first just a word for me first. Then as I started to know, once it shocked me. As time rolled it turned out to be a fascination. Slowly I started admiring Him. Death…I believe it to be God’s proof that he still rules.

Soul then tells me that death is rather a beginning and not an end. It’s said that a body is a highway inn for the Soul. Life begins as Soul enters a body, following which the Soul remains in that body feeling this small-big world with the senses. And as time rolls Soul is forced to fly out from the cage of body as the later wares out.

The moment the last breath is exhaled, the body which was until then a mark of identity turns to a mass of dead meat, which waits either to burn in flames or decay under earth. What remains is the soul alone, which then moves with us in an intergalactic space that's beyond the description of the senses, until it gets a new body to enter.

“This is the fact, son. But, we guide those lives that struggle as we are lost to them. I had always been there around you.” He said. I made a hard attempt to speak. “I have felt that too. Th…though…” Suddenly, I felt water getting in my mouth making me gasp and breathing was also a task. Another sudden shiver woke me. “I” was taking a dip in the Nila after offering the rituals. I couldn’t believe how fast that time went.

Everything just passed by during my conversation with ‘Him’. Nothing abnormal or supernatural was seen anymore when I looked around. But I could still feel the shock all over my body. He must have gone. The montage of emotions I went through expressed a warm tiny candid drop of tear that rolled down my cheeks. Nobody noticed it. Nila wiped it cleverly, taking that drop deep into her.

I wished if we had the same ‘Time-wheel’ they had on earth too. Doesn’t matter.., I could still feel that energy’s unassailable presence around me that drives me steadily until the day I meet God’s proof…

Transit

Waiting is a kind of suspended animation. Time solidifies: a dead weight. Waiting casts one's life into a little dungeon of time. It is a way of being controlled, of being rendered immobile and helpless. One can read a book or sing (odd looks from the others) or chat with strangers if the wait is long enough to begin forming a bond of shared experience.

These long transit hours are killing me. I feel that even the seconds hand on my watch is taking the pace of his dwarf counterpart. Sri Lanka During my primary school days, I had that comic thought that this country which I often draw like a drop of water falling off the tap’s tip, is just a swim away from the tip of my country. Even though it was years back when I was a kid, it would be a point of self betrayal when I deny the fact that that thought came into me several times. Fortunately or unfortunately, my swimming coach was not that professional enough to teach me swimming.

Waiting can turn Gandhi to Hilter. And so for a short-tempered guy like me it was as if 20 years of imprisonment. For me, waiting for a person even after the time scheduled was meant to be his death at the same moment he arrives. But when it is a wait to crash land like a meteor to the midst of your loved ones spreading laugh waves of happiness...it’s…it’s something bloody inexplicable.

Hmm, few more hours to go. There are bunches of hearts waiting for me just across this fragile channel of Indian Ocean. I can feel that gravity. But Sri Lankan Airlines never fly before time. :(

Be Open Minded

There are many different reasons for having an open mind. One reason is so that you’re always ready to try anything new. Also, so that you will express your ideas without holding them back. Another reason would be so that people won't just see you as any other person. They will see you as being an "open minded" person.

Always being able to try something new is important because if you always stick to the regular you do, you might get tired of it. If you don't try anything new, how will you learn? Also, if you're buying clothes you'll be able to pick something different than your normal attire rather than the same styles you always wear.

I believe that being open-minded is one of the most important things one can do in their life, yet it is very difficult to let your mind be open to anything and everything. Modern culture, ignorance, and opinions often prevent anyone from being open-minded in today’s society. I believe that being tolerant of different religions, cultures, and such is key in understanding the world. Sadly, people’s ignorance today is what is holding us back from being open-minded towards these things. The influence of the internet, TV, and other people is the main cause of this. Usually most people just go along with what people are saying or doing. People rarely think for themselves anymore.

My parents have greatly enforced the idea of being open-minded during my early childhood. They always taught me to accept other people’s ideas and way of life without criticizing them. I found that by being open-minded most of my life I can get along easier with other people and am more open towards their ideas. I have tried to follow this as best as I can but it is difficult to do as most people lead straight to a conclusion based on the main ideas and beliefs of others, not their own.

I believe that people need to start thinking by themselves and for themselves. One must be willing to accept almost everything that they see is different, except anything that is clearly outrageous and offensive. After becoming open-minded, one will be able to start seeing the good in almost everything one will come across in life. Having a closed mind and following the beliefs of mainstream culture will close any doors in the way of being able to learn more about the world. I believe that in order for the entire world to get along, countries must be unbiased and tolerant of each other. Today, countries have a hard time understanding other country’s motives, but if they understood their culture, religion, and basic beliefs that just maybe, maybe, they might get along better in some way. And some jug-heads take it too personal also. That’s so unfortunate.

These things I believe very strongly. And I hope that one day all of humanity will be able to get along and understand each other through being open-minded. I believe it is time for people to step up out of their comfort zones and learn more about various world cultures in hope that one day we will all be able to appreciate one another.Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. We are not the perfect of God’s creations. We are ignorant about an unimaginable measure of things about vision, culture, tradition etc. At times even a 5 year old kid can be your teacher. Respect the source that throws light on something you never even thought would be there in existence rather than debating on the absence of what you are ignorant of doesn’t exist.

Gather knowledge. Embrace wisdom. Live free. Live light.

Be open minded...

“Live your Life”

‘Act of Valor’. The news that the Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut used Canon EOS 5D Mark II cameras to shoot the movie was what apparently pulled my attention to that movie. Throughout the movie there was a letter narrated which later I reckoned to be a poem “Live your Life” by Tecumseh. I felt it really touching and inspiring as well. 

Here it is….

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none.

When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and nothing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”

~ Chief Tecumseh  

The Road & The Biker

A FOOT and light-hearted I take to the open Road! Healthy and free is the world before me! The long black, tarred or muddy, smooth or broken path before me, leading wherever I choose! Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I am good-fortune. Neither do I whimper any more, postpone no more, need nothing, strong and content, I travel the open Road.

The picture is always alive, every part in its best light, the music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted. The cheerful voice of the public Road—the fresh sentiment of the Road.

The earth—that is sufficient, I do not want the constellations any nearer, I know they are very well where they are, and I know they suffice for those who belong to them. Still here I carry my old delicious burdens, men and women—I carry them with me wherever I go. I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them. I am filled with them.

Roads. I never know how to consider the Roads. Is it my second mother or the best among all the friends I have or is it that black monk who sets me into a blissful meditation with the majestic “THUMP” of my Bullet? Frankly, I don’t know how to name it. Roads, they have seen all my emotions. 

I have often felt that a biker can imagine wider and deeper than a lover. For the lover have just versions of a single emotion. But a biker embraces the nature. He takes the rain, wind, sun, people and the traffic jam without a curse. He is sometimes a silent monk and sometimes a violent warrior. Whatever he is Road accepts him as he is. This is what makes me say that a biker can be a better poet than a lover.

I say biker. Because, a biker feels nature more than a driver who moves in a bubble faking the weather and listening to someone else’s music. Take your bike. Hit the Road. She is everywhere. Even your destiny is just a highway inn. The highway will still be there…long enough.

Accidents happen. We are mortals after all. There is one way or the other to take us out from this beautiful world. We can never run away from that.

Inhale great draughts of air. Feel that the east, the west, the north and the south are yours.

So take the bike and hit the Road. 

Happy riding…

Happy Friendship Day Buddies..!!!

Today is the first Sunday of August. Today is the friendship day. A day when all races get to learn from each other is the significance behind honoring and celebrating such a day.

The human survival is based on friendship. From the highest authority to the lowest bums living on the streets all of them have experienced in some way or the other one of these different kinds of friendships. We take this friendship for granted because it is something that exists naturally in society and most of us never really have to actually go out into the world looking for a friend. Friendship is a necessary aspect of every human’s life, as we are not self sufficient in and of ourselves. Despite its necessity, in some cases we are either forced or morally required to end these relationships. When the trust between two parties has been broken, the loyalty of the friendship is soiled, and it is therefore a true and just action to end the friendship

 “The silver friend knows your present and the gold friend knows all of your past dirt and glories. Once in a blue moon there is someone who knows it all, someone who knows and accepts you unconditionally, and someone who is there for life.” This is a quote I read once in an article by Jill McCorkle. I wrote it down and posted on my wall. Gender too can barely stand as a wall. When a girl and a boy behave closely there is a scope for a better friendship than a silly folly affair. I’d say that boys and girls make the best friendship stories. Because when they break all the inhibitions and talk freely there is nothing on earth as pure, refreshing, satisfying as that relation.

Amma used to shout at me always asking me to depend on some of my friends when she finds me struggling on something which could be easily solved with an aid of a support, something which would have been more delicate when shared. She always used to correct me saying that the only scope of having is not just gathering and sharing jokes and the film news. “Share your problems and feelings with them. Only then will you be able to know whom to take and whom to drop” she used to say that quite often.

It wasn’t that easy for me to learn on that. But later on I reckoned that life can be lived easier and lighter when emotions and hurdles are shared. Discuss the obstacle you face with at least four trustable people. You can mutate the strategy to subdue an obstacle. Life is then a river with clear, clean and cold water that can smoothen any rock on its way into a pebble.

Thanks to all my friends for accepting me as I am…

Happy Friendship day buddies…

Photography!!!!

Photographing is seriously an awesome habit than a hobby. There are about a zillion reasons why, but I’ve compiled some of them.

Kids are God's presence on earth.

They gift a smile on your face 

regardless of the situation, 

pressure or mess you are in..

I think everyone should get into photography. We don’t ever have to do it professionally. That’s not what being a photographer means. Being a photographer just means we really love photography. It can give us more than we ever imagined. With a photo we can capture a moment, and have it forever. 

Photography changes the way we see things. It’s actually quite an incredible transformation to experience. Suddenly we notice light, shapes, colors, textures, people, buildings, trees, flowers…Everything around us looks different when we start to see the world as a photographer. 

Once we start noticing details, we inevitably start to see how much beauty is all around us. Every day is filled with it—in the most ordinary or unexpected places. Photography is something we get immersed in. We lose yourself in shooting, and all our worries and daily stresses just melt away. 

Photographing the “moment” photographed

Now, there is actually a lot more to photography than just pointing the camera at something and pressing the button. That’s where we start. But learning to become a great photographer is a serious challenge. We’ll always be learning something new, have new directions to explore, and new challenges to face. And that’s a good thing! This is a pursuit that we will never be bored with. Everyone sees things differently. Put 100 photographers in a room and you’ll get 100 different photos. The way we see the world is unique, and photography lets us share that perspective with others.  

That orb of fire is not the Sun.

It is that Big-Bang of Thrissur that detonate a 

busy Thrissur Round to the whoop of its 

own Thrissur Pooram 

Photography also lets us express yourself—our opinions, tastes and beliefs. This part of photography is absolutely fascinating as a viewer, and fulfilling as a shooter. Photos make us feel. They can produce every emotion, from happiness, to sadness, fear and excitement. There is so much contained in one small frame—learning to produce them, and read them certainly opens us up to feeling. Our photos can make people happy. They can make people nostalgic. Through simply showing our images we can evoke an emotion in someone else. With the internet we can affect so many people at once. Photography really connects people in that way.

With our images we can also make people stop and think. Just a glance at a powerful image can stop people in their tracks. Some images can change the way we view the world for the rest of our life. Strong stuff!! After someone has passed, photos of them become treasured items. Without getting too morbid, everyone will die, and photos are potentially the best way to preserve the image and spirit of a person. 

Life is filled with “big moments”. Births, weddings, first steps—these are all moments that need to be documented for family history. And a lot of the big moments aren’t times when we’d hire a professional photographer. 

Imagine we’re sitting around a big box of photos with friends and family. There would be a lot of talking, laughs, stories, jokes, and maybe even a tear or two. It’s an amazing way to connect. Photographs can show more than just how something looked. They can capture how something felt. Especially if the photographer felt it him selves.  

People are incredibly interesting. And emotion is a part of that. Seeing how the face changes during a laugh, or how body language reflects mood are all fascinating studies and photography helps you capture that. Photos have the incredible ability to freeze movement. Photos show us the world in a way our eyes can’t see. 

When we shoot a lot we’ll always surprise and amaze ourselves. As long as we are always pushing ourselves, we can be sure that photography won’t ever get dull! We’ll upload our photos and suddenly say “Wow! I can’t believe I took that!”. It’s really cool. 

Anyone can become a photographer. It doesn’t matter if we’re young or old, what country we live in, or what language we speak. Just get our hands on a camera–any camera–and start shooting. Practice, think about our work, and open ourselves up to our experiences. Keep at it and you’ll see firsthand why being a photographer is so gosh darn awesome!!

Jagathy Sreekumar

Jagathy Sreekumar….Our Jagathy!!! He is the ultimate artist who could make a Malayali move with his expressions, dialogues and even those subtle gestures. For more than three decades he ignited tales of laughter, thoughts and also tears sometimes. He is an actor whom the judging panel always failed to recognize. But, those never used to be something that shakes that man. A real rock-steady man. He never hesitated to speak out what there in his mind. He always had opinions that were often controversies. He was always raw. Like the Ranjini Haridas issue.

That news came in like a shockwave on March 9th when I was being shifted to a room from the casualty of West-Fort hospital following an accident; that Jagathy met an accident around Calicut. It was around midnight then.

Having done more than 1500+ Malayalam films, this man compares himself to a woman of the street saying that he too goes with anyone brings him a chance to act. But whatever he drew out from him before the camera used to have that beautiful signature of versatility in it regardless of the quality of the overall movie. Jagathy never wears out. In fact, is not him who should be called an “EverGreen Artist”?

Now after 4 months of this mishap, he is still bedridden. But news are there saying he started to recover in a steady pace. How cannot he come back to that silver screen when there is not at least one Malayali who haven’t prayed for his comeback at least once? In fact is not this the ultimate award that can boost him to come back and continue his journey again.

May be, this was God’s desire to give him some rest pulling him out of his busy schedule. But He could have chosen a better way. Like what Anjali Menon said, for a man who has given all he has to the industry, arent all of us his family members? It was clear that the audience too is a part of that family – when the doctors requested for blood, there were so many people, willing to offer it for him.

That’s when someone at the hospital said – “Jagathy Sreekumar belongs to everyone – He is a public asset.“

Prayers that you get well soon Sir.

From your family.

He will come back!!! My prayers too...

500 Likes!! :)

I’m an amateur photographer. I know no aperture, I have no big lens, and I have no degrees. But still I believe there are no rules in the warfront. With my Canon I shoot brutally all those in which I find a spark of beauty. The limitations I feel in my skill pushes me further. Each step is an experiment.

Today my photography page on Facebook hit 500 Likes (http://www.facebook.com/VarunzBeautBokeh). May not be a big deal. But it gave me a cute little smile within me. All thanks to my 3 most beautiful ladies, Mol, DivyaChechy and Tishum (Vandana, Sreedivya and Titiksha) who were the root beneath the soil for my Beaut Bokeh. J

A professional photographer is an amateur who didn't quit. I never wanted to be a professional. But I won’t quit. I can’t…

101 Lessons

When I was young I wanted to live to 100. To my mind it might as well have been infinity. Then I got older and I didn’t want to live to anything.
Now I want to live to 100 again. Actually, I’d like to live to infinity. From an angle earth is still a virgin to live in.

Anyway, 27 is still young, and I don’t claim to know it all. What I do know is what I know, you know? ;)

I’ve had this post ready for a long time. I was a little bit afraid to post it, but it may be The Ultimate Filter. Maybe tomorrow I start with a blank slate.
Probably not!

This list was originally 99. Then I edited some out. Then I added some. Then I edited some out. Truth be told I think I could easily hit 1,000. But right now it’s 101. A nice, easy number we’ll also call Infinity + 1.

Infinity + 1 Lessons Varun Has Learned In 27 Years:

1.      Friends really do come and go. Some come back. Some don’t. That’s OK.
2.      Nobody cares about you as much as they care about themselves.
3.      Drive carefully. Roads are full of idiots.
4.      It’s OK to be different.
5.      Most people won’t agree with you.
6.      The people who really care will still care whether they agree with you or not.
7.      You don’t need anybody’s support to make things happen.
8.      Arguments are pointless. You can’t change anyone, don’t try.
9.      People will rationalize and justify anything and everything to be “right.” Let them.
10.   You can never change a situation u enter into. You are the situation. You are the circumstance. Be the situation!!!
11.   “Some day” never comes.
12.   Even your infinite life is not long enough to save all songs that melts or wakes you into the HDD of your laptop. Listen to songs. Be very much in that moment.
13.  You’re not as different as you think.
14.  You can have anything you want. Objects seen in dreams are closer than they appear.
15.  You never have to settle. Not in a relationship, not in a job, not ever. Nirvana is the state you settle. Salvation. Redemption. You can’t say it’s an unattainable state on Mother Earth.
16.  Somebody will always tell you your ideas suck. Take action anyway.
17.  You might think you’re not good enough, but you’ll surprise yourself when you try.
18.  Unconditional love or affection has got nothing to do with blood relation. It’s sometimes just an added feature of blood relations. But it’s a treasure. Unconditional love infects you with sanity.
19.   I like Adolf Hitler. I like Che Guevara. I like Bob Marley. I like Communism. It’s not a crime to like people whom others hate.
20.  10th standard board exam has got nothing to do in your life.
21.  Society wants you to be average as well, but you can be exceptional if you’d like. It’s your choice.
22.  You will make mistakes. So what?
23.  It’s OK to feel sad.
24.  There is nothing wrong with you.
25.  Successful people read books. Not all successful people read books.
26.  Passion can go a long way.
27.  Don’t kill yourself. It’s never worth it.
28.  Make more friends where ever u go to. Unconditional friendship.
29.  If you think you can do something you’re right. If you think you can’t do something you’re also right.
30.  The refrigerator light doesn’t always stay on.
31.  Whether you hear it or not, a falling tree always makes a sound.
32.  Money is not the root of all evil. Love of money is not the root of all evil either. You don’t need as much money as you think.
33.  Instincts can be true. Believe in instincts. We all have instincts.
34.  Marriage is not the license to have an extra-marital affair.
35.  Nobody cares what kind of car you drive. If they do, they’re not worth your time. (Also, replace car with: the kinds of clothes you wear.)
36.  Don’t be a pushover.
37.  Memories and moments are priceless. Write down your memories. Photograph your moments. Even if they seem trivial. Nothing is trivial.
38.  Let you be an open “read only” book. Be transparent. Speak out your doubts.
39.  Ask for what you want. If you don’t ask, you won’t receive.
40.  Don’t make the same mistake twice. If you do, don’t make it a third time.
41.  There will always be somebody more “successful” than you are.
42.  Define your own rules for success. It’s a lot easier to rule your world than someone else’s world.
43.  Never hide affection.
44.  If you can believe a man who have no relation with you or whom you haven’t met in person for your lifetime as GOD just for the reason he have 100 centuries under his belt, then you gotto believe that your parents are mightier than that.
45.  Focus in the Present.
46.  Imagination is powerfull.
47.  Learn the rules, and then play better.
48.  Admire beauty in all its forms.
49.  Telling someone they’re wrong never leads to anything positive. Even if they’re wrong.
50.  Whatever it may be, you need to have your own unbreakable principles.
51.  Be responsible to the bonds in life. Never hide from your responsibility.
52.  You don’t need more than 3 pairs of shoes. 1 athletic, 1 dress, and 1 casual. Even that might be overkill.
53.  Forbidding you from biking after an accident is not the way to prevent another one.
54.  Never share your secrets to others. If you can’t hold your secrets neither can they.
55.  Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.
56.  Follow your curiosity.
57.  Never be subject to questions.
58.  Just because somebody tells you something is true, doesn’t mean it is. Do your own research.
59.  Jealousy is mankind’s most useless emotion. Instead of feeling jealous, feel happy.
60.  Happiness is mankind’s most useful emotion.
61.  If you help people get what they want, you will “miraculously” get what you want.
62.  It’s OK to be a follower. It’s better to be a thought leader.
63.  It’s OK if you don’t like something. Just don’t pretend that you do.
64.  There are exceptions to every rule. That doesn’t make the rule invalid.
65.  Seek vengeance only to those enemies who have a class. Ignore the rest. Let them bark.
66.  You don’t have to marry to know the dos and don’ts of a husband or a wife. We are engulfed with ample examples.
67.  Never advice anyone.
68.  Don’t blame anybody for your problems. They’re yours. The sooner you establish this the sooner you can work on them.
69.  Don’t learn or perform a skill of yours just for the sake of a competition. It lives only when it comes from your soul directly.
70.  You don't have to disrespect and insult others simply to hold your own ground. If you do, that shows how shaky your own position is.
71.  May be a kid can clear your doubt sometimes.
72.  Don’t wish, do. “I wish I could…” is a waste of thought energy.
73.  Never feel shy to say “Sorry”. Accept your mistakes.
74.  Do what scares you. Catch the bull by its horns.
75.  If you think something is a bad idea, it might mean you should do it. Or it might mean it’s actually a bad idea.
76.  Stop watching so much TV. Watch films that's worth watching.
77.  It really is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Try it next time.
78.  It’s OK if you don’t want to travel the world. There are lots of things to explore in your own backyard.
79.  Don’t listen to anybody who tells you “you’re missing out” by not going somewhere or doing something. You’re only missing out if you believe you’re missing out.
80.  Don’t think of cost. Think of value.
81.  You are not cheap. Never compromise when it’s for quality.
82.  Relationships need not always have a blood bond. I have plenty of grannies, mothers and sisters.
83.  You can change the world because you define your world.
84.  Never shout if someone starts advising you. Accept that with a smile and then do it as you wish.
85.  Give away something you love. You’ll learn a) detachment and b) it feels great.
86.  Do activities by yourself. Solo Social Activities (movies, dinner, concerts, travel) can be a lot of fun.
87.  Stop depending on other people.
88.  It’s OK to complain sometimes. Don’t make it a habit.
89.  Do what you love even if you don’t get paid for it.
90.  Stop texting or checking your phone when you’re with other people. It’s rude and it’s sad.
91.  Never interfere in anyone's life.
92.  Show gratitude.
93.  Laugh uncontrollably.
94.  There is no such thing as luck. No good luck. No bad luck. Luck is often an element of our unawareness about something that’s going to happen. The result is scripted already. Realize that you are called up for acting this life without reading the script.
95.  The secret to winning is playing. Often. (This advice does not hold for games of chance.)
96.  Everybody lies. Trust people anyway.
97.  If you dwell on past mistakes you will get depressed. Dwell or don’t dwell, but know the outcome.
98.  There is always more you can do. But that doesn’t mean there is always more you should do.
99.  Don’t compare yourself to other people. Compare yourself to yourself over the time.
100.Trust God.
101. Life is a gamble. So be like life itself. Unplanned.

The Moment.

One evening I was sitting in the balcony of our house (which my colleagues and I took for rent near our office) guzzling a not-so-glorious cup of black tea wondering what on earth to write about; scrolling through the photos in my laptop with my mind waiting for some inspiration to give a spark... I was even getting the inkling of a great topic discussing the difference between "patience" and "messing about wasting time".

Then, as my fingers roaming aimlessly caressing the key on my laptop keyboard what to spin out of those alphabets, I happened to look up from my paper and there it was smack in front of me …..a young woman of about 30-ish going past me in her car, slowing down to go over the speed bump directly in front of me. I was sitting on a terrace so had a view straight into her car. But what about this very typical scene on any road was any different that it stopped my heart for a second? Well, she was laughing so loud and so gleefully and so juicily that I was compelled to laugh too . . . good job my mouth wasn't full of black tea at that exact moment as I am prone to shrieking with laughter always with my mouth full. It took me less than half a second to realize that she was actually looking at her baby strapped in the front seat (picture the baby's face facing toward the rear of the passenger chair with its back to front windscreen, in full view of the mom).

THE MOMENT was there . . . the simplicity, connection and energy contained in her laugh. These two souls were so in the moment that nothing else mattered. Deeply joyous and whole-heartedly BEING with themselves and each other. I could feel the positive energy bouncing off the car as they bounced over the bump. It touched me in that moment. So much so that I needed to write about it as my cells responded to being witness. That deep, unmistakable laughter was so pure when it came from the bottom of her tummy and curled my mouth upwards so that I was laughing too.

A beautiful life is made up of these simple, moment by moment, moments. 

The Rich, The Ascetic & The Common Man..

"I don’t regret the past, and I don’t care about the future. I live and love my present."

The Facets:

Richness…!!! How much rich??? No idea about that. No idea of how rich I need to be to stop regretting the past; then, to stop being anxious about the future and finally to live and love my present. Will that be an inflated bubble? I have no idea about that too. I want that tag line to be perpetual. Something as perpetual as the sun, never-fading. But an ultra-luxurious life would be something in which I wouldn’t fit in. Too much luxury itches. 

So then comes the second, Detachment!! Relinquished! Departed! The life of an Ascetic. The life of a Wanderer.

Detachment has always been a much coveted dream of my life. More than an aim it’s a dream. Aim is the level between the dream and its transition to reality. It’s not all that easy for a Dream to move down to an Aim.  Effort, focus and above all, you should deserve to be able enough to wave a green flag to bring it to an attainable form of an Aim and then to the tangible form of Reality.

Drifting back to Detachment. No strings attached, no inhibitions, like an ever-flowing river...a relinquished life that is simply original...Simply simple. There the regret and the anxiousness in the tag-line bear more metal to be perpetual. It can be a journey with different colors like a pilgrim, student, traveler, explorer, photographer, or a writer. Name it!! The aim will be to free the mind to where it wishes to fly or to flow. If it’s a life of that kind I can say that “I don’t regret the past, and I don’t care about the future. I live and love my present.” But there are strong strings attached. Really strong strings.

Yet, Present is cool. Life is entertaining with the cameo appearances of the two facets discussed earlier along with a mixture of millions of other elements. Still in this living life I can say that I live and love my present with all the hurdles that come on the way.

Satisfaction is the fourth and the ultimate. Aims are inevitable, but what remains in the filter after draining the aim is that which is to be decimated...the greed.

For living the life the number of strings isn’t relevant at all. Take life as it comes. Enjoy it like watching a suspense thriller with a beautiful BGM played with the strings attached. Utilize and ride it to the finishing point and say “That was a cool ride…”

Heil Hitler..!!!!

Not being a professional historian, I take on this write-up with utmost admiration and a heart that shouts "Heil Hitler". That's because, although defeated, although dead, this man is incomprehensible for me. There isn’t any other leader who has fascinated me so much from my school days. And when I started to write a blog many of my friends thought that Aphorisms would be exclusively for preaching Nazism. It’s really a wonder why Hitler wasn’t mentioned in Aphorisms for this long. Something unknown for me too. But now, here it is. A space for the mightiest totalitarian ever. Adolf Hitler.

His oratory skills and the kind of leadership quality he possessed were always something I was in awe of. What was the secret of his power over his listeners? They spoke of his intuitive powers and his "luck" as he escaped several attempts on his life.

Adolf Hitler or the incarnation of absolute evil; this is how future generations will remember the all-powerful Fuhrer of the criminal Third Reich. Compared with him, his peers Mussolini and Franco were novices. Under his hypnotic gaze, humanity crossed a threshold from which one could see the abyss.

At the same time he knew how to please, impress and charm the very interlocutors from whom he wanted support. Diplomats and journalists insist as much on his charm as they do on his temper tantrums. The savior admired by his own as he dragged them into his madness, the Satan and exterminating angel feared and hated by all others, Hitler led his people to a shameful defeat without precedent. That his political and strategic ambitions have created a dividing line in the history of this turbulent and tormented century is undeniable: there is a before and an after.

How did this Austrian without title or position manage to get himself elected head of a German nation renowned for its civilizing mission?

Was there no resistance to his disastrous projects? There was. But it was too feeble, too weak and too late to succeed. German society had rallied behind him: the judicial, the educational, the industrial and the economic establishments gave him their support.

Few politicians of this century have aroused, in their lifetime, such love and so much hate; few have inspired so much historical and psychological research after their death. Even today, works on his enigmatic personality and his cursed career are best sellers everywhere. Some are good, others are less good, but all seem to respond to an authentic curiosity on the part of a public haunted by memory and the desire to understand.

We think we know everything about the nefarious forces that shaped his destiny: his unhappy childhood, his frustrated adolescence; his artistic disappointments; his wound received on the front during World War I; his taste for spectacle, his relationship with Eva Braun, who adored him; the cult of the very death he feared; his endless hatred of Jews, whose survival enraged him--each and every phase of his official and private life has found its chroniclers, its biographers.

The fact is that Hitler was beloved by his people--not the military, at least not in the beginning, but by the average Germans who pledged to him an affection, a tenderness and a fidelity that bordered on the irrational. It was idolatry on a national scale. One had to see the crowds who acclaimed him. And the women who were attracted to him. And the young who in his presence went into ecstasy. Did they not see the hateful mask that covered his face? Did they not divine the catastrophe he bore within himself?

It was enough to read Mein Kampf, written in prison: to become, once again, a global superpower, capable of reconquering lost territory and others as well.

And the free world let it happen.

His kingdom collapsed after 12 years in a war that remains the most atrocious, the most brutal and the deadliest in history. But which, by the same token, allowed several large figures to emerge. Their names have become legendary: Eisenhower, De Gaulle, Montgomery, Zhukov, Patton...

But when later we evoke the 20th century, among the first names that will surge to mind will be that of a fanatic with a mustache who thought to reign by selling the soul of his people to the thousand demons of hate and of death.

സുഭാഷിതം

ശക്തന്റെ തേര് ഉരുണ്ട വീഥികളിലൂടെ ആളൊഴിഞ്ഞ വെളുപ്പാങ്കലങ്ങളില്‍ "ഡൊ-ഡൊ-ഡൊ" ശബ്ദം മുഴക്കി ഞാന്‍ എന്റെ ബുള്ളെറ്റ് സ്റ്റാര്‍ട്ട്‌ ആക്കി പോകുമ്പോളൊക്കെ മനസ്സില്‍ തോന്നുന്ന ഒരു കാര്യം ഉണ്ട്.

മാളുകളും മള്‍ടിപ്ലെക്സുകളും  തിക്കും തിരക്കും, പിന്നെ പണ്ട് നമ്മുടെ മോഹന്‍ തോമസ്‌ പറഞ്ഞത് പോലെ കമ്പ്യൂട്ടറും ബ്ലുചിപ്പും കൊണ്ട് കളിക്കുന്ന കൊച്ചി തൊട്ടുള്ള നഗരങ്ങളെക്കാള്‍ എനിക്കിഷ്ടം പൂരത്തിന്ടെ ആവേശമുള്ള ആനപ്രേമികള്‍ തിങ്ങിപാര്‍ക്കുന്ന പാണ്ടിയും പഞ്ചാരിയും മുഴക്കുന്ന വടക്കുംനാഥന്റെ ആചാരവെടി കേട്ട് ഉണരുന്ന ഞാന്‍ സ്നേഹിക്കുന്നതിനേക്കാള്‍ എന്നെ സ്നേഹിക്കുന്ന ഞാന്‍ അറിയുന്നതിനേക്കാള്‍ എന്നെ അറിയുന്ന ശക്തന്‍ ഭരിച്ച വടക്കുംനാഥന്റെ ഈ മണ്ണാണ്....എന്റെ തൃശ്ശൂർ...

കഷ്ടിച്ച് രണ്ടര മാസങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് മുന്നെ ജോലി കഴിഞ്ഞു എറണാകുളത്തുനിന്നും വീട്ടിലേക്ക് വരും വഴി പറ്റിയ ഒരു അപകടത്തെ തുടര്‍ന്ന് പണിക്കു കയറ്റിയ എൻ്റെ ബുള്ളറ്റ് ഇന്നാണ് ഞാന്‍ പിന്നെ കാണുന്നത്. അവന്റെ രൂപത്തില്‍ ചില്ലറ മാറ്റങ്ങളൊക്കെ വന്നിട്ടുണ്ട്. രണ്ടര മാസങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് ശേഷം എന്നെ എന്നും ആവേശം കൊള്ളിച്ച  അവൻ്റെ ശബ്ദവും ഞാന്‍ ഇന്ന് കേട്ടു. 

ജീവന്‍ എന്ന് പറയുന്നത് മരണ  സമയത്ത് ശരീരത്തില്‍ നിന്നും പോകുന്ന ആ എന്തോ ഒന്ന് മാത്രമല്ല. ജീവിച്ചിരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ നമ്മളെ നമ്മളായി മനസിലാക്കി ഒപ്പം നില്‍ക്കുന്ന ചുരുക്കം ചില ബന്ധങ്ങളിലെക്കും വ്യാപിച്ചു നില്‍ക്കുന്ന ഒന്നാണ്. അതു ചിലപ്പോള്‍ പേശികളാല്‍ നിര്‍മിക്കപെട്ട ഹൃദയമുള്ള മനുഷ്യരാകാം. മറ്റുചിലപ്പോള്‍ വാര്‍പ്പിരുമ്പില്‍ പണിഞ്ഞെടുത്ത  ഹൃദയമുള്ള  എന്റെ ബുള്ളെറ്റ് ആകാം.

ആ വീഥികള്‍ കാതിരുക്കും പോല്ലേ എനിക്ക് ചിലപ്പോള്‍ തോന്നാറുണ്ട്. എന്നെ തണുപ്പ് അണിയിക്കാന്‍ പറ്റാതെ നിരാശനായി മടങ്ങി പോകേണ്ടി വരുന്ന ആ വെളുപ്പന്കാലവും കാത്തിരിക്കുന്നതായി എനിക്ക് തോന്നാറുണ്ട്. പരുക്കില്‍ നിന്നും എഴുനേല്‍ക്കാന്‍ എനിക്ക് പ്രജോതനമേകുന്ന കാരണങ്ങള്‍ അനവധിയാണ്...

Mourning the death of hand writing..

I can't remember how to write a capital Z in cursive. The rest of my letters are shaky and stiff, my words slanted in all directions. It's not for lack of trying. I am a member of Gen Y, the generation that shunned cursive. And now there is a group coming after me, a boom of tech-savvy children who don't remember life before the Internet and who text-message nearly as much as they talk. They have even less need for good penmanship. We are witnessing the death of handwriting.

I think, it’s the people born after 1980 tend to have a distinctive style of handwriting: a little bit sloppy, a little bit childish and almost never in cursive. The knee-jerk explanation is that computers are responsible for our increasingly illegible scrawl. Today schoolchildren typically learn print in kindergarten, cursive in third grade. But they don't master either one. Over the decades, daily handwriting lessons are decreasing.

Handwriting has never been a static art. I remember we all were excited about the cursive form of writing when we started learning it. But the story ended once we left the classroom. we all go back to sloppy letters and squished words. Handwriting is becoming a lost art.

Why? Technology is only part of the reason. The cause of the decline in handwriting may lie not so much in computers.In schools today, they're teaching to the tests. If something isn't on a test, it's viewed as a luxury. It's getting harder and harder to balance what's on the test with the rest of what children need to know. Reading is on there, but handwriting isn't, so it's not as important. In other words, schools don't care how a child holds her pencil as long as she can read.

Is that such a bad thing? Except for physicians — whose illegible handwriting on charts and prescription pads causes thousands of deaths a year — penmanship has almost no bearing on job performance. And aside from the occasional grocery list or Post-it note, most adults write very little by hand. But with the declining emphasis in schools, neatness is becoming a rarity.I worry that cursive will go the way of Latin and that eventually we won't be able to read it.

I am not bothered by the fact that I will never have beautiful handwriting. We are living in the age of social networks and frenzied conversation, composing more e-mails, texting more messages and keeping in touch with more people than ever before. Maybe this is the trade-off. We've given up beauty for speed, artistry for efficiency. And yes, maybe we are a little bit lazy.

Revenge

“Last night I had a revelation

Somehow I have to make you pay

It's all about manipulation

And what it takes to get my way

I don't believe in soft solutions

No one makes a fool of me

Without receiving retribution

No one hurts me and goes free

I'll play on your fears, I'll leave you in tears

You'll never be the same, my friend

You're walking a line, it's a matter of time

You'll never rest easy again

I've got the power to bring you down

I've heard it said, to err is human

It's forgiveness that's divine

I thought about forgiving you, but

I want revenge, I want what's mine

I think it's time to settle scores now

It's time to set the record straight

You'll know it's coming, you won't know how

Or when, you'll have to watch and wait

I'll play on your fears, I'll leave you in tears

You'll never be the same, my friend

You're walking a line, it's a matter of time

You'll never rest easy again

I've got the power to bring you down

You know, it feels intoxicating

To be intimidating

It's invigorating

To see you shaking

I've got the power to bring you down

You know something, you see it coming,

You know I will stop at nothing.”

**********

At times… more frequent these days, my view of friendship is taking a different angle. Friends are good. They are like angels. But angels give fire less hot than that your enemies give. Enemies are not always the “eye-for-an-eye” type. Friends are angels in a good life. But enemies motivate to attain that good life.

Living a good life and having a smile one the face is the best and the most diplomatic of all forms of revenge I believe in for those who meet the standard to be your opponent. And IGNORE those who fail to rise up to you for a duel. Never waste time on them. Because time is what life is made up of.

Heaven is on earth when you melt the rendering of your revenge to a beautiful way of living. No bullshit!! No bloodshed!! Simple and easy living.

Choorakkattukara Sree Durga Temple

Choorakkattukara Durga Temple is one of the most relevant among the 108 Durga Temples.  It is also one among the ancient temples under the Cochin Devaswom Board.

Choorakkattukara- a beautiful village lying on the foot of Vilangan hill; aside the Thrissur-Kunnamkulam highway; towards the north-west direction of Thrissur town and 7 kilometers away from Sree Vadakkumnadhan Temple. Choorakkattukara Durga Temple is contained in this candid village.

The soil here was beatified by the rituals and offerings that various sages tens of centuries ago. As time rolled on this land also had to pass through a period of discomfiture. This land was covered, rather formed into a thick rattan forest. Thus was derived the name Choorakkattukara; meaning – Land of rattan forest. Time rolled again, this time to bring back the glory which Choorakkattukara once lost when the then head of Appat family recognized an animus in a stone in the rattan forest. Several scholars where called upon who in their meditation filtered the truth that the stone was a “Swayambhu Shila”. For all the world an animus of AadiParashakthi. Here Devi has the facet of Mahishasuramardhini. Devi is a VANA DURGA, who directly feels the seasons of the nature. Hence a roofless sanctum sanctorum was constructed for Devi. That structure was marked to be the home, home base and base for Devi, to which timely alterations and modifications were made and the result being the present day temple.

Devi emits a motherly warmth and affection to all her devotees, her children. She brings forth hope and strength to her children having a tough ride in life like a mother who prevents her child from falling down. Centuries becomes mere days when history and this land start speaking their experiences, strength they got from this Mother Goddess.

I was not lucky enough to have those stories lying with my head resting on my dearest Grandma’s lap with her fingers moving through my hair and the other hand patting me forcing gently to drift me to sleep helping see those visuals in color in a dream that came from nowhere to continue the narration that led me to sleep. Still I must say I was lucky to have a Mother in whom I see that Mother Goddess herself who was destined to pull us towards Choorakkottukavilamma through her.

Above all, I bow before this Mother Goddess for granting me a life to take birth in the legendary Appat family which marks a legacy older than four centuries with the history of this temple. 

Humans hope after believing each other. To step an act to overcome a hope they need to circumambulate an energy.  Yes!! An energy that is neither created nor destroyed as we were all thought in school. Let us call it God. Let it be in any form. Like for us it is our Choorakkottukaavilamma. 

Pontianak

Night wasn’t all that young when I switched myself to the sleeping mode that night. It was that shaky silence which made me mark the age of the night. Young nights are always noisy and a synonym for celebration. Suddenly, like a pin poked into an inflated balloon, the yowl of two or more cats just outside, beneath my bedroom window broke down that fragile castle of silence.

First thing what the cats reminded me was Shah Rukh Khan  when he said “mujhe jungli billiyan bahut pasand hai”, meaning; I love wild cats in the movie Don. And what came second in queue was the story or a myth of this Equator city, Pontianak. Pontianak has got a history that is related with how it got its name.

THE STORY

The Pontianak is the female vampire- even more fearsome then your ordinary western vampire- of Asian origin. She's believed to be the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth. She relishes all types of blood, but the blood of a newborn is supposed to be the most preferred blood. She kills pregnant women and eats the fetus. There is no known way of killing this vile creature, but to stop it, one must drive a nail into its neck-the creature will change back to the woman it once was - or one must disrobe. But to do such a thing, the person must posses an ugly body. It's said that the Pontianak is fearful of sharp objects. It's also said that if one were to tie a red thread from a banana tree (the Pontianak's home) to the foot of the person's bed, the Pontianak would have to do the person's bidding, trapped.

Even I was told by my friends here that, on Thursday nights the cats be comes violent and start yowling and that’s when the cats see the vampire and all that stuffs. What I felt interesting was that at least some people believed these stories seriously. They may have their own reasons to believe that.

It is ironic if my colleagues find me calling this city a ‘cute little city’. That’s because I feel it only when I sit at home and think of it. This city, to an extent, stifles me...mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Can’t exactly nick name it with the dear name of homesickness. But neither can’t I ignore the fact that that name has its silhouette cast slightly over those mixed feelings. It has its own beliefs, tradition, heritage and culture. Most important of all they still remain unadulterated and intact with no ingredients added to taste or look better. This can be found in style of festivals they conduct. Especially the Chinese festivals. Pontianak has a Chinese sharing a major portion of its total population.

It’s a fact!! I feel alive only when I’m in my darling Thrissur. I feel myself breathing joyously when I inhale the air of Thrissur. I feel the warmth of staying alive when I get that hug from my mother. I feel my heartbeat to be normal when my heart synchs its beats with the THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP of my Bullet. Childish!!! I know. But I have promised not to lie in my Aphorisms. Whatever is here is true.

But all these never pulled me back from lengthening my friends list. I think that’s easier than making enemies. That’s something what I suggest for a healthy mind. And Pontianak did give me some good friendship.

The Script

Reading is always a killer effort for me. The only thing which I would enjoy reading was the sports column of The Hindu newspaper that contains the India’s victory in Cricket. I love stories like anyone else. But more that reading it to know it I would prefer watching it. I would enjoy it better when that story is rendered on a screen or on a stage.

More than the story, what I felt that makes it more presentable depends too much on the way it is told. And that is what I can call a gift. Lucky are those guys whose mind is set out free to gallop on the ocean of grass stretching from horizon to horizon, farther that they can reach and above them the beautiful sky, larger than they imagine. Where there are no borders or boundaries for imagination. The angle they choose to view and the words they utter to describe something which we might haven’t even seen.

Excavating the art in what they see not as a source of living rather being swallowed by that flame of creation for the pure but eternal joy. A story telling is not just that art of imagination. It is definitely a collection of similar minds. A good pool of people who are granted with “multiple layers of thoughts”…that’s how I would like to describe a group of that kind.

So when these people join hands there art is rendered. A cinema comes to life or sometime a drama comes down from the heaven of imagination onto a stage. But still, something that wonders me is that why are movie scripts not considered as a form of literature. That’s something unfair. Spielberg’s, Padmarajan’s, Bharathan’s, Ranjith’s, Ram Gopal Varma’s scripts and screenplay, are not at all connected to literature?

But I strongly believe movie scripts are also to be a vital part of the literature world. There was one habit that recently developed in me since I watched the movie Inception. I had this movie in my personal collection long before I was in a mood to watch it. But an ambience was something that was happened instantaneously when I got to read the entire script of movie first. Well, a new habit. Reading the entire script first and then watch the movie if and only if that script succeeds to convince you. Strange!!! Isn’t it?? Because now a days even the actors might not be reading the script. But it’s still applied with conditions. You can’t get all the scripts of the movies you intend to watch. So if the script is available then that comes in the first place.

It surely is enjoyable. I think one should try it out that way to get the clear plot of how all a story have travelled from an idea and then adding characters, conversations, lights, location, music and all…its sheer brilliance!!! Nothing else.

A script was always been a dream for me. Not to film it, but simply for a private satisfaction. But no idea if that wish will blossom some day or not. Nevertheless, I got a new habit... Reading… I’m happy with that.

Cap Go Meh

Cap Go Meh

Mervin

What a day!!! Mervin, my colleague, the local boy who was born and bought up in this small Equator city in the West of Kalimantan an island province of Indonesia, is the man of the day. He is the one who took me deeper into the relics of this city particularly about the Chinese tradition to which i was newly introduced.
It was yesterday night, while i was on voice chat with Amma my phone squeaked by Mervin's text which said that tomorrow is the opening ceremony of the Cap Go Meh. 

Cap Go Meh (pronounced as 'Chap Goh Meh') represents the 15th day and last day of the festive Chinese New Year for migrant ethnic communities of Chinese living outside China .Very colorful, very loud, lot of energy. at times i felt even the sun gained a hell lot of energy watching this and giving out some extra heat in return. Above all it was a vibrant feast for my canon too.

There were around 8 - 10 dragons and around 15-20 people to dance the dragon to on its way to chase the dragon ball. Like all festivals their presence of color, especially red, was spread all over.

Touched you!!!

Even after hours after the event the bang of the drums and the cheers of the crowd and the sound of strong footsteps of the dragon-dancers are still not able to escape from my ears. Even though not as much as my own Thrissur Pooram, Cap Go Meh also gave me a great time.

With a Dragon dancer

I do not agree to the statement someone made that festivals are petty superstition of the tribal era which is blindly conducted perhaps repeated in the present day. But I find the role of festivals from a different angle. Festivals are one among the various essentials in a society to sustain and its culture and tradition as generations moves on. Apart from all these something which I have experienced is the pride that I come from a village or city or state or province or country which is famous for a particular festival. I have boasted many times about my Thrissur Pooram with all the details known to me. I’m just proud of it…

Anyways it was a memorable day…Once again...Thanks to Mervin.