Society

Collapse of Faith & Immoral Policing:  The Indelible Images From Communist Kerala

Peace is abstract while violence has its own striking images. The image of Kerala Police officials dragging Mahija, the mother of Jishnu Pranoy, an engineering student who had committed suicide in a private engineering college hostel, could prove to be an image of nemesis for the Left Democratic…

Where Do We Go From Here?

There are times when words fail you totally, leaving you hurt, insulted, powerless,  stunned and full of fear. But words are all that you have. It was such a moment that we witnessed as citizen-spectators, when images of sheer brutality unleashed on a woman in search of justice unfolded on our…

The Enlightening Bus Rides of a School Girl  

My daily morning sights are replete with certain constant imageries and upon reflection, I realized, the most predominant among them is the sight of adolescent children making their way to their schools in school buses, vans, and all other means of private transport. It made me take a peek back to…

Jayalalithaa & Mullaperiyar: How Her Obstinate Pursuit Undermined Kerala

Speak only good of the dead (De mortuis nihil nisi bonum.) This is a mortuary aphorism attributed to Chilon of Sparta (600 B.C.), one of the Seven Sages of Greece. It continues to be universally accepted even today as the mark of socially appropriate behavior.  However much hated or feared when…

The Lady Who Wouldn’t Take NO for an Answer

When former U.S. first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt said, “a woman is like a tea-bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water,” she could well have meant Jayalalithaa Jayaram, born more than six decades after her on the other side of the globe.

Fidel Castro: The Communist God Kerala Didn’t Invoke  

It’s heaven to be a revolutionary when you are a 33-year-old, the age when Fidel Castro (1926-2016) came to power by overthrowing the Batista Regime in 1959, and it’s divine when you remain one at the age of 90. Castro remained a staunch Communist throughout his life, resisting his own…

Bhaumachaapam: An Intriguing Book on the History of India’s Maps

It’s not the first book to write the history of cartography in India or to chronicle the birth of those stupendous maps which mark the significant milestones in the cultural and political journey of a subcontinent through its protean visual traditions. But C.S. Meenakshi’s book Bhaumachaapam…

Sam Mathew, Sakhavu & JB Junction: How Cultural Discourses Are Failing 

Meter/metre was something that had deterred too many people from writing poems at some point of time. But during modern times, poets all over the world went into free verse style, revolutionizing the very idea of poetry. Perhaps, this revolution made poetry more democratic and liberal, by letting…

The Formidable Legacy of Sir C.P.

One of the most brilliant minds of 20th century America also bore the indelible stigma of the country’s biggest act of blunder caused by its imperialist foreign policy. Robert McNamara (1916 – 2009) went to Harvard armed with a perfect GMAT score. President of Ford Motor at 44, he was…

Sabarimala Entry for Women: Let’s Occupy Our Homes First

Without much ado about anything, it’s pertinent to say the vociferous demand that all women be allowed entry into the Sabarimala temple is nothing but succumbing to the retrogressive values of the Brahminical Hinduism, which has been instrumental in subjugating women using scriptural teachings.…

Kerala’s Stray Dog Menace: Why Killing Is Impractical, Inhumane & Futile

Man’s best friend has become his worst enemy in Kerala.

India’s most advanced state – with the best healthcare, education and social security systems in the country -- is struggling to deal with stray dogs, rather ironically. The menace has reached unimaginable proportions:…

Bring Your Drink Home

God said, ‘go and multiply.’ He knew his test models were too lazy to work for it. So he found a way: he banned the fundamental process for multiplication, saying that indulging in it was a sin. Today, the world population stands at 7.4 billion. Banning has its own effects.

Evocation…

Viral Warriors of Kerala

There’s a viral fever of epidemic proportions in Kerala. Curious and fun-hunting Malayalees make anything and everything viral in social media. Malayalees, armed with their humour and cynicism, meticulously make trolls, often believing that they are working toward a social cause. One has to…

Voices From a Growing Town

I am conscious of flux, of disorder; of annihilation and despair. If this is all, this is worthless. (Virginia Woolf, The Waves) 

The Master Plan occupied the centerpiece of every conversation and gathering. Or more specifically the Transport Plan which the Master Plan was chiefly about.…

Fish Country's Favorite Dish 

Ayala porichathundu

Karimeen varuthathundu

Kudampuli ittu vacha nalla chemmeen curryundu

Thumbapoo niramulla cherumani chorunde

Uppilitta mangayundu, unnaan vaa machunane...

In the 1979 movie Venalil Oru Mazha,…

Planning Sub-Three

The café near Kaloor in Kochi had just opened for the day. But there was no hesitation over whether to serve a customer arrived early or not. I chose a table, ordered a cup of tea and waited for the subject of this article.

On Wikipedia, the page for Infosys says that the…

Living to Click a Pic

A year ago I sat with a tiger in the deep of a jungle.  

I sat 20 feet away from the beast, and slowly took my camera. The langurs had all stopped their racket. The wild myenas held their breath. Even the leaves were frozen. Such stillness and silence eloquently spoke about the majesty…

Thank You, Mr. Moral Police, for Guarding the Great Kerala Culture

Most respected moral policeman,

Thank you so much for protecting the moral fiber of God’s own country. But for you, this beautiful and culturally superior state would be the playground of unscrupulous, shameless, immoral men and women. Thank you for killing in the name of morality! It…