My Team

"Jitesh! Let's meet at the conference room right now"said Amrit. Jitesh nodded at Amrit and left for the meeting with his laptop. "Why the hell are these meetings planned on Monday mornings? It is really tough to be a part of a meeting after the parties over the weekend. I am going to vote for that party in the next election which can promise a law to declare Mondays as No Meeting days" , Jitesh murmured on his way to the meeting room. Amrit was already there, looking restless and tensed. Amrit was Jitesh's manager. He was not one of those conventional managers we see everyday. He was outspoken and friendly to all.But one thing people didn't like about Amrit was that his planning and strategies were pretty aggressive. "Boss seems to be tensed. The AC is working fine. The omens are not good, Jitesh. Looks like it will be a long day in the office", Jitesh said to himself.

Amrit signalled Jitesh to take the seat by his side in the room. " See Jitesh! I just wanted to quickly review how we performed in the last few phases. Though there had been individual brilliances here and there, we were still failing to fire as a team, especially in the last phase. I feel that lack of coordination among us impacted the results greatly. Don't you agree? " said Amrit. Jitesh nodded. He was also responsible for this poor performance. "Let's talk about the next phase which starts tonight. Do we have the plans ready to hit the bull's eye this time?After all we should claw our way to the top of the ladder and get the coveted 'Best Team' title or become the 'Best Fantasy cricket team league of TNPL 2016 '.

For a generation born and brought up in the world of fantasy stories/movies, Fantasy leagues are one of the most discussed table topics in the schools, colleges and offices nowadays. Earlier we used to hear statements like "Somehow Australia should win the match". But now,  "Even if Australia gets all out for 100, all 100 runs should be scored by David as he is in my fantasy team". We normally see people pick these fantasy teams by taking into consideration various factors such as the player's form, the ground and weather conditions, the opposition and so on. There are some who pick their fantasy teams with crazy thoughts like "This player's girlfriend would be coming to watch today's match, it seems. So he would not score today. Hence I didn't pick him in my team. Sema thinking la?"

Whatever may be the reason we love these fantasy leagues, one thing is for sure, few play these leagues just to test and showcase their prediction skills. We are always interested to foretell/predict the future of others especially our neighours/relatives like "Mark my words! This brat is not going to be of any use to the society and his family." Some others take pride when something they blabbered during their sleep would have happened in real. "Didn't I tell you 10 years back itself that she would run away with some guy?" Even the news channels sweat and toil to be labeled the 'Best Predictors' hoping that their exit poll predictions are true to the second decimal point. After all, we are brought up in a society where we are ready to worship someone like a demigod if he/she is found to be good at Foretelling/forecasting the future accurately.

Now it is my turn to predict how many would read this post and give their comments. Hope my prophecy comes true at least this time. :)

A Name for the sake of a Name Part2

In Kerala most of the houses or families are known by a house/family name. Some of the families are very popular due to their Social, Economic or Political status. But how did they get these names? Is it an award or reward from somebody? No chances for both. The older generation might have burnt much mid night oil to find a suitable as well as attractive name for their houses or families. Today all most all houses, apart from their ancestral house names, have a name such as "Sopanam", "Nandanam" etc etc. Have these names got any meaning considering the location, feature and other qualities of the house. Certainly not. I could find a house named after an aranya [forest]. Does it mean that the in mates of the house are wild animals or they show the characteristics of  beasts? The owners of the house select some names which they fancy so that one can easily identify their house from others.

When a child is born, the parents and relatives begin to scratch their heads eager to find a good name for the baby. Nowadays it has become a fortnight's job rolling over the Computer, searching over Internet and having heated discussions within family members. In most houses the Christening ceremony will take place on the 28th day of birth. By the 28th day, the the baby will be too tiny that the colour, complexion and character of the baby can never be weighed. Hence a name more suited to the baby can not be given. In olden days, in most of the cases, the name of grand father or grand mother will be acceptable. But in modern days, parents use to ponder for modern names, some of which could not be even spelt or uttered. Even such names are accepted, as a name is a name which does not require any specific meaning.

A girl, white in complexion, beautiful, christened Karuppayee or Karuthamma. A girl named Ponnamma,[Pon means gold] will not have even a single gram of gold on her body. So also with a cruel, involving in treason and arson being named Karunakaran [Karuna means kindness]. Dharuman[name of Lord Yama who is hailed for his quality of dharma]- involving in antisocial activities. Ramachandran [ Sri Rama who highlighted  the Eaka Pathni Vritha in Ramayana ] having polygamy and practicing non-marital relationships. Can the parents, at the time of baptism know that the baby will grow up contrary to the meaning of his/her name?

To conclude, I would sight an example for how a house can get a name for itself. In the middle of a big plantation and surrounded by wast green fields, stood a big posh house - we can call it the "Bunglow House". The plantations were destroyed and only one tamarind tree stood in front of that house - can be called Pulikkale House [ Puli means Tamarind ]. The tree was cut down and the house becomes - MURIKKALE House [muri means to cut off]. Some parts of the tree were found protruding above the ground- Kuttikkale House [ Kutti- protruding remains]. The entire parts as well as the roots of the tree were removed and there appears a pit in it's place - Kuzhikkale House [Kuzhi- pit]. The pit was filled and the ground leveled and the house was modified - Puthen Veedu [The New House].

Thus goes the Namapurana.