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Som dropped the knife with a cry of anguish. His eyes were red and there were tears rolling down his cheeks . He started to realize the gravity of his actions. "Oh Lord! Will I be able to ever wash this off?" He then turned to his wife who was terrified of his actions and apologized, "Sorry dearie! I should have listened to you at the first place. I should not have volunteered to chop the onions. It is seriously irritating my eyes".

"Som! Where are we with the preparations? How is the final cut looking?". He was not ready for this sudden query. His wife appeared concerned . She signaled him asking what was going to be his response. He took a deep breath, wiped off the mess caused by his overflowing tear glands, hit the unmute icon , crouched close to the laptop mic and lied in a steady tone "I have almost completed the changes. The final version of the slides will be available for review in another couple of hours. Hope that is fine". "Yes. Can you share the initial draft now for a quick early review?", asked the 'voice' on the other end of Som's call. Som had no other go but to admit that he had logged in late that day, completely forgot about the presentation, while helping his wife prepare sumptuous Biryani. Then it happened. Like a blessing from the heavens, the hand of the Almighty seemed to have saved him from the repercussions . The bandwidth of his internet suddenly dropped to dangerous levels. The people in the call weren't able to hear his apology . In fact they just heard some gibberish , thanks to the network. He , unaware of his kid playing with the wifi router which in turn prevented his message from reaching his peers in the call, got pleasantly surprised when he heard "OK Som. Looks like you have some network issues. We couldn't hear anything. We can connect after a couple of hours as you told. Bye". He thanked his luck and forced a smile, but his smile withered soon when he realized that the network issue would have meant that the download of his favorite OTT series would also have failed. "Damn it!"

"Turn off the gas after you hear 5 whistles. Ok? You anyways have time for your office work. I have the PTM meet from Tittu's school now ", his wife , as if , waiting for him to close the call , dictated. " Adhe! What should I tell if his teacher asks about the zoo trip?", asked Som's wife. "Trip? Now in lockdown?", he rebuked. "Not a physical trip. A virtual tour only. But the school is charging Rs 1000 from each student", she responded. Som rebuffed the absurdity and tried to concentrate on the task in hand. He was not sure how things would pan out, whether others would like or not . After all, it was a new recipe he found, while browsing for a quick code defect resolution, the previous day.

Som, after finishing his presentation and obviously the Biryani, took a short walk. Though Som was not a great fan of working from home initially, the additional time that he could spend with the family, the flexibility, he could get with the work patterns and the chance to 'work for home' apart from 'working from home'  changed his opinion. Moreover, he could be at his native, far away from the busy city life. The greenery and the fresh unpolluted air would be welcome to almost anyone from the cities.

"Endha Soma!(Hey Som!) Seeing you here for few months now. Have you lost your job at Bangalore? What to do? Lools like lockdown has taken away your living too. Don't worry. We can start a recharge shop at the junction", said one of his acquaintances, while walking. There was one more person who requested him to take his cousin as an apprentice in his work so that he could also learn the 'art' of a software engineer and make him ready to earn 6 digit paychecks. "Art?". Som was confused as to what was there to learn in browsing stackoverflow and copying the working solution from there. "Uncle! Our project work is a high security one and I am not supposed to disclose it or share it with anyone. Sorry!", he lied and paced quickly back to his home. Som hated getting pulled into such random conversations and being quizzed about when he was getting married(though he already was married) , when he was planning to go to U.S.A just because someone's aunt's son , being a software engineer managed to travel on-site and post selfies playing in the snow there and when he was planning for his next kid.

Irrespective of the pros and cons that Work from Home mode offered, it is going to be the norm for some more time. Som once heard a granny in his neighborhood telling, "Men should go out and earn, whereas this Soman is sitting at home and working or that is what he claims. Aarkariyam(Who knows?)!". He grinned,  knowing that another one of the so-called outdated conventions had been broken. 

One Giant leap

She smiled but it was plastic. It looked like her boss was happy with the way things had been materialising till then. He seemed confident, but she was nervous and checking the diagnostics repeatedly. All good, thus far but there were still some critical milestones ahead , the thoughts of which got her adrenaline pumping at the rate of knots. The ghosts of the past failures of such missions seemed to have had an effect on her, making her worried. 

The announcement blared “150 seconds to land. Stage 7 initiated”. Those 150 seconds seemed like aeons for everyone in that building, the huge crowd outside and the billions glued to their screens , waiting for the most important landing in the history of the Homosapiens race. She , the head of such a critical mission was staring at the visuals with the timer counting down to 10,9,8… The world seemed to stop for her. “No! Not now ! I want to bask in this moment”, she told herself. 

She saw the capsule decelerating and touching the surface smoothly like a feather settling down on the sand during gentle afternoon winds. The only difference was that the surface was an alien one, few light years away from earth, ready to be mankind's first colony in space. There was a resounding applause. Her entire team was elated and exchanged hugs and handshakes. She , from her cabin just smiled but this time it was not plastic , it was completely out of this world. After all, it was another giant leap for mankind made possible by a group of brilliant brains headed by the powerful of them all, 'Matsya', an Android(humanoid robot), sharing her name with the incarnation of Lord that helped to start the human civilization afresh after the deluge at the end of the earliest of epochs.

Day-D(A day at a 'Distance')

"Yes! Still 5 more minutes for the alarm!". Waking up before the alarm in your mobile phone and turning it off with a victorious smirk is nothing short of bliss. It just gives that feel of power, as many a days, we feel powerless and are always at the mercy of alarms. Laksh has been feeling this power off late during the lockdown period almost everyday by waking up before the alarm set at 8:30 am. With unlimited time at home for the past one month, he felt 8:30 itself was a Herculean challenge.

With one challenge completed already, it was time for Laksh to move to the next one to get the veggies for the next two-three days. Outside the shop, people were waiting in queue without any quarrels or arguments as to who came in the queue first or who placed their gunny bag first to get the first turn to get in the shop and buy stuffs. With people standing at one-arm distance, disciplined and not trying to turn around and ignite a random conversation with the person behind him/her about the recent episode of Chiththi-2 , how the Veggies shopwala was a miser by not giving free curry leaves, the previous day, everyone were surprisingly minding their own business (It is surprising. If you don't find it surprising, you are mostly an online ordering fellow :)) Laksh joined at the tail of the four member queue . Just to pass time, he was fiddling with a coin in his hand and it fell down and rolled towards the person in front. He instinctively stepped forward to grab the coin. It was then he heard the ashareeri(voice from the sky) telling not to cross the white line ("Vella kotta thaandadheengo!!".Read in Anniyan Ambi style)  Oops! He realized that he had stepped outside the box drawn to denote the position for the people in queue. "All have become box to box players, for a good reason", he thought.

After reaching home and obviously sanitizing the hands, it was almost time to login for work. Laksh decided to quickly glance through the sports page in the newspaper only to realize later that there was no sports news to report and in turn no sports page itself. Just then he realized that the status call at 10 was going to be a video call. "Why do we have these video calls when the hair saloons are locked down and beautification products are out of stock? ", he wailed and got ready for the call. After logging in, it was always hard work ; roaming around all the rooms with the laptop; charging it in all the switch boards; muting and unmuting in the calls; lunch and snacks in front of the laptop. "4:30 pm already? How time flies? No long coffee/lunch breaks and chit chats like in office, but still the time for work seems insufficient at home. Something's wrong. Did I doze off after the lunch? May be!", Laksh gnarled with a few yawns escaping in between.

With a heavy heart(actually heavy head, because of the disturbed afternoon nap, thanks to the ping notifications in the work messenger platforms), he logged off for the day and decided to pass some time first by browsing the list of series/movies to watch in the various OTT platforms, grouping them and adding them to the 'watch list'. One look at the ever growing watch list seemed to lighten up his spirits . After watching the watch list for almost an hour, the next task at hand was to decide which of the umpteen titles to watch , a job easier said than done.

After thinking long and hard, he decided to play some random movie outside the watch list, with dinner in between. The eyes started protesting for rest almost at the end of the movie, having been strained more by reading the subtitles at the bottom than by enjoying the movie. Drawing curtains for the day and lying down on the bed, he planned for the next day(s) " I should wake up at 6 am from tomorrow, start learning Hindi to avoid such strains while watching Hindi movies and finish the office work quickly and on time". Another day completely at home and another resolution before sleep. Nothing seemed to change but just the resolutions ranging from learning some new language to aiming for a Dwayne Johnson type muscles in the leisure.  For Laksh and many others, it looks like even the brains want to maintain a social and safe distance from all such resolutions the next morning, in these times.

The Stage Debut

It was the first time in my life. It was the first time that I would have to shut off the surroundings completely from my head and concentrate only on the dialogue that I was going to tell. Though the set up was scripted, I wanted to impress with my own Tamil verses. I was not afraid of the consequences, if I was not accepted. I had no other go. I didn't want to be someone's mouthpiece on such an occasion by just talking their sentences. "Cometh, whatever may be", I thought. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, leaned forward and started . "Madhipirkum mariyadhaikkum uriya..(Honorary dignitaries....) Yes ! There is a way to kick-off everything and this one being a Tamil debate organized for the annual day in my school also had to be started off with the formal introductions.

Some 10 days before this, I was sitting in my Class 11 Organic chemistry class. The benzene and phenol rings were too heavy for the last period of the day. The class was absolutely silent with many falling prey to the unconquerable Sleep God, while some others were honing their drawing skills in their notebooks. I took a glance at the watch to check how long it would be for the long bell to ring. "Phew! 15 more mins of Phenols and Ketones", I thought. "Prasoon! The principal wants to meet you. Can you quickly come with me?" asked the History teacher interrupting the class. "Principal a?!?! ", my mouth gaped in fear. " Did she see me dozing off in the physics class? Cha cha! No way! Then why is she calling me?", I thought. I gave a puzzled look at my friends who were trying to check with me on what happened .  I overheard my history teacher informing my Chemistry sir that my meeting with the principal would be related to the school annual day celebrations . "What am I supposed to do for Annual day? Amavasaikkum Abdul khaderkum enna sammamdham ?Oru Vela, are they planning to request a solo dance performance of mine? Or a song in my mellifluous voice? But I know only classical songs la? Sindhu Bairavi or Hari Murali ravam? No! 'Thanni thotti ..' only". All these thoughts were going through my mind when I was walking towards the principal's room.

"Hello Prasoon! We are planning to have this year's annual day on Feb 28. " started my Principal. "Oh! Good, Madam!", I responded. "I have never seen you participating in any of the cultural activities all these years. You will get busy next year as you will be in 12th. So, why don't you get into something this year?" said my Principal. "Sure Madam. I will try", I gave a plastic reply. "Good! Anyway we are planning to have you as the judge for our Tamil debate program on Annual Day", she said. My eyeballs almost popped out of their respective sockets hearing this. "Debate a? That too in Tamil?", I thought. On top of this, "Judge Vera! Everyone knows how good my Tamil is(Read in a sarcastic tone)". "If you want me to participate in the debate and talk, I can manage , but to act as the judge would be difficult Madam. My Tamil is not that good", I told my Principal. "That is fine. I am not asking you to give en extempore . YS Sir(History Teacher) will prepare the script . You just have to memorize and deliver it. We will have rehearsals to ensure you talk according to the script. After all, who else in our school now can remember and recite a 6 page dialogue apart from you?", She completed. Was that a sarcastic comment? Cha! Can't be!

I nodded my head in all directions in sync to the long bell signalling the end of the day. I left the Principal room in a hurry. It was time to go home.Just then my History teacher asked me to meet him at the seventh standard 'C' section in some 10 mins. Be it school or office, when someone asks you to stay after hours, you tend to become Anniyan. I had no other choice. I went to the class as he told. He was taking tuition classes to some 20 class VII students. He asked me to sit in a bench and started talking about the topic of the debate. It was "Is Technology ruining the current generation?" He then introduced me that I would be the judge of the debate and all to some four students who had been staring at me as if I had stolen their tiffin box, from the time I entered the class.  Being a humble person, I was floored by the way my teacher was introducing me.  I smiled at them thinking, "Yeah! It's me". My teacher then said to them, "Make sure you teach this Anna(bro) on how to prepare for this debate and what points you have come up with. Prasoon! By the way, these 4 would be the debaters, you would be moderating on stage".

The next few days leading up to the Annual day went completely on rehearsing and improving the scripts. I was advised by every Tom, Dick and Harry who watched our practices to talk boldly like the other 4 students, to improve my intonation and bla bla. I was asked to improve my speaking skills as well. All of a sudden, I became a lab rat with people examining every huff and puff I did while talking and pointing out improvement areas and so on. I was seen as the weakest link in the setup. Being someone shy of talking in public(really!), talking pages of Tamil dialogues with appropriate intonations and also to interrupt and give counters(that should look spontaneous) when the participants talk is not my cup of tea. On top of this, I was told that I should talk as if I were trying to impress someone(Idhu Vera!).I badly wanted to get this done soon.

                            Photo courtesy

At last there I was seated in the middle of the stage with the four participants sitting by my side on the Annual Day and delivering the judgement speech on the debate. Though it was not a flawless presentation, I was happy that I didn't fall on my face in the course. I was thoroughly enjoying the applause at the end. I didn't want to look in the direction of my History teacher as I had deviated from the script and talked to my will. I don't know whether I was able to 'impress' anyone with that performance.  The people present there got a different impression that 'Ivanukku vai konjam jasthiyo? Pesikitte irukkaan.'(Looks like this guy is very talkative). Though it was a success overall, I was not satisfied, as I still believe the applause would have been more, had I sung the song from Sindhu Bairavi. "Hmmm! Can't help! The world probably wasn't ready for that marvel!!" :P

The Return

"So, Prasoon! Not writing blogs nowadays? Didn't see any Facebook posts asking people to share.  Anyways , good thing only. You won't torture us to read it, though you know we will never ever bother to read even the title :P", Rahul told with a tongue in cheek expression. Yes, it has been some time since I have put pen to my thoughts .Though I badly wanted to write the manifesto behind my return or prepare atleast a YouTube interview video describing my efforts to write one more blog so that the interviewer gets some publicity and in turn, gets interviewed by hundreds, if not thousands, being a humble person, I have decided against it magnanimously :)

Himesh was also returning not to blogging but to India, after being away in the land of the United States for several years on an onsite assignment. There were stories that only a very few in his current project had seen Himesh at offshore as it had been some time since he traveled. Like everyone, his promise to his offshore team when he traveled was "Don't worry. I will be back in a year as I won't be able to stay away from my motherland for long." The team was sad not that they would miss Himesh but knowing that he might not return soon and in turn block their travel chance.

After almost a decade, Himesh decided to return because of various intricacies (read visa problems). It was his first day back after a short vacation.The office building had changed. The canteen vendor had changed but the taste of the Upma remained the same. After entering his floor, he looked around hoping to find some familiar faces. He then happened to meet one of his seniors from his offshore days. "Hey Ravi! How are you? Are you still at offshore? Better get moving , dude. When is your visa expiring? Make sure you travel once and not waste the chance. Also, Nowadays, our onsite assignments are not that stressful and all , like when I initially went there. All is easy now. Just go, party and chill".

Ravi didn't respond anything but managed a sheepish grin as he was used to such advices mixed with boastfulness for past few years from every Tom, Dick and Harry who were getting down from their planes.  He had been slogging day and night for his project at offshore but couldn't get to travel on-site anytime. He was seen as the not-so-lucky guy in the project, thanks to the myth that you need to travel on-site, spend years there(the way you work there is irrelevant :P), get 'the card' to be praised and worshipped by the poor junior blokes in your team who would welcome you cheerfully on returning not for your heroics but for the chocolates.

"Nice to meet you Himesh after such a long time", Ravi politely finished the conversation and reached his cube. He then opened his notes and jotted down "Met that idiot who blocked my onsite travel all these years. Thank you Almighty! I learnt that the idiot will now report to me from today. :P Thanks to you Mr. DT for making this happen. Ini singa paadha thaan(It's gonna be the aggressive route hereon). After all, 'All is fair in love and on-site' :P"

Just in!!

"Ravi! Lets go to our desks. We have been here in the canteen for almost an hour for the morning coffee. If we sit for another 15 mins, lunch will be served. So, lets go to our desks now, work hard for 15 mins and come back again for lunch :) " " Two mins boss. Look there is a breaking news scroll in the TV. Let's see what it is and then leave". Ravi pointed to one of the LED TVs in the canteen where the scroll read "The AYZK party launched yesterday has got around 10 new members. Is this a sign of change in the political landmass?" in the middle of various scrolls like 'The day dawned first on our TV office' , ' The country is fortunate to have 'The Breaking' channel'.

There is nothing breaking(obviously. New  political party is anyways a daily affair nowadays) about this news. The only thing that comes somewhere close to the usage of 'breaking' is those self-proclaiming scrolls appearing 73 times(more than your heart rate)a minute, seeing which you might get tempted to break the remote and sometimes the TV . 

Eye-catching graphics, use of animations to recreate and show what could have happened during a disaster and the pace at which the news is reported are certainly things that I hope everyone would appreciate in the modern news reporting. But without all this, I still remember how eagerly we used to wait for the clock to tick 8:30 pm to watch the DD news in the regional language. Though we would have hoped for  better than the plain background with the monotonous rendering of the news with file pictures and clips, I believe some of us are having a thought that atleast the news was reported those days and not that a news is created, interpreted, judged and branded like now in few channels.

People are busy 'breaking' news in their channels all through the day now, whereas they use the evening/dinner time to debate(That is how it is called) on the one news that would garner more interest. The dos and don'ts in these debates may look something like "Do not allow anyone to talk more than 30 seconds without interruption; Do tell that you are asking this as someone wants to know; And the last thing 'Shout!' (Read it in the same time as Cap America told Hulk in Avengers I -Smash :) )"

Gone are the days when elections were fought in campaigns, now the actual fight during elections happen in channels in reporting the most inaccurate lead status while counting. Gosh! The power that news reporting wields now is so great that they can make or break any individual's career through one interview/debate.

Though there is some blame attached to the people who serve us these, we who consume this also are to be blamed. After all, we the people look for entertainment in news channels and not news/facts . We get what we wish!

The Hunt

"Hey Samir! Are you tensed?".
"No"
"Then, cheer up, da! After all, it is your first attempt, right?"
"Hmmm. Yes "
Samir then took one last glance at the mirror to see if everything looked fine before leaving his home. Everything was fine. Or was it? He was indeed tensed just like his sister had said.

Though this was his first attempt, Samir had experienced a similar state of nervousness and excitement mixed in equal proportions previously, some years back. Dressed in a classic black and white that day, he was able to slay the fear and become victorious. He never thought that he would have to put so much of care in his dressing and grooming again as people at that time told, " Samir! Since you are now an IT employee in AtoZ software org, finding a girl for marriage would not at all be a task for you. That too, if you manage to go onsite to the US for a couple of years in between, you may have to hire 'Z' class security to keep the queue of prospective brides in check in front of your house". Years passed by and Samir after returning in the middle of a 3 year stint at US, couldn't find even a single person, let alone a queue to choose from and marry. After some 2 weeks, there he was getting ready  to visit a girl's (read bride :P)home nearby along with his dear and near. His first crack at the CEM(Compatibility and Eligibility for Marriage)Test which like every other test nowadays, has its fair share of unknowns.

After exchanging pleasantries for some time at the girl's home, the moment came. The moment which Samir was preparing for. The moment, which he thought might never come. The moment when 'He' had to answer his prospective 'She' for a barrage of queries about his job and his stay in the US.  Expecting 'her' to listen in awe of his life as a software engineer in the US, Samir found only empty laughs and faceless expressions in return. He was not able to make out anything from their reaction.

After getting in the car, his dad said, " Phew! Atleast this family didn't seem much concerned about the IT industry and abroad stay stuffs. Hope they don't change their mind!". Samir got confused. He was not able to understand what his Dad told. He asked his dad on what he was talking about. "See, Samir! Nowadays some parents are thinking hard to have their daughters married off to software folks especially if the guy is said to be working abroad." Samir realized that What was once seen as the 'the duck that would lay golden eggs forever'  is now looked down on , thanks to various reasons. "To hell with the person who told about the queue when I took up the job,  it is now a null pointer exception!". On the way back home, Samir suddenly asked the driver to stop the car in front of a shop. He went in and came out with a couple of books, one of which read "Bank officer's exam guide!!".

The New Born

It was busy everywhere. Everybody seemed anxious and disturbed. Some of them found it difficult to remain in their seats. They preferred to walk the length and breadth of that small hall. Some were anxiously peeping through the small opening in the door leading to the next room. Some were silently praying to God with their eyes closed and hands folded. Inside the closed room, were people murmuring in hushed voices which were not clearly audible to the outsiders. A tinge of worry masked everybody's face. I sat in a corner of the room, watching everything with a numbness in my mind. After all, these were a repetition of the scenes I could witness some 30 years back, when I too was a worried man, praying to God Almighty. It was also a special moment in my life, something we long for but something we pray not to backfire.

The nurse showed her face through the little opening in the door and called a name. Some six to seven members rushed to her and she gave some instructions to them and a medical prescription. One or two of them immediately rushed to the pharmacy to get the medicine quickly.

After about half an hour's time, she called out another name. My wife, who was by my side, till then, sprang up to the door to reach to the nurse without delay, I too automatically followed her. We were asked to wait at the next door of the room. We were kept in the dark as to why we were asked to wait there. Within 10 minutes, she came out with a new born baby in her arms and handed over the baby to my wife. We found no boundaries to our joy. A baby girl, wrapped in smooth shawl. Yes, it is our Grand child. Some unknown joy filled my heart. A feeling which could not be expressed in words. A twinkle in our eyes, which cannot be explained. At least a new blood of ours in the form of a new born baby.

The same joy, the same feelings and the same twinkle in my eyes were experienced that 30 years ago when I stood before the labour room of a hospital where my wife was admitted for delivery of my child, and was handed over a baby boy by the nurse of that hospital. I felt history is repeating. Then our own children and now our own grand children. It will go on as a chain.

The innocent look of that new born took me to a world, which I have conquered, to be joyful, to feel the unexplainable feelings that ran through my mind.

An Enigmatic Evolution

"Molu! Turn off the tap. Don't waste the water. Water is very precious. Also don't forget to switch off the light when you leave the room." No, this is not an environment conscious mother educating her spoiled brat to use water and electricity judiciously so that the future generation can live a happy life. This is an ordinary housewife/mom yelling at her house help Robot to use the little water available in the tank and the 10 units of electricity yet to be drained from the inverter to the minimum so that they could somehow manage till the electricity is restored or till some help arrives from the Universal Space Station(USS)

The people are getting excited, in spite of the falling oxygen levels, whenever they hear the sound of any spacecraft hoping that it would be the help from the USS. It has been 2 weeks since these people were hit by a mammoth tidal wave which caused destruction in a gargantuan scale in their colony. The automated seismic monitor bots which were devised to predict such calamities had failed. Without the disaster relief robots developed for such emergencies, all the mankind in the colony would have been dead.

No one knows if there would be another killer wave . With the monitor bots damaged, the relief robots programmed not to leave the colony under any circumstance and the oxygenator completely destroyed, the people have no other way but to depend upon their demigods at the USS to rescue and move them to some other safer planet. A distress signal was sent to the USS through their drone Pidge-IV, but no help has come. The USS , though anchored near the lifeless earth's atmosphere now and some 20 light years away from this new home to the elitest of mankind, should have done something by this time. Don't they? After all, that is what they told when they came here virtually to campaign for their elections.

Which is better?

"ABCD party calls for statewide Hartal next Friday", Vinodh read the newspaper headline. His face turned pale, as another Friday holiday meant another day of PT period gone in school. Vinodh is the captain of the school football team and is touted to be a future Football star. Though he had his daily training sessions from the coach, the boy still in his eighth standard loved to play with his classmates in the PT period. "Why do these people call for bandhs only on Fridays?", he thought. After skimming the dozen and half pages of the newspaper almost at the speed of Chitti(The Robot), he concluded that newspapers are not having anything interesting these days barring the full page promotional ads. With nothing interesting to do on a boring Saturday morning, Vinodh opened his drawing book and started to sketch.

"Da Vinodh! Close that useless drawing book and study your lessons. I heard from Sunil's mother that you have your monthly tests from Monday. I also learnt that Sunil got the first rank in the quarterly exams! What have you got? A worthless tenth rank! He is also like you right? His Mom told that Sunil studies for five to six hours everyday after school. That is how students should be, especially when they are nearing the Board exams and not wasting time like you in doing trivial things", lectured Vinodh's mother. Vinodh got irritated and angry, not with his mother, but with Sunil who actually didn't do any harm to him directly. From that day, Vinodh visualised Sunil as his No.1 enemy, whenever his Mom talked about Sunil and compared them.

Comparison, thus could be the triggering point of enemity, jealousy and the feel of pessimism. I am not sure, whether the tendency to compare is inculcated in our genes by Lord Brahma during the development process. But the comparison process is seen immediately after the product release aka a baby's birth. "Lachchu! The baby is fair and cute but not that fair as Karna's daughter. You know how beautiful the baby is? Probably you didn't get Kumkumapoo for your daughter-in-law as I told. Anyways congrats di Amma!"

Another random conversation that we could hear very often in this time of the year would be " That tall fellow got a rating of 4.6, whereas I am given only 4.59. How come? I will surely go to the HR and demand an explanation for this atrocity. After all, I stay more hours in office than him" Thus from LKG marks to ratings to Dowry(sorry to say, but learnt that it is also compared) people attribute success in something only if they have gained more when compared to others or they start feeling jealous of the so called successful one.

Though there is no denial that we evolve by relating ourselves with others and comparing how good or bad we are, it should also be remembered that what is easy for Tom may not be that easy for Harry and each has their own way.

Who knows Sunil might have been scolded by his mom for not indulging himself in sports like Vinodh. After all, we sadly believe that we and our closer ones are faring poorer compared to our neighbours and other relatives. I am waiting for the day when we understand that everyone/everything is different and hence stop comparing with the so called successful ones.

My sincere advice is 'Why don't you start this journey towards realisation by not trying to compare this post with my previous posts. After all, this post is different from the other so called 'good' posts of mine :)'.

Ekalavya

Recently I got a chance to go through an article in a popular magazine about the transplantation of an arm to an Army Officer from Afghanistan, who lost his arm in a mine blast there. Kudos to the doctors who performed the miracle. Gaining inspiration from that article, I wish to  submit this blog for you.

Arjuna, the champion in the art of archery, came to know about a tribal boy, who has mastered the art all of himself without the guidance of a Guru. It is widely spoken that if he was allowed to practice in such a way further, one day he would beat Arjuna himself. The Prince of Hasthinapura spent sleepless nights over that issue and atlast brought it to the notice of his Guru Dronacharya.

Guru Dronacharya and his disciple set for the woods to meet the young boy. There they could meet him practicing archery. Everytime he succeeded in his attempt to hit his target, he came near a statue made of clay and bowed before it. Drona and Arjuna went near the youngster and praised him for his mastery in the use of bow and arrows. They wanted to know whose statue was that before whom he bowed every time he succeeded in his attempts. The lad disclosed that it was of his manaseeka guru, the great Dronacharya, whom he had had no chance to meet even once. Drona was very delighted to hear that. He hugged the young lad, patted on his back, though he was hatching a plot to undo that poor lad.

"Dear son! I am that Dronacharya, you wish to meet. I am your Manasekaguru whom you worship and I have come here to bless you in person that you shall mature into a good archer and nobody can beat you in this field. By the by your good name my boy?" Drona pretended as if he had much liking for the lad.

" I am Ekalavya. The son of the forest.". Ekalvya was very much astonished to see his guru by his side. He fell at his guru's feet. He was ready to do anything for his guru. Drona told that he was pleased with his performance with the bow and arrow and it was time for him to get blessings from the guru for which he has to offer Guru Dakshina. Whatever the guru asked for should be given as guru Dakshina; then only the blessings of the guru might befall on him and lead him to the heights of glory.

The archer was ready to offer anything the guru would ask for. Drona connived with Arjuna and thought that the young fellow henceforth should not handle his bow and arrows. Hence he asked for the young man's right thumb as guru dakshina. The poor young man could not grasp the ill effects of the demand and without any hesitation cut hs right thumb and offered it to his guru.

A jubiliant Drona with his desciple Arjuna left for Hasthinapura. Arjuna was relieved as he thought that one of his foes was destroyed and he could sleep peacefully thereafter.

After a couple of months, Drona happened to pass through the woods whereby he happened to meet Ekalavya. Ekalavya, as a mark of respect, fell at his feet and asked for blessings. Drona embraced him and enquired  about his archery training. "Perhaps you might have given up archery as you have lost your right thumb" Drona quipped.

"No Sir! I am performing much better than earlier"replied Ekalavya.

" How on earth can you do it without your right thumb? asked Drona.

" Simple Sir. Now I am having a new thumb in my right hand in place of the one you haven taken from me.Thanks to Medical Science and the ardent Medical Practitioners, now I am provided with a thumb donated by a dying patient, grafted to my right hand and it suits me better to practice my archery".

The Great Dronacharya's head sank in shame.

A Paradox

It was a pleasant evening with the Sun God maneuvering his chariot pulled by the seven horses below the horizon. The chirping birds seemed to be bidding adieu to the setting sun. The buzzing insects and the croaking frogs were getting ready to welcome the night. Ramulu's ears were deaf to the these buzzes and croaks, they were hearing only the sound of the gushing water in the river nearby. Ramulu had almost reached the river bank after his travel through the woods for a while. He moved as if in a trance towards the river.

With every step, his sixteen year old heart seemed to get heavier. He wanted nothing but justice. He wanted to know why he had to incur such a loss in his juvenility. He needed answers, though he knew that just answers couldn't douse the rage burning inside him.

He accelerated his walk towards the river; jumped over some broken tree branches and reached the swampy banks of the river. The river was almost full to the brim; so were his eyes. He had been to this place many a times before. But this was different . The affinity and love in his eyes, all these years, with the river was replaced by a blank angry stare. Ramulu was thinking how quickly his friend, this mighty river, turned foe and shattered all his dreams. It had been a week since the river spread its satanic tentacles in the form of flash floods and consumed his entire family and most of his village leaving him all alone grieving for the losses.

The river had calmed and retreated to its usual path, but Ramulu couldn't . He wanted vengeance . With tears flowing out of eyes , he prayed to the Sun God who himself seemed to be sharing Ramulu's rage with his reddish rays. Ramulu then took a handful of mud from the banks and looked at the river like a man possessed .

 "Your hands will get dirty! Take your hands from the window, Rahul", said Rahul's mother. Little Rahul had got excited when his train was moving on the bridge constructed on top of the river. The view of the mighty river flowing under the bridge was enough to excite the 8 year old. After all, he had rarely seen fresh water in such abundance in his concrete jungle. To top it, the view of the setting sun which looked like a red apple made Rahul even more joyous.'How lovely it would be to play in that river', thought Rahul. According to his Dad, that was the same river that acted as the source of drinking water for their city. "See Rahul! The river is almost full which means that we will get drinking water without any trouble for another 2 months. Hope the rains fill it more like last week , so that there won't be any scarcity till the next monsoon. Though Rahul was still too young to understand completely what his Dad told, he had seen the troubles his parents had to go through last summer to get some decent amount of potable water for the family. Just then, Rahul's Mom gave him few rupee coins and asked him to pray for better water levels in the river to the Sun God and throw the coins in the river.

"Oh! The Lord on Seven horses! In your mighty presence, I curse this sinful river which breached its limits and consumed many a lives to go dry and be of no use to anyone. May this river get stripped off its so called holiness!" , shouted Ramulu on top of his voice and threw the handful of mud in the river.

A few metres apart, the 8 year old quietly prayed the Apple like Sun God to bless for good rainfall and better water levels in the holy river. He then dropped the coins in time before the train crossed the river completely.

A curse and a wish expecting opposite results. How would God be able to balance this and satisfy both? Maybe , this is why rivers go bone dry during summer and overflow during Winter. After all, that could be one way to solve this paradox.

The Wait

It was almost 9 in the morning. Shambhu lal was still lying down on his mat. The foggy cold morning was cajoling him to sleep for some more time. But he had to go. He had to succeed today at least. There was no more room for failure . He quickly got ready and went to his destination. Alas! There was a huge line of around 20-25 people waiting before a closed shutter, hoping for the best. Shambhu had been seeing such lengthy queues for the past couple of days and returned back to his home disappointed like the Jarasandha retreating after each failed attack on Lord Krishna in the Dwapara yuga. But Jarasandha aka Shambhu couldn't return empty handed today. He had to believe that that would be 'his' day.He quickly took his position as the last man in the queue. He had to lose the 'last man in the queue' title in a jiffy as there were more and more people joining at the tail.

Shambhu started scanning the people in the queue. There were people of almost all ages, from adolescent to elderly with the middle-aged like Shambhu forming the majority. They were unfazed by the cold weather and were braving the cold by wearing mufflers and sweaters. Shambhu was surprised after finding few women in the queue in spite of the poor weather. There was a hue of sorrow painted on all the faces with a few venting out their anger and frustration with their neighbors in the queue. Shambhu was also having similar feelings and questions. But he knew that that was not the time to get angry. He wanted to move forward in the queue. As per him, he was too far back which would mean that the probability of him not getting his quota was more.

He had many acquaintances standing before him. He could easily seek their help to get for him too. But with the limits and other new rules, everyone would be thinking only for himself/herself. It had been almost an hour and a half. There was no trace of the gentleman aka 'the saviour for these people' in his guarded vehicle. He was getting restless, so were the others. Though it was cold,  Shambhu was feeling thirsty. His hands had started shivering. His knees were getting weak. His vision was becoming blurry. But he stood his ground in the queue. He couldn't give up. He was sincerely hoping that after going through all these, he should get his due and not a board telling to come later. He was praying that not even his enemy should have such a fate.

Just then 'he' appeared out of his vehicle with his bag. There was a loud cheer from the people followed by some chaos. The guard who had come along, somehow managed to restore some order . Once the guy who went behind the shutter, signalled a 'Go', people in the queue started entering one after the another. The more the time it took, the more tensed were the people still in the queue. It was Shambhu's turn. With the sudden rush of adrenaline, Shambhu forgot the pains in his body and ran inside.  After getting his full quota, Shambhu came out clutching it tightly close to his heart. Why wouldn't he? He had been having a nightmarish 3 days. He was not able to sleep or eat well . He then opened his hand to take another look at his hard earned.

Photo Courtesy

 There it was ! In a newer design and style. Shambhu was fondly remembering the days when the people could easily walk in and get theirs at any time. The days, when people like him would sink themselves in the oceans of nectar and enjoying the world as if there were no tomorrow. The days when this magic thing at hand could make the sky their costly roof and the rocky ground their comfy bed .He blessed the guy loudly who came with the stocks . He did a quick check around him before opening his quota. He then gulped it in a single sip. Gone were the chills and pain in his body along with the senses. He then turned back at the guy who opened the shutters of the liquor shop a while back and started yelling "Thanks! Oh Saviour!!" and he fell down unconscious thanks to the liquor hacking his CPU alias brain that just went inside.

The people who were still in the queue to get the liquor didn't pay any attention to Shambhu's theatrics.No one bothered to give a hand to him. They knew once the effect of alcohol subsides, he would come back to senses.After all, who would want to lose their hard earned place in the queue to get the liquor before the stocks run out.

                                                                        

The Believable lies

"Chechi! What are your plans tomorrow?", asked Sulochana.

"Nothing!", replied my mother.

"Oh! I am going to my brother's home and we all will be staying in a hut in the middle of our fields tomorrow night".

"Family get together aano?", asked my Mom.

"Yey!No! Super Moon alle? That's why" came the reply.

My mom was puzzled.

Sulochana continued," It is predicted by NASA that on super Moon day which happens once in 1000 years, due to more gravity from moon, there will be quakes and tsunamis. There are so many posts in Facebook related to this. Didn't you see, chechi?".

"Don't I have any other work?", thought my Mom.

"Anyways if there are quakes, stay away from the electric posts in your field", my mom replied in a sarcastic tone.

There are many such Sulochanas among us nowadays who are easily foxed by the hoaxes and rumours flying all around us in every form. Apart from worrying about the naivety of people who believe such hoaxes, credit must be given to people who could think off such hoaxes, make them believable and trick us, though we know that lies travel twice as fast as the truth like raging wildfires.

The Great Dronacharya in the battle of Kurukshetra, per records happen to be the first major victim of a popular hoax on his son's death orchestrated by the Lord himself. Drona didn't try to verify the news himself but rather depended on other's words.

If it was the immortal Ashwadhama who was rumoured dead in Kurukshetra, many celebrities in the present age are being mercilessly killed by hoaxers in social media.Unlike the Mahabharata days, with the world news accessible through the smartphones with us, people still believe the forwards in social media and not even try to verify the authenticity of the information. This latest fad among the hoaxers in social media spreading false news that a celebrity is no more, is a disturbing trend. 

There are some other less disturbing hoaxes which we see regularly. Most of these would start like "As per NASA release" followed by a warning of Pralaya or other natural phenomena. Not so far ahead is the day when we get and believe rumors like " As per NASA, the sun will rise in the West tomorrow and this rare phenomenon occurs once in zillion years". Even if such a hoax comes up, it would be made very believable so that everyone may be tempted to believe it except for the person in topic, the God on seven chariots.

Rather than falling a prey to such tricks and hoaxes, it is time to remove the rust on our sixth sense and use them to differentiate the truth from the others. After all, the Great Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar has already conveyed the message which I want to reiterate here .

"Epporul yaaryaar Vaaiketpinum Apporul

Meipporul Kaanpatharivu"

Meaning:-

Whatever may be the source of any information, knowledge is to extract and assimilate the truth in it.

Grandma Tales

Childhood is the best phase in one's life. Our minds are free from preoccupations, mental stress and other worries.  Each and everyday we are fed with interesting stories by our grand parents during bed time. Most of the stories will be fantasies with added spice to make us believe that they are genuine. Leisure hours will take us back to that old grandma period and the stories we could hear from them.

Siva Purana says that Lord Ganesa was very much normal when he was born. A handsome, lovable child was he that everybody adored him. But circumstances made him a scapegoat. Failure to obey his father, Lord Siva, caused his head being chopped off by Siva. To appease Goddess Parvathy, Siva had to give rebirth to Ganesa for which he needed the head of any living  creature whom he  came across first, lying with its head directed towards North. At last it was an elephant's head that was to decorate Ganesa. But the story,    my grandma told was something very different from this,

Lord Siva and Parvathy, during their honeymoon days, came across a herd of elephants in the thick forests, enjoying the nature and in their playful mood. Parvathy was fascinated to see that and longed that she and Siva could also roam round the forest like them and enjoy. Hence Siva and Parvathy took the form of male and female elephants and there born the child Ganesa.

At another hour of such playful life, both Siva and Parvathy took the form of Vanaras {monkeys} . That time, Parvathy did not wish to have a vanara child. So the embryo in her womb was transferred to that of Anjana, wife of Vaayu {the god of wind} and Hanuman was born. In that era itself, there were cases of embryo transfer from one womb to another which lead to the modern concept of Hired mothers {Vaadagai thai}.

Further interesting is the birth of Vaali and  Sugreeva. Both were sons of Aruna. It was a total Solar Eclipse day and that the Sun God had no work on that day. So he gave his charioteer Arunan a day's off. Arunan, to have some fun on his holiday, went to the durbar of Devendran where he was prevented from entering the durbar as only women were permitted to enter the durbar on that day. Out of curiosity, Arunan cross dressed himself as a beautiful lady called Aruna and entered the durbar. Noticing a beautiful new face in the durbar, Devendran wished to meet her privately  and hence the birth of Vaali.

Arunan returned to work as usual the next day. His master, the Sun God, asked how he spent his off day and Arunan had to narrate his stories. Sun God was astonished to hear the same and he himself wanted to see Arunan's beautiful lady get up, whence he himself fell in love with him and Sugreeva was born.

Umpteen questions can be asked about the possibilities of such happenings. But a childish mind, an innocent one, naturally  believed all these.

To conclude, let me  quote a few golden lines.

" If it be wrong and upon me proved
     I never wrote and nobody ever read ".

Chithra Gupta

Chithra Gupta, the personal assistant to Yama Dharma, who keeps records of all creatures on earth, good and bad, now-a-days feels the job very cumbersome as the population on the earth has reached Himalayan heights and he is not provided with any assistants to help him in his work. Having only two hands to work with and his old Ezhuthani not so sharp of late, he has to toil hard to record each and everybody's papas and punyas then and there and make a  consolidated statement at the end of each day to be scrutinized by Yama himself.

Umpteen times had Chithra Gupta appealed to Yama to provide two or three apprentices to him to help him do all these works perfectly, but all fell on deaf ears. Old age has hampered Gupta's efficiency and now-a-days he tends to make mistakes, that too very silly ones. Even though mistakes are made by Chithra Gupta, the ill effects of those mistakes take heavy toll on Yama as he has to bear the punishments on that account.

Once, out of mental strain, Gupta wrongly advised Yama to go to Earth and to bring someone back to Naraka  as his days on earth had lapsed, but on arrrival back from earth with the person, Yama noticed that he has brought the wrong person. Yama was confused that he could neither send the man back to Earth nor can allow him to be in Naraka as his tenure in Naraka has not yet started. Caught between the Devil and the Deep Sea, Yama use to scold Chithra Gupta every now and then to which his answer will be like this. " I am aged and cannot manage all alone. I have requested you to appoint somebody to assist me. But of no use. Errors may occur in this circumstance and you cannot put all the blame on me".

Yama thought that something has to be done to avoid such mistakes, as his pride will be at stake, that was how he met Narada, the ever talented Deva Rishi, who can solve any problem under the sun within seconds.

Thus during a Job Fare, Yama also attended as an employer and to his joy, could select a genius in Computer Programming. The selected lad was immediately taken to Yama Loka and for his convenience a brand new Computer with Internet and Wi Fi fecilities was set up. Within a few days, each and every person's bio-data and accounts of  punyas and papas were recorded and Yama was fed with actual informations well in time. The poor Chithra Gupta was sidelined as Yama no longer required his services. Poor man, now he is like a Dharwan to the Computer man in Yama Loka.

A Travel

Avsar looked completely drained. He had just completed one half of the train journey to his hometown for the long weekend. He had to wait for another 3 hrs for the connecting train . He had all the time in the world . But, surprisingly he looked in a hurry. The few passengers in the platform saw this guy in his twenties almost running after being seen restless in the platform for sometime. It was still dark . The dude at the east was yet to illuminate the area. Avsar was running towards the upper class waiting room . "All Indians same problem! ", commented one Dhukanwala with a grin. "Yes! It was becoming too much of a problem for Avsar. He was sensing that his legs were losing their might; his eyes were becoming blurry; His bag was becoming too much of a weight to carry. He had to get rid of the 'weight'. In the midst of all this, there were umpteen questions going through his mind. One of them being, "Will he be lucky enough to find any vacancy in the waiting room to relieve himself from the stressful and delicate situation?" He was cursing the Lassi vendor in the train for putting him in that situation. Phew ! He was never ever tensed like that. He was like running for his life.

"Why don't they build these basic facilities all along the platform ?", he thought. He rushed inside the waiting hall. The attendant, in half sleep asked Avsar to show his ticket and write down his details in the register. But he was not in a mood to listen. He quickly scanned the walls of the room." There it is!", he exclaimed. He identified the board and rushed towards it. There was none. He thanked the Almighty, threw his bag and plugged in the adapter to his mobile phone and then to the vacant plug point in the only switch board in the waiting room. The attendant was puzzled watching the actions of this guy, who shouted "Eureka!" just for getting his mobile charged . "Paagal!", he thought. Avsar was not paying attention to any of his surroundings. After all, he had to reply "I Miss you, Love!" to his sweetheart who had messaged before his mobile battery died, telling how she couldn't sleep even in an A/C sleeper bus on her way home just because she couldn't meet him for four days. After turning on his phone, he replied " Sorry dear! One Paagal attendant here irritated me. Just taught him a lesson. Miss you, Love. Will message you after reaching home. Muaaah". By the time, Avsar came back to his senses, there were some 4-5 people standing around him. He was puzzled as to why they were around him, until one of them asked "Boss! If charged, pls move"

Gone are the days when people went to a waiting room in a railway station to take some rest and freshen up. All we look for is a working switch board with an empty plug point. Same is the case in buses and trains. Some 3-4 years back, people used to fight for the window seats and lower berths. Now, the first thing being checked, especially when traveling alone,(even before the reservation chart. :P) after boarding a train is where the charging point is.

Why exactly are we concerned about the battery charge in the mobile phones? The most common argument would be to have some life in the mobile, so that it can be used in case of any emergency. True, it is. But one another reason could be, we don't know how to pass the time without the nonsenses in the phone, when traveling alone.

It is becoming pretty rare to find people standing near the door of train compartments or look outside from the windows and enjoy the setting sun in the West with a cool breeze hitting them. We find people near the doors/windows mostly when there is a charging point. We are forgetting the beauty of the green paddy fields and hillocks racing past us in the opposite direction as mostly we would be busy fighting a war with our clan, crushing the candies or checking the WhatsApp pics of your friend's ex, when we have a phone with charge in our hand. I felt very sad to see people checking their mobile app to find in which station their train was, rather than taking a peek outside and get it from the numerous illuminated boards.

Good that we have embraced technology but sad that we are missing the little joys in our travel.

The Festivities

Festivals are celebrated in almost all parts of our country in one way or the other. What real purpose is served by this? Can we invoke Gods by conducting festivals in a grand manner? Will the Gods shower extra blessings on us by celebrating temple festivals? None can give a concrete answer to these queries. But one thing is sure that by participating in these celebrations we enjoy some pleasure.In this world, now turned to be a mechanical one, we get some space to breath fresh air, an opportunity to hide our tears and get some solace from the troubles and tribulations for a while. Hence a relief from all our worries for a short period. One of my friends use to say that by attending the village festival a year makes him mentally happy to face any worries he may have to encounter for the rest of the year, ie he will be ready to encounter any difficulty in the next phase of that year.

True! Our forefathers have planned such festivals in such a manner that they cleanse us of all inhibitions in life even if for a short period. I use to participate in almost all festivals in our village. Sometimes I was dumbfounded by the gaiety with which they are celebrated. All my friends, with exceptions, used to be part of the celebrations since we treat this as an occasion to meet together. It is a blessing for me that I can meet some of my old friends after a lapse of  some thirty to forty years. The joy and happiness we enjoy on these occasions cannot be put in words, but something to be felt.

So also is the case with our relatives. In the modern age, members of the same family are scattered with each one getting settled at their own place of work or business and hardly gets time to see or contact the other ones. Each one wishes to be by the side of  his/her dear ones atleast  once or twice a year and hence they prefer the festival times to plan their journey so that he/she will be able to meet all his/her relations at a time and spend a few days with them duly enjoying the thrill and happiness of the childhood.  Of course childhood is the sweetest days in everybody's life.

In olden days, marriages were conducted in the family house itself. The family members as well as their relatives used to gather for the marriage well in advance. The get-together starts almost a week in advance and lasts for about a week past the celebrations. It was like a festival althrough these days in the family. More over, the villagers used to assemble the previous day of marriage to assist the family in decorating the Pandal and in the preparations of feast. The villagers deemed the same as their privilege to do all these.

 The charm of such marriages have gone now-a-days. Almost all families prefer to celebrate marriages in their families in Marriage Halls and most of the marriages are conducted by Event Managers. There will not be any part for any family member, relative or villagers to play. Only thing they have to do is to reach the marriage hall well in time for the muhurtham, witness the function, have food and return.

Thus has gone the charm and pleasure of assembling together, have fun and be happy for a couple of days on this account. Likewise many festivals have lost the charm and merely became a formality, not to say about the pleasure and satisfaction we derived from them.

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.