Mallu Birds of Same Feather

Being able to rent a house on your own in US without sharing accommodation is a luxury that a middle class immigrant Indian like me cannot afford. So, here I am, living with three friends of mine in a decently spacious house in a village called Phoenixville in Pennsylvania.

No, I am not here to give you my address. I just thought I’ll scribble a bit about an interesting discussion that I had with these roommates of mine few days ago. We are three Keralites (including me) and a non-Keralite who share the accommodation. Most of the times we are held up in our own rooms, busy working or busy talking to someone over phone (ohh ya, bachelors do that a lot). The only time when 4 of us would spend time together in a typical day is when we do our dinner cooking. And that is the time when all the gossips and discussions happen.

One such day, my non-Keralite roommate had something to open up. He came up with a list of stereotypes that that are commonly associated with a Mallu. I found most of the things in his list to be a true. One interesting thing in his list was that Mallus usually hang around only with other Mallus. They usually tend to form a Mallu-only group wherever they go. They eat together, walk together, go out together and what not. Haven’t you observed it? I have. And I have done that too.

I remember being part of a Mallu gang in SDM-IMD Mysore where I did my post graduation. Later I joined work and went to Mangalore, and there they are; a Mallu gang. I got an onsite opportunity and travelled to the US, and here I am; in a Mallu gang. You go find any Mallu, and you’ll notice that at least one person with whom he is will be a Mallu.
So, why do they (or we) folk together? What pleasure do they find in being in an only-Mallu group? I thought about it, and I could think of only two reasons why they do it:

1. Mallus, especially the ones coming out of Kerala for the first time, find it very difficult to converse in English or any other language. They hardly use any other language than Malayalam when they are at home, unlike a person from Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh where Hindi is also a commonly spoken language. For this reason, Mallus tend to find people with whom they can converse freely. I am not sure if I am generalizing here, but I strongly feel this is one reason why I would have tried to find a Mallu comrade when I am outside my territory.

2. The other reason is that; if you compare a Mallu group with any others, say a Kannadiga group or an Andhrite group, you would observe that people in the Mallu group have a lot in common than the people in any other group. They would have the same taste for food, same taste for music, same taste for movies, and the list goes on. So, I feel this too could be a reason.

What do you think? Haven’t you noticed Mallu groups around?

Power of Precognition

As a kid I always used to wonder how cool it would be to have the power to foretell the future. I wouldn't have had to slog in my school days preparing for exams since I would know how exactly the question paper would look like. How easy life would have been, isn't it? That was the primary motive behind my wish for precognition back then. As i grew, the nature of the motive also kept changing. I started wishing for the power to predict the future so that I would know whom I would be getting married to, so that I can start spending more time with that person instead of wasting time with other girls hoping one of them would end up being my life partner. If i have the power of precognition, i could use it my everyday life!! I am sure it isn't just me who ever thought about this idea. It would have ran through the minds of all human beings on the face of this planet.

Then I started thinking more. What if there is a person somwhere in this universe, let's call him GOD for the time being, who have the ability to answer the prayers of humans. And let's assume that all of us came to know about the existence of this GOD. I can quite confidently say that we all would slog our ass day in and day out to impress the GOD and somehow inject our wishes into his priority list. You would have all kinds of wishes in that list including a wish for having a billion dollar in your bank account, wish for having all kinds of fancy and nice cars in your garage, wish for having the most beautiful girl(s) in the world for you (I definitely have this one in mine :) ), and so on. And, quite certainly, one common wish you would find in most of the wish lists would be the wish for having the power to predict the future.

Now let's assume that GOD is a very kind and generous person. One day he decideds to grant to mankind all their wishes, and we now have the ability to see the future. I put in somemore thought to imagine what would happen if such a thing happens in the world someday. Say, if you know that you are going to do well in your forthcoming exams, why would you waste any of your time preparing for the exam? You would just sit back and relax waiting for the good result to come your way. Am i right? That is the nature of human beings. That is how we are designed to function. So, what would happen here is; my ability to se the future will lead to inaction in the present. Now let's assume a collective scenario where everybody has a picute of how their future is going to be. This would certainly result in a collective inaction in the present.

Having lived in this world for all these years, we very well realize that life isn't very easy thing to deal with and nothing comes for free. We know that inactions in the present seldom give a positive result in the future. Having said that, what would the future look like once we get the power to predict the future? All the inactions in the present would result in a very dull future for all. At that point in time we all would start cursing ourselves for wishing for precognition and we would start putting in more effort to make sure that the future turns out to be something beautiful and bright.

So what do you think is happening here? You ability to predict the future will eventually result in you putting in more effort in the present than what you would have otherwise.

So, do you think precognition is a smart thing to wish for? Unless, the same GOD who granted you the wish will ensure that the future will look brighter for you in spit of all the inactions in the present.

You know what I think about it? I think GOD, if at all she/he/they exist, would definitely be kind and generous, but not stupid enough to grant you the power of precognition. :)

Time to send our politicians for Spoken English classes?

You could easily guess what made me pick this particular topic to write on. Obviously, the vigor that provoked me to write this blog are the two recent budget presentations delivered in the Indian Parliament by two eminent figures of Indian politics. Let me be more precise about what I am hinting at. I am referring to the railway and finance budget speech delivered to the house by Ms. Mamta Banerjee and Mr. Pranab Mukharjee respectively.

Watching budget presentations is not a habit that I picked up long ago. The first budget presentation that I actually paid – if not close - real attention was the finance budget presented to the house in 2004 by the then finance minister Mr. P Chidambaram. Until then, budget presentations did not induce in me any kind of enthusiasm whatsoever. I was least bothered about what was being presented in a railway budget as I was not a frequent traveler in Indian Railways back then. I wasn’t very enthusiastic about finance budget presentations either. I think it was for the reason that I was just a student back then, and I was neither an employee nor an investor in the stock market to have any kind of interest in finance budget. But things changed since then and these days I am into both, and that makes me anxiously wait for the finance budget presentations every year.

Though budget presentations are an inveterate yearly routine in our country, considering the horrid condition our economy is in at this moment, I was expecting something out of ordinary from this year’s budget. The country was expecting a 1991-like budget that would help India ooze through this rough economic weather. But, sadly, both the budgets turned out to be anything but extraordinary. Experts say that it was a ‘mix bag of hits and misses’. However, after watching both the budget presentations, more than the content of the presentations, there was something else that stood out: the lack of quality in communication and style of presentation of both the presenters.

This year’s railway budget presentation, to me, looked more like an arid comedy show being telecasted from the Indian Parliament. While watching Mamta Banerjee’s railway budget presentation, for a moment I felt like I am living a couple of civilizations behind time. Let me put it bluntly. There was absolutely no class in the way she delivered her budget speech, and her English was awful.

The finance budget speech delivery by Mr. Pranab Mukharjee neither deserves any accolades. If style of presentation and lack of control over English was the problem with Mamta, Pranab failed in bring clarity to his communication. The country in general and the stock market in particular was more interested in hearing from the finance minister on critical issues like disinvestment, fiscal deficit, measures to recover from recession, etc., which are the primary cause of concern for the nation at this point in time. His speech, in fact, covered most of these issues, but, because of the lack of clarity in communication, it came out like these are issues of least concern for the government at this time.

The impact of this lack of clarity in communication was well predictable: stock market took a nose dive and closed 800 plus points down. Though the finance secretary and the deputy chairman of planning commission later appeared on television and made an attempt to elucidate to the world what they actually intend to do on the real issues that country faces today, it was too late and the damage was already made.

As I pointed out at the beginning of this blog, I don’t have many references to make when it comes to budget presentations. I only remember watching P. Chidambaram delivering his budget speeches, and I was truly impressed by his style of presentation. The content of the budget presented by him might be good or bad, but, his speech delivery was without doubt a class apart.

May be Chidambaram is an exception in this country. You could very well argue that majority of the politicians in our country come from the masses, and you can’t expect all of them to be Harvard educated like Chidambaram or Kapil Sibal. You could also ask why presentation delivery is significant, and all that should matter is the content of the budget that would be later put into action. I absolutely agree on these points. However, I feel, it is always desirable to have someone at the top who possess a decent communication skill, especially in English. I feel so, because we are not anymore the India of 1950s, where rest of the world didn’t even bother about how we lived or what we do for a living. We have come a long way, and we are on the verge of becoming a super power. The world around is watching us closely, and they are expecting us to lead the world into the future along with our eastern neighbor, China. So, our politicians are not just representing the masses in the parliament, they are also the brand ambassadors of a brand called India. The people representing a brand do play a major role in framing the perceptions that is built around a brand.

Relationships

By venturing into writing this blog on relationships I very well realize that I am asking for trouble. Relationship is one of the most talked about and debated topics among the people of my generation. Almost all the individuals belonging to this generation, whom I know, have an opinion to express about this topic and each of these opinions in some way or the other is often different from all the others. Considering the kind of diversity of opinion available on this topic, I thought it would be safer for me to begin this blog with a disclaimer:

“Statements and opinions expressed in this blog are my view on the subject of discussion. Readers have every right to disagree with my thoughts”

Relationship is a word that started hitting my ears very often ever since I joined my post graduation. Before then, especially during my graduation days in Trichur, I don’t recall people discussing much about relationships. Of course people used to fall in love, but relationship was not a topic that was discussed commonly. I think the reason for that is; the cultural framework in which I was living then was less westernized, where people preferred to keep their relationship as a complete private affair. Couples, who were in love those days usually did not discuss about their relationship even with their best friends.

Things were drastically different when I joined my post graduation. Students from all nukes and corners of the country were present in one single batch. I must say the cultural framework there was much more westernized than what it was in Trichur. The course started, and within a matter of few days, there were at least ten couples in the campus. I am yet to understand how someone could fall in love with a person in such a short time! As time made its strides, the number of couples in the campus also multiplied. I stopped keeping track of the exact number after sometime (I wasn’t that jobless).

People in the campus discussed a lot about relationships: “What you ought to do in a relationship?” “What you shouldn’t do in a relationship?” “What are the ground rules for being in a relationship?”, and there is a long list of similar questions that you would come across in a typical discussion on relationships. I also learned from the so called ‘relationship experts’ that there are certain ‘theories’ and ‘thumb rules’ that one has to internalize before getting into a relationship.

The main difference, I find, between the two cultural frameworks that I mentioned above is; in the case of former, i.e. during my graduation days, couples seldom discussed among themselves about how they plan to go ahead with their relationship. They seldom discussed among themselves about the ‘theories’ and ‘thumb rules’ of relationship. Am sure not many couples would have set any kind of expectations about each other at the beginning of their relationship. It all came so naturally to them. They never felt there was a need to plan the road map for their relationship.

In contrast to this, in the other cultural framework that I spoke about, i.e. during my post graduation days, couples had a clear idea about how their relationship should progress into the future. They set the expectations right in the beginning of the relationship, and they were well aware of the ‘theories’ and ‘thumb rules’ of relationship that would help them in nurturing the relationship. But, in this case, I always felt that the element of naturality was missing.

I am not a proponent of any one form of relationship. I believe that both these forms of relationship have its own advantages and disadvantages. But, there is one particular fact that bothers me. Of the 15 or so couples who were following the second form of relationship that I mentioned, only 3 of them got married. Rest of the couples is no more together. But, most of the couples who were following the first form of relationship are now happily married. What do you think the reason for this contrast must be? I like to believe that it is mere coincidence. Or am I doing something terribly wrong by using marriage as a tool to measure the success of a relationship?

Early morning phone calls

I usually love it when my cell phone rings. For a physically isolated sole like me living in Mangalore, separated from friends and family by distance, these phone calls often come as a sigh of relief from boredom. Especially during weekends, phone calls are my way of killing time. However, there is one particular genus of calls that I am not very keen on receiving: the ones that knock at my cell phone early in the mornings. These early morning calls usually comes when least expected, carrying a horrifying message along with it.

Almost a year back, I received one such call at around four in the morning. With my half opened eyes, i tried to read the caller's name in the display. It was one of my friends from Bangalore. She called to infrom me about the sad demise of one of our friend’s father. He suffered from a heart attack the previous night. Though he was taken to the hospital without any delay after the stroke, doctor's couldn't do much. That message came like a bolt from the blue for both me and my roommate. We rushed to our friend’s house right away, and the entire day was spent at his house and at the funeral.

That was a year back. It was time again for an early morning phone call. My phone started ringing once again on a wintry morning in January. It was a weekend, and I crashed into my bed really late after watching two movies in a row. I checked the time in my watch, and it was only five in the morning. I immediately realized that it is a harbinger of doom. I picked up the call with a prayer in my mind, and this time it was my younger brother who is on the line. His trembling voice informed me that our father suffered from a heart attack an hour back, and he is hospitalized.

That message struck me like an electric shock, and I couldn’t move from my bed for some time. I didn’t know what to do next. I only knew that I wanted to reach home immediately. I went online and tried to book the next flight to Cochin. But, unfortunately, the flight was available only at seven in the evening. The next option open to me was the railways. But, that option too didn’t help me as the next train was scheduled to leave only after 3 hours. I was damn certain that I wouldn’t be able to wait patiently for so long. So I ordered for a cab immediately and started for home.

By the time I reached the hospital in which my father was admitted, it was already six in the evening. My brother and relatives were waiting for me near the hospital entrance. My eyes searched for my mother. She was sitting near the intensive care unit along with my aunts. I went near her, and when she saw me, she collapsed into tears. I spoke to her for a minute, consoled her, and rushed to the doctor’s cabin.

The doctor in charge took me inside the intensive care unit and showed me the angiogram test result on a computer screen and explained me the reason for the stroke. He then told me that my father’s situation is not getting any better with time. He also informed me that an angioplasty or a by-pass surgery is inevitable, and had to be performed immediately to save my father’s life. I gave my consent to the doctor to take whatever action he thought was appropriate at that moment.

A few minutes later doctor called me inside again and shared me that good news: my father has started recovering. But, an angioplasty or by-pass surgery was inevitable, and had to be performed within the next few days. I immediately got an appointment in one of the best hospitals in Cochin, through an uncle of mine, and made all the necessary arrangements to shift my father to that hospital. We shifted him the same night, and an angioplasty was performed on him the very next day. The procedure was a complete success and it gave my father a new lease on life.

Five months has passed since then, and now my father is back to his routine.

When all this was happening, my phone kept giving me rings. I was happy to answer those calls that carried the voice of my friends and family. Those calls carried voice of concern and support.

I still love when my cell phone rings. But, I would never want to receive another call early in the morning.

Inclusive Hindutva! Seriously?

I am habituated to browse through the CNN IBN website once in every two or three hours when I am at work. With so much happening in economy, politics and sports in my country, it is beyond the bounds of possibility for me to resist myself from opening Internet Explorer once in a while and typing in ‘ibnlive.com’ in it.

On one such day, recently, a news article that appeared in IBN LIVE caught my complete attention. The article was titled “BJP frames new party line: inclusive Hindutva”, which talked about BJP’s plan to overhaul its current Hindutva ideology, and the party’s plan to move towards an 'Inclusive Hindutva’.

After completing the article, I couldn’t help but laugh. It sounded to me like the Catholic Church on a fine day is making a proclamation to the whole world that it is no more going to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Hindutva is the rock on which BJP is built. And they are now deliberating up on drifting away from Hindutva!!

We all know how BJP assumed a stature of national party during early 90s. Until the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, nobody imagined of a national level party whose ideology would be based on a religion, that too in a secularist nation like ours. The demolition of Babri Masjid and the riots that followed across the length and breadth of the country helped BJP in penetrating into the Indian Hindu masses. Ever since, Hindutva was the core ideology on which the party functioned. Hindutva helped BJP to win few general elections, and with the support of various regional parties, they formed a BPJ led government at the center twice. But, how long can they continue to flutter the flag of Hindutva when there are numerous other issues that are of higher priority for the Indian voters?

The 2009 General Election, however, has turned out to be an eye-opener for BJP. After the second defeat in a row, they have gradually started realizing that they cannot survive in this country for long only by scratching the religious sentiments of Indian voters.

‘Inclusive Hindutva’ sounds a better idea to me than actualizing another version of Babri Masjid.

Religion: What it means to me?

Somewhere in my childhood days I picked up the idea that religion can do only ill to mankind. I still can’t figure out why such a belief (or rather perception) got into my head. A possible reason I could think of is; I realized that the quality of some religions to separate people and bring in animosity among them is more prominent than any of its other qualities, at least that holds true in my country.

In 1992, I was just 7 years old when that frightful incident happened in Ayodhya. A group of violent Hindu nationalists demolished the Babri Masjid. That incident was only the beginning of brutality that was about to unfold all over my country. Those days I was yet to pick up the habit of reading newspapers, and the demolition of Babri Masjid had very little aftereffects on my state in general, and my village in particular since it was a Hindu dominated village. Hence, i never got to know about such an incident.

Years passed, but, December 6 remained a nightmare for everyone in my family. We children were not allowed to go to the nearby city on that day unless accompanied by an elder member of the family. First few times we just followed the instruction and never bothered to find out the reason behind the concern. This continued year after year and slowly I started realizing the reason for the concern. Religion for my family meant more of fear than belief, and so for me. From then on I never wanted myself to be associated with any religion, and whenever someone asked which religion I belong to, I always replied “I do not belong to any religion”. It was my lack of knowledge about religion that made me say that. I realize that now.

Abraham Lincoln once wrote: “Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t new after all.” The various books and columns that I read about religion, which expressed author’s opinion about religion, made me realize that the impression I was carrying with me about religion was not completely accurate. One such author who influenced me was Swami Vivekananda. His definition of religion made me realize that religion is not all about identity and there is lot more to it.

Now, for me, religion is not about an identity it stamps on me. Religion is a way of life. It is about the customs and traditions that you follow in your day to day life and it is about the believes that you uphold. If that is true, then I must be a Hindu who follows Hinduism.

Declaring to the world that i follow Hinduism doesn't make me any indifferent towards other religions. I equally respect all other religions, and an individual's right to practice any religion that he chooses to. It also does not guarantee that now I believe in a set of supposedly Hindu gods. I like to see religion and belief in god as two differnt things. I now know for sure that I follow Hinduism, but not yet sure whether I believe in any god. In that respect I am still an agnostic.