On snake and rope

Interesting how the same situation elicits diametrically opposite reactions in different people:

I was having lunch the other day with some relatives, on the occasion of my cousin's marriage. I was the only acknowledged vegetarian in the group. One of my aunts asked me about Akshi. I replied that she is born vegetarian. She automatically felt sympathy for Akshi. I instinctively feel jealous of Akshi.

On Binding to Break

Our return trip from Mookambika was traced through two important pit-stops, one feeding the mind, and the other, the spirit.

We stopped by Manipal, where we met the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Warrier, who is known to wifey and MIL-ey. We toured the campus that has truly made a world-class business out of world-class-looking education.

We then stopped by the Krishna Temple at Udupi, where Krishna seemed to probe into me. But, it was benevolent, no doubt, as the Tulasi mala I had brought with me from Mookambika was used to adorn the entrance of the sanctum sanctorum. Also, had lunch for the first time in a temple.

Looking back, both secular and spiritual education are needed: one for a living, and the other for life. However, we should never be so full of knowledge, that we have no space for wisdom.

We are born through, and for, karmic reconciliation. Our connections, relations, interruptions and intermissions are all through karmic computation. Why not use the very ties that bind us together, to break us free? Courage is not an endowment, it is an engagement.

Family Vidyarambham - 25.11.2009

Momentous day in the life of Akshi, and not coincidentally, in the life of her Papa as well. We performed her Vidyarambham in Mookambika.

However, it was a beginning of sorts for her Papa as well. Half way through the writing on rice, my superior command of Malayalam left me with a writer's block, as I didn't know how to write some of the characters that the Purohit asked me (they were different from the ones Dhanya trained me for the previous day). So, eventually it ended up that Akshi's hand was traced by her Papa's hand, which in turn was traced by her grandmother's.

A collective beginning of sorts.

Truevision

Watching TV right now and have to postulate with a fair amount of certainty, that:

We have reached that point in civilization, where, truth can be absolute, only if it has come through TV.

Cinematic culture

Going through the controversy over Cooking with Stella, Slumdog Millionaire, et al, one can safely aver that culture may be transmitted through language, but is definitely miscommunicated through cinema.

Shifting perspectives

Partly shifted to our new residence in Al Nahda (the 24-hour electrified part, not the Sharjah part), a 3BR in a twin-storey building. We live on the 12th floor and my spit takes around five seconds to reach ground level. Also, swam in the pool, which, unlike Jeet's pool, is a pool that you can really swim in, and much bigger than a tub (putthar, hope you are reading this :-)).

Need to check out on my neighbours of which there are quite a few, actually very few. In our floor of 12 flats, there is only one more neighbour. Most of the occupancy is shared between Tamils and Malayalees, and I already get the feeling that this is going to be yet another well traversed arena.

Communists own dacha

Forgot to mention earlier that Kerala celebrated the birth of Kerala on November 1. It was 56 years back that God's own country (soon to be bequeathed to Communists) was born.

It is no doubt a marvellous feat worth celebrating, that, Kerala has been able to endure Malayalees for all these years.