Skip to main content

Addictions


Struggle stories have the potential to destroy us as much as they have for inspiring.  A Shah Rukh Khan may eject himself from Delhi in order to find stardom in Bollywood, having gone through the necessary agonies and sporadic ecstasies on the way.  An Anupam Kher may land in Bombay from Simla possessing little more than two pairs of khadi kurta-pyjamas, walk daily from Bandra to the Prithvi Theatre and survive on vada-pav bought with money obtained through tutoring children... and eventually become a star.  For every SRK and for every Anupam, there are thousands who ruin their lives in the alleys and byways of Bollywood. 

Standing in the autumn of life, I look back and pat myself on the back for not harbouring big dreams.  I wanted to be a writer.  That was the only dream I really had.  And I became a blogger.  At least that.  Small dreams, smaller achievements, no disappointments. 

It’s only when my laptop went on strike a few days back that I realised writing was not a dream for me at all, but an addiction.  I tried to write blogs using my tab but found it extremely tedious.  All the ten fingers flying on the laptop’s real keyboard is part of the addiction which cannot be gratified with one finger typing on the tab’s virtual keyboard.  

The laptop could have been repaired in a day.  But hartal is an addiction for the political activists in Kerala where I have found my latest abode.  Two consecutive days of hartal (one of which was specially designed for my district only) for reasons that are yet to become clear to me kept my laptop locked up with the mechanic. 

When the mechanic rang me a few hours back to tell me that the work was done, the cool breeze that passed through my breast which had been drenched by the sultry summer heat made me realise that there are still some things that make life interesting to me.  This narcissistic raving, for example.

Anupam Kher’s protest against the attempts of JNU to decimate the country has already become stale news by the time I am reunited with my laptop.  SRK has learnt the lesson about his right to silence.  Our Prime Minister, who is also proud of his rags-to-supremacy story, thinks that JNU protesters and Haryana Jats are conspiring against him because he ascended from a lowly background. 

The problem is not the background.  I’m sure the PM knows that though he pretends otherwise for political and strategic reasons.  The problem is our addictions.  Some love power.  Some love fame.  I love my laptop, it seems.


Comments

  1. Chaitali BhattacharjeeFebruary 22, 2016 at 8:59 PM

    Well written post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. sunaina sharmaFebruary 23, 2016 at 7:19 PM

    Congrats on being re-united with your laptop....:)....At least there are some things that can be easily repaired....:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 23, 2016 at 7:23 PM

      And we are left with the wistful longing that some other things could be repaired :)

      Delete
  3. D.NambiarFebruary 23, 2016 at 10:18 PM

    Nicely put together. I love how you spoke of so many things and tied them all up together. :)

    Keying in on a tab is so painful, I swear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 23, 2016 at 10:30 PM

      Contemporary India can drive anyone mad. That's my thinking is fuzzy here (and in the next post too) :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pranita a perverted genius

Bulldozer begins its work at Sawan Pranita was a perverted genius. She had Machiavelli’s brain, Octavian’s relentlessness, and Levin’s intellectual calibre. She could have worked wonders if she wanted. She could have created a beautiful world around her. She had the potential. Yet she chose to be a ruthless exterminator. She came to Sawan Public School just to kill it. A religious cult called Radha Soami Satsang Beas [RSSB] had taken over the school from its owner who had never visited the school for over 20 years. This owner, a prominent entrepreneur with a gargantuan ego, had come to the conclusion that the morality of the school’s staff was deviating from the wavelengths determined by him. Moreover, his one foot was inching towards the grave. I was also told that there were some domestic noises which were grating against his patriarchal sensibilities. One holy solution for all these was to hand over the school and its enormous campus (nearly 20 acres of land on the outskirts
13 comments
Read more

Randeep the melody

Many people in this pic have made their presence in this A2Z series A phone call came from an unknown number the other day. “Is it okay to talk to you now, Sir?” The caller asked. The typical start of a conversation by an influencer. “What’s it about?” My usual response looking forward to something like: “I am so-and-so from such-and-such business firm…” And I would cut the call. But there was a surprise this time. “I am Randeep…” I recognised him instantly. His voice rang like a gentle music in my heart. Randeep was a student from the last class 12 batch of Sawan. One of my favourites. He is unforgettable. Both Maggie and I taught him at Sawan where he was a student from class 4 to 12. Nine years in a residential school create deep bonds between people, even between staff and students. Randeep was an ideal student. Good at everything yet very humble and spontaneous. He was a top sportsman and a prefect with eminent leadership. He had certain peculiar problems with academics. Ans
25 comments
Read more

Queen of Religion

She looked like Queen Victoria in the latter’s youth but with a snow-white head. She was slim, fair and graceful. She always smiled but the smile had no life. Someone on the campus described it as a “plastic smile.” She was charming by physical appearance. Soon all of us on the Sawan school campus would realise how deceptive appearances were. Queen took over the administration of Sawan school on behalf of her religious cult RSSB [Radha Soami Satsang Beas]. A lot was said about RSSB in the previous post. Its godman Gurinder Singh Dhillon is now 70 years old. I don’t know whether age has mellowed his lust for land and wealth. Even at the age of 64, he was embroiled in a financial scam that led to the fall of two colossal business enterprises, Fortis Healthcare and Religare finance. That was just a couple of years after he had succeeded in making Sawan school vanish without a trace from Delhi which he did for the sake of adding the school’s twenty-odd acres of land to his existing hun
19 comments
Read more

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
37 comments
Read more

Sanjay and other loyalists

AI-generated illustration Some people, especially those in politics, behave as if they are too great to have any contact with the ordinary folk. And they can get on with whoever comes to power on top irrespective of their ideologies and principles. Sanjay was one such person. He occupied some high places in Sawan school [see previous posts, especially P and Q ] merely because he knew how to play his cards more dexterously than ordinary politicians. Whoever came as principal, Sanjay would be there in the elite circle. He seemed to hold most people in contempt. His respect was reserved for the gentry. I belonged to the margins of Sawan society, in Sanjay’s assessment. So we hardly talked to each other. Looking back, I find it quite ludicrous to realise that Sanjay and I lived on the same campus 24x7 for a decade and a half without ever talking to each other except for official purposes.      Towards the end of our coexistence, Sawan had become a veritable hell. Power supply to the
12 comments
Read more