Skip to main content

Intellectual




When the doorbell rang, Intellectual wondered who it could be.  These days no one took Intellectual seriously. 

“Oh! It’s you.  Come in.”  Intellectual opened the door.  The Party Spokesman walked in. 

“As I told you on phone,” said Party Spokesman, “we’re ready to pay you the price you demanded.  Whatever you write hereafter will be in support of the party explicitly or implicitly.”

Intellectual took the cheque offered by Party Spokesman.  “Advance payment.  The real payment will begin once we get to read your articles.”

Intellectual felt something die within him.  But he knew he could laugh all the way to the bank hereafter. 

Comments

  1. ARJuly 5, 2017 at 10:01 PM

    We are heading towards 1984
    Freedom is slavery

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 6, 2017 at 5:59 AM

      The most terrible disservice they've done to us is the commodification of everything including truth.

      Delete
  2. Pranju chakrapaniJuly 6, 2017 at 5:41 AM

    They are the new breeds. They call themselves the influencers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 6, 2017 at 6:00 AM

      Strange how people can sell themselves so easily!

      Delete
  3. UppalJuly 6, 2017 at 10:23 AM

    The intellectual is no better.He is part of the crowd as well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 6, 2017 at 7:51 PM

      The intellectual used to be a notch above the crowd!

      Delete
  4. K.A. AcharyaJuly 8, 2017 at 4:03 AM

    Ready to eat food might not be healthier for those who eat it, but it definitely makes the cook's life easier. Why strain your brain for intellectual writing, when someone is ready to supply you topics, and the content too? Besides, it pays.
    Sadly, real intellectuals are on the verge of becoming history.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 8, 2017 at 7:10 AM

      Everything is a commercial commodity today, even patriotism. Intellectuals have been bought up as are the media. Padma Sri and such awards await loyal intellectuals!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

Thomas the Saint

AI-generated image His full name was Thomas Augustine. He was a Catholic priest. I knew him for a rather short period of my life. When I lived one whole year in the same institution with him, I was just 15 years old. I was a trainee for priesthood and he was many years my senior. We both lived in Don Bosco school and seminary at a place called Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu. He was in charge of a group of boys like me. Thomas had little to do with me directly as I was under the care of another in-charge. But his self-effacing ways and angelic smile drew me to him. He was a living saint all the years I knew him later. When he became a priest and was in charge of a section of a Don Bosco institution in Kochi, I met him again and his ways hadn’t changed an iota. You’d think he was a reincarnation of Jesus if you met him personally. You won’t be able to meet him anymore. He passed away a few years ago. One of the persons whom I won’t ever forget, can’t forget as long as the neurons continu
16 comments
Read more

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