Tomichan Matheikal's blog

As the world observes today as Peace Day, India and Pakistan find themselves in a belligerent situation which may soon escalate into a war.  No country can choose its neighbours and India is unfortunate to have such neighbours as Pakistan and China one of which is steeped in medieval darkness and the other has a soul that is afire with territorial greed.  Both these infelicitous neighbours will unite against India in case of a war.  Is the Third World War taking shape at the Indo-Pak borders? On the occasion  of the World Peace Day, the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said, “Peace is not an accident.  Peace is not a gift.  Peace is something we must all work for, every day, in every country.  Peace is not just about putting weapons aside.  It is about building societies where people share the benefits of prosperity on a healthy planet.” Peace is an attitude, in other words.  Peace is an elevated level of consciousness.  ...

Fiction The very sight of his school’s name board, Jungle Global School, filled Raju Skunk with horror.  The school was a place of nightmares for Raju.  “Stinky Skunk,” his companions called him.  They tormented him because of his smell.  Raju had no friends and no one played with him ever.  Even the manager, principal and various deans in the school discriminated against him although discrimination of any sort was against the Constitution of the Jungle Republic. “Why do we stink like this?” Raju asked his mother.  “Can’t we get rid of this stupid stench and live with dignity?” “We are skunks,” his mother explained.  “We smell like skunks and it is our birthright to smell so.  It is our duty to smell so.” Right, yes, Raju could understand that.  He had seen animals fighting for all kinds of rights.  The tigers fought for the right to kill other animals when the Republic wanted to pass the Bill of Vegetarianism.  ...

Courtesy: Internet Government employees belonging to the Leftist unions in Kerala have been on strike for the last 5 days.  They are opposing the contributory pension scheme that the state govt has implemented for staff  from April this year. What the govt of Kerala is telling the employees is that they should contribute 10% of their basic salary and DA (dearness allowance) to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.  The govt will make an equal contribution.  When they retire they be eligible to withdraw 60% of the amount in the Fund and will receive a monthly pension from the remaining amount. Most of the states in India and the central govt offices have already implemented this scheme. The govt of Kerala has certain valid arguments for implementing the scheme.  The govt says that 80.61% of state’s revenue goes towards payment of salaries and pensions for govt employees. A meagre 19.39% is left for looking after the welfare o...