Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Shahid's wedding reception Photo sent by my student When a former student of mine who is now a journalist sent me a photo of Shahid Kapoor and his wife with a lady who was my boss for a brief (and worthy of being forgotten) period of my life, what struck me was a necklace.  “That’s the religious asceticism they preached to us,” I wrote in my response to my student. I was aware of the glaring contradictions between the preaching and the practice of the religious cult to which the lady belonged.  In fact, I was one of the many victims of that barefaced disparity.  But what was Shahid Kapoor doing with her or she with him?  I googled and got the answer.  Google is a far greater miracle than any Satsang Guru! Source Shahid Kapoor is a devotee of the cult to which my former boss belonged.  In fact, his marriage was apparently arranged by the Guru .  India Today reported last month that the thespian had not yet named their child because the globe-trotting multi-bill

Fiction “A centipede is crawling across a road with a velocity of one foot per minute.    There are vehicles plying on the road at the rate of one per five minutes.    The vehicles are of various widths like bikes, cars and buses. What is the probability of the centipede crossing the road alive?” “Nil,” said Rohan without even thinking for a moment. Radhakrishna, the mathematics teacher, was stupefied.    He had expected the brilliant student to sit and apply some formulas.    What is mathematics without formulas?  Radhakrishna had given the problem to Rohan in order to keep him quiet in the class.    Rohan was an ADHD student according to the counsellor of the school.    He needed a lot of attention.    ADHD means that, hai na?    Attention Deficit?    So the loving and caring mathematics teacher gave him all the attention he could.    He gave him all the problems that his knowledge of mathematics could create.    He was particularly fond of algebra and Rohan turned

Fiction The passengers were turning the air-conditioner knob of flight SW 2552 from Ahmedabad to Delhi when the announcement came.  “We regret to inform you that the air-conditioning of this flight will not function properly for a while due to a technical hitch which is being rectified.  We solicit your cooperation and regret the inconvenience caused to you in the meanwhile.” “The air-conditioning will not work till we reach Delhi,” Shiv Kumar heard the passenger sitting next to him say. “Why?” asked Shiv Kumar. “Didn’t you see the VVIP passenger for whom the flight was delayed by two hours?” “Yup. That’s Khushi Ram Baba, isn’t it?” Who did not know Khushi Ram Baba?  He was a godman who was in jail for some time for raping one of his devotees.  The news had become a notorious controversy discussed in great detail by all the news channels in the country.  The godman reportedly fell ill while in jail and needed specialised treatment.  So he was being taken to

The Saint is a short story written by Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  In that story, a man named Margarito Duarte always carries around with him a small coffin with a dead body that never decomposes.  It is the body of his daughter who died at the age of seven because of a fever.  He had to disinter the body because a dam that was going to be constructed required the acquisition of the parish cemetery.  All the parishioners disinterred the tombs of their beloved so that the bones could be buried in a new cemetery.  Margarito found the bones of his wife who had died giving birth to their daughter.  But when he opened the tomb of his daughter he was in for a shock.  his daughter’s body had remained intact eleven years after the burial.  His daughter looked alive with her eyes open and sparkling.  Margarito, who had not studied beyond the primary school, believed what the villagers said: “the incorruptibility of the body was an unequivocal sign of sainthood.”  Even the loca

Book Review Book                : Prophet of Love Author             : Farrukh Dhondy Publisher         : Harper Collins India, 2013 Pages               : 314 Price                : Rs 299 Religion is an interesting subject of study and it can be studied from many different perspectives such as psychology, sociology, spirituality and literature.   For the vast majority of people none of these perspectives matters apparently.  For the vast majority, religion is an illusion or a placebo that provides the much needed solace during times of turbulence and anguish.  There is a minority who seek and discover genuine spiritual meaning with the help of religion.  There is another group of people who make religion the source of their livelihood. Farrukh Dhondy’s novel is about the last group primarily.  Mr Bhavnani and Ms Shanti are the typical commercial agents of religion.  They know how to sell religion.  They make wealth out of it, and nothing less than fabu