Tomichan Matheikal's blog

The day Donald Trump strutted proudly to the White House, The Guardian concluded an article about Trumpism with the following paragraph: The religious right is in retreat, and the political appeal of free-market fundamentalism is fading. Republican strategists will now turn to Trumpism to replenish the well, enlisting its many supporters and sympathizers as foot soldiers for a new era of rightwing ascendancy. Now that Trump has reached the White House, the era of Trumpism has just begun. Source: Trump As Lord Vishnu? How Hindus In America Are Campaigning For Donald Trump Some sort of right wing balderdash always holds sway over collective imagination whether in America or India.  Religion may be losing its traditional sheen.  But it keeps reincarnating in the form of gau mata or Trumpism or something of the sort. But is religion really “in retreat”?  This is one question that refused to leave me after reading the Guardian article yesterday.  So...

Book Review Paul Beatty’s Booker-winning (2016) novel, The Sellout , is hilarious satire that makes fun of many things that America holds sacred.  But the satire and its fun are so much American that many Indian readers may find it hard to comprehend.  Frankly, I had to refer to the internet scores of times in order to understand the allusions that the novel carries on almost every page. The book and the author The narrator of the novel referred to by only his surname, Me, is facing a trial in the Supreme Court for keeping a black slave.  Me is black himself. The slave he keeps is Homini, the last of the Little Rascals actors still alive.  Homini wanted to be a slave.  It helps him retain his African-American identity.  The whiplash on his back makes his back feel good though his heart feels good while living in a Black-only area.  The narrator also has a strong though complex affiliation with Dickens, a Black-only ghetto.  Me...

The Prime Minister's announcement that currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 will be worthless paper bits from tomorrow comes too soon. Black money is a serious problem in the country and the PM's decision is quite revolutionary.  Think of the practical problems, however. There are thousands of people travelling long distances by the Indian railways right now, for example.  Their destination may be still two days away.  For example people travelling from Kanyakumari to Dimapur.  They order their food and are told by the caterer that he won't accept Rs 500 notes.  Should the passengers starve a couple of days? There are thousands of tourists on the move right now in the country.  Tough situation for them.  Hospitals, hotels, and a lot of other places may be forced to accept the banned currency which the PM himself referred to as "worthless paper." We are asked to go and change our currency reserve at banks and post offices.  But how many hund...

Hindutva India is very proud of its ancient heritage of Vedic wisdom.  At the same time, it is painfully aware of the futility of that wisdom in a world which is led forward at rocket-speed by Western science.  On the one hand, India sees itself as the Jagatguru.  On the other hand, it has a Prime Minister who goes to every country he can and tries to cash in on Western science as well as Western economics.  Modi’s India sees no contradiction in asserting the superiority of India while begging the other countries for all sorts of investments.  India knows that Western science and economic policies are what really matter in today’s world.  But it cannot digest that fact simply because it believes more in its gods, godmen and the scriptures with all their obsolete systems and worldview.  So Hindutva India will keep asserting that our Vedas and other scriptures contained all the science and mathematics much before the ‘cultureless’ Westerners ...

It’s been a rough ride from my youth until this day when my hairs have greyed and smiles are warped.  Very few things went right.  And the wrongs have been exacting teachers.  They have taught me that most stories do not have fairy tale endings.  Very few poems rhyme or follow rhythm.  The most beautiful smiles may be sustained by terribly battered hearts.  Unpredictability is the essence of life.  Which sperm out of the millions ejaculated gets to fertilise the egg?  What all genes do the chromosomes carry from each partner?  How do they configure their permutations and combinations?  There begins the story of life’s unpredictability. Once you are pushed out into the world, unpredictability is the ruler.  From your parents to your boss(es), from the priest in the church to the politician on the throne, from the fellow next door to the colleague on the next seat, there’s a whole range of permutations and combinations imp...