Tomichan Matheikal's blog

An Essay on Anees Salim’s novel The Blind Lady’s Descendants Superficiality is a deadly human vice though most people seldom realise it. It is easy to live on the surface of everything from one’s profession to religion. Anees Salim’s novel, The Blind Lady’s Descendants , tells us a story of superficiality as lived by quite many people. Amar, the protagonist of the novel, is 26 when he thinks that life is not worth living. He became an atheist at the age of 13. He had become a half-Muslim at the age of 5 when his little penis was circumcised partly since he ran away in pain during the process. Amar’s atheism, however, is as superficial as most believers’ religion is. What initiated little Amar to atheism is “Dr Ibrahim’s farting fit.” Islamic prayer has to follow many a rule. “If you break wind during namaaz, you break a big rule, and you are to discontinue the prayer then and there, with no second thoughts.” Little Amar was unable to control his giggles as Dr Ibrahim struggled to...

One of those old wells in Kerala [Pic from Mathrubhumi weekly, 7 Jan 2024] The Bombay Samachar dated 19 Dec 1936 reported a tragic event from Kalady [birthplace of Adi Sankara], Kerala. The report was about the child of a young mother that fell into a well. The hapless mother cried for help but no one rendered any assistance. Wells were not very common in those days especially because Kerala had a large number of natural water bodies such as rivers and lakes. The few wells that did exist were not accessible to everyone. Most of the wells belonged to the high caste people. The low caste people were not even allowed to go anywhere near the wells, even the public ones. If they did, the water would become polluted. Then there would be a whole lot of rituals to cleanse the well. The Bombay Samachar reported that a stranger happened to pass by and he readily got down into the well and saved the child. The man was appreciated and congratulated for his goodness and courage. But soon his ...

I suffer from identity crisis quite frequently these days. Every year in November, I face the most acute crisis because I have to prove to my government that I am alive. Otherwise the princely monthly sum of Rs 1812 (about 21USD) that I get from my most magnanimous government [“Modi’s guarantee,” as Modiji himself shouts from the rooftop these days ] as pension for having been a teacher for four decades will be terminated. ‘Life Certificate,’ the government calls it. It states that I am not dead yet as on the date when I go to any of those government machineries and give my thumb impression to prove that I am not dead so that I will get my pension . We don’t expect governments to be sensitive, of course. In fact, toilet seats are more sensitive than any government. [Prove me wrong, if you are part of any government. My personal conviction is that government is the biggest looter in any country.] Oh, ah, that sounds seditious. In my country, it can even mean my arrest. I live in the...

The only possession that Swami Gangadhar priced as precious was his copy of the Bhagavad Gita . His mornings began and evenings ended with meditations on randomly chosen shlokas of the Gita. But one day he lost the Gita. It was missing. He searched everywhere in his simple, ascetic room, where there wasn’t much space to search. He had no doubt that the Gita was missing. Only one person had entered his room that day, his favourite disciple Venkateswar. Swami Gangadhar smiled to himself. Venkateswar had mentioned the other day that he needed some money to help his mother. The shopkeeper from the neighbourhood came to meet Swami Gangadhar. He needed a small help. “Can you look at this book and tell me how much it is worth? Somebody wants to sell it and I’m not sure how much I should pay.” Swami Gangadhar smiled again. It was his copy of the Gita. “I’m willing to pay Rs 100 for it,” Swami Gangadhar said looking at the tattered book. He got his beloved holy book back. And his disc...

Image of the Ayodhya Temple from NDTV Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the Rs 18,000 crore temple of Rama on 22 Jan 2024. Any patriotic Indian should be filled with nationalist pride. Or, is it religious pride? Cultural pride? Well, you choose. As an Indian whose patriotism is highly questionable, I chose to contemplate on the very existence of Lord Rama. Google instructs me that Rama was born in Treta Yuga, the second period in the Hindu classification of history. Treta Yuga stretched from 2,163,102 BCE to 867,102 BCE, according to Google. The same Google tells us that homo sapiens arrived on earth some 300,000 years ago. Lord Rama lived long, long before homo sapiens evolved. “Hanuman was Lord Rama’s real subject,” a friend suggested. All the others are creatures of Valmiki’s imagination. “Mythology, man,” the friend reminded helpfully. Then what about Lord Rama? Did he evolve before time? A premature homo sapiens? I’m inquisitive. “Don’t you remember Plato?”...