Tomichan Matheikal's blog

My copy of the novel The Germans thought that Hitler was going to be their Saviour. His very memory nauseates them now. Joseph Stalin met with a similar fate. Mussolini did too. What will be the fates of Putin, Xi Jinping, Kin Jong Un, and (should I say?) Narendra Modi? All of these ‘great’ leaders are people who misused power. They are cowards at heart, psychology would say. Ask Eric Fromm, for details. O V Vijayan’s novel, The Saga of Dharmapuri , published in Malayalam originally, is about the cowardice of mighty leaders. You can claim to have a 56-inch chest. The moment you make that claim, you’re revealing the coward that lies deep in your heart. Such cowards wreak havoc of all sorts. They kill a lot of people. Never by themselves. They kill a lot of people using others. Using others in the name of religion or something similar. Killing is important. It proves that they are not cowards. Violent power is inevitably related to cowardice. That is one of the core themes of Vij...

Let me bring here today an old Malayalam story written by M T Vasudevan Nair who turned 90 a couple of months back. Titled The Sacred Sword and Anklet , the story is about an oracle [ velichapadu ] in a Kerala temple. Though the oracle’s name is Ramakkurup, no one calls him by that name. He has no identity other than that of the oracle. He has no name as far as the villagers are concerned. Nobody is concerned either about his living conditions. Ramakkurup became an oracle in his youth when his father, the former oracle, died. His grandfather was an oracle too. When Ramakkurup took up the profession, which by now had become a family profession, the devotees were happy because the young oracle had a tremendous lot of physical energy and churning passion. He would even bring the oracle’s sword down on his own forehead cutting it. Only his wife was anguished by the intensity of such passion. Even she didn’t, in all probability, understand that it was not religious fervour that made the...

S elf-discovery, spirituality and meaning in life were the predominant themes of the great writer Herman Hesse who won the Nobel in 1947. He spent some time in India and was fascinated by the Upanishads and other Hindu scriptures. Siddhartha (1923) was one of the resultant novels. Conrad Rooks made an excellent movie out of this novel in 1972 starring Shashi Kapoor in the lead role. Siddhartha is a young Brahmin whose marriage is being arranged by his parents when he decides to pursue asceticism. First he joins the wandering ascetics (Samanas), then goes to the Buddha, for attaining enlightenment. It takes years to realise that enlightenment cannot be taught by others. One has to learn it by oneself though others may be able to show some lights. Siddhartha’s spiritual quest takes him to a most unlikely person too: Kamala, a courtesan whose fee is beyond Siddhartha’s imagination. He decides to earn the money required and does it sooner than we would expect. He becomes the most lo...

Let me tell you a story. The names of the characters may sound odd because the story is from Norway, one of the happiest countries in the world. Thord Overass is the wealthiest and most influential member of the parish. He comes to the parish priest with a request to conduct a special baptism ceremony for his infant son. Special implies that it shouldn’t be a common ceremony with other infants of the parish. The parish priest agrees because Thord will pay for the ceremony. Money matters even in religion. Sixteen years later, Thord approaches the priest once more with a similar request for the confirmation ceremony of his son. The priest again nods his consent because there is money in it. Let me add that the priest was not a greedy person. It’s just that money matters even for a priest. Another eight years go and Thord approaches the priest once more, now for the wedding of his son. “Why, that is the richest girl in the parish,” the priest says when he hears the name of the bri...

“As I grow older, I discard one after another of my masks; but when, having discarded the last, the world sees my unknown features, I doubt whether a single cry of terror will be raised!” This is what Jerome tells his wife Gabrielle in Francois Mauriac’s short story, A Man of Letters . The story is a profound exploration of human love and relationships, particularly conjugal love. Husband-wife relationship demands a lot more understanding and compromises than any other relationship. Living together for years will result in knowing each other too well, warts and all. Can you accept all that you see in your partner? How much compromise are you willing to make? Or, can you rise to the level of God? The narrator of Mauriac’s story says that “It is God’s omniscience that helps Him to endure the sorrows of the world.” If we know everything about a person, we cannot but love him/her. But knowing any person that well is not quite possible. People wear masks to conceal their ugly aspects,...