Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Image created by Copilot Designer Each New Year of mine was invariably overshadowed by the preceding Christmas. My entire childhood was lived out in a remote and nondescript village of central Kerala where electricity arrived when I was in high school. New Year meant nothing more to the villagers than the replacement of the old wall calendar with a new one. Just like the earth which went on revolving around the sun without ever knowing the human markers of time, the villagers continued their routine life on the first of January too in their farms. The Christmas hangover would linger, however. The crib was still there waiting to be removed. The star made of bamboo strips and mist-resistant paper was already brought down in all probability. Most people couldn’t afford to maintain, beyond a week, the oil lamps or the paraffin wax candles which were lit inside those stars with much care and caution. The crepe paper decorations in the crib would have begun to sag. There was no plastic i...

According to the data presented in the Rajya Sabha by the government of India’s ministry of external affairs, more than 200,000 Indians are giving up their citizenship every year. The number is increasing rapidly year after year even when the prime minister keeps telling us that we are going to be a $5-trillion economy. Well, Indians have stopped taking their prime minister seriously, it seems. When we realise that Indians are choosing to be Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nepalis, and Burmese, we may think the news is fake. But the information is given by our own government and it is true. Too many Indians are leaving India. “For rich Indians, home is no longer where the heart is,” writes Prabhu Chawla in the Sunday Standard , pointing out that 4300 millionaires including stars like Virat Kohli and family have abandoned India in 2024. Last year, the figure of such millionaires was 5100. In other words, it is not only the ambitious middle class that chooses to quit India. They are no...

Illustration by Copilot Designer 1.      Anachronism Ekalavya is eager to learn Unlike his contemporaries Who are buried in digital graves.   ‘What’s anachronism?’ He queries. ‘Anachronism is,’ says Bharadvaja, He pauses, muses, and pronounces: ‘Sita Devi’s chastity was questioned By a barber named Al Ansari bin Laden, According to the latest grave-digging Of Archaeological Survey of India.’     2.      Exorcist   History textbooks are haunted by the ghosts Of Akbar and Babur and Gandhi and Nehru. So the Prime Minister decides to become The Exorcist of the nation In order to save Ekalavyas From graves that refuse to be Closed by sward shroud.     3.      Redemption   Ekalavya opens his new history textbook. Words look like petrifying ghosts That want blood, Ekalavya’s blood. So he chooses to leave his country And settle down in Tr...

All images AI-generated When Gukesh Dommaraju became the Chess Grandmaster at the age of 18, I was reminded of my personal passion for the game as a young boy. I learnt the game when I was ten years or so and I was so passionate about it that I picked up a book by none less than Bobby Fischer, the most famous chess champion of the time, to learn master strategies. I lacked the commitment of Gukesh, however, and hence didn’t become any champion. But I loved playing the game in those days. I loved the strategic moves it demands. The game is like life in many ways. I failed to learn the strategies of a successful life, however. That’s a different matter. You can be a loser in practical life in spite of knowing a lot of theoretic strategies. As we are moving on to a New Year , I am tempted to make a comparison between chess and life, though I failed to convert the theories to practice. Never mind my personal failures. My life has reached its autumn, and so my successes and failures are...

Has Christmas been hijacked by Santa Claus and his snow cap? And also by plastic? This is a concern raised by a friend who is also a Catholic priest. Watching the Christmas celebrations around me in the last few days in various places – religious as well as secular – I know my friend’s concern is genuine. Christmas has been “Caesarianized,” he says. The spiritual preparation during the Advent season has given way to Santa Claus and his jingle bells. To discount sales in shopping malls. What’s worse, various Christian organisations send out carol teams on floridly decorated open vehicles equipped with high decibel loudspeakers that shatter all the peace while blaring out carols on ‘Peace to people with goodwill.’ It is a Christmas without Jesus. Santa Clauses tower far above the diminutive figure of infant Jesus, if the latter is there at all in the carol teams and other celebrations. Look at any commercial brought out during the season and you will think that Christmas is all abo...