Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Changing Costumes of a King We overcame kings and established our own government in the name of democracy. Has anything changed substantially, however? It seems we just replaced the crown with a bandi coat. I pay all sorts of taxes every day, like all other normal citizens. On top of that, my government extracts large sums from me occasionally in the name of fines for offences that no one is aware of. Yesterday I paid INR 500 as fine + 4.05 as credit card charge. The offence hasn’t been made clear to me in spite of my complaint and enquiries. This is the second time the MoRTH [Ministry of Road Transport and Highways] extracts the same sum as fine for an offence which no one knows anything about. The first time it happened I went personally to my Regional Transport Office [RTO] and demanded evidence for my offence. They said they never provide any evidence. “The computerised system consisting of a network of surveillance cameras detects offences,” I was told. “What about the vide...

They were born under my care, tiny throbs of life, eyes still shut to the world. They grew up under my constant care. I changed their bed and the sheets regularly making sure they were always warm and comfortable. When one of them didn’t open her eyes after a fortnight of her birth, I rang up my cousin who is a vet and got the appropriate prescription that gave her the light of day in just two days. I watched each one of them stumble through their first steps. Today they were adopted. I personally took them to their new home, a tiny house of a family that belongs to the class that India calls BPL [Below Poverty Line]. I didn’t know them at all until I stopped my car a little away from their small house, at the nearest spot my car could possibly reach. They lived in another village altogether, some 15 km from mine. Sometimes 15 km can make a world of difference. A man who looked as old as me had come to my house in the late afternoon. “I’d like to adopt your kittens,” he said. He...

Books become my ideal companions in times of political turmoil. Right now, as you’re reading these lines, there are dozens of active armed conflicts going on around the world. Besides, developed countries like America are asking foreign students as well as others to leave. The global economy is experiencing significant instability, characterised by weak growth projections, persistent inflation, high debt levels, and geopolitical conflicts. Even when a country like India advertises itself as becoming the third largest economy, the living conditions of the poor aren’t showing any improvement. Nay, the world isn’t becoming any better than it ever was. It's when such realisations hit you from all sides, you need the consolations of an abiding hobby. Reading is at the top of my list of such hobbies. First of all, books help us understand current events in a broader context . They can reveal patterns in history: how democracies falter, how propaganda spreads, how resistance movements...

  When Indira Gandhi imposed a draconian Emergency on India 50 years ago on this day (25 June), I had just completed the first train journey of my life and started an entirely different kind of life. I had just joined a seminary as what they call an ‘aspirant’. One of the notice boards of the seminary always displayed the front page of an English newspaper – The Indian Express , if I recall correctly. I was only beginning to read English publications and so the headlines about Emergency didn’t really catch my attention. Since no one discussed politics in the seminary, it took me all of six months to understand the severity of the situation in the country. When I was travelling back home for Christmas vacation, the posters on the roadsides caught my attention. That’s how I began to take note of what was happening in the name of Emergency. A 15-year-old schoolboy doesn’t really understand the demise of democracy. It took me a few years and a lot of hindsight to realise the gravit...

India’s Central Board of Film Certification has directed the makers of a movie to change its title just because it contains the name of Janaki which is a synonym of Sita, the Hindu goddess. Worse still, the Board has demanded a name change for the titular character in the movie too – from Janaki to Jayanthi. The Government of India is presumably formulating laws banning the use of certain names - like: ·       Rama in zoos: we can’t have monkeys hailing Jai Ram to their leader. ·       Durga in gyms: how can we have Durgas lifting dumbbells? ·       Lakshmi in banks: the goddess of wealth deserves better than being reduced to a finance firm offering 3.5% interest. You are welcome to give more suggestions if you are a genuine nationalist in India. You can give other valuable suggestions too like the nationalists in West Bengal are demanding a ban on the consumption of fish because fish was one of the inc...