Tomichan Matheikal's blog

A scene from rural Kerala

Tuskegee was a little town in Alabama, USA, when Booker T Washington was invited to establish there a school for the coloured people of the state in the year 1881, 16 years after the Emancipation of the Negroes.   The Tuskegee Institute became famous for the holistic education it provided to the coloured students.   Washington did not provide mere bookish learning; he taught the students one trade or another so that they could earn their living as soon as they left the school.   Mere earning of livelihood was not Washington’s objective, however.   Education is “any kind of training... that gives strength and culture to the mind ,” says Washington in his autobiography, Up from Slavery (prescribed as an optional supplementary reader by CBSE for class XII). Washington’s book is a heart-touching expression of a profound philosophy which seeks to discover the good in every individual and cultivate it irrespective of race or religion.   There is a passage in the book which eloque

Dr Manmohan Singh, our Prime Minister, reminded recently of the country’s economic security.   On the basis of GDP, India ranks at the 10 th place in the world.   However, when it comes to per capita income the country’s rank is a pathetic 141.   We are a rich country with poor people, in other words. GDP is the sum of all the products and services of a country.   If we calculate the sum of the entire amounts spent by the government and the private sector including individuals as well as the savings and earnings from exports and then subtract the sum spent in imports, we will get the country’s GDP for the concerned year. Interestingly, the GDP will grow when prices rise.   When you spend more money on petrol or shopping or medicine, you are raising the GDP of your country.   If you wash your own clothes instead of paying a launderer for that, or polish your shoes instead of paying a shoeshine boy, or cook your own food instead of eating at a restaurant or some such plac

Reading Deepak Chopra’s latest book, The 7 Spiritual Laws of Superheroes , is like experiencing a dream.   Chopra has a peculiar fascination with the number 7 just like Ayurveda has a fascination with odd numbers.   The number is quite irrelevant, I think.   The message is quite simple though profound: live with a clear idea of what you want from life and you will be a superhero. “It’s not the moments of tragedy that define our lives,” says Chopra quoting his son Gotham who is quoting Batman and who is also the co-author of the book under review, “so much as the choices we make to deal with them.”   The entire book, just like most other books of the kind, is about how we can equip ourselves properly so that we will make the right choices when faced with tragic situations.   That’s why reading it is like experiencing a dream: we know and love the ideal, but the bitter struggle between the ideal and the reality constantly wakes us up. This time Chopra has chosen to take exam

Arikuzha is a relatively small village in Kerala.   It is the village in which I was born and brought up.   The lush green that undulates in the rolling landscape is not unique to this village.   Kerala is blessed with the bounty of nature in many ways.   Hills and valleys, rivers and backwaters, and the whole coastal area on the west make the state a palette of variegated offering. Here are a few pictures from Arikuzha.   Road through the village River through the village Temple on the river bank Yesterday while I was walking along the village road I met an elderly person (74 years) who asked me whether I had any problem in my leg.   I was limping slightly due to the fracture I had suffered in my foot three months back.   I explained the matter to him.   In the afternoon he came to my home with a herbal medicine he prepared himself.   He advised me how to apply it on the foot and assured me that in 5 days time or even before that my limping would van

I'm continuing with more pictures from my home where much of the food is prepared in the backyard plots. It's all organic food; no artificial fertilisers or insecticides used. Yam Tapioca Tapioca was the staple food of Keralites in the bygone days, the era before McDonald, KFC, etc. Cattle feed Rain Kerala depends much on the monsoon for its water supply and even electricity supply.  The monsoon seems to have marked its beginning this year. May the showers bring a lot of blessings to the plants, animals, people... Let there be joy all around.

Some pictures from my home in Kerala where I'm on a month-long vacation... My Home Some innocent friends More friends So many more... More pictures and friends to follow...