Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Fiction When Ram Kumar hurried through breakfast and got ready to go out on Sunday, Mandira knew where he would be going.   Nevertheless she asked, “Shivam and Shivangi have a lot of homework.  Projects and FA assignments.  They need help.” “You help them; I have duty at Bhagwan’s gate.” Bhagwan was a godman who gave darsan every weekend to devotees.  Thousands of devotees would come seeking the godman’s blessings.  They would squat on the ground in an enormous hall and listen to Bhagwan’s speech.  And then they would render some voluntary service like cleaning up, cooking or serving the meals to the devotees or doing the dishes.  Ram Kumar always opted to render his services at the gate.  Frisking the devotees to make sure that they were not carrying any mobile phones or cameras or intoxicants.  The job gave him a strange sense of power.  “Jai Bhagwan!” he returned the greeting of each devotee with due solemnity. I have so much work to do, mumbled Mandira to hersel

Fiction Her face made my heart skip a beat.  Was it really her?  I had not met Maya for over thirty years.  But the perfect symmetry of her thin but mysteriously seductive lips could not have escaped me.  I was walking up towards the Hanuman Temple on the Jakhoo Hill in Shimla when the perfect symmetry on a wrinkled face beneath a silver shock of fluttering hair hit my heart like a perverse Kamadeva’s arrow.   She was wearing a saffron robe.  A rosary of fairly huge rudraksh beads lay on her breast.  The fire in her eyes had not burned out yet though melancholy was threatening to overpower it.  She had entered a narrow trail from the main road.  “Maya,” I called. She halted but did not turn back.  I called the name again.  This time she did turn back to look at the person who had uttered a sound that she did not apparently want to hear.  I walked closer to her.  She stared at me.  I smiled.  “Sam!” She said concealing her surprise with practised expertise.  “Why

The subtitle of Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles is A Pure Woman though Tess had lost her virginity before her marriage and later she commits a murder too.  Tess is seduced by Alec and gives birth to a child which dies.  Later, while working as a dairymaid she falls in love with Angel Clare, a clergyman’s son.  On their wedding night she confesses to him the seduction by Alec, and Angel hypocritically abandons her.  Angel is no virgin himself; he has had an affair with an older woman in London.  Moreover, Tess had no intention of deceiving him.  In fact, she had written a letter to him explaining her condition.  The letter was, however, lying hidden beneath the carpet in Angel’s room.  Later Alec manages to seduce Tess once again persuading her to think that Angel would never accept her.  Angel, however, returns repenting of his harshness.  Tess is maddened by Alec’s second betrayal of her and she kills him.  The Law hangs Tess to death. Hardy, the novelis

Chandigarh has a series of museums all adjacent to one another. They are an excellent place to spend a day especially if you are in Chandigarh during summer.  You can engage yourself learning much about history, music, art, architecture, and so on.   The Goddess welcomes you to the Museum The Buddha - 2nd century AD sculpture Maitreya Maitreya, according to Buddhist literature, is the future Buddha. He will come when people will have forgotten dharma and will be living in sheer evil. Similar beliefs are found in many religions. Didn't Lord Krishna promise Arjuna, "... Sambhavami yuge yuge"? The Bible promises a Second Coming of Jesus.  People were always aware of their own innate wickedness.  But instead of working on it in order to alleviate it if not eradicate, people chose to believe in some deity who would come and eradicate it.  Just one of the many futile absurdities of human existence! Gods are the most potent tools for man's escapist gam

The Rock Garden in Chandigarh is the work of a rare genius.  Only a Nek Chand could have created such beauty from sheer waste.  All kinds of waste from pieces of broken bangles and porcelain articles to boulders and electric sockets are made efficient use of producing an aesthetic wonder.   Nek Chand was not a trained artist.  Art was his hobby.  He spent his spare time creating works of art in a wasteland he cleared in Chandigarh.  As his work progressed and drew the attention of people, the government was in a conundrum.  How to destroy such exceptional artwork merely because it was built up on land belonging to the government?  Good sense prevailed (strangely!) and Nek Chand was given not only the permission but also regular employment with helpers to assist so that he could create the paradise in the semi-desert that Chandigarh is. Below are some pictures from my recent visit to the Rock Garden. Rocks welcome you Nek Chand was not only an artist, but he had certain e

One of the best places to spend the evening in Shimla is the Mall road.  Vehicles are not allowed on the road.  You can approach it by any vehicle (shared taxis or private vehicles) or walk up the narrow alleys flanked by shops of all kinds.  We chose to do bit of trekking and walked up.  If you are healthy person, it will take only about 15 minutes to reach the Mall from the old bus stand. The views from the Mall are delightful and grand.  Below are some pictures.  Way to the Mall Another view on the way The ascent lands you right in front of the Town Hall The antique and the contemporary coexist symbiotically In fact, the Tommy Hilfiger showroom is on the ground floor which did not attract me since it looked like any of today's showrooms anywhere.   Inside the Christ Church Stained glass windows of the Church Earlier the Christ church had on its walls elegant frescoes designed by J Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard Kipling and principal of Mumb

One of the many tourist attractions in Shimla is supposed to be the Scandal Point where the Maharajah of Patiala is supposed to have misbehaved with the daughter of Lord Kitchener, British Commander-in-Chief. The British government in India banished the Maharajah, of course.  He went and built a palace in Chail.   The historical fact seems to be that Bhupinder Singh who built the palace in Chail was just one year old when the scandal broke out.  Well, were the Singhs so potent that their one year-old royal offspring could proffer an amorous kiss on the lips of a young woman?  Better still, elope with her (as one of the gossips - I mean, tourist guides, explains!) History is not any better than this, most of the time.  And I'm speaking about the history of just a century ago.   I went to the Scandal Point in Shimla and got the picture below. Perhaps, history haunts the place even today!  This can happen only in India :) Scandal Point It looks like a haunted house.  And