Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Much before the skies turned turbulent for Spicejet, I had booked my return ticket from Kerala on one of their flights.  A week before the journey to Kerala I logged on to their website just to ensure that the flight was not caught in the turbulence only to be disappointed.  My flight was cancelled.  I tried to contact the customer care using all the numbers available and no one answered the calls.  Nor did my email elicit any response.  Finally I got my flight rescheduled from the Spicejet counter in Delhi airport.  It was a Kochi-Pune-Delhi flight. When we reached Pune my wife and I were asked by a Spicejet staff who was checking the boarding passes of the seated passengers, “Why didn’t you de-board?  Your flight ends here.”  I protested and showed my ticket to Delhi.  “But your boarding pass is only up to here,” and she pointed at the boarding pass.  True, I had failed to notice that.  The man in Kochi airport who issued us the boarding passes had made a mistake.  Our chec

Memories can be miracles.  They can bring about transformations within us.  My recent visit to Kerala was for a reunion of some friends who studied together from 1976 to 1978.  Meeting again 36 years later is a momentous experience.  The boys had become men.  The men are now involved in a wide variety of professions, ranging from today’s most popular profession of converting people from their religions to the least preferred job of fighting for justice.  There were jewellers and chartered accountants in between.  And a schoolteacher like me.  Quite a few priests too.  The spouses and children of those who were not priests added a unique charm to the gathering. People had cancelled or rescheduled important assignments just to make it to this gathering.  A few travelled all the way from as far away as the USA only for this occasion.  A few had spent a lot of time and money making the necessary arrangements.  I loved it.  What a meet it was!  So many people from such a wide

Neither the sun nor the earth has a calendar. Time is an eternal flow. A circular flow. We make calendars and mark days and years. The circle turns linear and we perceive progress, progressive motion.  Calendars make linear what is in fact circular. In the linear world runs history replacing monarchs with democrats and savagery with civilisation. But the earth can only make circular motions. Are we caught in a vicious circle? The calendar can straighten out the circle. That's why the new year day matters. It offers hopes. It throws challenges. All creation is a stepping out from a circle. This new year fills me with a craving: my country should step out of some worn out circles and move forward. Circular motions in history don't bring progress. I hope, I dream. Happy New Year.