Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Subramaniam had no idea where he had been.  All he could remember was the shipwreck and the lifeboat which he was pushed on to along with a few others.  The huge waves that tossed the boat up and down. When he opened his eyes a few men, naked except for the rags tied round their groins, were standing round his staring into his eyes.  There was fear in those eyes as much as curiosity.  A couple of the men carried a bow and arrow each.  It didn’t take him long to realise that he had landed up on the island of some primitive people.  His ship had wrecked in the South Indian Ocean.  The people spoke a language that was curiously similar to Subramaniam’s own.  After all, his was a classical language, one of the oldest in the sub-continent called India, one which withstood many onslaughts from languages of the North.  At any rate, his ability to communicate with the island people did not surprise Subramaniam too much since he had read Gulliver’s Travels and knew that Gulliver co

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect,” said Mark Twain.  Some members of the ruling BJP seem to have become so intoxicated with power that they are ranting and raving like people bereft of their sense.  It is time for them to pause and reflect.  And it is time for the Prime Minister to pause his reflection. A few days ago, Sakshi Maharaj advised the Hindu women of India to have four children each.  Now the Shankaracharya of Badrikashram orders the Hindu women to have ten children each.  Of course, the women aren’t so foolish as to take such exhortations to heart.  So nothing will change.  Yet it is worth asking the question: What motivates the Maharaj and the Acharya (supposedly wise people) to make such statements?  Do they think that the population of India is skewed against the Hindus?  Below are two diagrams that illustrate the population of people belonging to different religions, according to the 2011 Census of India

Historical Fiction “He is a mere scholar, he can never rule the people,” declared Napoleon Bonaparte as he signed the dismissal of Pierre-Simon Laplace as the Minister of Internal Affairs.  “Six weeks in power and what has he contributed?” thundered the Emperor.  “He sees subtleties everywhere, conceives problems instead of solutions and thinks in terms of infinity and infinitesimal.” Laplace was happy to be out of power.  He never wanted any political power in the first place.  But the Emperor wanted the most intelligent people to be in the government.  What has power got to do with intelligence?  Laplace did not ask that however. In the solitude and peace of powerlessness, Laplace perfected the Newtonian solar system.  Mediocre people wish to become stars on the earth.  Intelligent people wander among the stars in the heavens.  Newton was one such star who lived among stars.  But even he needed a divine hypothesis to answer certain problems in his scientific model.  L

“What is an illusion?” asked Rahul when he caught up with me during my stroll on the campus after dinner.  I was used to a lot of such questions from Rahul, one of my favourite students. “Look at the sky,” I said.  A few stars were visible notwithstanding Delhi’s polluted skies.  “Do you think all those are real stars?” “Aren’t they?”   Rahul was confused.  “We are seeing them.” “Yes, we are seeing them.  Do you know how many years it takes for the light of a star to reach us here on the earth?” “The light from the nearest star takes more than 4 light years,” said Rahul. “Good,” I said.  “It takes many more years for the light from the other stars to reach us.  Many of the stars die by the time their light is seen by us here on the earth.  So how many of those stars are real?” “Sir,” Rahul appeared slightly confused. “Are you suggesting that what is not real is an illusion.” “Well, almost,” said I.  “But the light is real, isn’t it, even if the star is n

Dr Kiran Bedi has finally landed in the Emperor’s camp and that was expected.  It was clear from the days of India Against Corruption that her ultimate goal was political power.  When she understood that Arvind Kejriwal was not the kind who could sway the masses as effectively as Narendra Modi, she made the right choice.  Who can blame her?  Why blame at all? Was Kiran Bedi an epitome of moral values and any kind of principles at any time?  Yes, as a police officer she did make significant contributions particularly towards making the prison system in India more effective and productive.  She was a good police officer.  Was she above blame?  In 1992 she got her daughter admission for MBBS course in Delhi’s Hardinge College by manipulating the quota for the tribal students of the North-east.  Ms Bedi (not Dr at that time) offered many justifications for her act but nobody who knew the facts would have bought her explanations. Later her NGO came under the scanner for

Rekha found my blog inspiring and decided to honour me with an award.  I don’t want to be ungrateful.  So let me fulfil the obligations imposed by the honour. I am to state 7 things about myself and that’s one of the easiest things I can do since I have a fairly inflated ego.  1.      The biggest challenge I face day in and day out is to keep my ego under control.  It is like an elephant that loses its self-control for no fault of its own. 2.      I love to make friends but never succeed in the attempts because of my own personal limitations.  So I choose to be contented with virtual friends ranging from Dostoevsky to Mario Vargas Llosa as well as quite a few bloggers. 3.      I have very few prejudices in spite of the numerous allegations to the contrary (that I am a highly prejudiced person) and I cling to those prejudices tenaciously.  In spite of those prejudices, I am more broadminded and open to new ideas and possibilities than my well-wishers may be willing to

The Times of India reports today (13 Jan) that Mr Amit Shah is going to issue a show cause notice to Sakshi Maharaj for continuing to make noises that are inconvenient for the BJP though they are in tune with the theme of the party’s hidden agenda.  People like Sakshi Maharaj and Sadhvi Jyoti are the religious faces of the party, while Mr Modi and Mr Shah are the political faces.  For the former certain medieval beliefs and practices are the truths, while for the latter those beliefs and practices are mere ploys for attaining and retaining political power.  It is possible that those beliefs and practices have some value for Mr Modi and Mr Shah too since they seem to be harbouring a hidden agenda: creating a Hindu Rashtra in India.  But transforming a nation from one constitutional system to another is not very easy, they know.  Bringing about the transformation by force will engender violence and bloodshed.  Neither Mr Modi nor Mr Shah want a civil war in the country.  That is one