Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Struggle stories have the potential to destroy us as much as they have for inspiring.  A Shah Rukh Khan may eject himself from Delhi in order to find stardom in Bollywood, having gone through the necessary agonies and sporadic ecstasies on the way.  An Anupam Kher may land in Bombay from Simla possessing little more than two pairs of khadi kurta-pyjamas, walk daily from Bandra to the Prithvi Theatre and survive on vada-pav bought with money obtained through tutoring children... and eventually become a star.  For every SRK and for every Anupam, there are thousands who ruin their lives in the alleys and byways of Bollywood.  Standing in the autumn of life, I look back and pat myself on the back for not harbouring big dreams.  I wanted to be a writer.  That was the only dream I really had.  And I became a blogger.  At least that.  Small dreams, smaller achievements, no disappointments.  It’s only when my laptop went on strike a few days back that I realised writing was not a

Umberto Eco is no more. My review of his last novel: http://matheikal.blogspot.in/2016/02/numero-zero.html And my celebration of his first novel: http://matheikal.blogspot.in/2013/01/antichrist-and-other-philosophies.html

I am antinational Because I dream I dream about walking without the chains That shackled my forefathers With slogans woven from scriptures Antinational I am Because I dream For azadi In the dark alleys resounding with putrid slogans They killed the Mahatma again and again And erected temples for the killers Rewrote history Fabricated myths Killed rivals in encounters In the moonlight of dreams I clamoured for azadi Azadi from the darkness To which they were dragging me Azadi, I wanted, from darkness. Standing in the moonlight I could see the distant dawn They called me antinational Because I saw the dawn

In the verdict that hanged Afzal Guru, the Supreme Court observed that "... the collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded..."  The plain truth was known to all that there was only a circumstantial evidence against Guru, nothing that could fetch him the hangman's noose.  But the nation wanted a hanging, and Guru was hanged. We don't want this sort of entertainment any more - that's what some students of JNU said. Going against national pastimes is treason; doesn't JNU know that? Some criminal elements took advantage of the opportunity to shout antinational slogans.  Such elements should be dealt with appropriately.  If they belong to ABVP, they should be taught good manners first. If they are other disgruntled elements, the national conscience may require to be satisfied. Is nationalism justified when we have opened up everything including our self-respect to the global market? We have a Prime Mini

Book Review “... corruption rife, mafiosi officially in parliament, tax dodgers in government, and the only ones to end up in prison are Albanian chicken thieves.  Decent people will carry on voting for the hoodlums because they won’t believe the BBC, or they don’t watch such programmes because they’re glued to something more trashy...” The bizarre has become the normal.  That’s what Umberto Eco’s latest novel, Numero Zero , from which the above quote is taken, seems to imply.  It is a slim novel (190 pages) with a scanty plot .  Commendatore Vimercate is an entrepreneur who “controls a dozen or so hotels on the Adriatic coast, owns a large number of homes for pensioners and the infirm, has various shady dealings around which there’s much speculation, and controls a number of local TV channels that start at eleven at night and broadcast nothing but auctions, telesales and a few risqué shows...”  He now wants to start a newspaper, or pretend to do so, because he wants to e

"Losers ... always know much more than winners." Winners focus on one thing.  Focus.  Specialise.  And win.  That's the secret.  Don't waste time on other things. Blessed are the losers because "the pleasures of erudition are reserved for losers." The quotes are from Umberto Eco's latest novel, Numero Zero . "The more a person a knows, the more things have gone wrong," asserts the irrepressible Eco ( his narrator, rather). One of the pleasures of reading writers like Eco is that they tickle you into thinking.  Think about life. And be a loser? I've accepted my loser's streak with both humility and grace, rather recent entries into my genes.  So I sat down to ponder. If you choose to go on learning endlessly until the Doomsday (of your life, of course), can you be a winner?  No, you can't.  Learners are never winners.  Learners are discontented.  Nothing satisfies them.  Bad luck. Learners dream impossible dreams.  

Source “I am happy dead than being alive,” said Rohith Vemula in his suicide note.  He “loved Science, Stars, Nature.”  His country gave him superstitions, communal hatred and hollow slogans.  He died feeling hollow in a country whose Prime Minister keeps mouthing beautiful slogans about development.  The other day, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha compared Mr Modi to Indira Gandhi with respect to the dictatorial style that marked both.  Of course, he had to retract later for obvious reasons. Is Mr Modi converting India into Police Raj as Indira Gandhi did during Emergency?  The way the protesters in Delhi were attacked by Mr Modi’s police indicates that the Prime Minister is trying to re-create Gujarat in Delhi.  He probably hopes to extend it gradually to the entire country.  Or, maybe, it’s just the only way he knows to handle dissension with.  Senior leaders of the party were sidelined long ago by Mr Modi.  Not that those leaders would have worked wonders.  But