Tomichan Matheikal's blog

In his famous book, The Conquest of Happiness , Bertrand Russell argues that the most fundamental way to attain happiness is to take genuine interest in other people and things.  Happiness requires a movement away from oneself, from the ego and its gratifications. We live in a world which encourages infinite ego gratifications.  More than half of the advertisements are for products that promise to boost one's ego.  No wonder a lot of people remain unhappy.  Too many people are drifting if not sunk deep in the ocean of their own egos.  Social networks and other such platforms are, far from being agents of genuine camaraderie, tools for self-promotion. Even gods have been enlisted, more than they were in history ever, in the perpetual aswamedha being performed by the ego.  Thus people attain remarkable success, positions and wealth using gods and cults. And remain unhappy!  The more perverse ones go to the extent of detonating bombs upon perceived threats to their egos.  They th

Germaine Greer once defined the library as a place where you can lose your innocence without losing your virginity.  The implication is that knowledge or awareness deflowers your consciousness.  What Satan offered to Eve in Paradise was nothing other than the fruit of knowledge.  As a consequence of eating that fruit, Eve lost her virginity with double delight: physically as well as cognitively. According to the Bible, she along with Adam discovered shame after devouring the fruit of knowledge. Awareness leads us to the discovery of shame, loss of innocence over and again. When the real criminals enjoy positions of power or relax in paradises abroad and petty thieves or even innocent people get life terms in prisons, we discover the shame of our race yet again.  People who are worshipped as godmen or ammas are crooks at the least and hardcore criminals most often.  Lies metamorphose into truths in the new gadgets. Truth dies in infancy. Expediency is new morality. Awareness deflow

Fiction It was past midnight when something that rubbed against the window pane woke me up. Maybe a leaf carried by the gentle breeze that wafted occasionally in this village not far from the sea. I turned on my side and decided to fall asleep again. But the window whispered again in the unfathomable darkness.  I stared into the darkness. The breezy whisper became a creepy rap on the window pane.  Gentle rap, like a seductive woman's inviting smile. 'Let me in.'  I thought I heard someone say. I started. Sitting up on the bed, I peered into the dark void outside the window. 'Why don't you let me in?' The voice asked and the window pane groaned.  Sweat trickled through every pore in my skin. 'You are alone,' the voice went on, 'and so am I.  Why not be company to each other?' My heart was in my mouth and so I couldn't even cry out. 'Ah! You don't want me,' the voice sighed. The sigh petered out into the void beyond

Donald Trump has become the latest addition to the overcrowded Indian pantheon. Hindu Sena celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday in Delhi and its leader, Vishnu Gupta, has declared Trump "the saviour of humanity"  and "Messiah against Islamic terror." Last month the Sena had organised a Havan for Trump's electoral victory. It doesn't matter whether Trump hates Indians and holds them in contempt. It doesn't matter whether the Indian holy cow is part of his staple diet. Gods are above the rules for the common folk. Jai Sri Donald Trump!

Delivering the concluding address at BJP's National Executive yesterday, Mr Modi presented seven mantras to his party workers.  Empathy and self-restraint are two of the seven resounding mantras.  The problem is that they only resounded like some hollow echoes in a wilderness because they were accompanied with Modi's abiding taunting of the Congress.  All those great mantras lost the wind in their wings because of the cognitive dissonance that accompanied the rhetoric. Empathy and taunting don't go hand in hand.  Mere rhetoric has never swayed any heart so far.  That's why Modi's speeches make no ripples in spite of his being an excellent orator. Perhaps, the most pathetic fate that Modi is inflicting upon his party is the compulsive need to flog the Congress even after the latter has become as good as a carcass.  Modi should deliver himself and his party from all forms of hatred which has marked them right from the beginning.  The BJP has to take positive steps

The young man who perpetrated the mass murder in an Orlando nightclub is a typical symbol of the contemporary religious zealot.  He is not much different from some of the godmen and their cults in India. The cult that let loose its sanctimonious insanity on the Mathura police recently are also imagining itself as the Messiah of India. Religious people who perceive themselves as holier than the others are the greatest threat to contemporary civilisation.  All sorts of terrorism - overt as well as covert - emerge from that infantile self-image.  The phenomenon is nothing new.  It has marked most religions right from the beginning of human history. Can we not save ourselves from these holy murderers?  Can they be successful without our cooperation? 

We are what we pretend to be. What's it that prevents us From not pretending?