Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Philosopher Schopenhauer was doomed to pessimism by his very circumstances, says Will Durant in his famous book, The Story of Philosophy .  “(A) man who has not known a mother’s love – and worse, has known a mother’s hatred – has no cause to be infatuated with the world,” writes Durant in his inimitable style.  Schopenhauer’s mother was a novelist of some repute.  His father committed suicide when Schopenhauer was 17.  His mother soon took to free love.  She had little love for her husband anyway; she thought of him as too prosaic.  Durant compares Schopenhauer’s dislike of his mother to Hamlet’s attitude to his mother after the death of his father.  Schopenhauer grew up hating women.  “(H)is quarrels with his mother taught him a large part of those half-truths about women,” says Durant.  He despised women as impulsive creatures with no aesthetic sense and totally lacking in intelligence.  He told his mother that she would eventually be known not for her books but for his.  He

The little girl smiled.  Her father noticed it though he was leading her by hand to their car in the parking lot.  He was taking her home after school.  He noticed her smile because he saw the bearded man sitting under a tree with a book in hand smiling at his daughter.  “Who is it?”  Father asked the daughter. “Who?” asked the girl in return. “The man who smiled at you.” “Don’t know.” “Why did you smile at him then?” “Because he smiled.” “Don’t smile at strangers,” he said sternly as he helped her on to the seat. “Why dad?” “Because,” he hesitated.  How is he to explain to a four year-old child why strangers are potential enemies.  “Because, strangers may not be good people.” She looked at him.  Did she expect an explanation?  She had started asking a lot of why’s these days. How can I explain this to you, my daughter?  How can I tell you that most smiles today carry poison?  Invisible poison.  You won’t even understand how smiles can ca

One of the first roses that bloomed in my little garden The following poem was inspired by it.  Why do you look so penitent like Tagore’s flowe r that asked the master to pluck it without delay lest it droop and drop into dust? Aren’t we all made for the dust? You leave me wondering, however, whether it’s the same master that created the night’s worm which seeks out your bed of crimson joy . Isn’t the worm made for the dust too?

Sunday Musings BJP’s Kerala state general secretary, Surenderan, has an opinion that is quite different from that of his party about women’s entry to the Sabarimala temple.  He thinks that Lord Ayappan, the presiding deity at Sabarimala, is not a misogynist though he is a “perpetual celibate.”  But his party was quick to distance itself from the Facebook post of the state general secretary.  The state president, Kummanam Rajasekharan, dismissed the secretary’s view as “personal.” How many compromises can we make between our personal views and those of the organisation or party or system to which we belong religiously? I am an absolute hypocrite when it comes to religion.  I find it impossible to believe anything of what religions teach.  My very being rebels against the teachings much as I acknowledge the inevitable role of delusions and illusions in a normal man’s life.  In spite of the nausea they germinate in me, I participate in certain religious rituals. I partic

“A corpse can be revived,” says Frank Hunter to Andrew Crocker-Harris in Terence Rattigan’s one-act play, The Browning Version . Andrew is a martyr because he refuses to assert himself where required.  He knows that his wife, Millie, is unfaithful to him.  In fact she enjoys taunting him by telling him about her affairs with his colleagues.  Andrew continues to tolerate her because he thinks divorcing her would be “another grave wrong” he would do to her.  What’s the other wrong he had done her?  Frank asks.  “To marry her,” answers Andrew. Andrew and Millie are total mismatches.  Millie is sensuous and earthy.  Andrew is intellectual and ethereal.  “Two kinds of love,” Andrew explains.  “Worlds apart as I know now, though when I married her I didn’t think they were incompatible.”  Andrew wanted affection and companionship, the emotional delights of love.  Millie wanted the physical delights.  Andrew thought that the kind of love he required was superior and never imagined

Source: Here Let us go then, you and I, When the evening threatens with phantoms of nightmares rising amid the gongs and chants in the Baba’s kingdom. Let us go, through certain half-deserted corridors, The muttering retreats of restless souls in search of what they know not. Netajis and Lalajis meet to conspire, Having donned the mask to suit the affair, Baba ensconced himself on god’s throne, His women standing around with smiles on ready-to-serve masks. The chanting rose in the huge pavilion Like ghosts in search of their places of rest While the gongs resounded in the vacuum  of yearning chanting hearts Baba stood up having signed the latest deal With Netajis and Lalajis And the women’s masks smiled The eyes met furtively. And I have known the eyes already, known them all – The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase. Baba dictates formulas to chanters and gongers Netaji to chelas Lalaji to bankers Women to Bab

Image Courtesy: theodysseyonline Human beings make a difference even to the planet.  According to geologists, human beings have altered the fate of the planet.  The earth has now entered a new geological epoch which they call Anthropocene.  The 12000 year-old Holocene has come to an end. Human activities have altered the very nature of the planet.  It is no more the mountains and their glaciers, or the oceans and the cyclones, that determine the fate of terrestrial life.  Man has reasons to be proud of himself: it is he who shapes the destiny of the earth. Should he be ashamed of himself, rather? Human activities have increased the acidity in the oceans which in turn will make the marine creatures to evolve and develop shells to withstand the man-made poison in the saline waters.  Geologists predict that future limestone will come from the shells of these marine creatures. Nitrogen content in the atmosphere has been affected.  River deltas have shrunk.  The very