Tomichan Matheikal's blog

A story from history “You will kill yourself,” Emperor Nero uttered majestically staring straight into the eyes of Seneca.   Seneca had been summoned to the Palace.   When he was ushered in, the Emperor was playing a violently cheerful tune on his fiddle.   He made Seneca stand and listen to his recital for a long time.   Every now and then he threw a mocking look at Seneca, his former advisor. “You have the liberty to choose the means of your death,” the Emperor said with ostensible magnanimity. “That’s very generous of you,” said Seneca. Nero glowered at him for a moment, ran the bow on his fiddle to produce a culminating crescendo and then handed over the fiddle to the maid who stood near him holding a chalice of wine. The Emperor took the wine from her hand just as he handed over the fiddle and took a sip. “Death,” said the Emperor, solemn and mocking at once.   “Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all.   Which is it for you, Sene

Fiction/Satire Chicken Makhani was almost ready when Tony de Miranda walked into the kitchen with his usual greeting, “Hi, Dosa.” Aditya Dasa never took offence when his friend called him Dosa.   They were bosom friends.   Both of them belonged to the same low caste.   But Tony studied in an English medium school while Aditya laboured in his father’s dhaba.   Tony’s father was rich enough to send him to school.   He made money by arranging people for the rallies and other functions of the political parties in the town.   Whenever any party wanted people for their function, a leader would approach Rajendra, Tony’s father.   The people who attended the functions never became rich though they were paid for their services but Rajendra did. Tony’s original name was Tanmay.   People used to call him Tony.   It was Father Robert de Silva of his school that added ‘de Miranda’ to the name.   Tony was a brilliant student who stood first in all the exams and many other things li

Empires have always tried to amalgamate small cultures into a big one.   The amalgamation has many benefits.   The most obvious benefit is the ease in governance .   It becomes much easier to govern when there is one code of law, one set of customs, one language, one religion, and so on.   Legitimacy is another important benefit. Most empires throughout history have claimed legitimacy for their amalgamation of small cultures by claiming that the conquered people benefit by the process of amalgamation.   The claim was not entirely wrong either.   For example, when many Indians accepted the Islamic or the British cultures they were certainly looking for their own benefits.   Many of the British contributions continue to dominate the Indian culture even today.   Most Indian men, for example, wear western trousers and western suits even when they preach aggressively the superiority of the Indian culture.   English, which is the most common link language in the country, is anot