Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Source: Skeptical Science Charles Darwin didn’t coin the phrase ‘Survival of the fittest’. It was coined by the British philosopher Herbert Spencer who was a contemporary of Darwin. But Spencer owed to Darwin for the phrase. “This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Darwin has called natural selection or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.” That’s what Spencer wrote in his book, Principles of Biology . Spencer rephrased Darwin. The meaning is the same: survival of the fittest = natural selection. Nature selects the best and abandons the rest. Life is a struggle in which the fittest win and the others lose. That’s quite the law of the jungle. In the jungle every creature is born to run, as Christopher McDougall put it in his book, Born to Run . “Every morning in Africa,” he wrote, “a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a

Fiction   The roar of the waves shattered the silence of the midnight. The tide was high. The full moon shone brightly in the cloudless sky.  Joel sat down on the evasive sand trying to immerse the rage within his heart in the rage of the Arabian Ocean. It didn't take much long for him to notice the figure that was lying at a little distance. It was a man. He was lying on his back. Curiosity made Joel get up, walk towards the figure and sit near him after watching him for a while. Was he sleeping?  Excuse me, said Joel.  The man opened his eyes. He considered Joel for a moment and then sat up.  I'm a traveller, said Joel introducing himself, staying in that hotel. He pointed towards a large  building a stone's throw away.  I'm Amit, the man said listlessly. Usually no one comes to the beach at this time, he said after a while as if he was annoyed with Joel's presence. I didn't mean to disturb you, Joel said. I couldn't sleep. So I took a walk

I buried him yesterday morning. His body was found lying dead and cold on the roadside. A speeding vehicle had killed him in the night.  He walked into our life as a little kitten five months ago. Someone had abandoned him on the roadside when the autumn sky was turning dark. He walked towards the only light he saw, the one outside our house. Maggie and I were baffled a bit. He was too small, would he survive? That was our worry. We had no choice anyway but adopt him. Thus he became our Kunju, the Little One.  He stole our hearts with his playfulness. He would climb into our laps and make himself comfortable there for as long as it pleased him. When Maggie worked in the kitchen he would jump up behind her and untie her apron knot. He thought we were his playmates. We allowed him to use us as such. We loved the game as much as he did.  We miss him immensely. Memories don't die. Even a cat refuses to die from memories. "Kunju has made you a different man," my f

Three centuries ago, Jonathan Swift compared the law to a cobweb. The small insects will be trapped, but the bigger creatures will rupture the web and get away. Justice, like truth, is an elusive ideal. American philosopher, Barrows Dunham, wrote in his controversial book Man Against Myth that “truth has been suffered to exist in the world just to the extent that it profited the rulers of the society.” Justice also has been similarly loyal to the powerful people. Look at what is happening in India these days to understand this. Students of classes 4, 5 and 6 are charged with sedition because they staged a drama which questioned the prime minister. The headmistress and the mother of one of the students are arrested on serious charges. On the other hand, we have eminent political leaders of the ruling party who keep on delivering hate speeches day after day with impunity. Which is a greater crime: criticising the prime minister or spewing venom against whole communities of citi

BJP minister Prakash Javadekar thinks that there is no difference between an anarchist and a terrorist . You are patently wrong, Mr Minister, as most your counterparts are these days. Is Prof Noam Chomsky a terrorist? Was Leo Tolstoy a terrorist? Both of them are self-proclaimed anarchists. There are a lot more like them who either declared themselves to be anarchists or are/were anarchists at heart. I am one too, though I belong to the humble sidelines.   An anarchist is one who upholds individual freedom. Anarchists have a vital role to play when governments become oppressive as is the case in India now. India now has a government whose ministers and prominent leaders keep on shooting their mouths off whenever they see a microphone or camera. They spew venom against certain sections of citizens. Their ulterior motive is to oppress certain communities or groups and render them impotent. Anarchists have the guts to question the oppression and the falsehood that upholds the opp

Prejudice is a universal human vice. Indispire Edition 310 raises the question whether ignorance is the mother of prejudice. To a large extent, ignorance is the mother of prejudice. Or father, let us say. When we use the word mother here, isn’t there a bias? Psychology defines prejudice as a negative attitude towards people based on their membership in a group. Prejudice prejudges people particularly on the basis of the group(s) to which they belong. For example, Muslims are communal: this is a very common prejudice today in many countries. Prejudice can often lead to violent conflicts, hate crimes and unfair treatment of people. Ignorance is the chief cause of prejudices. Ignorance makes us categorise people too easily. Categorisation is inevitable as it helps us to organise and simplify our world. I lived in North India and the Northeast for most part of my adult life and I was labelled as ‘Madrasi’ quite often. The fact is I had nothing to do with the city that was calle

Yesterday Maggie said, "Let's go to Arthunkal." Arthunkal is a Christian pilgrimage centre in Kerala, about 65 km from my home. "Okay," I said. It's quite some time since Maggie and I went on a long drive. That was the only reason as far as I was concerned. For Maggie, the visit meant much more than that.  Outside the church When we reached, the 9 o'clock Mass had just begun. Maggie chose to attend the Mass. Since that sort of prayer doesn't make sense to me, I decided to explore the church whose history goes back to the 16th century. It's then the Perpetual Adoration Chapel caught my attention. The chapel is a semicircular building whose door, the only one it has, remains closed. You enter and the door closes behind you. The atmosphere inside is cool and calm. When I entered there were just 4 or 5 devotees inside who were all praying silently. I sat down on a pew and closed my eyes.  The church Serenity surrounded me. Soon I was bathe