Tomichan Matheikal's blog

  What, according to you, is the virtue that the world stands most in need of today?   #NeededVirtue [Indispire Edition 403] A little more sensitivity will make the world a far better place.   Can the wind kiss the leaves without shaking them so much as to make them fall? Green leaves quivering in the breeze that caresses them fondly fills my heart with romance. Often they are like lovers in an embrace. Sometimes like the infant in its mother’s arms.   The cool touch of the misty air on my face as I ride my scooter early in the morning. Sensitivity. Palpable was the moisture of the moonlight that was asleep on the village road until it got up and walked away as the dawn broke. Sensitivity is ephemeral. Like the rainbow somewhere far, far away.   The sun begins to lash soon. At the market junction, the loudspeaker blares charming slogans whose hollowness penetrates into the marrow of my bones. Is it impossible for politics to be sensitive? Is it impossible f

  Book Review Title: Price of the Modi Years Author: Aakar Patel Publisher: Westland, 2021 Pages: 488, Price: Rs 699 S ome leaders become extremely popular and may even acquire messianic proportions but end up costing the country a price beyond all imagination. Narendra Modi is one such leader, according to Aakar Patel’s book, Price of the Modi Years . The book has 13 chapters each of which deals with very specific aspects of Modi’s governance and provides the details of the damage done in each. Modi’s endless campaigns versus his actual delivery is the subject of the first chapter. Like in every chapter, hard-hitting facts and statistics tell us in no uncertain terms how Modi has failed in almost every domain that he has touched: from human development to religious freedom, economy to mass media, terrorism to climate. What you see in Modi’s diverse advertisements is far from the reality. Chapter 2, titled ‘The Godi Media,’ shows how the Indian media has become Modi’s l

Image from here Satchidanandam. The mammoth signboard was visible from far away. A surly face peeped from inside the enormous saffron gate beside the signboard as Joseph pressed the calling bell outside the gate. ‘I want to see Ramankutty,’ he said to the surly face. ‘Who?’ The face frowned. ‘Ramankutty, the man who owns this enterprise.’ Then he added as a vital piece of information, ‘He was my classmate, you know.’ ‘This is not an enterprise, first of all,’ the surly face said. ‘This is a holy ashram. And it belongs to Satchidananda Swamikal.’ ‘The same,’ Joseph said. ‘He was my classmate before he became Swami. You just tell him my name, Joseph George, and he will remember, I’m sure.’ The surly face was not convinced. But he let in Joseph after asking him to enter his details in the visitor’s register. A visitor, that’s what he was, Joseph realised. As he walked towards the Reception, he was greeted by various huge billboards on either side. For Firm and Full Breasts

  Image from Indian Express P Chidambaram recently called Modi a dictator and compared him to Hitler. He is one among many Indians to do so. I am one of the humbler ones in that galaxy of those who stand in awe of Modi’s rise to imperial eminence. I’m still haunted by what Modi said after he secured a thumping victory in 2019. “This is the 21 st century,” he said, “and this is new India.” For a moment I choose to forget that he took India back to the medieval period. Let me continue to be haunted by that 2019 victory speech. “Our victory in today’s election is followed by chants of ‘Modi! Modi! Modi!’” Just imagine Modi saying that. If you can’t imagine search for that speech on YouTube and watch it. “This is not a victory for Modi,” he went on. “This is a victory for the aspirations of every citizen of this country craving for honesty.” Wow! Modi shouting “Modi! Modi! Modi!” is what has kept haunting me. No one on the planet loves himself as much as Modi does, I think. Or is

  Image from Global China Daily K arnataka became the ninth state to pass a bill that makes religious conversion a crime. On the one hand, it is quite funny that a political party whose leader avows repeatedly that running business is not the government’s job is making religion its business. On the other hand, it is bizarre because we know the truths behind the Prime Minister’s assertions. When he says that running business is not the government’s job, he only means that he wants to sell India part by part to his wealthy cronies who in turn will pamper his insatiable ego. When his party gets anti-conversion bills passed, it only means to criminalise certain people. Modi’s party has seldom had noble intentions. Look, for example, at what happened in Odisha after the anti-conversion law was passed in an Indian state for the first time in 1967. Attacks on Christians began a few years after the passing of that law. The attacks culminated in the Kandhamal violence that resembled genoc

  W hile going to convert souls in the jungles of Uttar Pradesh, Rev Josiah was caught by a tribe of cannibals. He was bound to a pole and carried like an animal to the Headman of the cannibals with traditional fanfare. The Headman smacked his lips looking at the chunky body of the well-fed priest and told his people to make the necessary arrangements for cooking him. The cannibals cried ecstatically and got knives and pots and the fireplace ready. “Oh God!” Rev Josiah cried in consternation. “Are there cannibals even in this IT era?” Then to his greater surprise, the Headman said in chaste English, “Look, Father, I’m an IITian from Delhi. But tradition is tradition.” “With an IIT qualification and such extraordinary English, son, how can you eat a fellow human being? Hasn’t your education brought no change at all to you?” The priest wondered aloud. “Oh, yes,” said the Headman. Then he brought a pair of spoon and fork and holding them up like a proud trophy he said, “Change,

  Image from unsplash.com T his is the last post of the year 2021. The year that is dying hasn’t been particularly cheery. The pandemic hampered most movements. I would have loved to visit a lot of places as I had planned earlier. Worst of all, classes went online and I now have a whole batch of students whose faces I won’t recognise if I meet them somewhere. Two events of the year that worry me largely are not personal, however. They are about the nation. Both happened recently. One: the Haridwar hate speeches . Two: Cutting off foreign donations to Mother Teresa’s Charity and the attacks on Christian churches on Christmas day. These are all interrelated events. India has become a nation of haters and hatemongers. Most tragically, ascetics have become the foulest citizens spewing venom against minority communities. And the government is just mute. None of the authorities from the Prime Minister to the chief ministers of various states where the hate speeches and attacks took p