A LETTER FROM MY FRIEND…

You might be wondering why I had no posts for this much long time. Well, I’ll say that. I’m so happy now that I received a lot of feedback, both good and bad from your side. This is quite inspiring for some beginner blogger like me whose page rank is still stuck on ‘0’.

           

The delay for a new post was because of some decision I took. A friend of mine made me take that decision. Once while we were talking over many things, she came to share with me some unsaid experience with late Kamala Surayya (Kamala Das). At first I didn’t show any interest but when she continued saying about it, I began listening. After hearing the whole story I kept that in mind. Thought a lot about it again and again. For many days I didn’t talk to her about that. And at last one day I asked her to write about that experience for me. The very first answer from her side was “No!”. Then I took a decision and said her that only that will be my next post. Hours, Days and Months passed n nothing happened! Some days ago, One pretty morning (Prettier by her voice?!) she called me and asked “Rosh, have you stopped writing? Why no new posts in your blog?”. And I said “I have already told you na?, that the next post will only be about your meeting with Kamala. The word stays so.” I got a positive answer in the very next moment from the mouth of that idle idiot for the first time to my request (or probably my stubbornness?)

And days after…,Today,  I got a mail. A mail from my friend. Or call it a mail from ‘X’. My most favourite reviewer ‘X’

I wrote this post a few days before. Many reasons kept me away from posting this, like the troubled Internet at home. Or one reason for all these happened this way might be for giving her a tribute exactly a year after she passed away by revealing some unsaid experience she had with my most favourite ‘X’. A tribute to

“Even when she  melts and melts and become an ocean, That which still remains is him!”

A letter from my friend…

Where do I start from?   May be with a bone breaking blow on your face……… Rosh!!!!!!! How many times did I tell you I am too lazy to write?

Well, my heart was literally in my throat when I rang the door bell of her flat at Kochi. I knew she’d be expecting me. I had rung her up and told her I’d come. Just to see her, for real. She had tried to guess my age over the phone from my voice…. I told her she could see for herself and tell me.

I was enthralled when she opened the door herself. In crystal clear Malayalam, in a voice which reminds you of the softest of bell chimes she said “oh…..you are the girl who called me earlier? Come on in, come on in” (Rosh, i.e. Varoo, varoo)

There was a very sweet, definitely feminine fragrance in the drawing room. Krishna’s statue, books, all kept in order.

Without any preamble she said …… “You are so very young and so very pretty….” I was elated, flattered, my cheeks felt hot……” I just smiled at her. “Very few people can smile the way you do, dear” (Rosh, she said kutty). Oh!! I studied her amazing smile.  Beautiful lips revealed beautiful teeth…..the sparkle in her eyes…. Such a beautiful woman!!! You could see her soul in her eyes…so open, so vulnerable…… yes vulnerable. I asked her whether I should call her Amma or Aami. She laughed….. I didn’t know laughter could be so sweet in its sound!  Whatever you call, don’t call me Kamala Das…..well…… everyone calls me that. Not that I don’t like my name. She laughed again. Brief, sweet, laugh.

She asked about my family. Told me so much about her children, husband. I realized she loved her husband and kids very much. May be not as much as she loved her loneliness and her Krishna…….(that’s my musing ok?)

“From the way you talk, I know you write, don’t you?” When I answered negative, she scolded me for not using given gifts. That’s when she asked me whether I had learnt dance, on hearing my positive reply, she made me do a bit of Bharatnatyam. I tried my best to make her understand, how long it had been since I really tried out a full rendering…. All in vain. I did as best as I could. Lack of practice, I was soon out of breath, sweating…….. She made me sit right next to her. “Very talented….why didn’t you continue learning dance?” .The sweetest ever disapproval (again I didn’t know disapproval could be sweet) painted her voice.

She talked about Radha, Krishna………..yes true to her poetry she was so in love with Krishna, the perfect lover. As her critics say, bhakthi absent in her musings even now. But I felt she was moving closer to the perfect love of a soul to another soul from “love of the skin” (physical love, in her own words). She was pretty sure there was no woman who could not be in love with Krishna. When I said I didn’t know Krishna all that well, she laughed……really laughed, heartily. And said “….I am sure he knows you well enough and will find you  one day and come to you.  He can’t over look someone as beautiful as you…….” 

She was equally sure, barring a few truly holy exceptions, there was no woman who was never attracted to another woman at some point in her life.

We talked, laughed for over 2 hours. Anyone else in her position would’ve suspected me to be from the press. But she trusted me and believed in what I said about myself. “Do you want to take a photo of us together?” she asked when I said my time was almost up, for reasons you know, Rosh, I said no. She hugged me tight when I got up to leave. I couldn’t help my tears. I had never come this close to beauty before and didn’t want to leave the perfect woman, yes perfect……the definition of a woman sans any pretenses. A woman who was woman enough to openly say she was a woman…….

Tears sparkled in her eyes too.  Our meeting was to be my precious secret. I wouldn’t have told  anyone. And now Rosh, you are posting it on for ALL to see!!! It’s ok… J

Hope this meets with your approval. Tell me deficits, I’ll try to rectify.. Bye.

The name of X isn’t important. The experience she had with that great woman is which matters…

rosh

If you have power...

And you have won the game of death!

I‘m back home after almost two months. Was busy last month in college with the usual boring lectures, nut cracking exams, festivals.... Certain news always has the power to attract us. No matter, in what situation and where we are, we will try to listen to it. I came across such a news piece today! It was about a nowadays media habit - A reality show! I listened more to it as we also organised a reality show in college as a part of technical fest.

The facts about the reality show aired by a French network called “Le Jeu de la Mort” or “Game of Death,” were shocking. Actually it was a psychiatric experiment faked as a competition. In order to win it, contestants had to push a button that delivered electrical shocks to a man on a chair. They could deliver a maximum of 460 volts on to the man. Motivated by the desire to win, 64 of the contestants (an overwhelming 80 percent) pushed the button and “killed” the man, no matter how hard he screamed, pled or cried. What the people on the show and the audience did not know was that the man was an actor, there was no electrical current in his chair and they had just been tested to see how low they’d scoop for a shot at fame and, presumably, a prize in cash. The man on the chair was a very good actor that he acted his maximum to show that he is in a 300+ volt shock! The fictitious game show had all the trappings of a real TV quiz show, including a beautiful and well-known hostess, and a raucous audience. A group of contestants posed questions to a man sitting inside a box in front of them in an electric chair. The hostess and a chanting audience urged the players — who had levers in front of them — to send jolts of electricity into the man in the box when he gave an incorrect answer. Even when the player screamed out in pain for them to stop, 80 percent of the contestants kept zapping him. In reality, the man in the electric chair was an actor who wasn’t really being shocked — but the players and the audience did not know that.

This experiment was done related to a basic approach put forward by American social psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1963. In order to investigate the cruelty in behaviour of Nazi guards, he took a sample population and did some game similar to this. He created a bogus authority which ordered volunteers to administer electric shocks of increasing severity to an unseen person who answered questions wrongly. Amazingly 60 % of the volunteers obeyed the instruction and were ready to do that. The truly shocking fact is that, the mob attracting factor- television- easily increased the number by 20% in less than 50 years! The show organisers even said that people will be ready even to kill for fame through television. I guess the time for primetime reality shows to murder people is not so far. This experiment rooted on Mr. Milgram’s experiment proved that television was somehow uniquely capable of brainwashing people into committing murder. The original experiment done 50 years ago gave somewhat similar but contextually different result. It suggested that the real problem was something deeply rooted in the human psyche: the incapacity of a large majority of people to resist authority or to refuse to follow a crowd or mob.

However this reality show paved light to some shocking as well as very important matter. If somebody says you to kill someone showing some fake papers and make it look like legally not punishable, 80% of you will be ready to do that. Shocking, Isn’t it?

Sorry India, from a Pakistani!- About an apology!

This one is after a quite long gap. One of my most favourite reviewers fed back me that i sounded like an orthodox leftist in my last post with some usual anti American dialogues. I have a word for that friend here. That was not about being left, it was about saying what a common man could feel. Well, I admit that I am shifting my views from right. Not from right to wrong! My left is not the usual left you see here in this nation. This word usage which came into existence at the time of French revolution has gained a lot of circumstantial meanings in this era. I had nothing to do with Obama. I just had a critical view about what happened. Here in my country criticism often is synonymous to leftism. More accurately, we can say reasonless criticism. A man once said that Change is the only thing without change. Strange but funny, his followers’ even hates change!


I am writing again after a long time. And hence I was confused a lot, how I should start with. But I have something interesting to talk about. Two months ago, while I was checking my face book, came across an ad of a blog. The ad was catchy saying “Sorry India for 26/11”. I wondered, anyone responsible for the act is not even regretting and then who the heck is apologising?! It was the time when, even Ajmal Kasab denied, he did that. Had no second thought and clicked the link.
The link opened gave me a very good impression. It was not a blog like mine, but with lots of hits I read the last post with the same caption of ad as its heading. It actually was an apology on the wake of a documentary done by National Geographic channel with collected data including tapped phone calls from Pakistani, giving instructions to the terrorists. After reading that, I went through his older posts too. There I saw a totally different man with strong anti –Indian views. Then I went through the comments he got. There were many and I started reading them one by one. The more I read, the more I was shocked.
There were comments backing India, Pakistan... Supporting the author, opposing him... I even found a very strange one saying “LeT is actually helping Islam to escape from the hands of Hindustanis. Why is the Pak military backing them only in moonlight? According to me, they should give open help to LeT”. Do any one dare to say that this is not strange? Also there was something in comments mentioning about the cruelty done by Indians to the Kashmiris!
But what really made me feel something in heart was that all these explanations were to justify lots of killings. How can you even justify that? I know, I am writing about this much late. But still, these are always relevant. Especially in this situation while democracy in Pakistan is degrading so fast. Bomb blasts are usual like Friday movies!

I also saw a report in famous Pak newspaper DAWN web site saying that “the Pranab Mukhergee” who called Pak president and US state secretary and “the Pak president” who called Indian Home Minister was a terrorist in Hyderabad jail. And they were planning for another India Pak war!

I still don't know why common man gets attracted towards terrorism! The movies has a great role here. Something called anti Pak terrorism is always inspired by Indian movies. For example movies like "A wednesday " could inspire youth a lot to do acts like that. The movie makers do intend goodwill, but sometimes what happens is above intentions and that is the worst case.

We are hearing a lot about terrorists of kerala now a days. Our state which we thought comparatively less vulnerable to terrorism is in the grip of terrorism, we have to doubt! A few inspirational words and a bag full of money is enough to make followers among teenagers. And this situation is exploited.

A new year has come. Let the 2010 be a prosperous year with no more tears like 26/11. We just can wish that world should never remember some incident just by the dates...

c u again
rosh

Nobel Prize!

Alfred might be regretting!

Happy time for Keralites; Nobel peace prize for Malayalee student Roshan

2010, Norway, Kottayam: Happy time for keralites and Indians as the Nobel peace prize for 2010 declared. Malayalee engineering student Roshan Thomas from Kottarakara won the prize for his prestigious works in establishing world peace! His famous dreams about world peace made him eligible for the most reputed award in world, Norwegian Nobel Committee spokesperson said. Reliable sources reported that he was dreaming about world peace even during the boring lectures of his class. His lecturers admitted that too. A report from his roommate that he sang ‘heal the world ‘ in bathroom was also considered as his eligibility for this prize, according to Norwegian Nobel Committee.

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Don’t be afraid or laugh if you see news like the above stuff next year. It is really possible as the Norwegian Nobel Committee put forward a new scenario by awarding the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to U S President Barack Hussein Obama for his ‘prestigious works for world peace’. The prestigious works include,

1. Dreamt about nuclear weapon free world and sanctioned more amounts for increasing U S nuclear arms count.

2. Done 20+ one hour speeches about establishing world peace, fight against terrorism and human rights.

3. Was elected as the most powerful man on the globe, The U S President!

The last reason was definitely not the least reason. It is actually the only reason for awarding him with this great honor. If it was not, even I am eligible! This decision actually doesn’t make me embarrassed coz this is always expected from the west. There was a man who inspired the world for peace, who hopefully screamed ‘Hey Ram’ even while eating bullets from a freak’s gun. He got no Nobel prize, no other peace prize, but still he is the brand ambassador of world peace. Remembrance in hearts is the ultimate award.

Alfred Nobel might be crying from heaven (or hell? Nobel Prize is enough for him to get a PROMOTION from hell to heaven :-P)

Lets have a drink in the moon!

Well, this is after a long time I am posting something. A lot much things are happening around me, which urge me to write something about all of that, but lack of time is always holding me back from that.

The last few weeks were like a festival season for media. They celebrated with Paul murder case, SNC Lavalin and lot many things. These media always gives importance to what actually don't deserve, especially the malayalam medias. National medias are somewhat more sincere in their reporting. This may be because of their wide audiability.

In all these 'Much ado about nothing' too, I was so delighted to see the importance given to the Discovery of water content on lunar surface. This discovery was done by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Moon Mineralogy Mapper on the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.




This discovery has build up a confidence for science world to think moon as an intermediate station for interplanetory voyages.

This discovery and success of Chandrayan 1 also gave inspiration for India to continue its Man on Moon project. The recent successful launch of Oceansat using PSLV was the 16th successful launch in a row. This marked the importance of India in the astronomical field as a reliable, precise satelite launcher nation. This is helping us to gain a lot of foriegn money needed for reserch as the fee.

Hope to be a super power in aeroscience soon...
rosh

Happy days

What should I say now? Happy days are ending... or happy days are restarting? I am really confused. My vacation is coming to an end. I couldn't say I am not happy in home. I also couldn't say I am crying over there in college with my friends. So I am here in a dilemma.

My guys yesterday messaged me to go Trivandrum with em to attend a function of our college management, CAPE. The key point was G Sudhakaran was inagurating the function. They told me that he will definitely give me something to feed my blog as he did earlier in kasarkod( mentioned in older posts).

But guess what? As usual , no time. I was totally busy even today. Had too many programs and missed the man with golden tongue. wat to do! Well we are having a byke trip tomorrow to some not yet fixed destination. Probably somewhere near thenmala.

Vacation was incidentful. Actually it was of sorrow. Many great men passed away. Kamala Das, Lohitadas, Michael Jackson.

Michael’s death was what touched me most. It was the result of loose bound life. Like a kite which lost it direction. For me he was the king of pop music. I loved his slow melody 'Heal the world' much more than his fast numbers like beat it. It had meaning, melody, and all midas touch.

One thing which made me laugh even in that grief was one thing done by most medias that day. They got comments on Michael Jackson, from Indian pop sensation, Usha Uthup... ha ha ha... I can't stop laughing. It was like asking Ramesh Pawar to rate Sachin Tendulkar. Was she even singing pop music? I am pretty doubted.... Or Is she a singer? hmmm... leave that. I am not blaming her. I am blaming the media who went to get her comment, like "Michael was fantastic...." Asking to some music maestros like ARR or Akon or Madonna is acceptable, but that was a terrible move.


Bye for now.
catch u later
rosh