December 28, 2011
December in Thiruvananthapuram is never anywhere near as cold as it gets in Texas. The temperatures are not even close to those experienced in Bangalore at this time of the year. But that doesn't stop me from having a problematic phlegm build up during the chilly mornings. Judging from the gut-churning expectorant cacophony of coughing and sniffling and spitting that emanates from several homes in the neighborhood, I can safely say I am not alone in possessing a, as Ayurveda would say, 'phlegmatic' body type.
My own sessions of getting the bad fluid out consists of 5 minutes of gargling with warm salt water. The revelation today was that sufficiently strong coughs are no longer paining my abdomen. So far so good progress.
When I was in school, Mathrubhumi and Kalakaumudi, were the notable Malayalam weeklies. Notable in the sense, they carried worthwhile articles unlike the pulp fiction peddled by Manorama, Mangalam, Manorajyam etc which were lumped together as the 'Ma' magazines. Toward the end of 90s, a new magazine called 'Malayalam' had entered the quality fray and given stiff competition to Mathrubhumi and Kalakaumudi. These magazines carried great analysis, political, social and economical, contained invaluable cultural commentary and had novels from eminent writers in serialised form besides poems. M. Krishnan Nair, a prominent figure in the city, used to handle a column titled 'Sahitya Varaphalam' (Literary Weekly roundup: the title parodying the omnipresent astrology sections that earned him the nickname 'literary astrologer'). Krishnan Nair presented fantastic criticism of works, Indian and foreign, based on his deep literary awareness and immense passion for reading. These magazines used to cost around Rs. 5 then.
After coming back to India, thanks to Amma, I have mostly been encountering women's magazines. Printed on glossy sheets, they are 50% advertisement, 25% recipes and 20% on cinema and TV. The final 5% would be mostly one article, usually a travelogue.
I was pleasantly surprised when Achan bought the latest issue of Mathrubhumi yesterday from Rema aunty's. Her husband has subscribed to almost all the regional magazines one can think of, including 3 film ones (Vellinakshatram, Nana, Cinemamangalam).
Mathrubhumi weekly is thicker now. 100 pages from cover to cover. Rs 12. The quality of the articles,thankfully, remains the same. And only the flaps and right margins of a few pages contain advertisement. The magazine is thus packed with solid reading material. And 90% of the advertisement are various publishing houses announcing their new books and the rest are matrimonial ads.
I got time this morning to read through the first three features. The cover story was about the Arab spring and the possibility of it leading to Islamist governments in 'WANA' (West Asia North Africa) region. I thought the author's tone was a little too alarming.
The second article was a harsh criticism of Manmohan Singh's handling of the recent Foreign Direct Investment in Indian retail sector fiasco. The article began with the mention of free market theory and social Darwinism.
People invoking 'survival of the fittest' without understanding it properly is one of my pet peeves. Herbert Spencer, while coining that phrase, wouldn't have anticipated its hijacking by every tom, dick and harry and Darwin would never have imagined that his wonderful theory would someday be tragically misinterpreted a "might is right"!
The author interprets the phrase that way and goes on about the need for government oversight in a deeply divided and unequal society like India rather than expecting free market to be the panacea. He would have been better off if he had added to the phrase "survival of the fittest" the words "in any given environment". This environment is key in the correct understanding of the phrase. There is no universal standard of fitness based on which survival is judged. It is always about the fitness of the organism to the environment and by analogy, of the business to the economy.
It is in setting up the economic environment that politics plays the crucial role. America has already shown the world what kind of fit species of bankers survive when an environment of informational blackouts and utter lack of oversight is set up. The product is a world reeling from credit crunch even as $700 trillion of electronic money has been generated. Amartya Sen, in a recent lecture, draws a comparison of the ancient Indian game of snakes and ladders to the global economy. The governments are responsible for setting up the ladders through which the society can climb up, slowly steadily, or they can rush their nations directly into the mouths of enormous snakes.
The third feature in the Mathrubhumi magazine was an elaborate interview with writer Ramanunni. He had recently won the Vayalar award for his novel, "Jeevithathinte Pusthakam" (The book of life). It is the story of a bank officer who suffers from memory loss and ends up living in a fishing village. Even after his memory returns, he decides to live with the fisher-folk instead of returning to the mechanical life in the city. Usually, it is memory that forces people to change. Memories of calamities trigger revolutions, memories of bloodshed make people treat peace with respect. But Ramanunni has used the lack of memory to be the resetting trigger for the 'automaton'ic modern urban life.
I should get hold of the novel soon.
There has been some criticism about the abundance of sex in the novel. Despite being recommended by the education committee that the book be made available in school libraries, the previous government decided against it because of some complaints. Ramanunni obviously protests. He correctly points out that school children are daily exposed to sex through the dime a dozen sex scandals, molestation and rapes splashed on the front-pages of all newspapers. Add to that the easy availability of porn. This creates a totally unhealthy image of sex as either a crime or a weapon of domination in the young minds. Through novels like his, there is a possibility of reintroducing sex as an integral part of love between two human beings, not a source of entertainment or a channel for violence. Unfortunately the powers-that-be seem to be content with dealing with sex as a taboo or a matter of shame.
I will get hold of the novel soon.
Ramanunni has been noticed for the treatment of homosexuality also in his works. One of his famous earlier novel,'Sufi paranja katha' (the story told by the sufi) has been made into a movie. Set a few centuries ago,it is the love story of a Hindu-Nair woman from an upper class family and a Muslim trader. She converts to Islam but later on distances herself from him and the man develops a relationship with a much younger man. "NAMBLA" type relationships have been existing in North Kerala for centuries, says Ramanunni.
I must get hold of the novel soon.
Ramanunni uses most of his public appearances these days to spread the message of Sufism.
The electrician reported for duty promptly by 2:30pm. He is still working, 4 hours and two teas later, while I am typing this through periods of light and darkness as he turns the main switch on and off to test a complicated circuit problem. As soon as he arrived, he made an amazing remark connecting mercury pollution and tube-lights which went way over my head.
Achan listened to a short lecture on how electronic chokes work.
After two new tube light frames were banged and screwed into the wall, he moved onto the kitchen. Standing in our kitchen area, it is possible to hear the conversation from the bedroom of the grand old neighbor man.
His caretaker, Joy, has gone back home for a 5 day Christmas vacation. So the charity has sent a substitute caregiver who himself is past 60 and would like to have some assistance himself. Unlike the teetotaler Joy whose only indulgence is a secretly smoked afternoon beedi, the substitute is a fan of the bottle. So plenty of conversations these days revolve around methods of alcohol production and refinement!
The electrician used to help out our neighbor but he quit few months ago. "Avaru pavam alle ennu vicharichu njan kurachu joli okke cheythu koduthu," (I helped her thinking she was a poor woman) he said about our neighbor widow, "appo avaru thalayil kayari irunnu order idan thudangi" (but then she started sitting on my head and ordering me around. "Peruchazhiye kuzhichu moodan onnum enne kittulla, njan vittu" (I am not ready to bury dead rats in her yard, so I quit).
He gave us a great marketing spiel for a home inverter. "Saare, power cut okke udane thudangum. Bhayankara narakamayirikum. Ippo ee full veedinu venda inverter verum 19,000 rupaye ullu. state governmentinte product aanu. athinu mathram oru varsham guarantee. batterikku 30 ethraye masam guarantee.... (Saare, power cuts will start soon. It will be hell. Now an inverter for this whole house comes for only Rs. 19,000. It is a government product. Inverter has one year guarantee. Battery has so many months guarantee...)
ethra masam? (how many months?) the quantitative analyst in me obsessed.
"28..alla...randara kollam" (28...no....two and a half years) he didn't like the intrusion into his sales pitch.
"appo 30 masam" (so 30 months)
"njan thanne vannu fit cheythu tharam. ini ippo ee veettil aalu thamasam okke undalo". (I will come myself and install it. From now on, people are going to live in this house, right?) He alluded to our house having been uninhabited for most part of the last decade.
While the instant heater installation in one of bathrooms was nearing completion, I read the news online and announced, "Anna Hazare called off his fast and cancelled his other agitation. But he will campaign against Congress party in the coming elections!" This triggered a charged up rant from the electrician.
"Even if he doesn't campaign the congress is going to lose very badly. I hope the BJP comes with majority so that it doesn't have to deal with a coalition government. all those coalition partners are frauds."
"It is doubtful if they will ever win with absolute majority" Achan interjected
"They won't Saare I know. Yet I vote for them. I have had enough with this pleasing the minorities charade of the congress."
Achan and I sat in silence as he unleashed a politically way incorrect tirade. Luckily,the lack of feedback, much less, any encouragement from us, calmed him down after a couple of minutes.
As I finish typing this, he is done with the troublesome circuit."Ravanavadham" (killing of Ravana) was how he chose to describe the ordeal!
Now, new tube-lights are on duty in most of the rooms. Enlightenment!
It is appropriate to end noting that today is the 100th anniversary of the first performance of India's national anthem. It was set to music in the way we know it today by Margaret, the wife of Irish poet James Cousins,when Tagore visited them at the Theosophical College in Madanapally in Andhra.
Jana Gana Mana....
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