December 18, 2011
Henry was the 70-something roly-poly jolly gentleman manager of the apartment complexes that I stayed during the initial years at College Station. I remember that his wife had written a couple of books on tornadoes. The couple were originally from Oklahoma and had traveled to South Asia as part of some missionary mission.
When he first met a bunch of us at the time of signing the lease, he laid out his renting policy.
"We don't rent to black people because it usually ends with the cops visiting. We don't rent to Hispanics because they don't have sure jobs and steady incomes," he explained while holding his imaginary stereotypical doll of an African-American on his nearly closed left palm and a Hispanic in a more open right palm.
"What about us...Indians?" we fresh-of-the-boaters wondered.
"Indians are white people!" Henry stated matter-of-factedly, his silver eyeballs cross examining us from above the rims of his spectacles.
Today's newspapers had a fairly vague article about the Malayalee genome being finally sequenced. Apparently , it resembles Caucasians more than it resembles African or Chinese genome. I guess, Malayalees are white people.
Manorama newspaper dedicated the full front page of its Sunday supplement to the genetic anthropological research conducted by Dr. Shyamalan. It is the same Shyamalan who is famous as the surname in M. Night Shyamalan. Dr. Shyamalan has discovered that the Thiyya community of north Kerala hails from Tian Shan region of Central Asia. Tian meaning heaven and Shan meaning mountain. These warrior-like folks traveled to Southern India thousand years ago. Muthappan, the deity of Parasinnikadavu temple, was a valiant chieftain. Off-shoots of this community that halted in Kodagu and Tulunad regions, still attend festivals at the temple. The martial arts specialist clans of north Kerala hail from this community. They form the bulk of the superb circus artists from Thalassery.
I noticed, through the kitchen window, some brisk movement in the backyard while I was swallowing all that from the newspaper along with the morning tea. A mongoose was investigating the yard. He...or may be she had a much darker grey coat than the other specimens I have noticed around these parts. The coat glistened, almost like fish scales, as it went about fluidly putting its nose on the holes and cracks in the vicinity. At one point, a hind legs stand to gauge the height of the wall. Nah...much too high...more scampering.
"May be there is a snake around," said Achan reinforcing the common myth that mongoose eat only snakes. I showcased my Wikipedia-sourced knowledge about their diet: rodents, insects, earthworms etc.
"Can they be tamed?"
"Possibly"
I had forgotten what Wikipedia said about taming but memories of Kipling came to the rescue. Our conversation proved to be a bit of a distraction for the animal. A few times it looked in our direction with its bright red eyes. Again, I remembered Rikki-tikki-tavi and wondered if it was anger glowing in those eyes.
Amma left early in the morning to proctor a nation-wide bank test. 28,000 candidates were taking the test in Delhi alone. Thiruvananthapuram had over 3000. Most of these are engineering graduates. That is an insight into the employment scene. I am not sure the exodus of engineers into banking is a good thing. Last week, without much celebration, two Indian banks (IDBI and ICICI) made the first transaction of the dreaded Credit Default Swaps in the country. An interesting development indeed just as one was beginning to live with the irony of hundreds of farmers who defaulted on measly Rs. 1 lakh loans, committing suicide,while a loss making airline whose owner is planning a 28 storey "home" for himself gets over 600 crores in 'working' capital loan from nationalized banks.
Venu chettan and Kala chechi visited in the afternoon. He saw the big "108 Upanishad" book resting on the sofa with a pencil on it. I told him it is a mere translation that is more confusing that enlightening. He asked me to check out the interpretation of Upanishads by Kuttipuzha Krishna Pillai. Hoping to go book shopping soon.
Saw the movie 'Melvilasam' finally. Wonderful screen adaptation of Soorya Krishnamurti's hugely successful drama. Crisp 90-minute court martial theater. Single set. Scintillating performances especially from the veteran Tamil actor Thalaivasal Vijay. No singing or dancing or other gimmicks. Nothing beats a powerful script.
I have progressed up to the marriage of Pandavas to Draupadi in the Mahabharatha. The "swayamvara" where she would choose her husband based on a competition was a festival that lasted 16 days. Over a 100 eligible kings and princes had showed up. It was funny to read about the kings preparing themselves using cosmetics and perfumes. Looks like 'Fair & Handsome' skin cream has mythological origins.
As part of the recovery process, I have subscribed to exclusively 'podi ari kanji' dinners. I guess the rough translation would be 'broken rice porridge'. Singularly soothing for the digestive system. The hot kanji is accompanied with 'chuttaracha chamanthi' (roast-ground chutney). Coconut pieces, sun-dried long red chilies and small red onions are roasted on an open flame before being ground into the chutney form. Aromatic! Zingy!
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