Thursday, March 31, 2005

TRIUMPH OF JUSTICE

This was forwarded to me by annie james today. i am trying to find its source from her. i am not waiting to get reply. whoever wrote it, good job, well said.

TRIUMPH OF JUSTICE

CLASSIC VERSION...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the
summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food
or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

MODERN VERSION...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and
demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while
others are cold and starving.

BBC, CNN, NDTV show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper
next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with
food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this
poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Government for not
upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
grasshopper. Opposition MP's stage a walkout.

Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala
demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism
Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the
winter.

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing
left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government
and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by BBC,CNN and
NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice".

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Mallu wisdom no: 361

'For a more glamourous you' is baseline of an international cosmetic product. It would have to change in if it is targetting the larger section of the demography.

The mainstream media in Kerala has branded the soft porn as glamour. This stereotyping is endorsed by the official malayalam cinema
website which is AMMA's online presence. AMMA is the trade union of malayalam film artists. On the site if you click on glamour link, you will reach the photo page of mallu 'soft porn' actresses.

glam·our or glam·or n
1. an irresistible alluring quality that somebody or something possesses by virtue of seeming much more exciting, romantic, or fashionable than ordinary people or things
2. striking physical good looks or sexual impact, especially when it is enhanced with highly fashionable clothes or makeup
3. a magical spell or charm (archaic)

adj: characterized by glamour

por·nog·ra·phy n
1. films, magazines, writings, photographs, or other materials that are sexually explicit and intended to cause sexual arousal
2. the production or sale of sexually explicit films, magazines, or other materials

Encarta® World English Dictionary

Sunday, March 20, 2005

new revolution

calling for the 'new marxist', where are you?*

you lead them to the land reforms.
now that they have home, mend the fences for them

you taught them to read and write
now show them the right to read

you gave them the vocabulary of revolution and weapons against oppression.
now that they have the strength give them the composure

you gave the men their voice
now give the woman their song

you fed the laboring class fish.
now is the time to teach them fishing, (tell them there is an ocean).

you taught them the dignity for the body
now teach them to respect the minds

you transformed the society.
now that they are unbound, set them free.

calling for the new revolutionaries, where are you?*

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
credit- Smirnoff Vodka 2004-2005, india campaign (life is calling, where are you?)

My life simplified. And God.

Tsunami. Every person who experienced it personally and the others who saw it through the media, all will talk about it to someone else, some other time. For each person, the interpretation will be unique, the content of which would be based on their belief system. The experience and interpretation is the relative reality. There are infinite possibilities within this relative reality.

There is another reality, the absolute reality

stripped of emotions. seemingly cold. matter of fact. in this case-
Tsunami. the truth of the event.


There are 2 parallel realities – relative reality and absolute reality

-mmm... interesting. Deep shit.
-Did you get it?
-No !!
-mmm... never mind will explain it some other day.
__________________________

Saturday, March 12, 2005

How the B/BOK becomes ?



Aliens and E.Ts and super humans and misfits begin to make you cry. and you don't know why? The american and hollywood knows the emotions of identity crisis and they silently churns out blockbusters catering to the large mass of people who does not know if he is an nigerian, irish, german, jew or russian. Their ancestors had told them stories of their people and the illusive home.

But Parashu is only concerned with Keralites.

The questions of their identity is consuming a generation. After spending the impressible years of their life outside the land of their ancestors, in Gulf states, Singapore, Australia, USA, UK, Delhi, Mumbai, Chenni, Jaipur... where-ever....!!! You create a wonderland based on experiances of you amma and pappa. Stories of ammachi, appachan, their childhood treks to school and the scheming relatives and the good uncles. Then their is the wonderful earthy malayalam film in VHS which gives the techni-colour to your wonderland. The land that never is.

In your adapted home when the locals ask you "Who are you?" " Where do you belong?" -You reply "I am an Indian", i am a Keralite" "I am a malayalee". But the bubble bursts when you go down the rabbit hole, the vacation trip to Kerala. and on hearing you talk your Keralite Cousin will ask you "Where are you from?" "where do you belong" . In a flash that innocent questions like the napalm sucks your lungs dry and leaves you gasping. The crisis to the identity begins. The search for self. To be come a definite word.

Then one day you learn to laugh at the need to belong. and learn the art of living here and now. And then a new generation gypsy is then born. a new identity is forged. Suddenly the whole world becomes home. and you become a proud B/BOK. But there are others who are not as lucky as you, left to fend with their 'non- identities'.

Then another Spiderman movie smashes the box office records.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

utopia, mahabali and marx- part 2

ON THE WALL
staring- Maaveli. Marx. Lenin. Che Guevara. George Orwell. Achudanadan. and introducing RAMACHANDRAN

A picture is worth a thousand words. A new martyr is resurrected from every politically motivated murder news that hits the headline. Only criteria to the martyrdom, a remote link to the party and high decibel presence in the press & media. He gets into company of gentlemen revolutionaries from far off west, who have found home away from home.
Lenin whose image the next generation Russian will have trouble recognizing and his fellow comrades are still symbols in Kerala, they are still representative images to a promise to a non exploitative world where everyone is alike. a symbol of a revolution- a path to that 'maavelinaadu' the malayali's version of Utopia, where all men are equal and incorruptible.
"Equally poor or equally Bill Gates!!??"- chanting these word under his controlled breath Parashu hurried towards the wall to take a leak.
A platform announcement was heard calling out 'if one mr. George Orwell is somewhere in the farm, Mr Achudanandan is waiting in the Kerala stall!'

RAMACHANDRAN was with MARX, LENIN & CHE GUEVARA, on the wall. Parashu was whistling relief as he buttoned up his levis 501.

URBAN MALLU COWBOYS UNITE!

Selling the stereotype of Urban as a laughing stock and encouraging the population to look down upon THE URBAN MALAYALEE COWBOY-UMC (in the existing local lingo the urban brethens are known as 'Patanakaaran Parishkaari')

TBWA/i 's 4 out of 5 campaign for malayala manorama is the most regressive campaign of the year

In order to communicate the point 4 out of 5 keralites read manorama publications,

the hoarding across kerala shows
5 Malayalee men - 4 keralites playing chenda, one keralite in playing a drum kit,
their attire: the men on chenda is in mundu, like the popular imageries in the temple pooram shot while the one on drums looks like an art director at an advertising agency, cap and khakis.

The inference

4 are with manorama. 1 is with mathrubhoomi (the competition)
4 are good. 1 is bad.

For once i felt MATHRUBHOOMI is cool.

what is love?



the content of this blog is taking a very political hue. "gosh, that is not me"- parashu said. it sounds bitter. looks like you hate communists, trade unions, communalists, malayala manorama group. parashu didnt leap forward to defend himself.
"what do you want me to talk about?" - parashu
how about love and associated feelings?
parashu smiled the parashu smile- "i think you need to take a break, go visit some porn sites, but come back soon"

utopia, mahabali and marx



utopia, we are the people who believed in it. every year we celebrate it and sing this song into the psyche of all generations to be born out of this land.

"during the reign of king mahabali people were all equal.
life was joyeous and was free from calamities.
no lies, no cheating nor was there any false promises
life was good"

which is why lenin, marx, and che are still painted our walls.
we will always buy Utopia, does not matter which name it comes in. communism, marxism, or in the future as communalism.

trivia-
Kerala has the distinction of being the first place in the world to democratically elect a communist government.

Friday, March 04, 2005

B/BOKs


The first word Parashu spoke to me was 'Tenny, i want you to write for me'.
That was on our very first meeting. I smirked in reaction.
I also noticed that he wore very distinct smelling deodorant which
was definite smell of Axe.

i dont have it in me to write. i have been with writers and blogumists
but that had nothing to do with words. writing is a different game.
if i could write i would have written the script for a feature film
which i would direct.

there was a gap of 3 weeks before i bumped into him again.
when he told me that actually he would dictate and all i had to do was
make notes. and that he wanted someone who could write at the speed
of his thoughts.

between our last meeting and this time i did some detective work.
Sherlock informed me that Parashu was a B/BOK!!! In fact the very
first B/BOK. Born/Brought up Outside Kerala.

B/BOK was as per reports in malayalam feature films, television and malayala
manorama weekly, were seen as rich people, who wore bermudas and spoke
in malayalam with a heavy english mix. The had little brains, were naive.
Survived on sandwich and cola. Being seen as friends with them would
mean inviting scorns from your brethren's- I was warned.

I agreed to write for Parashu, i dont know why i did that, must have
been the 'axe effect'.



Buddhas and the Shankaracharya


What is the origin of 'palli', sloped tile roof,
Kathakali, Kalaripayatu and iddiyappam?....

read ahead and find out


Shankaracharya (A.D. 700?-750?), also known as Shankara,
was a Hindu philosopher. His most important works were
his commentaries on the Vedas, the sacred writings of Hinduism.
Shankaracharya was born in Kerala, southern India.
He practiced self-denial and learned to give up worldly pleasures
and comforts early in life. He devoted himself to study,
philosophical discussion, and religious teaching.
He became a wandering scholar, and his fame spread
throughout India. During his journeying, Shankaracharya
established four great monasteries-in Badrinath in the Himalaya,
Shringeri in Mysore, Dwarka in western India, and
Puri in eastern India.
                                -
Politically correct history

Parashu told me that...
the buddhist from the north
and himalayan kingdom came to the southern strip.
Were the buddhists fleeing persecution or just
found their promised land- and much needed solitude?
This will always remain a matter of speculation.
The monks found caves that were ideal
for meditation. fruits and water were plenty,
philosophy thrived.

These monks from the northern hills
brought with them their unique concepts like that of
'Palli', sloped tile roof structures, natural medicines,
mask operas with breath control (the bases of techniques
used in Koodiyattam and later Kathakali).
Around this time Buddhism, Kalaripayatu etc
were exported from here via the silk route
to south east asia and China in exchange
for Iddiappam and fish. (fishing nets).

Shankaracharya from Kaladi defeated the buddhists in
debates and converted their 'pallis' into temples as
per vedic rites. After which he went on a cross country,
and formed maths in various places in India
and hinduism became an organised religion.
The defeated Buddhas left Kerala.

Many years down the timeline, around the 1900s
another traveling swami, by the name Vivekananda
described this land which by then was practicing
some of the worst forms of discrimination based on
religion and castes, as 'a mad house of religions'

                                        
                


Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Pop history - Pre history


The early inhabitants of kerala
must have been the dravidians
who were chased down south by the aryans.
They stayed in the jungles, hunting for food and
worshiped ancestors, nature & snakes.

These indigenous people were later seen
living on the mountain ghats:
They must have been happy, sad, living.
But to the rest of Kerala...
cinema portrayed them as exploited victims of the
'civilized people' or practicing witch craft and being
less intelligent, and dancing around fire performing
strange rituals over seen by the one eyed 'Moopan' (the elder).
In media there are stories of there land
being taken away, their environment encroached
their protests with bow and arrows taking on
the rifles of Kerala Police.
__________

Parashu asks:
"how about story of an adivasi super hero...?
how about story of a cruel psychopath adivasi who invades the city...?

Its time to expand the stereotype of the adivasis.
come on guys can we have more on the list...
who needs sympathy..."
____________

Circa the 15th century people in Europe sympathized at the plight
of the Asians and Africans still living a life that was unlike theirs
'full of misery and darkness'. They resolved to save asia and africa.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

The Keraliya vs Malayalee psyche


(malayalam in its current form was engineered
about little more than a century ago)

After Parashuram plunged his
axe in, to form the fertile 'Keralam' ,
as if in a time-lapse shot the thick topical jungle
grew up on that narrow strip,
Cut off from the rest
of the Indian land mass, it then became home
to wild creatures.

snakes, tigers, elephants, hornbills...

Dangerous land was perfect cover for people
who ran away their land in search of a better world.
The single most prominent trait the malayalee shows
till this day!!

People came to this land for all reasons right and wrong.
The dravidians came in fleeing the aryan invasion,
The sages/ munis for meditation, the sanskrit reading
bhramins from beyond the ghats who came and set up temples
(will have to still find out why they came here)
the arab traveler, Thomas and the syrians to spread teachings
of Jesus and their church, the chinese, the europeans for trade
you could add more to that list yourself. There are even
stories of africans who were bought in by the europeans
as slaves who got assimilated into the population.
All of them have lend their philosophies, sperms and eggs
to make up the present Kerala.

There is a Keraliya psyche lost beneath
the new malayalee psyche
created by marxist communists and
media tribe of Malalyala Manorama.

Parshu to Guardians of 'Malayalee culture'

"O keepers of malayalee traditions & purity answer me this,
Where did the sperms that fertilized the tribe come from?
Stop thumping your hardened chests and crying about
influences of other alien cultures...
Realize that
Your mother was being impregnated through the ages...
your fathers are from many nations- chinese, arab, jew,
greek, roman, egyptians, aborigines, africans and sundry...
Don't shame your good mother, who has never
chased away anyone who came to her: As her sons and
daughters dont defile her womb by taking the name of
cultural purity"

                                        - Songs of Parashu

Malayalees have traces of all races in their gene pool.
Notice that malayalees have a mix and match of many physical features:
straight haired, curly haired, light skinned,
dark skinned, small eyed, large eyed, high cheek boned,
sharp nose, long nose, black eye, light eyed, short, tall...
(only give away today being, the hair factor-
mandatory thick mustache and coconut oiled hair)

"Kerala was claimed from the sea
by the axe of 'Parashuram'
along the south western coast of india"
This legend is the first chapter
in the books of many historians who have traced
Kerala history.

The origin of Kerala is shrouded in mystery like the
thick tropical forest that once covered the land.

(pop history of Kerala to be continued...)

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