Wednesday 31 July 2013

God Was Toothless That Day...


They always said God lies in every innocent smile.  I promised that old woman before St. Antony’s Shrine, Kaloor to buy candles. After the novena, I found her nowhere. After a long search I found her struggling to sell the packets. I bought a packet and got a beautiful and innocent toothless smile in return.



(Linking this to Ultimate Blog Challenge  & To the 55 Fiction Prompt, based on the theme love)  

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Haiku: On Haiku

Haiku On Haiku
Is Just Another Haiku
On Every Haiku


(Linking this to Ultimate Blog Challenge ) 

Monday 29 July 2013

Haiku: On All

All Are Othellos
Sceptical About Themselves
Prevailing Pretence


(Linking this to Ultimate Blog Challenge )

Sunday 28 July 2013

Haiku: On Rose

Rose Is Beautiful
Always With Those Piercing Thorns
Like All Creations


(Linking this to Ultimate Blog Challenge )

Saturday 27 July 2013

Haiku: On Delusion


Top post on IndiBlogger.in, the community of Indian Bloggers


Delusion A Curse
Leading To Self Destruction
And Of Others Too


(Linking this to Ultimate Blog Challenge )

Friday 26 July 2013

Haiku: On Money


Top post on IndiBlogger.in, the community of Indian Bloggers


Whole Life For Money
But What Never Ends Is Greed
Then Flamed Or For Worms



(Linking this to Ultimate Blog Challenge )

Thursday 25 July 2013

The Smile Of Ummukolsu...


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The chirps of Ummukolsu, always overwhelmed the heavy rains at Machigal and the Adhan from the mosque. Khadeeja, her mother would be running in and out of their mud-tiled roofed house several times, before her sweet baby went to school. Rahim said Ummukolsu smiled like her father, Riyaaz, as she waved her little hands to Khadeeja. According to the people of Machigal, she was an exact replica of Riyaaz, who had gone to Hajj, and never came back. 

By evening Khadeeja waited eagerly for Ummukolsu at the veranda for that shadow of Riyaaz’s smile, which always kept her hopeful thereafter...


Wednesday 24 July 2013

Tulasi Of Achyutan


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Tulasi was the most beautiful girl of Achyutan’s college. He still remembered when he saw her first at the corridor, with a pile of certificates. It was her name, which was announced first by the principal. Achyutan was an intellectual guy by all standards, but his dark and short look always prevented him from being an extrovert, which the college-life ostensibly demanded.  He was thrilled to see her in his classroom on the very first bench. Achyutan always used to wonder, about the feeling he had for Tulasi.  Achyutan couldn’t make out a difference between love and devotion. He gazed at her in wonder with an open mouth, when she came to the library and sat just in front of him. He had seen many guys proposing her. Most of them were fair and handsome. Raghuvaran, the handsomest chap of the college, used to sing beautifully and Tulasi was one among his fans. Achyutan had also seen Tulasi talking to Raghuvaran in person. That was enough for Achyutan to fix their marriage in his mind. 

Achyutan sighed and leaned on the chair. He closed his eyes and caressed his grey hair. He saw Tulasi, smiling at him. He too, reciprocated the smile. He hardly talked to anybody, but couldn’t utter anything when Tulasi was around. He never knew what happened to him when she was nearby. He used to stammer, shiver and went wrong in everything that he did. He felt guilty for thinking bad about Tulasi, when he saw her talking with Bhraman and Devan. Both the guys used to smoke and drink. Achyutan had seen Bhraman and Devan coming out of the Toddy shop besides their college. Thereafter Achyutan didn’t talk to Tulasi for long. He ignored her, when she came to talk to him. Tulasi never knew what had happened to Achyutan and why he was behaving weirdly.  Achyutan realized that he had become possessive about Tulasi, but he feared to tell her. It would have broken Achyutan, if she denied his proposal. 

Achyutan felt bad when once they enacted Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and he was given the role of Claudius, the villain. Raghuvaran played the role of Hamlet and Tulasi, that of Ophelia. He remembered the farewell party, arranged by the juniors. She was wearing a pretty white gown. She looked no less than a princess. He had planned and by-hearted the words in order to propose her. He rehearsed, and as he walked towards the hall, he saw and heard Raghuvaran proposing her. He remembered how much he cried on that day at home. He never told his mom, why he cried on that day. He wrote every exam monotonously, as if he longed to get out of the college somehow. He never went to the college again. 

Somebody woke him up from his sleep. As he opened his eyes, he saw Tulasi standing before him with a cup of Tea...



(Linking this to Ultimate Blog Challenge)

Tuesday 23 July 2013

The White Revolution Of Arunachalam...


The video by Mr. Arunachalam Murugananatham, was really impressive. He was humble, and begged the pardon, of his listeners, for his improper English language. He was just a metric passed guy, who worked as a helper in a welding workshop. He kicked off the speech in such a manner, that I thought it would be something philosophical, but very soon the topic just deviated towards sanitary pads.  Necessity has always been the mother of all inventions and the thought becomes more meaningful with his fruitful attempts. The idea to invent hygienic and low cost sanitary pads emerged from his own house, where he found his wife using rags during her menstrual cycle. He tried his inventions on his wife and then on his sisters, but when they denied being his specimens, he fixed the newly invented pad on himself. He collected animal blood in a tube and connected it to his belly and rode a cycle. The tube was adjusted in such a manner that when he pedaled, it will get pressed by him and the blood will ooze to the pads. He had to face lots of challenges, which extended up to his wife threatening him to divorce.

Arunachalam belonged to a village in Coimbatore. Even still, among many educated societies, a woman under her menstrual cycle is considered impure and the issue itself a taboo. In India, many women have been reported relying on cotton, rags and even soil and mud to tackle the issue. When Arunachalam was all set to solve the issue, he was expelled from his family and the village. It was his determination, which led him to create a machine which helped in making the sanitary pads at a much cheaper rate. He patented the machine and provided them to SHGs (self-help groups). It was his selflessness, which prevented him from commercializing his invention. Being a responsible citizen of the nation, he not only helped the poor women folk to move freely during their menstruation, but also provided a means of survival.  Now with the help of his machine thousands of trained women earn their living by making napkins.  His Jayashree Industries, took up the social initiative to distribute the machines all over India, which helped in minimizing unemployment, poverty and has led to the upliftment of women as a whole. When a large scale production model cost around Rs.3.5 crores initially, Arunachalam’s machine made it possible with just Rs.75,000/-. This led many small scale industries to plunge into the business. He received 2009’s best Innovation Award from the President of India.  

This is not just an isolated story of Arunachalam, but any one of us with determination can make a change. A small change from every one of us will help the nation to prosper. I loved the way he concludes the speech, that if we want to lead a meaningful life, all we want is a problem. He also suggested a simple way to innovate. We have to switch off the lights and should sit in the darkness for a while and think. The catchiest was the name he had given for his speech “The Second White Revolution”, which in every means is true to the core in this regard. Arunachalam proved that it’s not the education and money which laid the foundation of his success, but his will power, to think and do differently, to deal with an ostensibly social concern.  I was happy and moved as the people greeted his speech with a standing ovation. It had never happened with me, but I too stood up from my chair and clapped...

India requires more Arunachalams....


Franklin Templeton Investments partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012 , where Mr. Arunachalam delivered his inspirational speech

Monday 22 July 2013

The Lesson Which Mukundan Learnt...


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Just like any other day, Mukundan was on his way towards the office. The heavy bag with files, tiffin-box and a water bottle, dangled around his right shoulder. He reached the bus-stop and waited for the bus towards Poothotta.  Since there were very few buses running in that route, the one which came was over-crowded. Mukundan was lucky enough to have his toes firm on the footboard. The bus was moving at a high speed, on the guttered road, to give the passengers a shaking exercise in the morning. As the bus reached the Vytilla –Hub, Mukundan was able to get a seat just behind the seat reserved for ladies. As the bus started moving, Mukundan saw that guy running behind the bus. As the bus braked for him to get in, he doubtfully made his way through the front door, where the ladies stood with much difficulty. The bus was still crowded. Mukundan brushed his memories. He knew the guy. He was the same pervert who got badly beaten up by the mob for groping a middle-aged lady on her way to Infopark. Mukundan felt uneasy and curious. He had his eyes on him. As the cleaner asked him to move backwards, he waded through the ladies and stood between them. As more and more ladies boarded, and the jerking movement of the bus made him feel heaven. The ladies ignored the so called accidental touches. The conductor, who had seen many guys like him, made him to move backwards again and finally he stood just beside, where Mukundan was seated. The moment the guy was about to grope the lady standing in front of him, Mukundan shouted at the guy. The lady turned and stared angrily at Mukundan. As nothing happened, the guy shouted back at Mukundan and called him a psychopath.  The whole bus got silent for a while. Some ladies who stood near Mukundan scorned and shunned away. Now the song from the radio was much audible.

Mukundan felt cold and insulted. As he and God were the only witnesses. The guy got down at the next stop. On that day Mukundan understood one thing, that why in the movies, the cops arrive only after the culprit commits the crime and never prevent it from happening. In fact the cops would have been more intelligent than Mukundan...

Lesson:- Never try to be too humane unless and until it is demanded.


(Linking this to Writer's Post Blog Hop hosted by Suzy  & UBC)