Archive of An Unknown

Nila and Mala are two sisters born with many brothers in a decent business family. What is ‘many’? ‘How many’? Say, four! Nila is the elder one so Mala is the younger one! Nila is a very ‘good’ girl. A soft-spoken girl, who wouldn't fight back with anyone for anything! So, though the foods she prepares are salty and spicy she is always known as a sweet girl with no ego and pride. She always wonders, 'what have people achieved with so much ego and pride?!', but doesn't even like to argue about it with anyone. Nobody tells her but she would be the first one to start doing all the housework in whichever house she goes to even if it is a few hours visit. She doesn't allow her guests to do any work when they come to her house and she doesn't allow the hosts to do any work when she goes to someone else's house. So, needless to say - everyone loves her. Even then at times even some small pigs would easily disrespect her. Pigs? Yeah, they are related to some pig...

The journey of life, at times, is very frustrating. Just because of the fellow travelers who do not behave in a way that we expect them to. The same goes for the journey itself. I mean the ‘literal’ journey – the journey on road. Roads keep reminding me how dangerous my journey on this planet is – what kind of fellow human beings I have to travel along with. First of all, I am not sure if all of them could be qualified as human beings at this point. Like birth certificate and many other medical certificates, it would be great to have some systems in place to check our ‘human index’ – a measure to check how human we are. Those who are low on human index should be sent back to jungle. A friend of mine used to say he would be at his philosophical best while in toilet. Likewise, at times, I get horribly philosophical while on road. This concept of human index came to my mind when I was driving today – amidst some of my most human(!) countrymen. What on earth, sorry, what on road makes m...

Cheapness Is not cheapness When it is to cheap people

We don't keep thinking of the nation always. It's only the sweets distributed on Independence days and Republic days that were reminding us of the nation. Additionally, these days, the mushrooming private channels make us more patriotic by showing patriotic movies (which you wouldn't be able to see anywhere else or any other time!) and jingoistic programs on those two days. We can see even more patriotism on our streets on the days of Cricket matches and at times of war with the neighbor country. Unfortunately, war is more interesting a subject than Cricket itself for most of my countrymen for whom Cricket is a religion. At a time when patriotism has taken so many such different forms, I am reminded of not just the country but also of my grandfather (Mr. RV) on Independence days and Republic days. Wondering what have grandfathers got to do with the nation? Well, that's a long story. There is no better time than this to talk about it. We are celebrating his centena...

It is one of the questions for which we perhaps would never have a concrete answer in our life time or no one that takes birth on this planet would ever get a convincing answer. Does God exist? Don’t know. Looking at the events that happen around me every day, I get a confusing answer. My answer is positive when I come across something that doesn’t have a convincing logical answer. And, it is negative when I come across something that doesn’t have a convincing spiritual answer. Whatever be your explanation, I strongly believe that this world does not deserve so much chaos, problems, pains, bloodbaths, wars and hunger, which are experienced by right from new born babies to women to elders. When there is no logical answer, my theist friends argue that the absence of a logical answer doesn’t mean absence of God. They shoot me back with a simple question – “Do you believe only things that are proven?” and another not-so-simple follow-up question – “Who proved to you that your fathe...

I was born and lived in Tamil Nadu for 20 years. Today, I have become more Bangalorean than a Tamilian. However, the connection with Tamil Nadu is still there and I have been following the current affairs in Tamil Nadu as well even after leaving the state after my graduation. If you claim that your place is the best in the world nobody would take it seriously unless the following two conditions are true - 1. You should have seen the world, i.e. places other than yours, to compare yours with them, 2. You should be mature enough to look at things in an objective - unbiased manner. I have not seen the world nor am I going to claim that mine is the best place in the world. I have traveled to many places within India and I have spent a good amount of quality time outside Tamil Nadu. Unlike some of my friends, I have not restricted myself to people who speak the same language as mine only. I have a lot of friends from other places and cultures as well. So, all I ...