Thathri-kutty

It was the summer of 1983 and a car screeched to a halt, in front of a well known tharavadu (family house) in south Kerala. Dust sprang up from under its wheels and created mysterious figures in the dry air. A set of small tear-filled-eyes were there inside the car which were about to dribble, and a small mouth which was about to snivel. As expected, a high pitch cry emanated from the car. After sometime, a lady in her early thirties came out with the small girl. The girl was still crying. That was the day on which Thathri-kutty came to the village for the first time. From the city, her family has shifted to a house situated behind the tharavadu.

Her parents didn’t allow Thathri-kutty to play with the children of neighborhood. Before going to work, they left her at the tharavadu, where she played with Ramu, a kid of her age. Ramu-ttan became her childhood friend. Maniyan, Ramu-ttan’s puppy, was the third one in the gang. The mischievous activities they did every day did not have any bounds.

Going to the nearby fields kept barren after the puncha-koythu (harvest), finding out a small colorful insect called pasha (beetle) available aplenty in those fields, incarcerating dragonflies and make them hold small pebbles, making bubbles from the juice of a small shrub growing on the ramparts, buying ice-candies from Ramu-chettan using the paisa collected, playing achan and amma (father and mother), pretending to cook using sand and leaves of different colors, serving it hot using coconut pods as the plate, making and flying kites which failed in its ventures, making small houses using sand, catching fish from the stream that flow adjacent to the field using a thorthu (towel) and what not.

Thathri-kutty's younger sister Karthi-kutty was born when she was four years old. Lots of relatives visited their house on the following days.

On the noolu-kettu day (a ceremony on the 28th day from birth of a child) of Karthi-kutty, a few relatives and family friends came to their house with new clothes for the baby; some of them carried gold rings and some other brought gold chains (sort of a tradition in Kerala). Everyone’s attention was on the baby and no one noticed Thathri-kutty. She sat near one of the corners of the house, separated from others.

Previously her mother used to be with her every time. But now whenever she went to her mother, her mother sent her back saying that the baby would wake up and cry. Her mother also said that Thathri-kutty may hurt the new-born. She felt very sad. She was depressed for a few days until Balan-maman (Balan Uncle) noticed it. Balan-maman consoled her and afterwards she started liking her vava (younger sister).

Later Thathri-kutty realized that this was the case of the elder child in any family. When a new offspring comes to the family the elder one loses his/her attention. It also points out the care that parents need to give to their daughter/son when a new kid is born in the family. Later she decided that she will have only one child. But then she thought for a while. If vava was not there then she would’ve been alone in her life. She was in a dilemma...

thE bloG nexT dooR

Blogger.com made its inception in August 1999 in San Francisco, US. I was doing my second year engineering that time. A few months later in a website I read about blogging and the site gave reference to one of the blogs in the cyber world. I visited that blog and was amazed by the way that person wrote in her blog. Instantly I created an account at blogger.com, but that blog was somehow lost in the clicks of time. The same day I sent a mail to my class mailing list with some excerpts from that blog and invited my classmates to the blogging world. I don’t know how many of them start a blog due to that; may be none.

In 2003, Blogger was acquired by the great Google, the company which is a wonder in the internet world. The history of Google itself is an interesting read. Thinking in business terms its about raising a business of US$ 3.2 billion (2004 revenue) from nothing but a simple and efficient idea, in just six years! In fact the guide of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, at Stanford, was an Indian professor. He came to our campus a few months back to address us. We were more than thrilled by the story he said about Google. The entrepreneurial spirits in us experienced a high time during those two hours.

Later in 2004 when I was back to a classroom after spending about two years in a cubicle, I happened to own a home page in my institute web server, in which I made a section for blogs.

During my summer internship in May 2005, I started this blog as a way to kill my spare time. And thus unCERTAINty came into existence. There is a lot to say about the word uncertainty which happens to have a strong and explicit influence in my life, which I will definitely write about in one of my posts.

Now that was a long introduction to a small body explaining the title of this post. “Next Blog” is a small button on the top right corner of any blog hosted in blogger. I love that button very much. You know how many times it helped me to kill boredom? I found some of the most interesting blogs through that button. I used to go on and on by clicking that button. It takes me from one blog to another, one personality to another, one culture to another, one writing style to another. Yeah, each blog has its own identity. Some make me laugh while some make me think. Some make me feel empathetic and some sympathetic. I agree with some while disagree with some other.

Apart from the usual blogs, there have been blogs for crosswords, comics, sports-teams, news, events, nations, different subjects, religion, audio blogs; and even blogs for blogs. Blogging has grown a lot over the past six years; bringing people together and keeping them closer. Some times I wonder how the blogs of future are going to be! What all features / extras / innovations can get added to this ever-green mode of expression? Only time can answer right!

Paradise on Earth

"Catherine Freeman, Female, 28, Sweden"

The staff at the airport boarding gate read from her passport as Catherine stood impatiently at the counter waiting for a boarding pass. She was on her way to India, the place where she always wanted to go once in her life.

The firm in which Catherine was working had acquired one of the leading software companies in India. She got a call from her boss to go to India, the capital city of India to be specific, to settle some post acquisition deals.

India had always been a place which Catherine looked at with excitement. Whenever she heard about India, she saw it as a land with fortresses on grand hills. She saw a land having charming serene nature. She saw a culture that adorns dignity and diversity. She saw a land where people warmly welcome their guests. She saw a land which to her was the paradise on earth.

On the very moment the airplane landed on New Delhi airport, Catherine felt the charisma of the land of the oldest of cultures. The first few days were quite hectic for her. Talks, speeches, presentations etc. drained the last juices out of her. At last, on the penultimate day of her return, she found some time to explore her dream land.

India Gate is one of the beautiful locations in Delhi. It is a monument of sacrifice, valor and magnificence at the same time. It was from there that Catherine hired a cab to explore the entire city, for cherishing her long held dream. She also got a guide whom the cab driver has arranged for her. So nice these Indian men and their hospitality, she thought. And she started her journey to explore New Delhi.

Next day’s media carried a terrible news which happened in the capital city the previous night. "In the capital city yesterday, a foreigner lady was raped by a group of people!" The victim’s name didn’t appear in any of those but it was announced repeatedly that she was from Sweden.

Another news also appeared in all the newspapers that day. It said, “The Indian government, as an initiative to promote tourism industry, has increased the amount allocated for tourism development from Rs. 3.25 billion last year to Rs. 5.00 billion”

There were lot of discussions about the initiative by the government. Almost all praised it and commented that it will increase India's For-ex Reserves drastically. But somehow the former news did not get much of an attention...

lanD oF fortS

Cloaked in the mists of time and legend, in a distant land of deserts and fortresses, there lived a king called Rana Ratan Singh, who once ruled the kingdom of Mewar. Nestled by the dazzling dunes of the Thar Desert in Rajasthan, Mewar was one of the mighty empires of the Rajputs. Rana’s consort Rani Padmini was famous for her legendary beauty. So much so that it brought the great Delhi Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji himself to Mewar. But Rana didn’t allow Khilji to see his wife. And Khilji decided to conquer Mewar for the queen. But he couldn’t defeat the fort which was situated on a massive hill at Chittaur and protected by seven gateways. Khilji didn’t withdraw either and besieged the fort for about six months.


An outside view of Chittaur fort.

When the supply of the fort ended, Rana was forced to go for a truce with Khilji. Khilji demanded to see the Rani to stop a war. Finally Rana agreed and Khilji was invited, fully unarmed, to the fort. The Rani was shown to Khilji through the reflection in a mirror as she stood on a small palace constructed at the centre of a small lake. Yes! At last Khilji saw the Rani as a reflection in the lake, that also, through a mirror! Besotted by her beauty, Khilji detained Rana down the fort on their way back, and demanded Rani Padmini for the Rana. The brave Rani sent 700 palanquins with Rajputs hidden inside, to the base camp of Khilji with Rana's brother kept in her place, to liberate Rana. In the subsequent battle all the Rajputs were killed. To avoid molestation and the ignominy of defeat, Rani with her servants entered into a holy pyre called Jauhar!!


The palace where Rani Padmini stood & her reflection on the lake was shown to Khilji through a mirror.

This happened long back in AD 1303. Man! How beautiful would have been that Rani then? :-) And Damn it! Why wasn’t photography invented that time, so that we would have been able see how she looked like. Well, jokes apart we a gang of 8 were thrilled for reasons obvious to see this kingdom and the fort and to explore the stories and folk lore sleeping peacefully in that soil. According to history books this story is some what different, but it is the one that has been passed on for generations in Rajasthan and is pleasant to hear. :-)


Udaipur Observatory located at the center of a lake

We set start on a cold December night, after our end-term exams, to celebrate the new year with glory in the land of forts. It was also for a break-away from the dry-state of Gujarat to enjoy our lives with the sacred fire-water. ;-) (Liquor of any kind is banned in Gujarat by law)


Ajmer Lake

The places we visited were Udaipur – Palace of Rana Uday Singh, Chittaurgarh – Fort of Rana Ratan Singh, Ajmer – Famous for Ajmer Dargah where Pakistan President Musharaf paid a visit when he came to India and Pushkar – The only Brahma temple in this world.

randoM musingS

One of my stories got published in Malayala Manorama – Campus Line. Malayala Manorama is Kerala’s leading daily and Campus Line is its supplement. The name of the story is Summer Rain. Here is the link.

Summer Rain, was also one of my starting posts in this blog. Those who haven’t read it can have a look at it in my blog as well. It is here.

I had taken a course called Careers Roles and Identities (CRI) in my fourth term. It is an interesting course, which analyzes human behavior, interpersonal relationships and stuff like that. The course is evaluated on the basis of a biography and an autobiography which we have to submit. This was the main inspiration for me to take this course. I haven’t got a person yet, on whom I can write the biography. If he/she permits, I shall put it in my blog. Would it be a nice idea?

I had interviewed a few of my juniors for a club I was in. It is good to be on the questioning-side of an interview, which I know I will be doing once I get out from this place, but when it comes to selecting one or two from such a big list, it is an excruciating decision. How do I select one from an equally efficient set? Am I making the right choice? What will the ones who didn’t get through think about me? What would be their mental state when they know the results? I know some of them very well. But I also know that it is all in the game. That is the way corporate life is.

For a moment, my memories took me back to my college days. The campus recruitments were going on in our college. It was the time of IT recession and companies were recruiting in very low numbers. When each company’s final result was announced, I saw faces breaking into ecstasy. But I also saw faces trying to recede from the scene. While appreciating someone on my side, I also knew that I should console someone on the other side. And, at the same time, there was me there at the center who had already got chucked out in the pre-process to the interview!

I still remember the day I gave my resignation to my Project Manager. He was a nice guy. That time he was in dire need of resources for his projects. I was given an onsite opportunity as well. But then I had to leave the company for my higher studies. One fine morning I decided to go to his cubicle and tell him that I was leaving the company. On the way I was thinking about how I would present this matter to him, but unfortunately I had no other options. I explained him the thing and he was silent for a while. Managers are always in trouble, I will also be in trouble.

While working, we used to blame our managers. We used to laugh at those funny forwards about managers. How they make us work, how strict they were. But after some months, I will be in their shoes. And I know things are just not going to be fine. But, this is the journey called life. It takes us to those places which are least expected by us and will also show us how things are on the other side. A side which we have always reviled.