A news popped on my mobile at 1:30 pm. It informed that the virus had decided to take away a great singer from us. I started watching one of the news channels on the television. Many film personalities expressed their sadness to the channel through phone calls. One of them could not control his sadness and burst into tears. An interviewer on a YouTube channels was interviewing someone I could not identify. Though I had seen the interviewer earlier, she was barely identifiable for she had drowned her face in sadness. The interviewee turned out to be the winner of one of the super singer programmes. He talked through his tears. The interviewer requested him to sing a song. He protested "how can I sing in this state?" He talked for some more time before breaking into an unfamiliar song that the great singer had sung. Two lines into the song he broke down. The interviewer had tears running down her cheeks too. I got off the channel and decided to listen to some of his songs. I decided to avoid YouTube, which had the annoying tendency to insert advertisements between and sometimes in between the songs. I checked Amazon music, which listed a list of Telugu movie songs sung by the singer. I was not in a mood to listen to songs from movies with names like "State Rowdy". I checked the Amazon Music's list of best songs by the singer. The first song in the list was from the Superstar's latest movie and the second was the Hindi version of "Pudhu Vellai Mazhai". I did not think either of the songs fit into singer's "best songs" category. But I was running out of patience and chose the second song. The song played in the background as I went on with my life.
Later that evening, I watched an interview of the singer. It was claimed to be one of his last interviews. He did not look old in the interview. He seemed a few years older than me but his voice sounded much younger than mine. I realized that I had never seen his interviews before. Fifteen minutes into the programme my phone rang and I ended up speaking to the person on the other side for 35 minutes. I did not go back to the interview. The singer recounted the incidents of his life in an amusing manner. He seemed adept at mimicking voices of different people. From time to time, he sang some of his songs. His voice sounded marvellous. The songs filled me with sadness. He could have continued to sing for another ten years. The virus had cut short the lives of many by about ten years. A generation was fading earlier than they should have. I felt older by a generation.
Later that evening, I told my teenaged son "I will tell you something but you should promise not to mention it to anyone". He looked at me suspiciously. I continued "during my college years, I was approached by a music director. He informed me that the great singer had undergone an operation and was unable to sing. He had heard that my singing sounded similar to his and requested me to record a few songs. I was shocked for I never sang - not even in the bathroom. I told the music director so but he ignored my words and pushed me into his car. He took me to a studio. I recorded nine songs in the coming weeks but these were not released under my name. One of them was a big hit too. The music director asked me promise to not sing well from that day. My son, now you know why I sing so badly". I saw boredom on my son's eyes as he looked at me. I asked him to promise that he will never tell this story to anyone. He responded "Don't worry. I will never utter this nonsense to anyone." I shook my head in sadness and walked out of his room.
Sometime that night, I woke up suddenly. My mouth and throat felt dry. Though the night had started cool it had lost it coolness and I was sweating profusely. As I reached out for the water bottle, I heard someone clear his throat from the foot of my bed. It did not sound like my son. I felt a chill run through my spine. I got up and looked into the angry face of the great singer. I tried to scream but could not. The face came floating towards mine. His face was so close to mine that I should have felt his nose touch mine but I did not feel it. I did not think it as odd as I felt it was odder that the face did not have a body underneath. I thought I was in a dream but I was not sure. The singer sang "So, you sang ten of my songs is it?" I mustered enough courage to correct him "Not ten; only 9." He continued singing "Oh! Only 9 and it includes that famous song of mine too, is it?" I did not respond for an odd thought had risen in my head and I could not control myself from asking it. So I asked "how are you able to sing when you are only a face with no throat and lungs?" For a few moments I waited for fire to emit from his eye but it only glowered. He continued singing "Tell me the truth! When did you sing these songs?" I responded "Oh, that was many years ago. I was in college then". He did not sing for a few minutes but continued to glower at me. I looked at the water bottle standing beside me and asked "Do you mind if I have a sip from the bottle?" He sang "drink and then sing for me that song". I reached out for the bottle and brought it to my lips through the singer's face. I took a few swigs of the water. I placed the bottle back on the side table and started singing.
Five words into the song, the singer shouted "Stop!" I could not help but utter "You did not sing that word". The anger in the singer's voice gave way to amazement as he sang "which college did you go to?" I responded "Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya". The singer sounded confused when he asked (not sang) "What! Where is this Guru college?" I responded "Bilaspur". He went back to singing when he asked "... and you say that you sang these songs at Bilaspur". I confirmed "yes, at Bilaspur. In a studio on the first floor of an old brick building in New Bilaspur Market". The singer smiled and sang "Your imagination is better than your singing. You should write and not sing." I felt three pats (not slaps) on my cheek before the face disappeared.
"Something's wrong with that lizard. It's not moved for a long time now. I went close to it and slapped my foot on the floor but it did not move. I think it's dead."
I looked at the immobile lizard for a few seconds. I went closer. Nothing! I wondered what my next move should be. The voice that had informed me about the lizard continued "I hope it does not turn out to be like that bird." The voice was referring to a pigeon. A few days back, we found a pigeon sitting at the edge of the balcony looking at the world. It looked weak. For a moment, I thought it was planning to kill itself by jumping off the balcony. Then I remembered that pigeons possess the ability to fly and so jumping off a tall building would not help the pigeon attain death. But the pigeon did not look well at all. I looked at it for some time before getting back to my life.
Next morning as I walked into the dining hall, I heard the words "The bird's dead". I looked through the small window that opened into the balcony from the dining hall. The pigeon was lying on its back with its legs pointing heavenwards. From where I stood, it seemed that the pigeon's head was crushed under a piece of wood. I opened the balcony door and walked out. I was relieved to see that the pigeon's head was intact. Apparently, it had died of a natural cause. My relief was short lived though. I started worrying about my course of action. I prefer to leave dead creatures alone. Unfortunately, they have this nasty habit of decomposing, which leads to foul odour spreading across great distances. So, I had no choice but to dispose the dead pigeon. I used a plastic cover to pick it up. I took it downstairs and requested the housekeeping staff to give it a decent burial.
The lizard continued to remain still. I took a step closer and slapped my right foot against the floor. The lizard did not react. I was worried now. I did not have the resolve to deal with another death. I rolled a newspaper and tried touching the lizard with it. The lizard moved away. Relief spread across me. The lizard was alive but something was wrong. The lizard should have run towards the ceiling as soon as it saw the roll of paper coming towards it. In this case, it moved away a little and continued to remain still. I observed the lizard for some more time. The tip of its tail had turned black. I wondered if that meant something but did not know much about lizards to know for sure.
My earliest memory of lizards is a lizard standing still close to the tube-light looking at I-have-no-idea-what. Actually, I am not sure if the lizard was standing still or sitting still. As I rummage through my memory, I realize that I have only seen lizards running or not running. I am not sure if in the "not running" state the lizard's standing, sitting or lying down. I have been fortunate enough to notice lizards flash out their pink tongue and arrest an unaware insect passing by. Though I am sure that the lizards do this regularly, I have only seen this happen after the rains. Usually, a day after the rains, the house gets flooded by those annoying insects, which look like ants with wings. The insects swarm around the tube-light like the Mughals attacking a Rajput fort. The smiling lizard stands at one of the tube-light looking at the insect with a glint in its eyes. After surveying the field for a few minutes, they start sprinting towards the other end of the tube-light. At some point during the run, the lizard captures an insect and stuffs the insect into its mouth. Apparently, lizard mothers are not disciplinarians like their human counterparts. They let their young ones stuff their small but wide mouth with large portions of food and don't mind if the young one does not chew the food. The lizards I observed did not chew their food at all; they move the food around their mouth for a bit and then gobble it. The food is not even dead when it starts it journey downwards. But the lizard can't afford to sympathize with its food and gives a contented smile as the screaming insect reaches its stomach.
For a long time, I did not like lizards. I found the colour of it's skin revolting. More than the colour, there is something disturbing about the texture of its skin. I have never touched a lizard but just thinking about it makes me shudder. To make matters worse I kept hearing news about children falling sick due to the presence of a lizard, obviously dead, in their food. For some reason, the lizard that died in the food got the blame for this calamity and not the people who let the lizard into the food. My impression of the lizards changed on the day I sat reading a book by P G Wodehouse in my house. Suddenly, I heard a lizard's say something from above my head. I turned around and looked up. A lizard sat on the wall. It was looking intently at my book with a big smile on its face. When I looked at it, its smile became longer and it gave me a nod. I nodded back and continued reading. The lizard kept pace with my reading and our laughs coincided with each other's. These days I look at lizards with affection and at times, have tried to offer them books to read. Sadly, I have never found another literate lizard.
An hour later, as I was sitting on the floor working on the laptop, I found the lizard besides me. It had moved half a metre in the past hour. It continued to stay absolutely still. I decided not to disturb it and let it ruminate about whatever it was ruminating. A few minutes later I looked at the lizard and thought it had moved its head a little to its right. It continued to stay besides me in that position for the next couple of hours. Two hours later I bid the lizard good night and went to sleep.
The next day, I did not remember about the the still lizard till someone mentioned "What's wrong with that lizard?" The lizard had moved five or six metres and had parked itself in the TV room. It continued to remain immobile. Something was definitely wrong with the lizard but we did not know what.
We have not seen that lizard since.
That was how this piece was supposed to end but I saw the lizard again last night. It is alive still. It has lost some of it stillness and is moving around but at a pace slower than the average lizard pace.
The lockdown got extended a third time and so we are living through Lockdown: Brahma cycle 2. I wonder if we will go through the Vishnu and Siva parts of the second cycle too. The way the numbers rise, it seems likely. Yesterday, the first day of the new lockdown, there were 5200 new cases and 157 deaths in India. The overall number of cases in India has crossed one hundred thousand and deaths are at 3000. Tamilnadu continues to see increases of five and six hundred cases every day.
... and so, we wait and watch with the rest of humanity.
People have started moving around, not as much as the pre-lockdown days but definitely a lot more for lockdown days. Offices have opened with minimal staff. Shops are kept open for longer periods. Non-essential shops have started opening. In one of the reports, they showed a shop selling electronics (not electrical) equipment open in Thanjavur. A few shop owners stood in front of their shops wondering if they could open the shops. The news channels had announced that the Government has permitted shops to open but the formal notice from the Government was not available. This meant that the police might fine the owners heavily if they opened their shops. Worse, they could destroy some of the items in the shop.
Time and again the lockdown has brought out the Government's inability to think through decisions and to provide information clearly. The migrant crisis is a prime example for this. None of the Governments thought about them Worse, the crisis struck them on the very first day of the first lockdown and yet one and half months later, they have not done much to resolve this issue. I realise India does not have all the required resources but we have enough to transport people who are ready to walk hundreds of kilometres back to their homes. I mean, if Sonu Sood could singlehandedly transport five hundred people home, why can't the Government do a better job. Much later, he chartered a flight to transport people from Kerala to Odisha. Why do the Governments not have the will, perseverance and interest that Sonu Sood has shown? Unlike him, it is the Government's responsibility to take care of its citizen. India's bane will always be its people's utter lack of regard for the word responsibility.
The migrant crisis, as it is called, has shaken my faith in the concepts of "India is my country" and "unity in diversity". I have stayed in a few places around the country and during that time, I considered the place I stayed as home. I did not have a place to go to when difficulty struck. Till now, I thought everyone thought so too. But I was wrong.
At times of crisis, the celebrities are supposed to come out and help the society. I am not sure why they need to but they are expected to. It probably is the vestiges of socialism that continues to exist in our society. The rich should help the poor. But not many realize that rich and poor are relative entities and the statement implies that almost everyone should extend a helping hand. But we hide behind the tree called celebrities and let them be responsible for helping the needy. Many of the bigger celebrities had no choice but to do their bit. Some sent money to the various funds and posted tweets encouraging the Janata to strive through the tough times. A few actors posted videos about their contributions to the upkeep of their respective homes. They were seen clumsily sweeping their floor or washing vessels in their kitchens. One or two shoved their head close to a vessel of boiling sambhar and said "I made it".
The discussions about the actions of the celebrities during such times brings a question to my mind. What should one do to be considered socially conscious? I don't necessarily mean considered by the society but by oneself. During such times, a few aspects of my own character get reiterated. I am not a socially conscious person. I will never get outside my house and do anything for the needy. I will sit at home and type out such long and pointless thoughts. I have nothing to offer to the society. Three years back I thought I was at the beginning of a journey to "give back" to the society. Now, I don't even know what "give back" means and I look back at myself as a pompous fool. That was only a career change and nothing more. Worse, I don't even feel guilty of being such a socially non-conscious person. At best, I feel guilty that I don't feel guilty.
A major part of my life was spent in trying to be a good person. At some point of time, I realized I am not as good as I thought I was. I knew this all along but I only realized it at that point. The realization shocked me but soon I started revelling in being a person who was not as good as I thought I was. Today, I am selfish person who is not considered selfish by many as the planet I reside in is filled with many who are selfisher. But there are advantages in being selfish and not going out to help the needy. The most important being that one has the time to think up such nonsense and sometimes worse too. Like the one that struck me at dinner time one day "Tooth is pronounced two-th and yet it is the singular for teeth."
I considered naming this write-up Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham but I hate that movie and did not want to insult this write-up by applying that title. The title suits the lockdown period though. An ocean made up of droplets of happiness and sadness - Moments of happiness peppered moments of normalcy and sadness.
The mother called out to his son. The son shouted back "What?". The mother said "Save". The son did not understand. He gave her a blank stare. She reiterated "Save". He asked "What?" She responded "Save" angrily. He turned around and looked at me helplessly. I laughed. He shrugged and walked around the dining hall. I asked through the laughter "What are you trying to save?" He stared at me menacingly. I continued to taunt him "Go on! Save". He asked me desperately "What does she want me to Save?" I picked a packet of snacks from the basket on the dining table and said "Save the sev boy". He smacked his head and said "Oh! Savoury". I pointed at the packet and said "This is the sev of sev puri". He shook his head and walked away.
Death is a faithful companion of our life. It never leaves our side and is ready to take us into its arms at every moment. But every time we perceive its arms close by we try to shove it away. As one gets older one starts perceiving its presence more and whether we like it or not with every passing day our perception of death increases. Not just due to the thought of one's own death but that of our nears and dears too. To top it, the pandemic has only increased its prominence. During the last five months, the world has focussed almost entirely on the three and a quarter hundred thousand deaths.
The above number means roughly sixty five thousand deaths a month or twenty two hundred deaths a day, which means on an average one hundred persons are dying every hour around the world for the past five months due to this pandemic. This number by itself is not accurate. We are unaware of the many deaths caused by the virus that are not reported. I saw in the news about the increase in the number of deaths in a place called Malegaon in Maharashtra. During April 2019, around one hundred and fifty bodies were buried in a Muslim cemetery in Malegaon but this April, the number has increased more than three-fold. There is no explanation for the cause of this increase. There could be many more who have died due to the virus without the world being aware. We are not even sure of the percentage of error in the above number.
Not all the deaths were related to the pandemic. Some happened on the side lines and was not noticed by many. Some of these cases were in many ways sadder than the number displayed above. A number of television personalities decided to end their lives. Closer home, a death once again brought to light the insensitivity that pervades our society.
I did not know him. I had heard about him from a friend of his sister. I thought he had a family but I was wrong. He lived alone with his mother in Gujarat. A few days after the lockdown commenced, the mother died. I had written about this death in one of earlier write-ups. None could travel to attend the funeral and he had to take care of it alone. He had lived with his mother all his life and now she was not with him. He felt lost! The pandemic and lockdown did not help. He could not reach across to anyone and no one could come over to help him either. He was not friendly by nature and as a result did not have many friends nearby. This perceived unfriendliness of his resulted in his relative not trying to comfort him. He found it difficult to accept that his mother was not alive. Though he managed to cremate her, he did not find the strength to take care of the rituals (kriya karam). His relatives coaxed, begged and even threatened him to conduct the rituals. One of his uncles was cruel enough to threaten him with "a dog's death". But he kept delaying it. Finally, he told his brother-in-law "I will take care of it tomorrow". Three days later, he was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his mother's room. He had used his mother's sari to end his life. The pandemic and lockdown ensured that none could attended his funeral either. His nasty uncle's words have come true. The suffering has ended for him. His body is of no use for him and it does not matter to him if rituals are or were conducted. Actually, he can be sure that all the necessary rituals will be conducted else the ones who are left behind could also "die the death of a dog".
Little Richard and one of the founders of Kraftwerk, Florian Schneider, passed away during the lockdown season. I love Kraftwerk. They were my introduction to electronic music and during the eighties their music was heard frequently in many documentaries on science. An advertisement for "Coldarin" used a sample from their song "Space lab". Death of these musicians reminds one of one's own age and how our past is truly in the past - The past in nothing but the set of memories present in our heads.
Now that I have covered the gham part, let me proceed happily into the kushi part. The WhatsApp statuses keep me amused for few minutes every day. I was not aware of its existence for long. But once I got to know of it, I was hooked by it. I did not understand the point of posting something on this tab but nevertheless I liked to look at the page at least twice a day. I even posted a few status entries. I have the habit of making up statements with words that flow into my head involuntarily. For example, I once wrote "Simon turned around, looked at the Prince and said 'if all us remain the way we are born, the world would have been a good place to stay in'. The Prince responded 'what rot!' Simon shook his head in agreement 'yes its all rot'". Well! It's not truly involuntary but it's not planned either. I just let the previous words decide the next one. I mean it does not have to make sense but it should be seemingly sensible and on lucky days, even profound.
There are different types of status posts
Quotes with photograph or picture in the background.
pictures and words on events in one's lives.
An ardent supporter of BJP, places articles and words favouring the party. Many a times, he spews venom against people who criticize the Prime Minister. Recently, he taunted the Prime Minister a few times for not being his usual self.
There is another who loves to post his own pictures. At times, a few of his family members are fortunate enough to be a part of the frame too. In every picture, his expression is the same, his eyes opened wide with his eyebrows raised to its limit and an exclusive-for-the-photograph smile on his lips.
Another person posts pictures and videos of him working out.
Many use this space to remind us of gods and godmen. Thus Jesus, Saibaba, Siva, Vishnu and the Shankaracharya who is referred to as periyavva constantly vie for my attention.
At the other end of the spectrum Vadivelu and Goundamani appear frequently as a part of memes.
But none of them, not even the gods, could capture my attention like the one that started appearing since the beginning of the lockdown.
The status is posted by a relative. His wife and he decided to stay with his mother during the lockdown. He comes from a big family is Kerala, meaning, he is a tharavadi unlike the rest of us who are at best tharas. Tharavad and tharavadis are not uncommon in Kerala. Some even call the house built by their grandparents as their tharavad, but not this person, he is a proper tharavadi. The reason - His tharavad possesses an aana. Not just any aana but an anna with a name that begins with the name of the place. The aana also possesses long and gleaming tusks which he proudly displays as he nods his head. As an aside, I have also heard him, the relative and not the elephant, say that his tharavad has a room filled with sand. That room has not been opened for ages and no one knows how to open it either. His friends and family believe that that the room is filled with treasure from the past.
Staying in a tharavad is not easy as they are built many centuries ago. This means that they were constructed for the comforts of those days using the technology and skills available during those days. The technology and skill of those days don't exist anymore and the newer technology and skill cannot be used easily. So many a times, the tharavad becomes a white elephant. My own tharavad, which in my case is not my tharavad at all, was brought down a year ago as no one other than termite, ants, cockroaches, squirrels, owls and snakes resided in those premises for many years. My own tharavad was built forty five years ago in a crowded street in Chennai.
Damn! I have digressed.
A few days prior to the lockdown, the tharavadi started posting pictures and video of paddy fields in his village. The videos showed field filled with green stalks of paddy in various stages of growth swaying happily in their respective fields. Usually, the video started with a shot of these green happy creatures. Soon the camera started moving and one witnessed massive expanses of paddy field with coconut trees in the background. The camera continued turning for approximately 270 degrees before coming to rest on the face of the person holding it. His expression on his face as he stared into the camera was always the same - quizzical. Every time I saw the face, I heard a small voice in my head say "is the camera capturing my good face well?" The video stayed on his face for a few seconds before stopping. Once the lockdown began his focus shifted towards the elephant. Videos showed the elephant walking down the road swaying his head from side to side with branches and leaves held in his trunk. The elephant is a fine specimen of its species with a large and partially white forehead and large white tusks. It towered over its surrounding and walked majestically down any road.
Once the lockdown started the videos took a bizare turn. He started posting videos of his wife feeding the elephant. The concept by itself is not comical but the way it is done is. The video starts with his wife standing stiffly at a distance from the elephant looking at the camera and the person wielding it. She usually stands by a fence holding a couple of pieces of fruits or vegetables in her right palm. As soon as she receives the go ahead from her husband she starts walking stiffly towards the elephant. The elephant stands in its place swaying his head oblivious of her presence. When she reaches the elephants, she places one of pieces of the food into the elephant's mouth. The first time I watched the video I thought the elephant would jump back in shock. I imagined if someone shoved something into my mouth as I typed these words, I would jump back in shock. But the elephant did no such thing, instead it welcomed the food whole heartedly. Once she places the food in the elephant's mouth, she waits patiently for the elephant to chew its food. When she is convinced that the elephant has swallowed the food that she placed in his mouth, she stretches her hands towards the elephant's trunk. The elephant gives a startled look at her when her hand touches his trunk. But calms down almost instantly as he realizes that he is receiving another piece of food. She places the food in its trunk and walk away.
During the initial days, she went through this process in a stiff manner. But soon she developed some kind of rapport with the elephant and in the recent videos has ventured to pat the elephant's trunk before going back. I am unable to identify the difference in the elephant's attitude towards her though. The videos also have the instrumental version of a film song playing in the background. One of the recent videos had the instrumental version of the song Uyire from Bombay playing in the background. Hearing this an elder member of the family commented "Aanene adichu maatan nokkennalle!"
Social media continues to rule our lives, even more so during the lockdown. While WhatsApp has emerged as the king of social media, it has turned into a monstrous monarch who demands the attention of his subjects all the time. The subjects of this king have no choice but be a part of hundreds of groups and each of the groups a million videos land every day. Many of these videos with provide repetitive information or are untrustworthy. About 80% of the videos provide information in a mundane manner. Sometimes an amusing tiktok video lands in one of the groups but some fellow's annoying laughter takes away the little amusement that the video contains. Sometimes, people break into heated debates in the group. Depending on the country of residence the argument is usually about Trump or Modi. Poor Edapadi, there is never an argument about him. WhatsApp has become so annoying that I was thankful when one of the groups got shutdown unceremoniously. This act of kindness by a Goddess inspired me to jump out of another group, which had left a few months back only to be brought right back. But this time I took the additional precaution of ticking the option in the settings of WhatsApp, which will not let the administrator to make me part of any group he creates. There is one more group to escape from.
Oh! I have to put down a few words about this group. I spent the last two years of my life in a school that was, is and will be considered one of the greatest schools in the country. Unfortunately, the school did not turn out to be a great school for me. I have gone through many miserable schooling years but this one provided me with the worst two years. In the first unit test at the school, I could not pass in physics, chemistry and maths. That year I could not pass in chemistry at all. But miraculously I got into twelfth. I don't claim I was a bright student but I wasn't that bad either and I studied religiously for all the test and yet that Chemistry teacher flunked me every time. To top it she had the gall to tell me that every student with their name same as mine were intelligent but I alone have turned out to be like this. The maths teacher did not pick on me particularly but he had the penchant to give hundreds of problems as homework. Once he announced in the class "Diwali gift for all of you! One thousand problems in calculus." Here's the catch, he did not give the problems. The students had to find a thousand problems and solve it in 10 days. I don't remember anything other than the integral symbol and the letters 'd', 'x' and 'y' in calculus and hence cannot describe the problems but I remember copying problems from Russian translated book that was used by one of my uncles. Every problem in that book acted as the template for at least ten problems - if the problem involved a 3x then nine other problems took birth with x being married 7, 9 and so on. Much later I realized that I was experimenting with the concept of parallel universe during those young years of mine.
You might think where all this rot about that rotten school fits into the discussion about social media. The WhatsApp group I talked about earlier, consisted of my classmates from the two years I spent in that school. During the two years I studied there, there were five people I could call friends. A few more with whom I have talked to a few times. As for the others, I would not have bothered to wave them a "hi" if they crossed my path. One of them, swore to another friend of mine a year after I left the school that he did not have classmate with my name. Such was my relationship with my classmates and teachers during the two years I spend in that miserable school. Now, a few decades later, I was expected to communicate with these fellows over WhatsApp; not just in one group but two. I grit my teeth and went through the experience to the extent possible. But at some point, the painful discussions on US politics made me quit both the groups, which was a mistake. Within a month, I was brought back to both the groups. I shrugged my shoulder and bore the group for a few months. As I mentioned earlier, I have gotten out of one of the groups. The other group that I am a part of still, is a quiet group and so it is not a big problem. During the lockdown
Thus, our focus has moved from WhatsApp to YouTube. The variety of videos available on YouTube has made it one of the most important media in our lives. All the live news channels that we watch are on YouTube. Almost all the music and music related videos that interests a person are available on YouTube. But YouTube has found a method to make one's musical experience painful. Right in the middle of P. Leela's rendition of Sriramanamakatha, YouTube puts an advertisement. Not an advertisement for tooth paste or toothbrush but of some miserable fellow trying to woo a girl by singing a pathetic Punjabi pop song. One has to go through five or ten seconds of this nonsense before getting back to P. Leela. But by then the mood has passed. The placement of advertisements in the middle of a song is shocking.
YouTube has also brought in a few characters into our TV room. Two of these characters are interesting enough to talk about here. Dhruv Rathee seemed one of those persons who criticized everything done by anyone but soon I realized that one does not have a choice but to accept his points as he worked based on facts. His did his research thoroughly before presenting it to the audience. Further he clearly differentiated between fact based deductions and his opinions. More importantly, his presentation is matter of fact unlike Ravish Kumar who though good too seems passionate most of the time. Watch a Ravish Kumar programme is like watching a Sridhar directed Sivaji Ganaesan movie for continuously for 12 hours. This is probably the biggest differentiator between Dhruv and many of the other presenters in YouTube. Also, I am amazed that the fellow is only twenty three years old. How does this guy have this sane a head on his young shoulders?
At the other end of the spectrum lies Vanitha Vijaykumar. I don't think I have seen a person indulge in drama as she does; not on screen, not in life. I noticed her a year or so ago when she was thrown out of her mother's house by her father. She was all over the television hurling abuses at her father. She naatichufied her entire family. Her programmes involved all possible emotions. One moment she laughed the next she hurled abuses before moving on to tears and ... Sorry not all emotion. She never projected calmness on to the screen. I am only describing her interviews here and not the serials or movies she has acted in. Recently, she has surfaced again with Bigg Boss. She also has won some cookery show and considers herself a celebrity these days. She has a lockdown cookery show in which she made some kind of dessert using liquid nitrogen. Not many people use liquid nitrogen in laboratories and she uses it in her kitchen. If that isn't drama, I am not sure what is! For all the noise and melodrama, she has only acted in six or seven movies. I was intrigued enough by her personality to try and watch her first movie. The hero of the movie was none other than our very own Thalapathi. At that time, he did not have the heady titles like Thalapathi assigned to him. The movie was worse than terrible and I spent twenty minutes watching it with great difficulty. At that young age, she did not possess the acting prowess that she displays today.
Thus YouTube is an entertainment monster with personalities like Dhruv and Vanitha occupying their respective ends of the spectrum and harbouring many other personalities between them. If the previous statement sounds odd, it is meant to be. I placed it here only to use the word respective. I love the word respective and have been fascinated by it for many years. I am not sure many realize the power of the word. But I realized its strength the minute I ran into it. A mundane and almost meaningful sentence turned meaningful as soon as the word "respective" entered it. Let me give an example. Consider the sentence "The people on the dais occupied their positions". Nothing stands out about the statement. There is a dais. Some people are it and they position themselves in certain positions, which they believed were theirs. Now let us add the word "respective" to the sentence - "The people on the dais occupied their respective positions". Do you feel the difference? Suddenly, the positions have turned sacred. These are no longer positions that the people on the dais believed was theirs but these are positions that exist for the them. No other position on the dais would fit the person standing on it. All the universe has conspired in helping this person reach this position on the dais. That is the power of respective. We have just seen the word convert a position to the position. There is another interesting aspect of respective. One can write two lists in a sentence and place a respective in it to match each entity from one list to another entity in the second list. For example, let us consider the sentence "He gave an apple, orange, gauva and chikoo to the doctor, engineer, lawyer and storekeeper". From this sentence, we realize each person received a fruit but we have no idea who got what. To get that information all we have to do is place a "respectively" and all of a sudden, we are privy to this important information. "He gave an apple, orange, gauva and chikoo to the doctor, engineer, lawyer and storekeeper respectively" Damn! Now I know who got what!
Whoever gets whatever but I sure hope it is not Chinese. Apparently, everyone has turned allergic everything Chinese. Google PlayStore had an application that removed all the Chinese application on a smartphone. But the application itself was probably made in China and Google removed it from PlayStore. People are placing vows about not using Chinese products on Facebook. How the hell are they going the live up to their vow. The Korean car might have a component hidden from human eye that is made in China. And what about Chinese food! Will you never ever order Szechuan fried rice and Gobi Manchurian from a Chinese restaurant. When asked this question, the response is prompt. But this is Indo-Chinese and not Chinese. Nice! The dishes have Szechuan and Manchurian in their names and these terms are definitely based on Chinese places. Beside what about that dragon sitting all over the restaurant walls. That looks Chinese to me. As interesting as Facebook is, I wish it never existed for I would not have to deal with people making such absurd vows or proving to the world their sense of human equality by placing a box square for George Floyd as their profile picture. There are many George Floyds right outside our doors that we do not care for.
The pandemic and the ensuing lockdown and the concept of social distancing has made the life difficult for the people in the field of education. The teachers and students can no longer be in close proximity and so educational institutions have been scrambling towards the cloud. As is usually the case, everyone has picked the most glamourous aspect of the cloud to aid the process of teaching - Interactive classes using video conferencing software. There is more to education than sitting in front of each other physically or virtually but this is not understood by any. My own work in the area of cloud and education made me realize that an apple could associated with many subjects. If you are not convinced by what I say, look below.
Computer Science: Apple computers or iPhone
Physics: Newton
Biology: The fruit
Chemistry: Organic chemistry
Christian Theology: Eve and the snake
Medicine: An apple a day keeps the doctor away
English: A for Apple
Geography: Where do apples grow in India? (The correct answer would be "As in other parts of the world, on trees).
Indian languages: Aa for Aapil
I am bored of writing these entries. I wrote this entry a week back but did not feel like reviewing it till now. I have to review it once more before I post it. I started with this entry two weeks back at the beginning of the fourth version of the lockdown. Today, two weeks later, is the last day of this lockdown. The fifth version of the lockdown has been announced already - Lockdown: Vishnu cycle 2. But this lockdown will be a water down version. Malls and Temples are supposed to open on June 8. But not in Chennai for it is a containment zone. The number of cases continues to increase and there does not seem to be an end in sight for Chennai. The Tamilnadu Government says the increase in case is due to the greater number of tests done in the state but Trump says the same too.
Its more than a month since I wrote this and I have not published this. I am not reviewing this anymore. I don't think I will write for some time. Suddenly, I don't see the point.
He felt miserable. He had felt so for a few weeks. That evening, he felt worse than earlier and so he did what he thought the hero of his movie should do. He got into his car and started driving. He did not have anywhere to go. So, he went wherever the traffic took him. At some point, his car decided to get onto a highway. The car continued its journey south over the crowded highway. It left the city. The tall buildings gave way for smaller ones. The car continued its journey oblivious of its occupant.
At some point, he decided to get off the road. The trucks blocking his way got through his misery to his nerves. The car turned left and ran through a lonely two tracked village road. Trees lined the road on either side and if not for the tar on the road one would have expected to see a Pallava prince trotting down the road on his horse. The disappearance of the trucks had brought back his misery and he did not notice the beauty of his surroundings.
Slowly but steadily the road turned skywards. It went up little by little and at times it twisted and turned. His eyes were focussed on the road and his hands and legs did their respective functions precisely. They knew they could not depend on his distracted brain. The lefts were taken deftly and the rights respectfully. A few kilometres later his eye widened dangerously and let out a scream. His brain came back to life and shouted "brake". His right foot promptly moved from the accelerator pedal to the brake and pressed it forcefully. His left foot followed suit and pressed the clutch desperately. His palms gripped the steering wheel desperately. His miserable brain had overreacted. Such a reaction was unnecessary for the car came to a screeching halt four and a half metres from the wall.
He got off the car and sat on the parapet wall looking at the sun waving goodbye to the blue sky. He noticed an airplane in the sky. The moon had started appearing on the dark side of the sky. He sat there oblivious of the passing of time. Darkness descended and, in the distance, he could hear Dave approaching him while playing his guitar. Dave stood beside him and started playing the licks of a familiar song. In a few minutes, Roger joined him and they started singing ...
