What do we, Malayalees, have to hide?

Yes, this is my question that defies an answer. And that too while travelling in one's personal car.

Thanks to the court's directive and for tackling security hazards, the use of sun films on the windshield and the windows has been banned. Strict checking by the wayside, coupled with the slapping of fines seemed to have chastened the Malayalees! The use of sun films have, now, become a thing of the past. But the ingenuous and irrepressible 'mallu' could not be pinned down for long.

Because, these days, he's flirting with the use of curtains in lieu and that too, with a vengeance! Owners have been on a mad scramble to fix curtains in their vehicles. What's the need to cover the interiors? And that too, in the present day vehicles, where the use of tinted glasses by the manufacturers has become common practice?

So, what do we have to hide? Let me try and hazard a few guesses:-

      (a) We're up to tricks while travelling.
      (b) We're prone to doing unlawful things while we're on the move.
      (c)  We do not want to see the filth and squalor all around and by the roadside, in particular.
      (d) We do not want to see the wretched(?) people by the roadside who's not as lucky to own
            their own vehicles.

As I said, the answer eludes me. Could anyone help, please?


Tailpiece.

And there's a proliferation in the use of mini televisions to watch movies while travelling. While its okay in a bus or a maxicab/minivan, to my mind, it's definitely a no no in personal vehicles. Just imagine one's plight when one's behind the wheel and the rest of the family is enjoying a movie? It kills communication....... er, ruthlessly! 

A mother's apprehensions....her son's defiance!

We're at my cousin's place for the evening. It was pleasant as usual and the discussions kept on and on, never seeming to end. The topic of course was current and generated a lot of heat.

My cousin had broached the topic of her son's love affair. A touchy issue, but then. Though she admits that the girl is good for her son, she insists that it's a non starter because:-
    
     (a) The girl is yet to tell her parents all about her love.
     (b) She's dead scared of her father and will give up if he were to take a stand against it.
     (c) Her son is soft and brittle. He won't be able to survive a break up.
     (d) She insists that love, these days, is flippant and lacks the depth of her days.

But her son stands by his convictions and according to him the following will take place:-

     (a) The girl is finishing her engineering and awaiting her placement.
     (b) The day she gets her placement, she's gonna tell her parents all about him and them.
     (c) If her dad rejects the relationship, she'll walk away from her home to be with him!
     (d) He's exasperated about his mom's harking back to her days and her 'outdated' theories.

The father has been a mute spectator. It's my feeling that he doesn't want to offend either of the parties by taking sides!


My take.

I only hope that the son is able to prove his mother wrong and live a life with his love.

 

So much of violence?

(a) Rs. 5.25 crore - money meant to be loaded into ATMs - was looted by armed men in broad daylight in the Defence Colony area of Delhi. The security guard, who was fired at, is languishing in a hospital with serious injuries.

(b) Goons thrash and fire at the officials of the toll plaza in Gurgaon, seriously injuring one.

(c) Elsewhere in the country, in Bihar, an MLA's husband brandishes his gun at protesting teachers.

And I'm sure that there are very many more similar cases that have, sadly, missed the media's eyes. Therefore, we're blissfully unaware. But the point is why are we, as a people, becoming increasingly violent and intolerant of divergent views? Do we consider lives to be cheap and therefore, disposable at will? And who's given us the power to take the law into our hands?

 What about the aftermath of the gory crime? A life wasted in the confines of a dinghy cell in jail?

Is it a trend of the times or is it just an aberration, that will pass? I sincerely hope that it's the latter! 

Taking a long short cut!

I'm tempted to let you into this one incident from my Academy days, since I'm at it.

I don't recall the exact timeline but it was during one of my junior terms, perhaps in the second or the third term. Those days, the Academy's cadet appointments used to insist upon us to double, nay sprint, in small squads of 6 to 8 cadets towards the auditorium for watching the movies - English movies on Saturdays and Hindi movies on Sundays. I don't think that I ever missed out on the  evening movie bonanza during the weekends!

On this particular occasion, my course mate, squadron mate and friend, Chandu Sharma and I decided to avoid the 'mad charge' and opted for taking a short cut - a misnomer in the real sense, because it was circuitous and entailed passing through fairly thick foliage towards the end but deposited us smack at the left entrance of the auditorium.

Chandu and me had heard about 'timing' being an important aspect in life but didn't expect it to happen at such an inappropriate moment. N/Sub Bhoop Singh - yes, the same drill ustad of the Charlie Squadron -  happened to be at that vantage(?) point, on duty, to apprehend misguided youngsters like us who dared to  take that short cut! After giving away our names and numbers, we made a dash into the hall not wanting to miss any part of the movie, including the initial advertisements!

Retribution came in swiftly, a couple of days after. We're arraigned in front of our Squadron Commander, this time and he was eagerly awaiting our explanation to the charge endorsed against our names, 'Taking long short cut'. And when I was finished with mine, he let go off a loud guffaw and couldn't stop his laughter for quite a while!

 We're surprised to hear him say, "I'm leaving you this time as you guys have made my day". We could hear his laughter as we rushed to the mess to save whatever was left of the 'breakfast time'.


Tailpiece.

(a) What N/Sub Bhoop Singh had transcribed was a hard fact. It's a short cut that was long and he'd recorded it in his inimitable way!

(b) The drill ustads' drafting of charges were used by the cadets to further their cause at humour. I'm quoting an oft repeated yarn about one such ustad who seems to have told the cadets, who're standing at the shade on the far side of the 'drill square' as they'd been excused drill on medical grounds and I quote, "Those cadets understanding the tree, making loose motions meet me after the Sudan Block behind the 7th period".

Legend. (i) Sudan Block - the main administrative block of the NDA.
             (ii) The end of the 7th period marked the beginning of the lunch hour.
             (iii) The jury is still out on establishing whether it's a yarn, courtesy the fertile minds of the cadets or  
                     an actual order passed by one among the famed dedicated ustads who gave the all important
                     'halo' to the immaculate Academy Drill Square! 

Lock locked.......bike unlocked!

After paying tributes to Dr RK Keshwani, my mind is aflutter and is still dwelling in those nostalgic days at the NDA. As a cadet, I'd this propensity to get into trouble with a consummate ease that bewildered and amused most of my coursemates and friends. I shall let you into an incident and leave it to your judgement to pronounce me guilty or not.

 Lock locked......bike unlocked.

No, this isn't a riddle. It's a charge put on me by the redoubtable and smart N/Sub Bhoop Singh, the 'drill ustad' of Charlie Squadron.

As I'd said earlier, I'd this quality of losing my keys, quite often, especially during my first term at the Academy. Exasperated by the consequential loss of valuable time, I deviced my own method to tide over the discomfort. My bicycle(H 73) used to have the chain and lock like the others had, except for the fact that the lock remained permanently locked(its key having been lost quite a while before) and one of the links in the chain was purposely broken. Consequently, while the others took time to lock up their respective cycles I didn't and the arrangement worked wonderfully well. At least for a while.

But the idyllic situation had a surprisingly short life, when N/Sub Bhoop Singh stumbled upon it one day(to this day I'm baffled as to why the theory of probability did not work in my favour especially because there were 1499 - give or take a dozen due to medical categories or flats - other cycles in the reckoning!) and caught me at my game. I'd realised that something was amiss when I found the locking system missing - after the classes - but didn't give it much thought as precious lunch time could not be squandered away worrying about trivia.

Retribution was swift. Two days later came the day of the reckoning. As I was getting ready to charge off to the mess for wolfing down my breakfast came a message that I was to meet the Batallion Commander. And so, much to my anguish, I was marched into his 'haloed' office. On his table was a sheet of paper with the charge 'Lock locked, bike unlocked' written against my name and he was contemplating the punishment to be meted out to me but wanted to know what the charge was all about and was awaiting enlightenment from the protagonist himself!

As I explained the stuff, he burst out into laughter and awarded me two days' 'Restrictions'. The reasons:-
   (a) For getting caught after having committed a mistake.
   (b)And a silly mistake at that!

The fragility of human relationships.

There's turmoil in the Raheja household of Bombay.

The Rs. 11,000 crore worth GL Raheja group is the oldest construction company in the city. Popularly known as 'GL', Gopal had built his mighty real estate empire over a period of five decades. The conglomerate consists of 25 companies and is one among the biggest private owners of land in Bombay. The 78 year old patriarch still controls the running of the group and is being assisted by his son.

The father has now taken his son to court on charges that he, with the machinations of his daughter-in-law, recently did not provide him with adequate medical attention after an abdominal surgery and was left to die. He has further accused  his son of trying to usurp his position in the company!

There'd be much washing of dirty linen in public as the battle between the father and son rages in court, in the days to come. But, a question that lingers is 'are power and pelf the only important things in life?'


My take.

Once again shows the fickleness of human relationships. Aren't bonds in a family based on trust, love, affection and mutual respect? How can one, ever, forget the parents' contribution towards one's nurturing through infancy, childhood, adulthood and finally, manhood? This fundamental aspect is prevalent in every household - from the poorest to the richest. Relationships emerge from the deep understanding of individuals and their contributions towards one's evolution through life.

To my mind, anyone who disrespects one's parents, is on a sure path to destruction. And that individual can never sustain meaningful relationships, ever!   

Adieu....

When people who've enriched one's life take flight for their eternal life, a void is felt. The enormous sadness is brought about by the knowledge that they'd never be available in their physical forms that one was comfortable and familiar with, thus far. Two such personalities had moved into the mist of time in quick succession. I'd like to concentrate on the lovely memories provided by them.

1. Dr RK Keshwani.

He was our Chemistry instructor at the NDA. His classes were always interesting in that he'd a fund of anecdotes that were simply super. Known by the sobriquet, 'Adjutant of the Science Block' because of his insistence that we cadets maintained discipline at all times, parked our cycles properly at their earmarked racks while we're in the classrooms and were properly turned out! And he'd an elephantine memory.

When I'd returned a few years later as a DivO, while I'd called on him, with the excitement of a schoolkid he'd recalled, "The meticulous Cadet Rajeev of Hunter Squadron who'd the habit of losing his keys quite often". And I'd a lump in my throat. What a trivial thing to be remembered by a great person and a fantastic instructor like him!

An oft repeated crib of his was about the partiality shown by the cadets to him and his family regarding offering of marks of respect. And I quote, "When I'm alone nobody salutes me, when I'm with my wife 50% of the Academy salutes me but when I'm with my daughter(pronounced 'daaater') everybody salutes me, including the drill square failures"(For this unfortunate population salutes were taboo and they're only supposed to brace themselves to attention, in lieu, as per the Academy traditions and customs!), in his familiar and loud nasal twang.

He'd passed away, after a brief illness, on 21 Sep.

Dr Keshwani sir, you'll always live on in my heart till my very end and we shall ever remain indebted to you for the fine values that you'd taught us. RIP. My humble prayers and salute!


2. Malayalam cine actor Thilakan.

An actor who'd carved a powerful niche for himself in all the roles that he'd essayed during his lifetime. To me, his characters in the title role of 'Perunthachan' and as the constable father in 'Kireedom', are my all time  favourites.

And because of his acting prowess, was there a hint of the famous 'malayalee arrogance' in him? Well, he never hesitated to call a spade, a spade!

Mr Thilakan passed away in the wee hours of this morning at Thiruvananthapuram.

The void left by you in the Malayalam cinema will be difficult to fill. My humble prayers to a great actor. RIP.