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Showing posts from January, 2026

A Land That Refused Uniformity

" Keralam ", my homeland, is a breeze that calms my mind and soul. She keeps whispering, "Stop, relax and take a deep breath.  You are living your life, it is not a race you must win. Come sit with me and take a look at the horizon".  Malayalis are a proud lot. You may belong to different ethnicity, race, religion or even another planet but if you speak Malayalam from your heart then you are a Malayali, period.  And what does speaking Malayalam from the heart mean? Simply this: you understand the puns, the sarcasm, and the art of self-deprecating humour. One of the strengths of Kerala is that we never sought uniformity, nor did we ever consider it necessary throughout our long history. As a costal place, we learnt to listen and evolved through syncretism. We have met and mingled with different cultures, through traders, travellers and settlers, through out our history. Our language and cultural values evolved  by coming in touch with their languages and cultures,...

A constellation of lights

  9th October. I sensed there is something wrong with my alarm, the music it’s playing is different. I cursed myself for changing the alarm music. I hit on the snooze button hardly, nothing happened. Music is still playing. What the hell, I thought. Then it came to me, it is not my alarm, it’s the phone which cut short my sleep. It was early morning and I was still in half sleep and was angry. I answered the call with obvious frustration in my speech. "Hello?" "We're planning a trip. You coming?" "Okay..." I took some time to let it sink in. I am going next week. it was my elder cousin sister.she always keeps this air of urgency in everything she proposes. She told me, her family,my other cousin sister and their kids are also coming,along with my Valyachan (elder brother of my father) and valyamma(his wife) I was searching for right words. What to say ? at last I managed to say, “okay”. I still have no idea why we are going to Kolkata , all ...

Learning to Slow Down in a Fast World

i used to think fast & busy life means how important you are. A day without being tired mentally & physically is a day you hadn't earn anything. Now when I look back, i realise how foolish i was. A laid back life is not for hardworking people, it is another verbal gimmick by the lazy lots to justify their attitude. But now i realise that it is an art, being laid back. Not thinking about the past and not worrying about what the future holds, that is how i like to live my life. A life close to nature , a life as far as possible to humans especially the so called busy people.  Over the time i noticed something that was alarming, i was always rushing but rarely arriving. Like a rushing mode switch is on. Even at home i am not feeling peaceful. Mind is in constant alert like in a war scene, but lacking awareness. i am not able to do one simple thing for a long time, suddenly some other thought comes crashing. i lost track of time when i. used to read books for hours without int...