I Speak my mind

Democracy is not tested by how a government celebrates its power, but by the way it treats its citizens who questions it. When citizens take to the streets demanding accountability and the response is intimidation from government's part, then something deeper than protest is at stake. Power is temporary, but the values we uphold while wielding it define our place in the history. It is never the power that makes a ruler great, but the courage to use it with humility and responsibility. 

Work and responsibilities take up most of my time, now. What I miss is not just the happy days but sad ones too. I miss those simple evenings and the people who made them special.

Sometimes I catch myself hurrying when there is absolutely no need to hurry. I walk fast inside the house. I eat as if someone is waiting to take the plate away. I finish one task while my mind has already started fighting with the next three. Then I stop and ask myself: What exactly am I late for? Most of the time, I have no answer. There is no train to catch, no flight waiting, and no one standing behind me with a stopwatch. Still, somewhere inside the mind, an alarm keeps ringing. It tells me to move faster, earn more, know more, finish everything and become someone important before time runs out. The funny thing is that nobody knows when this imaginary deadline was fixed. The Clock Inside Our Head Life gives us many clocks. There is a clock for education, another for a job, one for marriage, one for buying a house, and probably one for looking successful while doing all of it. If somebody younger reaches a place before us, the clock suddenly becomes louder. We look at another perso...

" 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,...