Thoovanathumbikal-More than a Cult!

My movie buff parents would have gone through a moral dilemma, while deciding to take a third grader to this movie. They decided against it, like thousands of other conservative families, who anticipated that Padmarajan was going to narrate something, that would make them uncomfortable. Little did they know that this would turn out to be a cult and have an entire generation addicted to it, who in the first place ,were shielded by their parents from this art form. I am one of the most ardent fans of this wonderful creation and keep revisiting this classic very frequently and feel refreshed after every watch. I remember having umpteen conversation on this with many of my close friends.

What made this Cult? Is talking about this just a fad? To start with, the movie was ironically one of the biggest disasters of those times. Rightfully, because prematurely exposing a very progressive art form to an immature audience, wouldn’t have had a different result. Imagine launching the iPhone to the baby boomers! But then again this may not go well with the college goers now. The fanbase for this cult is essentially those young minds, who have been rooted in Kerala, growing up in a morally correct society and whose life has opened up now to a whole new world of opportunities.

Padmarajan has crafted the characters in the movie so well, that even after three decades, their mannerisms are so vivid in our minds. Even while defining them so clearly, he leaves an element of elusivity which makes them desirable.

The Plot

Jayakrishnan– A poster boy for an average male malayalee, who likes to exist in dichotomy. Mohanlal effortlessly shifts between the loud stingy feudal landlord placed in a remote village to the playful and adventurous youngster who goes on a wild ride at the first opportunity offered by a bustling town. He hops between bars with his wealthy and Influential friends and makes every effort to make his friends happy. His friends spread from rich business men to local pimps. The famous Casino bar scene where Padmarajan, in a subtle way, takes a jab at our society’s moral position is a treat to watch. Even now the lines ” Nammukora naranga velam kachiyalo” is a very popular line among party goers of my age. I know of many wannabe jayakrishnan who like to have two lives. The Maverick jayakrishnan was always safe in the hands of a seasoned actor like mohanlal. The scene where his mood changes from euphoria to melancholy, after handing over his friend ashokan to a call girl is one of the best scenes of the movie

Padmarajan splits the protagonist between two women. Clara, an extremely sensuous girl from a poor christian family, wants to desperately escape from the clutches of her step mother and make a decent living. She chooses the path of prostitution and lands with Jayakrishnan in her first stint. Here again ,Padmarajan narrates the affair so beautifully, amply supported by Johnson’s background score. He brings in a Fictitious mother superior an epitome of morality who writes to clara to sin. Through out the movie Clara is shown in the backdrop of rain, which is why malayalees love her so much. Jayakrishnan falls in love with Clara and proposes to marry her. All these events occur while Jayakrishnan’s proposal is rejected by Radha, who hails from a very well off family ,offering stability and prosperity in life. Clara absconds ,sensing that JK is falling for her, only to return later a couple of times, meeting JK, before she leaves for ever, settled in a foreign land with a wealthy widower.

While Clara moves in and out of JK’s life, radha cements her life falling in love with JK. He is never able to choose between them through out the movie. Even in the climax when clara leaves him with radha, JK looks uncertain about his state. The movie leaves many questions unanswered.

Why couldn’t a strong willed JK make a decisive choice between the two woman?

Why didn’t Clara choose to be with JK where she could have a happy and respectful life?

Why did radha choose to stand by JK even while knowing that he was in love with Clara?

It is between these three elusive characters, Padmarajan places that holy grail which every one wants to feel with every rewatch!

How much would you pay for your Sleep??

Remember Trevor Reznik in “The machinst”? Struggling with insominia.Desperately searching for sleep, flying like a free kite with the hope of finding an anchor. Discount the histrionics and you could find a dozen of them within your acquaintance.

Sleep deprivation is going to be one of the most challenging issues ,which the medical community would be addressing in the near future. The economic impact of this is mindboggling. Productivity loss is a direct effect.

I am curious about the extend of research gone in to the subject of sleep. How does our brain cells magically turn off in the right sequence to put our thoughts at rest for a specified period of time and turn on in the same sequence to connect us back to reality. Does every human being on earth has a specific pattern of sleep or is it possible to pick common characteristics to group them.

What makes you sleep and what are the deterrents ? I personally have relied on soothing music since my childhood to put myself to sleep. I have friends who rely on the same for their sleep. Look at the proliferation of apps on the web that cater to this. I am sure the economics around this is not going unnoticed. Peripherally this is being addressed by the sleep wellness industry who are more or less looking at the surface of this, by designing comforting mattresses and other accessories. The point is, this not mere physical and the potential of this becoming one of the most lucrative industry is inevitable. With the digital revolution and globalization reaching its pinnacle, the quality of sleep has been going down. Imagine the amount of ad-hoc travel and the channels one is connected to for work. There is this constant urge to check your mail or check your Instagram posts while you are on bed. Your mind is always hungry for information. The human brain and its functioning would definitely have adjusted to this onslaught. Its more likely that the pattern of sleep for the human race is going to change in the future.

I foresee a future where there would be a need to buy sleep. Imagine a person who has had a red eye and has a very important meeting the next day. How comforting would it be for him to buy 6 hours of sound sleep. What’s important for this futuristic business is to Invest in knowing the science of sleep. How does our senses play in to this wonderful process. There is already a good number of people ,who are connected to devices and smart watches collecting data about their sleep pattern. Imagine the volume of data that is going to be available for us to get that valuable insight. How do we segment customers, understand their favoring variables and deterrents to a sound sleep and how do we package them.

So the future is going to have sleep parlors built on the foundation of strong scientific data research and analysis and customizing sleep packages to individual customers based on the data shared by them on their sleep patterns. I could walk in to one such parlor and order 6 hours of sleep and be refreshed at the end of it.

I hope i could be the owner of such a chain in the future that is in the ” Business of sleep”. After all nothing is worth than a night of good sleep. I would be first one to go there to stop thinking about such ideas in my sleepless nights!!

Sanil

Molecules

Its quite an interesting fact that every thing in this whole world is made up of the fundamental building block of the universe-the molecules. From cocaine to baby powder, ships to paper, brad pitt to myself. Isn’t that astonishing that if we start breaking down anything in this world, you will come down to see this wonderful matter.They combine together in so many different combinations to create such a variety around us. That brings us to the point that the rules of wear and tear applies equally to anything in this world. This is not a blog on atomic science. I wanted to share with you something that happened to me this morning.

I was driving shreya to school. It was unusually foggy today with almost zero visibility. My mind too was quite reflective of the external environment. Hazy thoughts made me a bit uncomfortable. A hundered threads were running through my mind during that half hour drive. I reached home and i had to check some transaction which happened in my Bank account, which i had opened a decade back. Through out this 10 years i had memorized the 10 digit numeric id and password. I never had to write it down anywhere. The moment the internet banking screen opened in front of me my fingers always magically moved over the keyboard and typed the user id and password. This was more of a subconscious reaction from me,something in my brain was triggering this as soon as my eyes noticed the internet banking screen.

Today for the first time in the last 10 years, i could not type my numeric user id. I was not able to remember it at all. I tried blinking my eyes repeatedly, shaking my head  violently as if this would magically erase the block which was not allowing me to access this 10 digit number in my brain cell.I felt as if there was a fog created inside my brain which was not allowing me to see this number,similar to what i experienced while i was driving. I started panicking after a couple of unsuccessful attempts of entering the user id. I knew i was failing to recollect. I thought what if  as i grow older i start forgetting my self, my loved ones ,my friends, the wonderful things i have done in my life. There are so many elders whom i know who are experiencing this, destined to live among their loved ones without knowing who they are. Like i said earlier human brain like any other substance in this universe is subjected to wear and tear. Its just like a memory chip which keeps eroding with time.

Reminded me of two great movies from padmarajan around this theme. “Innale” and “Thanmatra”. Report says that by 2030 there will be 66 million people suffering from alzheimers. Lets all pray that we don’t fall to this.  And for my user id i got it mailed to me by the prompt and friendly customer care.I have written it down in BOLD letters in my dairy.

 

Sanil

 

 

 

The Indian Lathi

I have always wondered why young indian men don’t opt to join the police force. While there has been conscious targeted campaigns from army to lure more men in to the armed forces, the state governments have always turned a blind eye towards the plight of the police forces. Perhaps it has to do with the budget allocation which could be more for army since it comes from the central budget unlike the latter which is state controlled.

 

Even the movies which portray police officers as the savior of the common man has failed to do the job. Be it the stout chulbul pandey with his aviator or the roaring singham flaunting his six pack, they have not been able to move the youth to make a career choice in police forces. The fact is that the moment they step out of the movie house they might run in to a real life cop harassing or even begging to a street hooker for his weekly commission ,for him to pay his daughters school fees.

 

The image of the indian police officer is not that of a smart and stout young man in a well ironed kaki uniform holding an AK-47, but it is that of a pot bellied,tired, sweating,frustrated middle aged man with a lathi who is on the street trying to make ends meet for his struggling family and who wears this look on his face of a  man lost between his moral obligations and the  hard reality.He knows that he can never change the system which is more corrupt than he though it was and to the common man on the ground he is the dartboard to vent all their frustration on the corrupt judicial and political system. No policeman is ever liked by a common man.

 

Why are they in this state?? The primary reason being the state governments have never looked at them as a strategic force to reckon  in maintaing internal stability and security. They have been historically used to suppress political hostility by the ruling government and have been mere pawns in the hands of the political class. The recent terrorist attacks in mumbai had exposed this sad state to the general public when the whole country saw the police constable trying to overpower a well armed terrorist using his lathi. We made a mockery of our police force in front of the whole world.

Its not enough to buy fleet of gypsies and toyotas for the higher ups to move around, we need to start the transformation right at the bottom. By bringing in more young people in to the system, giving them better pay and making the system more transparent and accountable. At the bare minimum equiping every constable well to handle crisis situations.

 

The Indian police force is only as relevant to the current society as the lathi is to the current weaponry.

Catch them young!!Lets have a better force tomorrow..

 

Sanil

 

 

 

 

Where are the Crows??

I woke up today morning to a very rare and nostalgic sound. The caw of a crow. I thought the crows never existed in the US . I hadn’t seen crows in the midwest which was logical due to the extreme weather there. I was happy to see them when i moved to california. Having born and bought up in a coastal village in kerala, they very much made me feel at home along with the sardines and the mackerel, and the thousands of indians in the silicon valley. I then came to a conclusion that crows always lived close to the beaches..

I have great memories about this bird. As a child i always woke up hearing it caw,marking the start of the day. This bird did not have any mythological significance with no mention anywhere in any of the great epics. But i knew it was there for a purpose. Occasionally my grandmother used to curse them,when they stole a piece of sardine kept outside in a clay pot for cleaning. It was very much a part of the family earlier. It was always there in the backyard,trying to grab anything meant for it. In malabar we had a belief that if a crow cawed sitting on your house you would have guests for the day. As a child that was one more reason why i loved the bird because i loved guests coming home so that i could play more and i associated the caw to happiness and fun.

In hindu religion we believe in reincarnation. We believe that all our loved ones who have parted with us in this world are born again as crows. That is the reason why we offer the crows rice during an auspicious day in a year..

The ritual went like this. You wake up early in the  morning, take a shower and remain in your wet clothes,remember all your loved ones who are no longer there with you and offer a handful of cooked special rice and clap to let the crows know that they can come and have them. I was told that if my ancestors were happy with you the crows would come and have your offering. I always used to be tense about this and hoped that the crows would come and have them. They never let me down!! This was the spiritual association i had with the bird.

The last time i went to India, i did not find much of  them along with lot of other things.  They were no longer there in the backyards as we no longer cleaned sardines outside in clay pots. They no longer cawed,as we no longer wanted anyone to come home, they no longer came to have our offerings as we no longer remembered our loved ones. I felt they have extincted themselves having realized that the world no longer needs them. The world has changed a lot

Every soul in this world is there for a purpose. If the purpose doesnt exist the soul ceases.

Remembering the Crows i used to love

The Mason and the Oracle Consultant

The days of Flat/Constant salaries are slowly going away. With more and more focus on productivity across the world ,hourly wages are gaining popularity.  The perception of hourly wages associated with low paying jobs is no longer true.  This has infact opened up new opportunities for companies and Individuals who have acquired specialised skill sets.

When my father build our house in the 90’s the mason used to charge Rs 200 a day for him and two of his associates along with a sumptuous lunch,break fast and a snack in the evening. This would look exorbitant for any one in the northern part of the country. Thanks to Communism – Kerala still is heaven laborers. The carpenter used to charge Rs 150 for himself which now has reached 700+. As a child i had more respect for the carpenter who had more 100 rupees in his hand than the mason, when my grandfather used to give their wages at the end of the day.  I was curious as to what made the carpenter have more money than the mason though both were almost doing the same physical labour.

 

Today i was working with a Consultant who was charging $250 dollar an hour.  Because of some budget constraints i was asked to keep an eye on his hours which is quite unusual in the industry . But what bothered me was, what is it that that made the guy worth $250 dollar an hour. On a broader angle what determines labour rates??? Is it just an intersection of supply and demand of labour.  But then there is always demand for menial jobs and there are not enough supply of labour to do them. Then why doesnt the labour rates for these kind of jobs go up?

Is it then associated with the Skill set required to perform a task?? Not really because its always easier to Configure a server than making a lovely designed gold chain, which still doesn’t answer why an Infrastructure consultant charges more than a Goldsmith.

Is it then associated with the Creative quotient/thought leadership/Knowledge you have. That also doesnt seem to be the case because we all know of economists and artists who struggle to make their ends meet. But fine piece of art always demands a premium, so does the creator or the artist.  As long as there is Revenue associated with the labour Involved it is easy to justify the labour costs. But in most of the cases it is hard to link the additional revenue that is generated out of the labour cost /expenses incurred.  Both the mason and the IT consultants are just contributing to Cost centers and are just absorbing allocated budgets.

I believe there are multiple factors that determine why  Scott the Oracle consultant earns more than Kunjikannan the  Mason (Country factor discounted,Lets assume kunjikannan was in silicon valley). My Talaash  for the answer will stay on..

 

On a different note Talaash is a good movie dont go by the reviews..

 

 

 

A Wasted Opportunity

Its still not hit us hard and no one seems to be thinking of it..Perhaps its not talked about much in our society because of the taboo we associate with it.  I am talking about Waste management which is going to be the most sought after management subject in the coming decade. A billion dollar industry that will shape itself and expand aggressively going forward.

I first thought of this three years back,when after my sister in laws marriage,the organizers of the wedding stood perplexed, when they were asked how they will dispose the waste. In a small city like Kozhikode the families are totally dependent on Community based programs  like Kudumbasree to dispose of their day to day waste. I presume the situation is no way different when you move to larger cities . I have heard that in Trivandrum the Corporation fines people for disposing their wastes in open( Which should be the case ideally).  Recently KFC which had a Grand opening in Kozhikode was Blacklisted and moved out from business when they were caught disposing off their wastes in open.

Think of bigger cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Have  the authorities even thought about handling this as our population gets bigger and bigger.We wont be able to sustain this with our old school of thought of recruiting people from the lower strata of society and getting the job done.  This surely will and is in fact getting out of control with heaps of waste on busy roads and neighbourhood being a common sight and increased cases of recurring epidemics.

At a Global level i guess they have thought about it by Involving Private Participation and Investing in Technologies. Our population will touch 10 Billion by 2030. This means increased consumption resulting in increased waste. Asia will hold 2/3 of the World population 2030. For India with its high density ,this problem could be even worse, with the Waste composition changing with more electronic and non degradable substances increasing their share.

 

There is an Opportunity here for Sure. The opportunity of a new Industry ,generating new jobs,new technologies and a healthier planet for the next generation to Live. We need to act soon,at least India needs to act soon.

 

 

 

 

 

LalSalam!

I am a die hard Lal fan.. i grew up watching malayalam movies in the 80’s.  This is my list of the best Lal movies i have watched  in ascending order:

1.Kireedam

2.Sadhayam

3.Iruvar

4.Thovanathumbikhal

5.Amrutham Gamaya

6.Nammuku parkan mundhirithopukhal

7.Devasuram

8.Bharatham

9.Dasaratham

10.Spadikam.

 

 

 

 

When the migrating birds become a Nuisance

Kozhikode landscape had changed drastically from the time i was there a couple of years back.  Tall buildings, well lit hoardings showcasing smart models endorsing international and local brands, plenty of eat outs, great malls and movie houses. I observed the same as i travelled across malabar till the tip of kerala.  I realised that the change was not just a structural change.In fact in one of the train journeys i noticed that 25% of the passengers were North indians, the new breed of daily wage workers in Kerala.  The so called “Bengalis”.  The friendly “annachis” we had from the neighbouring state of tamilnadu had ditched us over the last few years.  They are currently happy watching Suntv on their TV sets given to them by “Purachi Thalaivi” and finding a decent daily job in their very own place.This is not just in the cities. The Hotels in my very own town have only “Bengalis” in grocery store deciphering every item the customer tells in malayalam with utmost ease or juggling the “Porotta” for which we were so proud of,in a local thatukadda.  The bottom line is that the Malayalees are not available for daily wage jobs.

I just wanted to draw a parallel with a situation US had decades ago. US was in the same state when the neighbouring country of Mexico supplied labour for daily wages who literally run the economy in the US right now.  If it was not for the Mexicans there wouldn’t have been the Walmarts and the Tacobells and Chipotles which have become International brands. There is obviously a Flip side to this flow of Labour.  The Crime rate increased,Movement of drugs became easy and human trafficking was much easier. A country like US could control it with their efficient border security force and an effective immigration policy. Inspite of that there were loopholes in the system,which utimately led to the most debated immigration policy in Arizona.

What worries me is that in a state like Kerala,where our politcians are least interested in the welfare of our people i am sure this change in demographics is surely going to go unnoticed. I am sure there is no record of anyone who enters the state and finds an employment. When i say they are called “Bengalis”  dont expect them to be like the  Bongs we know. These are probably from Bangladesh who have come deep south to make a living and they have absoultely no societal commitment to lead a non-criminal life and our politicians can easily use them at their will against their opponents which could be the common man.

The french Govt had recently started expelling the “Roma’s” from france citing criminal reasons. This is not just in Kerala but  a global phenomenon and can never be stopped. I hope our authorities are vigilant enough to note this movement until its too late to be corrected.

They are not like calm seasonal birds,but they are here to stay and we might need to fight back.

This is just a point of view and i will never stop talking to the “bengali” chettan who makes puttu and kadala on pottamal road next time i meet him:)

The Dying Pen

Today at work,  i was scrambling for a pen to make a note of something i had to refer to..later…The only reason why i thought of writing it down was that there was nothing close to an electronic device near my vicinity that could absorb the content,except for my smartphone which was already glued to my ear and i am not a gadget geek,who could toggle between the phone and an app on the phone to store the content.  I realised that i havnt been in such a situation for a long time. I started pondering when was the last time i held a pen in my hand.  The only instance i could remember was when i painfully signed (Pain purely in the conext of having to part with the money and not the physical  stress of signing)the $1300 cheque to my leasing office.  Where did the pen which was such an integral part of our every day lives disappear??  Has the role of this friend,which always appeared stuffed in the shirt pockets, who was so close to our hearts literally, been confined to occasional signs on cheques.

Its another of those small little, cute things thats been wiped out by the technological strides we have made over the years..The pen which used to be the sign of knowledge,education,authority and discipline has almost disappeared.. I am wondering what has happened to Reynolds which used to be such a common name during our school days.  I still rememeber the joy  i had,as a little school boy, when my father had presented me with a “Hero” pen..I am still wondering why they called it a “hero” pen..Perhaps for a school going kid who just upgraded  from the lead pencil, to the pen,”Hero” was a name he could easily relate to,the feeling of having grown up to use something which was at that time restricted among the priveleged ones.The pen had the sign of an arrow on the shining body personfying perfection and class.

Now i wonder even if Government offices use it for their attendance registers..  With Akash tab availble for Rs 3000 i dont see the pen surviving even in the hands of school children studying in the remotest villages of  India.   I will not be surprised, if in the near future  kids comment saying ” whats that crazy thing in that box” looking at our dear pen,placed next to a Cassete or a sharpener,at perhaps a museum showcasing antique stuff.