2019

January 1 as New Year has no special significance. For me it is just another date. No significant astrological change happens normally on January 1 that has the power to change ones destiny on a New Year Day. It cannot also be said to be the beginning of something new or letting go of the old. This can be done any other day. January 1 is only that, Just Another Day.

But this year, astrologically both Mercury (Budhan) and Venus (Sukran) transit on January 1st. Hence, it is possible to see a just noticeable change in one's fortunes from the New Year day, at least for the month of January.

The real change is likely to be from first week of March, when Rahu and Ketu transits to Mithunam and Dhanus respectively, which has the power to change your fortunes for the next one and a half years.

Transit for Saturn (Sani) is not indicated this year, though the planet goes through a long period as retrograde in 2019. 

Jupiter (Guru) in Vrichigam at the beginning of the year is in his friend Mars' house, and in Parivartana with Mars, which augurs well. It also has the ability to reduce strife generally. But it has an athisara motion in March to its own house Dhanus, before returning to Vrichigam, and finally moving forward in late November to the more favourable Dhanus for the next 13 months, where it will deliver better results.

With General Elections in April-May, when Saturn is in retrograde, post Rahu-Ketu transit, and when Jupiter is in Athisara followed by retrograde motion, it will be interesting to see what this combination brings. With Indian elections spread over 45 days where planets are in turbulent state, I predict a mixed result, with different outcomes from different phases of polling. Modi is Vrichiga Rasi born. He is in the last phase of his 7 1/2 Sani. He has worked very hard during the past 7 years, and hence Sani is likely to bestow him with another term. If he wins, then his next term is likely to be very smooth. Also, Guru going in Athisaram in March - April is likely to favour him. I would expect him to call for an election in March - April.

Retrograde motion of Saturn and the Athisaram of Guru is likely to make this year not a drab one for everyone, as the fortunes are likely to fluctuate.

So, do not expect a sedate, steady year but gear up for a reasonably dynamic one.

Sabarimala Thoughts

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa;

At last I saw the spark amongst Hindus in Kerala, that I thought never existed.

 

During the past few decades, Christians and Muslims have grown in influence so much that the Hindus in Kerala were marginalized completely in decision making. All key Ministries, Postings were shared between the two communities, leaving crumbs, if any for the Hindus.

 

Though Hindus are still a majority in Kerala, they have been infiltrated so much by the Communist ideology that makes them ashamed of being a Hindu, and organizations like NSS and SNDP, who flirted with both LDF and UDF for the personal gains of the leaders of the Organization, and never protecting the interest of the true Hindu. BJP struggled to go beyond its 15% vote share, though Hindus constitute nearly 50% of the population.

 

Finally, Hindus had enough. They are reacting and how!

 

The Supreme Court Judgement that permitted entry of Women between the age of 10 and 50 to the Divine Sabarimala Temple changed everything. In the first place, the case should never have been admitted as it was not filed by any devotee from Kerala or neighbouring state, nor any devout Hindu woman. It was pure mischief by a group of young lawyers, following the agenda of Communists, Atheists and Chislamists, who just did not have any locus standi in the first place. The SC should have thrown out the case at the admission stage itself.

 

But our SC wants to play God and one thing they learned and will continue to learn is that you don't mess around with a powerful deity like Ayyappa. All they have to do is ask the millions of Ayyappa devotees for whom the annual pilgrimage is a period of rediscovering oneself and cleansing their system.

 

Sabarimala Dharma Sastavu is extremely powerful, and has yogic powers. He is also a naishtika brahmachari. There are powers beyond our knowledge in this world. I am religious, but quite progressive in my thinking. I have been asked why Ladies who are menstruating should not be allowed to do pooja even at home, let alone going to temple. This has got nothing to do with them being treated as impure. During menstruation, their body gets weak, and resisting power is very low. Any pooja or temple visit creates a powerful force field around the person that it may prove detrimental for the menstruating women. No one checks whether the lady is menstruating or not, but they don't go during menstruation, which is more of self control and self discipline. There are Gods who are not Sathvik, like Lord Shiva or Devi who resides in Kavu. Ladies abstain from temple visits for the first 7 days of Menstruation in these temples.

 

The same is true of people who are sick, male or female. In Kerala, almost all the people take a head bath before visiting a temple. This is not possible when one is sick, and hence they stay away on their own as they are unable to take in the power of the God as manifested in the temples. Unlike in Christianity and Islam, where Churches and Mosques are places of gathering, it is totally different in Temples, especially the Kerala Temples. The Temple architecture is so pristine and based on vaasthu calculations that the Energy emanated from Sanctum Sanctorium is unbelievable. Devotees understand this, and hence the Temple is closed when there is a death in the locality, opening only after the dead body has been removed, for death brings in negative vibes which can clash with the positive vibes of the temple. Devotees also don't visit temple for a prescribed period after a death in the family or a birth in the family. Amongst Tamil Brahmins, we do not enter the temple for One Whole Year after a death in the family. We may pray from outside the temple after 6 months, but wont enter on our own volition.

 

Each deity has his or her own rituals and preferences. In Sabarimala, ladies who are of menstruating age are not allowed. In Mannarassala, the eldest lady Antharjanam is the most important person, in Attungal only ladies are allowed to offer Pongala, in many temples gents are not allowed to wear shirts, Padmanabhaswamy Temple insists on male wearing only Veshti, in none of the Mahakshetrams you are allowed to touch the Shanthikar, taking small children to the temple is not encouraged for if they urinate, then Shudhi kalasam has to be done. (With Diapers, this issue is taken care of. What people don't understand is that hundreds of people congregate in a temple, and the chances of a baby getting infections is high. The system is actually for the benefit of the baby). Ladies (velichapatu) drink and dance to visit Kodungallur Devi during Bharani, singing abusive songs all the way. If any normal person does it, he or she will be booked and arrested for indecent behavior in public. But this is not applicable to Kodungallur Devotees.

 

Many of our rituals have deep meanings, and have evolved over many generations. The real intent has somehow got lost in the process.

 

The British colonization followed by 7 decades of education which took pains to belittle everything that Hinduism stands for and the Chrislamists agenda, funded in crores from abroad, is thought to have weakened Hindus in India. Even the BJP Government led by Modi, has not take any pro active steps to right many historic wrongs.

 

But Sabarimala judgement by SC is a turning point. The ladies, who the SC and Communist Govt in Kerala thought will come out in droves to visit the temple, surprised everyone but us devotees by their ready to wait campaign. They came out of their houses in thousands, held peaceful namajapa yathras, protested peacefully, made the men come out to support them, forced even those Parties like BJP and Congress who supported SC Judgement initially, to take a U turn and brought the arrogant CPM led Government of Pinarayi Vijayan to their knees.

 

The SC has agreed to hear the Review Petitions and the Writ Petitions after the Season is over, without staying the earlier decision. The chances of SC, who are drunk with the power of judicial activism, reversing their decision is next to nil.

 

It is up to the Government of India, elected by the People of India, to abide by the wishes of millions of devotees and bring in a law to overturn the SC Verdict. All it has to do is to turn over Hindu Temples to the Devotees, ask the Governments to get out of running temples (they have no business to do that, in any case). This shall have the effect of each temple ceasing to become a Public Property, whereby allowing them to have their own rules and regulations.

 

Will Modi bite the bullet? It is high time he, who won based on Hindu Pride, stands up to be counted.

 

For others like Pinarayi Vijayan, CPM, Left parties and SC, I have only sympathies. Ayyappan is extremely powerful, and the retribution will be severe. Only he can help them! And therein lies the irony.

Interesting Characters I met in my Life -3

My father, who was an Executive Engineer in Kerala State Electricity Board, was transferred to Chittur from Palghat in 1975, which was 14 kms away. He was 45 at the time. A very tenacious man, he learned driving a two wheeler at that age, and travelled to Chittur every day, while we stayed in Palghat as our Schools and Colleges were in Palghat. One needs to remember that, those days, a 14 kms travel by bus or car or 2 wheeler was equal to travelling for 40 kms today. Father had a health issue in 1978 which forced him to shift the house to Chittur, which meant we had to travel instead of him. My brother, who is 8 years elder to me, had completed his education and had joined a Bank as Probationary Officer, and had moved to North India.

 

The first person we met in Chittur, was my brothers' friend. He was just 22 then, living with his aged Aunt. He was the youngest of 4, with 3 domineering elder sisters. His mother died when he was a toddler, and his father, who was a disciplinarian, and who worked in a Multinational Firm, brought up the kids in a Culture that was more Western oriented than Indian. The Children were raised by the their father as a single parent for a long time, till he remarried, late in his life. The kids, who were all teenagers by then, and brought up hearing the stories of Cindrella being harassed by her evil Step mother, never gave her a chance to settle down, though she was a very sane lady, educated, and cultured. She lived with her aged mother in Chittur in 1978. My brothers friends' father had died by 1978, leaving him with a huge house, agricultural land and couple of sisters to look after, which he found a bit too difficult to handle. In short, he was a confused youngster, jobless, 22 years old with a heavy burden on his shoulders, struggling to cope up with the Indian Culture in a remote village town, for he was raised to live in a Western society by the father.

 

There were 4 of them including my brother in their gang. Our guy was very close to my brother, and thought a lot about him. I have always felt that my brother never really had the same feeling he had for my brother.

 

When we landed up in Chittur, he took over the task of settling us in and became a regular visitor, or rather a member of my family. He looked upon my father as his godfather, and had all the freedom a son had in our house. He was a good brother to me and my sister. A left hander, with a slightly feminish look, he became a part of our life in no time.

 

My father was his advisor, and soon he got a job as a Medical Representative, a profession that was common to most graduates those days. A compulsive talker, and a guy who loved to move around in two wheelers, the job fitted him like a glove. The freedom it gave also helped him to look after his Farm in remote areas.

 

He was there to play Badminton or Carroms with us, and was boisterous and argumentative.  When he was barely 25, he walked in and announced he wanted to marry, and sought Father's support. My father tried to dissuade him telling him that he was too young, and immature to marry. But he was adamant, and finally settled down to marry a sweet traditional Palghat girl, who was the complete opposite to him. But they hit off well. She also became a part of our family. During my Sister's and Brother's marriages, they were treated as one of my parents Children and honoured accordingly. This was not to the liking of some of my relatives.

 

Not blessed with sound General Knowledge, sometimes he made himself look silly. Once we were playing Carroms, when father remarked that Yuri Andropov has died. Andropov was the leader of USSR at that time, and one of the two most powerful figures in the World. Our guy casually remarked that "Chess world has lost a rare talent". My father and me stared at him in disbelief, for Andropov never played Chess. USSR was the Chess Powerhouse those days, and our guy connected a Russian Name to a Chess Player!. Father remarked "Thank god for small mercies! At least you are aware Andropov is a Russian!"

 

The Palghat bye pass was constructed in early 1980's. The Palghat - Chittur Road cut the bye pass vertically. Remember this road is a small 2 lane, 2 way road. Highways had Speed brakers on the Palghat - Chittur Road on either side of the Highway. Our guy one day, in all seriousness remarked, "Our Highway guys are idiots. I can understand them laying speed breakers before the highway, but why have it after we have crossed the highway?". The poor guy never thought that the speed breaker on the other side was for those motorists coming from the other direction.

 

He had a heart of gold and was in the forefront during my sisters wedding. His elder daughter was a our pet, and spent most of her time our house as a toddler.

 

He as talkative and boisterous, and made the life in a sleepy, quaint chitter a bit colourful.

 

He used to drive his Vijay Scooter at nothing less than 80 kms per hour, without a care in the world for his  or his pillion riders safety. At 8 pm one night he and his wife left Palghat town to his wife's house 7 kms away. He started the vehicle and told his wife to get in the back and as is usual, he took off at a high speed, talking to his wife non stop for the next 15 minutes. When he reached home, his mother in law asked "Where is your wife? You went out together." "What, she is in the pillion seat" and looked back, found the seat empty. He rushed back to town, and found a small crowd around his wife, who was crying. What had happened was he asked her to get into the pillion seat and took off just as she was mounting, she fell on the road, and was a bit hurt. The crowd gave him some 'nice advice', but he was unfazed. He put all the blame on her for the incident.

 

He was a Chain smoker and used to justify saying it was a stress reliever. But he never smoke in front of my parents. After a while he started drinking lightly, and then heavily. He became an alcoholic and had to be dragged home. He was in his mid to late 30s.

 

I moved on to do my MBA, later joined HPCL, resigned and started NIIT in Thanjavur. A hot tempered guy, who took things personally, I couldn't bear to see his wife, with whom I shared an excellent rapport, suffer due to his alcoholism. I showed my displeasure by cutting off my ties with him and didn't speak to him for nearly 6 years.

 

With great difficulty, he got out of his alcoholism and turned a new leaf. He had moved to Ernakulam by then. One day he visited my parents and complained that though he has turned a new leaf, he was sad that I was not talking to him. Father asked me to visit him or call him up. But I didn't, as I was still seething at what I considered was his betrayal.

 

One day in late 1990s, we got a call from my brother in Delhi asking us to go and visit his wife, for he had died in a two wheeler accident a few days back, leaving his young wife and two teenage daughters behind. We were devastated. The saddest part was that the person who never had an accident when he was driving at 80-100 kms per hour was driving at 40 kms when his a Lorry carrying Steel Rods in front of him suddenly braked and a rod pierced him. He died on the spot. He was 44 when he died. His wife was inconsolable. She told me that his great regret was that I was not talking to him. I couldn't look at her straight, for my heart was gutted.

 

Life teaches one many lessons. His unfortunate death taught me not to carry grudges, lest we regret later.

 

 

The Cook from Palakkad

Being the youngest of three children, I was always given preferential treatment at home. Brother was 8 years elder to me and rarely lived with us, while Sister was a good 4 years older. In addition, I was a frail child and parents felt I needed to be protected.

 

This, in addition to the basic closeness prevalent in the family, made me attached to both my parents, though I was closer to my father, to the extend of being his alter ego. Father was a gruff man with a bad temper and one has to be careful with words or deeds in front on him. He was an introvert till he crossed 45, and I was one of the few with whom he would converse a lot. I have inherited lot of traits from him.

 

Mother was a typical busy bee. Carried with her a bit of inferiority complex, for she was short, dark, but  was tremendous at keeping the home spic and span, taking care of all our needs, apart from being a marvelous cook. She was a talented singer and veena player, but for some petty reasons refused to sing or play, though we heard her sing in weddings a few times. She was terrific in drawing kolams and much sought after during functions including wedding (those days ladies from the family took up the job of weaving designs using makkolam, unlike today when it is outsourced).

 

Though I know what I inherited from my father, I was never sure about what I got from my mother. I like cleanliness and organization, but am not obsessed with it. I love music, though I cant sing, but am an excellent rasika, who can identify nearly 175 ragams. That  trait  was passed on to me by my father, and not mother.

 

It just struck me recently that I had inherited a wonderful skill from my mother - Cooking. I have a passion for cooking, and like her, I don't rest until and unless I perfect a particular dish or snack.  I can cook as well as her, and am a bit more daring when it comes to experimentation. And by god's grace I have her 'Kaipunyam', that distinguishes a good cook from an average one.

 

Cooking in our house used to be a joint affair. Father was the choreographer. He decided the menu, and made it a point to cut vegetables for mother every day, unless they had a fight and were not on speaking terms. Mother did the cooking. Despite his knowledge of cooking, father couldn't cook for nuts. In fact he was so clumsy, he couldn't even make a cup of coffee. Since mother rarely left him alone, he didn't suffer.

 

Only once she had to leave for Mumbai to attend her father's first death anniversary, and father was left alone for a week. However, we had a Servant called Velayudhan, who was trained by my mother to cook in her absence, and father somehow managed to survive. The offshoot of this was that Velayudhan learned cooking, and later made a living out of it by cooking for an elderly couple, and many others. Inadvertently, my mother has developed a skill in Velayudhan and he made the full use of it.

 

Speaking of cooking, my maternal Grandmother was a Superb Cook. She lived in Mumbai, and had high regard for my father. She wont even come to the room where he is sitting. Any my father too never spoke to her. It was like that those days. in 1976, my mother's father died and father was forced to stay for 16 days in Mumbai. As was the custom, the grieving Grandmother was not allowed to cook, a task undertaken jointly by my mother, her sisters and sisters in law. On the 11th day, Grandmother told the ladies to stay off the kitchen "Mani (my father's pet name) has come after so many years. I will cook today". Nothing special. Routine Sambhar, Rasam, Poriyal. Father was unaware Grandmother had cooked as he had gone to my Aunts' house. He came just in time for lunch,  took couple of mouthfuls of sambhar rice and remarked "Todays cooking was done by the same person who cooked in this house all these years". Everyone was stunned at the sense of taste of my father, and Grandmother virtually blushed.

 

My mothers both Sisters in Law were average cooks. Her youngest sister is a reasonable cook, but the sister next to her is a terrific cook. Only issue with her is that she will not cook and serve, but rather complete her cooking in all aspects and then only serve.

 

My Father's mother lived in a village in Kollengode. The grandparents had limited income and lived frugally. She used to be a good cook, using scarce resources to good effect. I have heard her mother, my great grandmother, was a wonderful cook.

 

I think I am  blessed by all the good cooks in my family. I love cooking, am passionate about it, I hunt down recipes (my hobby is to look up Palghat Brahmin Recipes that is slowly getting lost), and enjoy watching others eat. Though I am quite comfortable cooking both North Indian and South Indian dishes, I am at home with Traditional Palghat Brahmin Cuisine. Unlike many others, I am at home cooking for 2 people or prepare a full fledged sadhya for 10-15 people.

 

I wish the next generation, male and female, carry the baton, for nothing gives greater happiness than seeing someone eat the food you have cooked with relish, and telling you they are full and satiated. Man never has enough of anything, except food!

Make Supreme Court Accountable for their Decisions

The first thing we learn in Management is that Authority and Responsibility go hand in hand.

 

And if this were to be violated, it could lead to a Management disaster.

 

Our Supreme Court has stuffed itself unilaterally all the Authority in the Country without an iota of Responsibility.

 

They elect themselves, appoint themselves, but are not accountable for their actions. It is virtually impossible to impeach them.

 

They pass judgement after judgement, which borders on absurd, and are clearly judicial over reach. And then they wash their hands off passing the buck to the Executive to implement impossible judgement.

 

In rare cases, they take it upon themselves to rectify a situation, and end up with egg on their face.

 

Let us take the case of Subrata Roy of Sahara Group. He defrauded investors and was asked to pay back Rs 24,000 crore by SC. He had enough assets to cover the amount. It is common sense that SC would seize his assets and auction them, right? Wrong! He was put in jail, and then we went through the absurd scenario of him being allowed to run his business from Jail, have meetings to sell of his assets, and seek extension after extension. This drama is now going on for years!

 

Another mess SC has created is in BCCI. Just because it is a cash rich, high profile body, SC intervened and appointed COA who were supposed to implement SC directives. Well they are doing it for the past 2 years and no one knows when they will finish. In the meanwhile, BCCI has lost its clout with ICC, which took years to build up, and is reduced to a laughing stock, trying to operate with its hands and legs tied. Less said about the COA members, the better. SC stated that no one above 70 should be an official. Fair enough. But last heard Vinod Rai, who heads COA, has passed 70, and is still continuing.

 

5 Senior most judges breached professional discipline, and conducted a press conference against the then CJI requesting that Roster should be managed by the group of 5 Senior Judges. No action was taken against them. And one of them was promoted to become the next CJI! Now that Ranjan Gogoi is the CJI, he continues to be the Master of Roster, and every one is happy. What happened to the concept of Senior Judges collectively deciding on the Roster?

 

SC has given an erroneous judgement in the Sabarimala case. The protests at the ground level, led by Women who apparently were supposed to have 'benefited' from the judgement, has shown a mirror to the SC. And the SC did not consider it important to take up the Review Petition on a priority basis, when a whole State was in turmoil, but rather went for their Pooja Break!! Talk about Accountability.

 

We are seeing SC judgement being thrown to dogs by Government and People in many cases. And this does not augur well for SC. They have become a laughing stock.

 

It is time we brought in accountability to SC functioning.

The Supreme Court needs to be Dismantled and Rebuilt

I was once told by a friend of mine, who has been associated with the judiciary for a long time. And this discussion happened in 1990s.

 

There is lot of monetary corruption in the lower judiciary. This does not mean that Corruption do not exist in the upper judiciary. It certainly does. But the corruption there is more of 'moral corruption', which means either the Judge gives decision that is in tune with his political or religious beliefs, or because of certain inherent biases.

 

Much water has flown under the bridge since. It is beyond doubt that our higher courts, especially the Supreme Court, has become a cabal of self serving, holier-than-thou, crony, corrupt bunch of Judges, who has least interest in serving justice to common people.

 

They appoint themselves, are not accountable to anyone, they interfere in areas where they have no right to and then when they make a mess of it they just keep quiet ( A classic case is their interference in BCCI, where in three years, all they have done is to make the situation murkier in the process shaming one of the better run organization in front of their global counterparts. The Council of Administrators have only one or two left of the initial team, and Vinod Rai is already past 70, an age set by SC for BCCI Administrators to be ineligible! ). No one, including the elected Parliament has any say in the appointment of judges, and they had the temerity to strike down the bill passed by both houses of Parliament that would have brought a semblance of transparency to judicial appointments.

 

The four rebel judges who held a press conference were not even censured. And one of them has now been awarded with the CJI post. Now let us see if Ranjan Gogoi, the new CJI, will relinquish his Master of Roster role and ask the Senior Most Judges to be a part of allocating the Cases, as he wanted in the Press Conference. He has to walk the talk, but am sure it is not going to happen, and the so called liberals will not raise this issue.

 

It is a matter of concern that the SC is fast tracking cases which has an anti hindu slant, and passing judgments detrimental to the majority religion. The Sabarimala case is one such. When a more important, simple land dispute case of Ayodhya, is pending for decades, which is of more importance, SC has to rush in and meddle in Sabarimala. I am not for or against it. The 41 days vrata as an excuse for keeping women out is not acceptable to me, as 90% of men don't observe 41 days vrata. It is more like 3 days to 1 week. But every temple has a right to decide its rituals and right of entry, based on traditions. Any change has to come within the Community, and Hinduism has shown its ability to reform over a period of time, unlike the Abrahamic religions.

 

The issue is not SC interfering in hindu religion, but its reluctance to even touch minority religions. This is unacceptable. If not allowing women of certain age groups in Sabarimala is a violation of Fundamental right, how about not allowing women to pray with men in a mosque is not a violation of Fundamental right?

 

The earlier we have a uniform civil code the better.

 

The lower judiciary is absolutely corrupt. The higher judiciary is packed with judges of a particular political belief, who ensure only their types are promoted through an opaque, unaccountable system. They are also financially corrupt. The case of an ex CJI from Kerala is a case in point. The guy Justice Karnan, who dared to call out that the King was naked, was punished and imprisoned for 6 months. The judiciary as it stands today cannot be mended.

 

It has to be destroyed, dismantled and rebuilt from scratch. We cannot have a situation where SC interferes in a criminal investigation on people who are charged with assassinating the PM of the country, just because they are of the same cabal as a few high priced lawyers. Even after admitting that the case against the urban naxals has nothing to do with dissent, but everything to do with a plot to assassinate the PM, the SC refused to admit its mistakes. It should have pulled back its order on house arrest of the accused, and allowed the police to have their way. But hey! who will bell the cat?

 

The SC should take up only few cases a year, as it happens in US, and that too as a final stage of appeal. To interfere and give bail to Teesta Setalvad, and overturning lower court order on arrest of Urban Naxals is not what they are meant to do. Nor is it the job of HC to decide where Karunanidhi to be buried, and that too admitting a case at midnight!!

 

Will the next Government have the guts to take SC on? If not, then SC will face the wrath of the common man, who will just start defying their orders.

 

That will be a sad day, but that day is not far away.

 

 

 

Interesting Characters I met in my life -2

There are characters and then there are characters!

Life would be very dull without at least one quirky character.

We were only 11 during our Professional Course. 10 boys and 1 girl. Our age ranged from 29 to 20, me being one of the two youngest. As such homogeneity was lacking.

Each one of us had strange traits but this guy took the cake. But he made our 2 1/2 years of life quite colorful.

He had completed his PG. His father, a Businessman was street smart but lacked education, which made him determined to ensure his children got all the education they needed, and was willing to spend any amount of money for their studies. The catch was there. He was willing to invest only in education, but rarely gave them money for their other expenses, including clothes. And as long as his son was staying with him, he ruled with an iron hand.

When my classmate joined us, it was the first time he was staying away from his house, as we were all in the hostel. It was like letting a bird free after being caged for years. The guy just freaked out.

His father would give him any amount of money for buying books. Since his father was not aware how many books were required for the program, my classmate used to run rings around him. He would send request for Rs 1,000 every month to his father for buying books (Rs 1,000 was a lot of money in mid 1980's). His father would promptly send him the money. Son would hardly spend anything on books, and the whole amount went to movies, dresses, cabaret shows, liquor and good food.

Father would come once in a while for an audit, for he never fully trusted his son. The son had an arrangement with his mother, who would intimate him in advance of the fathers visits.

The lethargic son would kick into action. Our university hostel had students pursuing PG courses from Psychology to Physics to MBA to Journalism to English. And all the students were Rank Holders in their UG and very studious. We all bought books, or loaned books from the University/Department  Libraries. My classmate would raid all our rooms, collect at least 8-10 books from each room (never mind the books had nothing to do with our MBA Program) and stack them in his room. When the hardly literate father arrived, he would see a few mountains of books in his sons room, and his son sitting amidst, which would please him no end.

As I said, Father was a street smart businessman. He would insist on bills for the money spent on books. Son, who never bought a book, found a way around this too. He had an agreement with all of us to hand him over the bills whenever we purchased a book. In addition, he struck a deal with the Cashier at Pai &Co, the leading bookshop in the City, to give him the bills of books purchased by the customers, most of whom never bothered to insist on them.

Come exam time, he would be running around for books to study, for he had none. We had a studious classmate, with hardly any social skills, who hated sharing his books. One weekend, he was accosted in his room by this Character, and asked whether he could borrow his Marketing Research book. Not wanting to lend his book, the studious guy told him that he was planning to study Marketing Research the whole day and some. "Anyway, what I wanted was the Sales Management Book. I knew if I asked that, you would say you were planning to study that. Since your focus is on MR for the next day, I am taking your Sales Management Book", said our Character, and coolly walked away with the Sales Management Book.

He was fond of good food. Often one can see him in an expensive restaurant. Once me and another classmate were walking in front of one of the restaurant, when he hailed us from inside. "Come, Come. Join me for food". We happily accepted the invitation, went in and ordered along with him. We were waiting for the food to be supplied, when I had a nagging doubt. I asked " I hope you have the money to pay the bill". The guy without blinking his eye told "Yes, I have money to pay what I ORDERED, but you have to fend for yourself". We were stunned as we didn't have sufficient cash and had gone in believing he was footing the bill. Cursing him we ran to the supplier, explained our predicament, cancelled the order and left embarrassed.

Being University Campus, we had excellent sports facilities, including two tennis courts, which we used extensively. My classmate decided he wanted to play tennis too, mainly because there was a Russian Lady who was playing, and he wanted to get close to her. He bought a state of the art Racquet and the proper attire. The only hitch was that he just couldn't play. His legs and arms would go to different directions when he swung, and the ball would fly all over the place. It was embarrassing to watch for anyone, but he could care less. He persevered for 2 years without making an inch of progress and his style of play (if one could call that) was a standing joke.

Towards our 4th semester he vanished for 3 days. When he returned we asked him where the hell he was. He had apparently gone as Assistant Coach to the Calicut University Women's Tennis Team, as the regular Assistant Coach could not make it due to some personal emergency. He got a certificate for that!!!! Irony died a thousand death and we were speechless.

We had a young lady lecturer for Personnel Management. She was not quite liked by anyone, as her competency was in question, but we had to endure her horrendous lectures. A heavyset dark woman who word different sarees, she was quite vain. One day my classmate came late to the class, got in, loosened his shirt collar for it was hot, and looked around with a contented look. The lecturer restarted the class after his messy interruption. Suddenly my friend looked at her with mouth agape,

"Teachere" (teacher!)
"Entha" (what)
"Nalla Saree" (Nice Saree)
Lecturer was pleased but embarrassed, "Please......"
"Alla teachare, nalla saree" ( No teacher, saree is nice )
Lecturer murmured a thanks and continued her lecture. After a minute, the guy got out of his reverie.
"Nalla colour" (Nice Colour)
"Thanks"
After a while
"Nalla selundu kanan" (It looks nice on you)
Lecturer started warming up to the compliments but carried on teaching gamely, but losing control of the class, who were smiling broadly.
"Evidunna vangiyathu" (where did you buy from?)
"Trichur, but keep quiet now"
Still after a while,
"Ethraya koduthathu" (How much did you pay?)
" Rs 600"
"Nalla labham, Nalla labham" ( Good bargain/profit)
"Oh, thank you".  Lecturer was feeling real good now.
After 30 seconds when she had savoured the moment, came the bombshell
"Vitta aalku, vitta aalku" ( for the seller, for seller) meaning the Seller made a good profit.
The Lecturer who was floating in the world of compliments, suddenly came crashing down, and we all roared with laughter.

There are numerous such incidents one can recall. But they can be expressed properly only in the local language, and not in English.