The fooling spree seems to have kicked off a little ahead of the appointed day. In any case, with our politicians fooling everyone all the time and thus giving the lie to an age-old adage, April Fools’ day has become generic and genetic too in this nation.
Browsing: POINTBLANK
Koovam. That’s the village in Tiruvellore district where I was born, though my ancestors hailed from places to the West, as far as even Dharmapuri. But here I am in Chennai as the desolate, dirty Cooum, far removed from my original history and habitat. I know you will hold your nose on hearing my name but please lend your ears to my tale of tears.
For the n’th time, an Indian court has held suicide attempt a criminal act. The utter absurdity of section 309 of the IPC, a colonial hangover that the colonisers themselves have shed as archaic, is once again on parade in the Irom Sharmila case.
Me? A fan of Manmohan Singh? How dare I? I must confess that such a skeleton did exist in my past though it’s long since I have exorcised the ghost. Let me explain! I can already feel those familiar filmy flashback circles going around my head, of course with the appropriate BGMS invoking nostalgia, and lo, we just went back 22 years in a jiffy to 1991 June/July. To the Budget, to be precise.
‘No human has the right to dispense death to another, whatever the circumstances’: The human rights lobby’s war cry is at a feverish pitch.
In their blinkered view the Government and courts are extensions of a bleeding-heart humanity and not impersonal institutions.
Have you played book cricket? I am sure most of you would have for that is the ideal way to put books to good use in school and college, particularly when post-lunch classes are on. Also, scoring runs with a textbook is a lot easier than scoring marks with it. In my case, being a book-addict, over time, the childhood habit of book-cricket had morphed from a playful indulgence to almost an all-consuming obsession. I tell you, there is nothing better in a dull or idle moment than opening a book, be it even a dictionary, at random and feeling the fresh fragrance of new words and ideas or the familiar caress of known ones emanating from that page!
Each one believes he/she is the centre of the universe. Self-obsession in its various dimensions is a human trait. We see life and its myriad experiences only through the prism of our sensory perceptions. The mind, where you and I live and which is the real experiencer of pains and pleasures, emanates and receives actions and reactions and intereprets sensory signals only from the perspective of the individual.
The familiar fight between freedom of expression and tolerance to dissent is on in full swing across the nation. From cinema to politics to religion to literature to judiciary to law & order to domestic disorders, the landscape is littered with offensive stuff, offended souls, loud voices and super-sensitive ears. So, let me add my byte to the season’s flavour by speaking without fear or favour.
Dear delegates and all dumb masses outside those gates, I am honoured at being made Vice-President of the Italian Nationals’ Congress and I know you will believe me (I myself don’t) when I say it came as a surprise. And since no charge of ‘vice’ has stuck on me so far I am de facto President. Still, I thank INC President Signoraji for fulfilling the family formalities.