Ayyo, Zillion come back with his wrong-place ripped!!!!!!

I am back after a short, Kutti ( small in mallu) break. It wasn’t a break, and i had no say in the break. I was on a hectic trip, which was hectic and kick-ass. It was kick-ass, bcoz my ass was figuratively getting kicked, if not quite literally. Sorry, for the unparliamentarily usage of certain cuss words, but my trip would have been confrontational for the most staunch parliamentarians of any era.

And my ass-kicking aint over yet. I have to make a PP presentation, which is a tad more meaningful per se , to the above mentioned cuss word. BTW, i had a round trip of the world, From Bahrain-Dubai-Doha-Istanbul-back to Bahrain, if you call this round the world, though it was nothing short of a world trip by its sheer displeasure.

The best thing that happened in my life, during this short trip, was that I walked into the duty-free shop and stumbled over this book called Disgrace, by Nobel Price and twice Booker prize winner J.M.Coetzee. In fact, this particular book won the 1999 booker, which i wasn’t aware of, until i Wikipedia-ed his name.

Those of you who have read J.M Coetzee may ignore this, but if you haven’t , then you should sprint, and grab it at the available shortest moment of time. Go grab a book by this writer and though i wont say that your life would be changed for ever, it certainly would make a lasting impression on you.

If i have frightened you by mentioning Nobel and Booker prizes, then i must say that he is one of the easiest to read writers; by Salman Rushdie Standards, but i would say he falls even below in the readability factor, even easier than V.S Naipaul to show comparisons. The book has subtle philosophical jaunts, that are highly tangible and the narrative has a thriller like gripping quality. Said that, i would add that it would help, if one stops and shows some respect to the philosophical contend and not merely read like any thriller.

The first thing i noticed about the book was the narration, which throughout the book was in the present-tense, as if the story is unfolding at the very moment that the reader is reading. The plot is unique. Its about a professor, David Lurie, who is twice divorced: seduces one of his students. And doesn’t do much to protects himself from its consequences. The girl, though gives in willingly, later makes a racket owing to her own personal troubles, and the Professor who is in his 50s and has a 25 year old daughter, is disgraced. The college forms an inquiry committee, but the professor accepts all the charges without any opposition, is dismissed and leaves the city. He drops in at his daughters farm and starts living with her.

An extract is added below to give an example of subtle philosophies the book is filled of.:

He continues to teach because it provides him with a livelihood; also because it teaches him humility, brings it home to him who he is in the world. The irony does not escape him: that the one who comes to teach learns the keenest lessons, while those who come to learn nothing. It is a feature of his profession on which he does not remark to Soraya. He doubts there is an irony to match it in hers.

Suraya is a prostitute that he was frequenting, and her leaving the town and refusing to meet him further leads him towards the main event of the story, the instance when he seduces his student, Melanie Isaac.

He starts helping her in her farm and starts to get to his usual life, comes to harmonizing terms with his newly attained life. But the harmony and peace lasts for a short time and the farm and their house is attacked by a gang of 3 raucous attackers, who ransack the place, pour spirit over David and sets him on fire. His daughter Lucy is raped. Professor escapes with burns and his daughter is traumatized.
The later part of the story is that of coming to terms with a disgraced life and the trauma of violence, the transfer of power the country is going through, post- apartheid, and the after effects, leading to the differences in the lives of South African Junta. The story is also about the change in relationships; trauma and violence that leads to it and the surviving instincts of humans. The evident philosophy and inner profundity of the novel is of Disgrace, redemption, extreme alternations of relations in tensions , salvation and ruin.

NOTE: I didn’t yawn even once, and on the contrary, couldn’t keep the novel aside, other than to eat, sleep, and few other things not worth mentioning.

I don’t know why my interest in literature has accrued certain deviations oflate, and it seems to be variable and parabolic towards terrorism, politics and political vandalism; and converse survival resists of the poor, and also sadly benevolent , but i undoubtedly enjoyed this book. I vastly vouch for Mr. Coetzee, though i have a speck of bias towards Naipaul. It May be bcoz i havet yet read the best of Coetzee, which i very well plan to, in immediate future.

J.M.Coetzee has inched into my favourite writers league, the league in which Naipaul and Rushdie dwell , and i look forward to more of his books, especially Life & Times of Michael K.


I highly recommend this book and the writer.Alas, sadly the book had only 210 (roughly) pages which got turned in much shorter time, much too shorter for a $ 12.8 book.



Ciao all.

My Travels

It so happened in 2004 that I went crazy. No, not that crazy in the real sense. Nor did I go to any asylum. I had just started working and it occurred to me that there is more to life than just wakeup in the morning-brush-bath-breakfast-work-lunch-TV-Dinner and back to sleep- you know the kind of stuff we do almost throughout the year, in the name of living a life.

Well, the thought didn’t just occur to me out of nowhere, it was at the back of my mind for some time, but in 2004, it so happened that the company I was working for, decided to set a special target for the quarter. And incidentally, my team was the only one to achieve the target and we were awarded the incentive. It took another month to receive the incentive, but when we were finally credited with the same, we were way too much with surpluses in our bank account, that we decided to do something about it. It didn’t interest me much about my colleagues and their ways to dispose of the incentives, but I decided to do something which I had been longing to do for a long time.

Several thoughts occurred, like buying a new Royal Enfield Machismo, buying something for my parents etc, but I decided to wait. It wasn’t a small incentive; it was close to a Lakh in Rupees.

After pondering over several options, I thought of taking a short vacation and to set out for an aimless journey. Finally after much lobbying, I managed a ten days leave.

From my travel

I was super excited at the proposal of setting out to an unknown place, to a place where no one knows me and cares for me. I decided to keep it clandestine and went for not even letting my parents know about it. The only person I confided was my best friend, colleague cum girlfriend, Shalini and I knew she wouldn’t be really shocked at my proposal. She knew me too well to be shocked at anything I did, and agreed with me in accepting that it wasn’t a too bad an idea after all.

I could make out from her sad expression that she too wanted to join me, but refrained from inviting her. I wanted to make a journey in solitude and moreover, her parents would never agree to a ten day trip, without knowing the details of the intention. Such worries didn’t bother me, since my parents were used to my long absence.

I can go on and on about that trip but since I am writing for some readership, I am restricting it and mentioning only the highlights.

From my travel

• I booked myself a second class sleeper berth, going against Shalini’s continual advice to go for at least a third AC, considering the Month of the year.(in may). I argued, I wanted a real feel of India and its heat and humidity.

From my travel

• My journey started from Ernakulam Station(Kochi) as I boarder the Nizamuddin Express bound for Delhi. I decided to go to Delhi and start my journey-Our capital.

From my travel

• I departed, noticing the sadness in the eyes of Shalini, as she stood at the Railway platform, waving at me as the train started its long journey.

• The journey from Cochin to Kannur was the most boring of all, since I have been frequenting this route ever since I can remember.
• Once past Mangalore, the Konkan coastline was a delight for my eyes. Infinite caves, long stirring coastlines, Forested sideways and unfamiliar people and their mores, fueled enough curiosity that I wanted so badly in my journey. Even the beggars who boarded the train and their style of begging appeared different than to the ones I was used to in Kerala.
• Noticed before my curious eyes, everything from culture, language, clothing, and food change every 4-5 hours. Passed through Goa, Maharastra, Madya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Finally in Delhi. In between, so many people boarded the train, some feeding my inquisitiveness and some depressing me for their sheer state of poverty.
• As soon as out of the Delhi station , I was barraged with aggressive taxi drivers and managed to settle for a harmless looking one, taking me to some hotel in the heart of the city. Experienced my first Delhi food in a shabby restaurant, not listening to the conditions set my Shalini to avoid water or anything that’s served without a label. The tandoori chicken that I polished off at one of the Dhabas was a cool hundred times better than the best restaurant I had been to, in my hometown of Kerala. Sampled parathas, esp. the Gobi paratha and many more assortments, than I can remember.

From my travel

• Hired a Driver driven rent-a-car, and set out to see the place. Went set out for Raj Ghat, Teen moorthi Bhavan, Parliament, rashtrapathi bhavan, India Gate, Red fort, Kutub Minar, Bahai temple, jantar mantar. Saw all of them in a day, capturing many images onto my Jurassic era film camera.( I still like it over my 12 MP camera)

From my travel

• My foodie self went wild over many delightful ventures, sampling many restaurants and street side chaat corners. I had a chaat at someplace near the cantonment Railway station and the taste still lingers in my mouth.

From my travel

• After two days of fooling around in Delhi, boarded a bus for Agra. Checked into some shabby place for a hotel, set out for tajMehal, Fathehpur Sikhri, Agra fort etc. The food was again great, after 2 days in Northern India I was truly-madly-deeply in love with anything that can be called a food. And Agra was exceptionally good at providing sanctity to my Foodie self.

From my travel

From my travel

• After another 2 days in Agra, it was adieu time and my next destination was decided- Varanasi. I can’t say why, probably I am close to attaining sainthood, banaras had always attracted my fascination.This time it was a train trip and after an overnight journey, I was in the holy city of Banaras. After a short rest, I was set to explore the best of banaras and set-out for the Ghats. Having reached the Ghats, it was the moment of ‘Solitude and soliloquy’ with myself , as the Ganga and the rituals surrounding the place appeared as if from some other world and civilization. I was enthralled and cleansed by a knee-down wash in the not-so-pure-anymore Ganges, and many stories from Mahabaratha (including parts from the TV serial) unfolded before my captivated eyes.

From my travel

• From banaras, having cleansed my spirit, a visit to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. I was all charged up and roaring. Indeed I experienced a feeling of revival, not experienced by my educated but stupid spirit in a long long time. I was extremely glad and proud of myself that I had undertaken such a journey.

From my travel

• After banaras, it was a short confusion as to finding the next destination and it was decided to head for Lucknow. Lucknow again was a fascinating place and it was selected mainly for the sense of nostalgia it was likely to impart me, since I spent my 3 years of schooling there.

From my travel

• I wanted to go for Kolkata but having completed 6 days already, I was way short of time before making it back to Kerala.
• The journey from Lucknow, back to Kerala was another fantastic journey in The Gorakhpur-Kochi Express , through Andra, Tamilnadu and finally back to Kerala.

I was finally back, after ten days of wrenching, but highly exciting journey, through the heart of the place I called motherland. Never before was I so much in love, than after my journey and I understood the true essence of being an Indian.
This journey was also a revisit to my childhood memories, my life as son of an Army Man. There are several images that’s imprinted permanently in my mind, when I think of those days. Men moving in faultless march past, their uniforms and guns distracting our juvenile minds and we gaping at our heroes in perfect revelation are what my mind reminds me of wistfully when I look back to my budding years.. I have warmhearted memories of my Father going for schemes, our family get-togethers and Badakhaana, the joyful times spent traveling in first class compartments, looking at another world through the train window, picture perfect at times.
I would certainly take another trip, another time, albeit with my family this time around. But the question is of the right hiatus. It would probably be during my next visit to India. Wait till I write about it in my blog.

Ciao all.

Image courtesy:Google(please click to enlarge)

P.S: Apologies for typos or grammatical errors, since i write very fast and have no time to recheck or edit. Would Appreciate if you bring those errors to my notice.