My 100th post

from within the vagaries of my jellied mind, some wry emissions have ocassionally made their way to the surface of cyberdom. there have been some lifeforms who have chosen to glance at them. once my self absorbing pride is made comatose I could theoretically be grateful. Practically. Thanks.

image of longing

Just like you
he looked
with the still sure intensity.
The guitar slung
the hair flopped
and the thin wry frame.
the voice, different but the style…?
eerie in it’s piracy.
meeting a clone
made me
realise
the longing of fleshly presence
and not just a clone fall.

m

fish in the sky
birds in the sea
I don’t know why
it happens to me

5 gigs and no funeral (we hope)

Saturday 16th. – Sound Curry, Christ college choir, Christ college auditorium, Christ college. Not all there but great fun.

Sunday 24th – IIT Delhi, Thermal and a quarter, Delhi.

Saturday 30th – MCC (High School), Aaroha, Chennai
Sunday 1st CMC, Aaroha, Vellore
Monday 2nd CMC, Aaroha, Vellore

ummm not sure why I’m writing all this but maybe it’s that funny feeling that I get behind my shin when I don’t play the bass.

sound curry

don’t ask me why the name. It just some kind of disease. And there are people around to approve them as well.

The Christ college choir is going to perform some cool stuff, including Queen, Sting Janis Joplin and Eric Clapton on the 16th of this month next Saturday at 6pm in the oh so beautiful Christ college auditorium. Come and listen. Enjoy the audi if nothing else.

thiruvona teacher’s day ashamsakal

teacher’s day and onam. hmmm any connection? those who know me could take a guess… but first. A tribute. (I must add that there are others who deserve tribute but for now…)

Oommen Mathew first impressed me with his sense of comic timing. How else do you get a class of 120 to laugh by just writing out your name? Maybe it was just the rustic Malayalee accent. I’ve heard many Mal accents and many of them grate but some can be musical. Oommen’s accent was just that. We loved it. What is it that makes you love a teacher? Brilliant exposition of ancient poetic texts? Maybe. The brain the size of the planet which towers over the shrubs of our poor intellect? Maybe. The pure clarity of thought and speech? Maybe. Being lax with attendance? Maybe. I don’t really remember Oommen for these things.

It was the way he treated us. Everytime we met him whether in college or after we finished studying it was always a pleasant surprise for him to meet us. Not that the day was already bad and we were like relief to him. Nope… it just was that the day seemed to have gotten better for Oommen by meeting us. Of course the rebellious streak in him was something that all students related to. For years Oommen’s scooter was a lone feature of the Christ college drive way. An old Bajaj, standing proudly away from all the other vehicles doomed to servility and indistinctive commonness.

If there was any one thing I remember about Oommen it simply this. He treated each one of us as a human being. I wish to be like him however much I fail.

Another teacher who I wish to be like brings the Onam connection. Onam: a celebration of the return of Mahabali the good king to visit his people from the depths of the earth. There was a king like that. Who went down to the depths only to return. A brilliant teacher too. ‘Be as cunning as serpents and innocent as doves’ he said. I don’t know what it really means. But… he not only treats me as a human being but gives me my true humanity.

Happy Teacher’s day Onam everybody.