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A Ride on the Vande Bharat and an Unreserved Express Train

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  W ell, finally we had an opportunity to travel by the recently introduced Vande Bharat. This express train runs from Kasargod in the northern end of Kerala to the State Capital Thiruvananthapuram in the south. However, ours was a  a short ride from Kozhikode to Thrissur completed in about an hour and 45 minutes.  Waiting for the Train On arrival at the station, we were told that the Vande Bharat would arrive on platform number 3. With the evening Sun blazing from the west, there was hardly any cover on this platform. The number of seats was also limited. Fortunately, the electronic information display provided the coach position. Once the train arrived, people queued up before the doors. Usually, in most trains, the seat numbers are displayed outside on top of the windows to help passengers board from the door closest to the location of the seat. However, this was missing in the Vande Bharat and we entered through the door at the other end of the coach and had to wade through passeng
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Devils and Some Daredevilry in Beneath the Devil Tree Malabar 1921

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D uring the past seven days, i t was as if I had been transported in a time capsule to Malabar in 1921 witnessing the Moplah rebellion sweep across the land like the Chaliar River in spate uprooting everything in its path including the Anangapara, the huge rock standing tall midstream that centuries of floods failed to move an inch. Yes, Anjana Varma's novel, ' Beneath the Devil Tree Malabar 1921,' proved to be quite a rollercoaster ride in the company of some interesting characters, moments of absolute panic and last-minute escapes. Women's Power to the Fore Of all the characters in this novel, the women stand out. Mathu, the matriarch of Nilambur Kovilakam, t her granddaughter Sethu along with her friend Priyamvada to the resourceful tribal girl Cheenkanni not to forget Benazir Biwi, Razia and Kunhaishumma, the Pathiri seller, all play key roles at various points. For those of us familiar with living in a matrilineal joint family in Kerala, Mathu would seem to be our
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Adipurush: A bat in Ravana's belfry

  I had always wondered how Ravana's famous Pushpaka Vimana flying chariot which carried off Sita all the way to Lanka, managed to stay airborne as it lacked basic aerodynamic requirements. The makers of the film Adipurush may have had such thoughts and commissioned a giant repulsive-looking bat for the job. Actor Prabhas as Ravan, who sports a smart beard and moustache that would not be out of place even in the third decade of the 21st century, sits on the neck of the bat complete with the reins for controlling a horse. The bat doesn't like it one bit and keeps on showing a set of wicked teeth resembling the awesome chrome grill of an American car of the 1950s. But then, Ravana proves to be an adept pilot and manages to keep control of the aircraft. By the way, Ravan is referred to only as Lankesh in this film. Well, he manages to carry away poor Sita, all trussed up, perhaps to prevent any attack by her while he is involved in piloting that bat plane. But then Jatayu is soon
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Why Aikyagatha, the Song of Unity, by Ulloor is More Relevant Today

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                                                          Renowned Malayalam poet Ulloor S Parameshwara Iyer (1877-1949) penned Aiykyagatha, a song of unity, way back in the 1930s when fissiparous tendencies were emerging in the society affecting the struggle for freedom from the imperial yoke. The poem, in simple Malayalam, is easy to understand even by small children at the level of Class 3. It was and hopefully continues to be part of the school syllabus. Right from the first line of the poem, in a lyrical question and answer form, the theme is revealed. ഇമ്മരത്തോപ്പിലെത്തൈമണിക്കാറ്റിന്റ്റെ  മർമ്മര വാക്യത്തിന്നർത്ഥമെന്തോ? The poet asks about the meaning of the murmuring of the breeze among the tall trees in a grove and then gives the answer in the next couplet. എന്നയൽക്കാരനിൽനിന്നു ഞാൻ ഭിന്നനല്ലെന്നങ്ങു നിന്നിതു വന്നുരയ്പു.    I am no different from my neighbour, the breeze that has already passed through the latter's grove reassures the poet. മാനത്തു വട്ടത്തിൽ പ്പാറുമിപ്പക്ഷിതൻ
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Le Roi de Coer is indeed the King of Hearts

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  (photo courtesy: YoutTube) 'Le Roi de Coer' (King of Hearts) is a French-Italian co-production movie released way back in 1966. manages to capture hearts to this day mainly on account of highlighting the absurdity of war. Managed to catch it on TV5 Monde Asie, a French channel available on Asianet broadband (channel no.426) recently. The film opens with the shot of an ancient town, complete with a church and its clock tower. As the clock strikes 12, a knight comes out and strikes 12 chimes on the bell. This is of great significance in the film as we will see. Well, with the movie being set during World War 1, the town is deserted by its citizens to escape the advancing Germans, camped somewhere on its outskirts. Similarly, the British forces are encamped nearby. When a spy from the French resistance informs the British about the German's plans to blow up the town, a Scottish soldier, Charles Plumpick, played by Alan Bates, is despatched to find, defuse and save the town.
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Glorious Summers captures the family vacation spirit

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                                                        The graphic novel genre seems to be slowly gathering a mature audience. It needs the coming together of a good scriptwriter to tell the story, an illustrator to bring out the subtle nuances of the characters. Most of these novels are dark, brooding accounts or violence-filled superhero stuff. Thus, it is a relief to come across the "Glorious Summers" series that brings plenty of sunshine and cheer to the reader.    Pierre Faldérault is a comic book illustrator who is always dreaming of creating that one character to catch the imagination of the reader and make him famous. However, he is stuck ghostwriting or illustrating the comic magazine Zagor for his boss, who doesn't mind saddling Pierre with last-minute colouring work and taking off to exotic locations for his own vacation. But the Faldérault family gets to go on their vacation every year, even if delayed by a few days. Where do they go each time from their ho
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Face to Face by Ved Mehta: Autobiography of an extraordinary man who allowed neither blindness nor lack of means to stand in the way

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Just finished reading "Face to Face", the first book by Ved Mehta that incidentally is also the first of his autobiography published by Penguin in 1957, when the author was just 23! Ved lost his eyesight following cerebral meningitis when he was just short of his fourth birthday. Having absolutely no recollection of sight, he adapts himself to a world where he would work a little extra hard to live like any of his siblings, participating in all their activities. So what if it involves kite-flying on the rooftops in pre-partition Lahore, or jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He also learns to cycle all by himself in the spacious grounds of the government quarters in Rawalpindi, where his father was posted as Director, Health Services, the first Indian to hold the post in the years leading to Independence. He even follows his elder sisters, without their knowledge, all the two kilometres to their school. And all this after being sent to a small institute for the blind in Dadar, B
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