Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Renedezvous ....
The last time, I had been to India, was the time when I started believing in paranormal activity. I am a pretty....pretty bold person but every bold person has an instance in his life when he questions his temerity. Some things give you cold feet ..u know what I am alluding to; yes..one of those nights. and this place (my mom’s house) is one heck of a house ...the one that you hear about, in stories. There is a meandering route which starts at the doorstep and ends on the main road which has usual traffic on it. But this tortuous beauty is really long, something like a kilometer.And that kilometer is a dirt road one that coughs dust everytime a motorcade vrooms on it.
Ok..coming back to the incident; it was a winter night and I had been to Kerala for 15 days. Everytime I am in Kerala, I visit my relatives...each one of them with the fidelity and zeal of a child. This time was no different.It was a Friday night and it was around 9.30 pm. My aunt (mausi) lives an hour from my mom’s ancestral place. After the dinner my mausi and cousin asked me to stay back as it was late and they thought it was anti-haute-bourgeoisie to send your guest back at night but I insisted to the hilt and they agreed.
According to my calculations, I should have reached my nana’s place around 11.30 pm but thanks to the wretched bus service, my plans went kaput. I had to wait at the bus stop for an hour due to some local election campaigning.I reached ‘that’ road around 1.30 am after a long trek from the bus stop. On this street, there is a light every 50 meters so the road isn’t that well illuminated. As soon as I took a turn onto this road, a puff of air kissed me as if someone had caressed me. That puff of air went on to touch the earth and it gave birth to a puff of dust and that puff of dust continued its sojourn with the gust.
After I had walked some 10 meters, I saw a person walking almost 30 feet ahead of me. (In Kerala, southern part of India, people generally wear white loincloth and white shirt and we address strangers ...yes even strangers as chetan (big brother)).This person had dressed likewise and I thought …..why not have a company instead of moseying on alone in the dark.I called out to him.He stopped and turned around. I couldnt see his face but then it was dark and he was dark too. I hurried towards him. Suddenly I tripped and fell flat. I got up and tidied myself, looking ahead. He kept walking. I felt like an idiot. Here I was trying to give him some good company and he was..he was just ignoring my yell! I didn’t call out again. I just walked into the part of the road that was pitch black. One step...two step...three step...four step… Darker and darker it got; next street light was 15 feet away. This gentleman showed no signs of stopping, it seemed like he was gliding in the air. Even when it was so dark around, he didn’t seem to be fumbling for right spots because, of what I recall, those bylanes werent a rose bed. This confirmed that he knew the place well enough to linger around blind folded. I was still in the dark and the man was entering the zone of next street light and lo behold he disappeared ….like..poof..he disappeared ...I am sure that would be the sound effect if one has to give any!
I couldnt act for a while for I went numb ..I froze ...How would you feel if you saw something, that you assumed was a person, disappear into thin air and also realize at the same time that you have to walk past that zone of the street and another half a kilometer to get to your home? Strange thoughts crept into me...what if I walk past the zone and it follows me home? Should I sprint; what if I trip again ? Was that a paranormal activity? I realized that your mind could actually take you around the universe without you inching even a bit. I realized these incidents could scare the living daylights out of you. I realized that I never bought the bus ticket to Trichur. I realized that I havent completed my PhD yet. I realized that I haven't started my life yet. I realized that I was realizing a lot of things tonight. I realized that I was still standing there.I could not turn back, where would I go ? That is when I felt something touch my thighs, I didnt have the courage to look down..my hands slowly proceeded to touch ‘that’ thing caressing my thighs...phew it was my cell phone, on a vibrating mode. My mama (maternal uncle ) was on the phone. Somehow I picked up the phone, I told him everything. He, literally, had to come and pick me up from the spot.
I would never know what that was but I am sure that wasnt normal…..
Ok..coming back to the incident; it was a winter night and I had been to Kerala for 15 days. Everytime I am in Kerala, I visit my relatives...each one of them with the fidelity and zeal of a child. This time was no different.It was a Friday night and it was around 9.30 pm. My aunt (mausi) lives an hour from my mom’s ancestral place. After the dinner my mausi and cousin asked me to stay back as it was late and they thought it was anti-haute-bourgeoisie to send your guest back at night but I insisted to the hilt and they agreed.
According to my calculations, I should have reached my nana’s place around 11.30 pm but thanks to the wretched bus service, my plans went kaput. I had to wait at the bus stop for an hour due to some local election campaigning.I reached ‘that’ road around 1.30 am after a long trek from the bus stop. On this street, there is a light every 50 meters so the road isn’t that well illuminated. As soon as I took a turn onto this road, a puff of air kissed me as if someone had caressed me. That puff of air went on to touch the earth and it gave birth to a puff of dust and that puff of dust continued its sojourn with the gust.
After I had walked some 10 meters, I saw a person walking almost 30 feet ahead of me. (In Kerala, southern part of India, people generally wear white loincloth and white shirt and we address strangers ...yes even strangers as chetan (big brother)).This person had dressed likewise and I thought …..why not have a company instead of moseying on alone in the dark.I called out to him.He stopped and turned around. I couldnt see his face but then it was dark and he was dark too. I hurried towards him. Suddenly I tripped and fell flat. I got up and tidied myself, looking ahead. He kept walking. I felt like an idiot. Here I was trying to give him some good company and he was..he was just ignoring my yell! I didn’t call out again. I just walked into the part of the road that was pitch black. One step...two step...three step...four step… Darker and darker it got; next street light was 15 feet away. This gentleman showed no signs of stopping, it seemed like he was gliding in the air. Even when it was so dark around, he didn’t seem to be fumbling for right spots because, of what I recall, those bylanes werent a rose bed. This confirmed that he knew the place well enough to linger around blind folded. I was still in the dark and the man was entering the zone of next street light and lo behold he disappeared ….like..poof..he disappeared ...I am sure that would be the sound effect if one has to give any!
I couldnt act for a while for I went numb ..I froze ...How would you feel if you saw something, that you assumed was a person, disappear into thin air and also realize at the same time that you have to walk past that zone of the street and another half a kilometer to get to your home? Strange thoughts crept into me...what if I walk past the zone and it follows me home? Should I sprint; what if I trip again ? Was that a paranormal activity? I realized that your mind could actually take you around the universe without you inching even a bit. I realized these incidents could scare the living daylights out of you. I realized that I never bought the bus ticket to Trichur. I realized that I havent completed my PhD yet. I realized that I haven't started my life yet. I realized that I was realizing a lot of things tonight. I realized that I was still standing there.I could not turn back, where would I go ? That is when I felt something touch my thighs, I didnt have the courage to look down..my hands slowly proceeded to touch ‘that’ thing caressing my thighs...phew it was my cell phone, on a vibrating mode. My mama (maternal uncle ) was on the phone. Somehow I picked up the phone, I told him everything. He, literally, had to come and pick me up from the spot.
I would never know what that was but I am sure that wasnt normal…..
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The awakening of a nation...
Have you seen the trend in movies off late? The mainstream commercial Indian cinema, I mean. Look at the movies that go on to become a hit! Not that love stories don’t succeed, but look at the percentage of love stories that succeed. Most of the movies that deal with social cause earn as good as gold. Can an inference be drawn that all those movies that are pertaining to our problems or, in other words, common man’s botheration are accepted with a bear hug and others are literally flung away like a bag of dirt? Examples...hmm..so many..3 idiots , Munnabhai series, Swades, Iqbal, Wednesday, Chakk De etc etc..on the flip side well the list is endless.
Another example..hmm..Phir mile sur I havent met a single person who liked the video. The most common complaint - deifying of Bollywood celebrities! The picturization completely lacked the presence of bourgeois who is inevitable when mentioning the ‘surs’ of India.
Another example was Rann the new Amitabh movie, ruthlessly ripped by the media for the obvious reason that the movie mercilessly mauled at media’s reputation, was accepted gracefully by the audience.People have started observing the facts and have started literally sorting them out for their well being.
All these examples lead to one point. We are waking up in the wake of these things which wouldn’t have discomposed us a decade back. A society is waking up or should I say a civilization is rousing to action.You can guesstimate the psyche of the nation from these things. We, as a nation, have become very self centered (... has a positive connotation you see :)). A revelation that .. ‘Only I can save myself’ . We are listening to nobody and that is the best part and also the worst part. Sometimes I feel that we are moving into a psyche of completely embracing objectivism. In a way, that is good! Though objectivism has an invisible sheet of self centeredness wrapped around it and has been impugned by many a philosophers for the same; for a country like India it is imperative.This philosophy (objectivism) is evident from all the activities that spawn or sprout around us. No, I don’t mean the infrastructural explosion that is so visible in the country but I am alluding to a paradigm shift that is responsible for this explosion. I don’t think the paradigm shift was the effect of the gradual grind that this civilization endured over an eon nor is it the effect of a brisk eastern neighbour. God alone knows what startled the slumbering elephant and transformed it into a objectivistic ‘human being’!
Another example..hmm..Phir mile sur I havent met a single person who liked the video. The most common complaint - deifying of Bollywood celebrities! The picturization completely lacked the presence of bourgeois who is inevitable when mentioning the ‘surs’ of India.
Another example was Rann the new Amitabh movie, ruthlessly ripped by the media for the obvious reason that the movie mercilessly mauled at media’s reputation, was accepted gracefully by the audience.People have started observing the facts and have started literally sorting them out for their well being.
All these examples lead to one point. We are waking up in the wake of these things which wouldn’t have discomposed us a decade back. A society is waking up or should I say a civilization is rousing to action.You can guesstimate the psyche of the nation from these things. We, as a nation, have become very self centered (... has a positive connotation you see :)). A revelation that .. ‘Only I can save myself’ . We are listening to nobody and that is the best part and also the worst part. Sometimes I feel that we are moving into a psyche of completely embracing objectivism. In a way, that is good! Though objectivism has an invisible sheet of self centeredness wrapped around it and has been impugned by many a philosophers for the same; for a country like India it is imperative.This philosophy (objectivism) is evident from all the activities that spawn or sprout around us. No, I don’t mean the infrastructural explosion that is so visible in the country but I am alluding to a paradigm shift that is responsible for this explosion. I don’t think the paradigm shift was the effect of the gradual grind that this civilization endured over an eon nor is it the effect of a brisk eastern neighbour. God alone knows what startled the slumbering elephant and transformed it into a objectivistic ‘human being’!
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