Reflections

I came across a beautiful piece of writing in Malayalam by a gifted story teller and quintessential romantic. Ranjith Balakrishnan, a much acclaimed script writer and ace director from the Malayalam film industry takes us through his romantic ideals. A note from someone who has shown us various dimensions to romantic relationships through many of his movies. SHE A captivating melody, a beautiful poem, a couple of mesmerizing lines from a favourite book- the experience becomes complete when there is someone alongside me. There is incredible joy in enjoying an experience with someone; be it sex or a song or even a journey together. This coming together need not be between a man and a woman; it could be between two living beings or two minds. I cannot enjoy something on my own. My happiness becomes complete when I share it with someone who is close to me. Romanticism for me is not to be enjoyed in solitude but to be shared with someone dear. The notion of romance is a very ...

Malayalam was not the first language that I learnt to speak. I had a tough time trying to decipher the script which was a maze of swirls and twirls along with animal looking letters when I first attacked it head on. I still had my allegiance to German, having been born and raised there till the age of eleven, but I was curious enough to get myself acquainted with this new tongue which I was then told was not just my mother’s but my father’s tongue as well. It was my teacher in school, Sharada teacher as we called her reverently, in faraway Shoranur, a town which housed culture and art and history, who instilled a love for the language in me. I don’t remember how she did it but I remember listening to her speak in Malayalam with rapt attention and taking down notes with a fervour that I didn’t show in any of the other classes. It was in her classes that I got familiar with the most elaborate of details from the stories in the Hindu Puranas(epics). With college days came along the world...

I have always liked the sound of the phrase Alma mater but never really went behind the depth of what it meant till now. A little bit of research helped me understand that the phrase has had its origin from Latin and that it roughly translates in to ‘Nourishing mother’ in English! Someone who nurtures and thus moulds you! This piece is about my alma mater who played a big role in shaping me up as a person. Down memory lane… way back in 1982. With roots firmly placed in Kerala our doctor parents working in Germany made sure that we received an upbringing which went along with theirs. So here we were, my little sister and I, away from hearth and home and in a completely foreign land with an even more alien language. As we walked in to the gates of Little Flower LP School Chengaroor, all the way from far away Germany we were engulfed in to the folds of warmth and security of our alma mater, from the first day on. In place of our mom our alma mater stood by us in our early years of growi...

When I boarded the plane to Poland one early Saturday morning little did I know that there was much awaiting me in this magnificent country. My destination was Wroclaw and that was a name which I tried figuring out pronouncing, by listening to colleagues in Bangalore who have been doing business with this region for years together. None of my preparation got me ready to what I was to face when I landed here. 22nd June 1220 is when the tiny propeller plane from Frankfurt landed in Wroclaw. A driver with a white placard which had my name in a completely different semantic order was craning his neck to figure out who this person was. The name was strange enough and longer still: Francis Adappur Asha Mary. It took ME a second to recognize myself so I won’t blame him at all. We walked together to his taxi and our journey to the hotel turned out to be quite pleasant as he spoke German. I was ecstatic at the opportunity to show off my akcent-frei Deutsch. Forget what I said; but I said it wit...

Over a period of time, I guess it has become a habit for me to resist anything new. I could not have been any less enthused about this trip. The apprehension of encountering everything new, of travelling across oceans leaving behind all things familar along with encountering my little one's put-on brave countenance, made me feel as if I was deserting home and hearth."The next time it will be you and I together exploring this huge continent", is what I kept telling myself whenever the thought came upon me. The day finally dawned and it felt like the last day on the face of earth. I rushed through packing, some last minute shopping. Thanks to my mom and dad, a bright new shiny red suitcase was waiting to be loaded. By eleven in the night, I shut the suitcase after throwing in that last bit of randomly chosen piece of clothing. The cab was arranged for. I had some three hours to 'sleep' and sleep I did... broken, yet sleep it was! It was on my way to the airport t...

It has to be my penchant for everything 'Keralese' which got me to Kannur to watch Theyyam.If you ask me what I knew about Theyyam before I watched it live... nothing at all. I have heard of it mentioned in Malayalam movies,.. remember seeing the fantastically dressed up artists dancing to persistent drum beats. To me it looked all out of a page of a tale from yore... Much later during a series of interesting conversations with a Theyyam enthusiast I got to know more about the art form; the fact that it originated from religious traditions and grew in form and character with the changing times, was something which intrigued me. I wanted to know more. The Nine Lives by William Dalrymple has an entry on the Dancer of Kannur. That story spoke a lot about the artists who masked their faces from real life and adorned the visage of a God or a Goddess offering counsel and showering blessings to devotees who come to visit them.The ordinary man from next door attains th...

To be honest, I went in to Jagriti Theatre with a lot of reservations about the play. True that it has won awards and was performed across the globe... True that it was written by the eminent Girish Karnad and directed by the talented Mrs. Arundhati Raja. It is still a period play and a period play could be very tedious to watch. There were a bunch of us theatre enthusiasts who got together at the venue from different parts of the city beating the traffic and the impending rains to witness this slice from history, thanks to the persistent coaxing of our dear Rihan. After a short delay of around 10 minutes the lights went out and there was an expectant silence all around and we waited... From that moment on I have not taken my eyes off the stage except to stretch my aching limbs or my tired back. The stage was set with the minimal of props but the lights created an ambience of splendour and royalty which took us all back to the hey days of the Tiger of Mysore. Just as the title sp...