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Let’s pause awhile, there’s nothing to celebrate… (To all my Sri Lankan Tamil Friends)

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The election results in five states and a union territory are quite shocking in India, especially those of Tamil Nadu. Three sitting Chief Ministers – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal, who championed the cause of federalism in trying times - have lost their own constituencies, not because there was any palpable anger simmering against them! Let me refrain from commenting on a process so dubious for all to see. I assume, for a moment, the process is fine. Political parties vie for power, and it’s normal to lose. However, whom do people en masse choose? What has shocked, rather, is the kind of celebration among the young not only in Tamil Nadu but also in Sri Lanka. Having been in Sri Lanka and having become closely associated with students, I feel sorry to see the kind of celebration. Don’t we need to care about youth in Tamil Nadu? We have to. But for a long time, academic campuses across Tamil Nadu cultivated uncritical youth addicted to cinema. Every institute of higher learning s...
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"All grown-ups were once children": Rediscovering Wonder in a Busy World

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  “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery is a beautifully enchanting story that I've just had the pleasure of reading for the first time this year- something I've been wanting to do for quite a while! I'm happy I started the new year with this lovely tale. It begins with the idea that “All grown-ups were once children,” setting the stage for a charming adventure. The story follows an aviator who unexpectedly crosses paths with the Little Prince, a little traveller from his tiny asteroid B-612, after the Prince finds himself stranded in the vast Sahara. Curious and longing for home, the Prince embarks on a journey that takes him across the universe- visiting a wide array of fascinating characters: an emperor with no subjects, a proud man craving admiration, a drunkard hiding his shame, a businessman eager to own the stars, a geographer who's never explored his own world but wants accuracy, and a lamp lighter forever burdened by his duties on a spinning planet th...
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A Year Is Just a Number: As 2025 Comes to an End

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As the year winds down, I feel immensely thankful for what I've learned. A year is nothing but a calculation. In itself, it makes no difference. Days move on, waiting for what we need or do not need to do. All the same, meaning-making is a process of engaging with time productively. I stopped making resolutions for important occasions because I find it disheartening to know that I failed miserably at keeping them. On entering 2025, I had no particular resolution, save that to complete my PhD at the earliest. As I am an expert at failing to keep resolutions, this year too, on hindsight, my resolution to complete most of my research work remains incomplete! There is a happy side to it. I began reading, besides works related to my research and some magazine stuff, books that I picked up by chance or on recommendation. If you are still reading this scribbling, it is not a recommendation list on book-reading! I found them engaging, transforming, challenging, and, at times, sad-making. H...
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வைக்கம் முகம்மது பஷீரின் பால்யகால சகி

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  எழுத்துகளில் தான் எத்தனை உணர்வுகள். கடந்து வந்த பாதை யாருக்கும் அவ்வளவு மென்மையாக இருந்துவிடவில்லை என்பது தான் எதார்த்தம். நினைவுகளின் அசைவுகளில் தான் வாழ்க்கை பல தருணங்களில் இனிக்கவும் கசக்கவும் செய்கிறது. நினைவுகளின் அன்புக்குரியவர்களோ நாம் சிறிதும் வாழ்க்கையில் எதிர்பார்த்திராதவர்கள். ஏன், நம்மால் துவக்கத்தில் புரிந்துகொள்ளப்படாதவர்களாகவுமே இருக்க செய்கிறார்கள். மஜீதும், சுகாறாவும் வாசகனின் கண்களை குளமாக்கும் கதாபாத்திரங்கள். பால்ய காலத்தின் நட்புக்கு ஈடேது! “நாம வளந்திருக்கவே கூடாது. வளர்ந்துவிட்டதால்தானா சோகங்களும் ஆசைகளும் உருவாயின”? என்ற சுகாறாவின் வார்த்தைகளில் எவ்வளவு அர்த்தம். “மனிதர்கள் எல்லா இடங்களிலுமே ஒரேபோல்தான் மொழியிலும் உடையிலும் மட்டும்தான் வேறுபாடு. எல்லாருமே, ஆண் பெண்... பிறந்து, வளர்ந்து,  இணைசேர்ந்து உற்பத்தியைப் பெருக்கி... பின்பு, மரணம். அவ்வளவுதான்!” என்று தேசாந்திரியான மஜீதின் மனக்குரலில் வெளிப்படுகிறது வாழ்வின் எதார்த்தம். அழகும் அமைதியும் பொதிந்த வாழ்க்கையென்று ஒன்றில்லை. வறுமையின் கொடுமையிலும் நினைவுகள் ஊடாக மகிழ முடியும், மகிழ்விக்க முடியும். வ...
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A Tale of a Drunkard and a Man Drunk with Power!

As a boy witnessing a drunkard’s antics on a day-to-day basis in the street was our unfortunate lot. Every evening his drunkenness was on full display. Seldom did he go sober. His schedule during the day was idle talk, playing cards and in the evening drinking and wife-beating. The poor woman earned her living through hard labour in the fields and a bottle for her sadistic ‘husband.’ In our neighbourhood, everyone felt sorry for her yet it was commonly held that it was their family affair. Now and then, someone witnessing extreme cruelty stepped in only to hear the drunkard - even while intoxicated - that he could do anything to his wife and none have the right to question him. Normally, the kind-hearted ‘man’ - I say ‘man’ because women hardly came ‘out’ to see the spectacle - used to leave the spot knowing well further intervention would worsen the situation as drunkard’s next line of attack would be ‘what is between you and my wife?’ Wait a minute, I forgot to mention that he was ex...
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'Thanks for All that Has Been and Amen to All that Is to Come' - A Note from a Two Year Old Priest!

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Two years back on this day there was a flooding of emotions, primarily of gratitude to God, to the Church, to the Congregation and everyone who in some way or other molded me to reach the altar. I promised myself one thing on that day - that I will remain honest with God and myself. Two years have passed, by God's grace, I have kept up the promise made to myself. A month before the first anniversary I wrote a piece, to myself primarily, and on the eve of the second anniversary what gift could I possibly give myself than to present an honest appraisal of my life as a priest! Life as a priest, more so as a Salesian religious priest, is worth the calling! This year, of all the years that I have spent in the congregation, is a very special year to me for multiple reasons. This year tested my patience like never before, offered me challenges that I wasn't prepared to face, placed me in a situation that I never imagined to be. It took an emotional toll on me to get acclimatized to a ...
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UN-WELCOMING WALLS

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Do we build walls to welcome people? Strange isn’t it? We make bridges, not walls to connect people. It would be a ridiculous idea to build a wall so as to build a better relationship. The fall of the Berlin wall was the beginning of a new era not only for the ideologically malnourished Eastern Germans but for the entire world. I remember reading about the fall of the Berlin wall from the history books. What person will ever erect a wall, not in the periphery of his property but right in the middle of his home to beautify it? Who will segregate his own household as 'seeables' and 'unseeables'? Have those live beyond the walls become zombies, a threat to national and international security? Questioning is seditious these days, I know! But how to pause over in silence when open and not so open prisons are being erected every day throughout the length and breadth of this country all in the name of development? If we are truly superpower, as some claim to be, why should ...
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