The Only Celebrities Who Matter

 The Gavaskars and Chandrashekhars and Kapil Devs mattered, once upon a time. But now, it seems like long ago. Looking back (and front, and sideways), they did not really do a lot for me. Maybe the writers and singers did more. I cannot deny the role that Hindi film music and particular singers or composers played in shaping my life-life consists of everything you do, not just work. Same with some authors that I admired.

Admiration is one thing, but the impact they have, in general, on your life is quite low. On the other hand, a friend, or a teacher or a mentor (a non-celebrity mentor, I might add), may end up impacting your life a lot more. One reason, obviously, is you see them more often. Second, they may genuinely wish you well.

This is not a rant about any particular celeb- sports star, or film star, but a general observation. Make what you will of it. I am more impressed by the boy or girl next door than all the big names put together. To use names from films as an illustration, an Amol Palekar, rather than a Bachchan.

Benefits of Masking

 I am sure you are fed up with the mask business-wearing them all the time you are out, unless you happen to be in Biden-land.

But there are several plus points ( I am not calling them positives, for obvious reasons)-

1. You don't have to see faces that you don't like.

2. You can't understand what anyone is saying. earlier, this was limited to your teachers, but now almost everyone is included. (If indoor masking was made compulsory, husbands would be at peace, and kids too, from their wives' and mothers' orders respectively.) 

3. You can ignore what bosses told you at work, claiming you mis-heard them. 

4. Emails may become the way forward, due to masked Zoom meetings of your Teams.

5. Last but not the least, You give terrorists a complex, by taking away their U.S.P. 

Book Review- Ghachar Ghochar

This is a book translated from Kannada, written by Vivek Shanbhag. This is worth reading for a brilliant translation alone, the likes of which are hard to find, I am sure.

Its narrator is a businessman whose family gets lucky in a business, and gets rich overnight. Mainly, the story concentrates on the narrator's uncle (Chikkappa in Kannada), his father, mother and wife. Each character is developed from scratch, and their peculiarities and singularities come through nicely.

The impact that the sudden entry of money has on the formerly close-knit family is the theme, and the author effortlessly brings out the breaking of the ties, embellished by the break-up of his sister's marriage earlier (she comes back to live with her family). His own marriage also seems on a tightrope, given his wife's idealistic views and his family's pragmatic ones.

Indian literature must certainly have more gems hidden in different languages. Hope we unearth them. This one is beautifully produced in hard cover.

Dry State of Kerala-Its After-effects

This is bigger than an earthquake, and its after-shocks will be felt for decades, and not just in Kerala. I am talking of prohibition in Kerala, just announced by the state. This is a look (you know where the tongue is) at those mammoth consequences.

1. The Kerala State Beverages Corporation, the biggest money-making (or the only?) enterprise, will go ka-boom, as they eloquently say in comics.

2. The entertainment that common citizens have, of standing in long lines to buy liquor from the KSBC counters will be taken away. This is actually more fun than what happens after consuming the liquor- nothing.

3. Bootleggers will have a new territory to expand their business. How long can you survive on just one (state, not peg)? (sorry, Lays campaigners)

4. Dubai duty-free will go out of business, and that will have global repercussions.

5. Foreign (and domestic) tourists will abandon God's Own Country and go to Hell, or Satanic places where they have the freedom to drink.

6. Border areas will have a booming liquid economy. Wine tourism will grow in Tamilnadu and Karnataka.

7. Demand for toddy will go sky-high, higher than the Burz Al-Arab/ Burz Khalifa.

Death and its Impact on the Living

We all have to face death one day. But what is the impact of the death of a close one on us? It can be considerable, and can affect us for a very long time. How do we cope?

These thoughts are triggered by one recent death in the family, and one at IMT G, of an employee who battled with cancer and passed away-today. In this case, it was an advanced stage of cancer, but the employee had an attitude which was positive till the very end. She worked with us in the MDP and other functions, and all her colleagues remember her as ever-smiling, and willing to do any work assigned, uncomplaining. That is a sterling quality, in anyone. Most of us find it easy to complain rather than work.

My father-in-law passed away last month, and he was a little over 80. We shared some great times, and conversations. He was a former shippie (marine engineer) and had lots of stories from his adventurous sorties on the sea. I was sometimes reminded of Sindbad the sailor! He also presented me with his golf kit, which I still use. We shared a lot of jokes when we met, and he visited us fairly regularly, amid all our moves from Bhubaneswar to Hyderabad, to Harihar, Lucknow, Calicut, Bangalore and Nagpur. He was in great health, until his last day, something to be grateful for.

I think we should remember the good times spent together with the departed souls as often as we can, and try to do something which they might have liked us to. And live our life well, too. Because it is a limited time offer, as someone put it.