Me and Thomas were sitting with another colleague documenting the project work done in the last 6 months.
A lot of data was shifted, formatted, cut-and-pasted and checked and cross-checked for accuracy.
Thomas was checking the data closely.
The colleague turned and told me:
"Thomas Sir is not having full confidence in me in managing the data. He is always having doubts!"
I replied
"Right. No wonder there is a term in English Doubting Thomas!"
Thomas laughed. Then he asked a question:
"Do you know the origin of that term?"
I said no.
It seems St. Thomas did not believe that Jesus resurrected the third day.
He wanted to physically feel his wounds, then only he was ready to believe....
Interesting....
Postscript
I am seeing the political heat in TV about the scam.
Somebody says "...but the Ceaser's wife should be above suspicion!"
If my Sankara English Teacher Geethalayam Geethakrishnan was with me, perhaps I could have asked him the origin of the term...
Friday, November 19, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
War and Romance - Post Sankara
Arms and the Man is a comedy written by George Bernard Shaw. This is not an English Drama which I studied in Sankara, but which I taught one year after coming out of Sankara.
Not to a class, but to my senior who was also a friend.
Confusing?
Well that is the way it was. My friend was not able to clear his English even after two years.
Even though the text book which both of us studied was The Apple Cart, by Bernard Shaw, it had changed later. He requested me to teach the new one – The Arms and the Man.
I accepted his request and started studying the book.
It is the story of a lady (Raina) who lived in the war time during the 1880s in Europe.
She gets an unexpected guest or rather a refugee in her house. Ironically he is from the enemy camp.
She is initially contemptuous and also a little surprised at the fact that he keeps chocolates instead of bullets in his gun.
He is referred to as the Chocolate Cream Soldier in the book.
He says the war is so horrible that surviving is the first priority since there is no food for days together.
She is also forced to change her opinion about romance. One can say that what many of today’s generation’s (or rather all generations’ when they are young) view about the romantic ideas of living together are not realistic.
The moral of the story is one has a glorious picture of war as a competition or as a heroic act but the hard facts- the suffering does not attract general public attention.
Romance and War..... Both have to be viewed seriously.
Bernard Shaw was able to highlight this 125 years ago.
And as far as my friend is concerned, he had a taken a room just for this class. We sat together in the afternoons for a couple of months until his exams.
I am happy that he passed his English.
Not to a class, but to my senior who was also a friend.
Confusing?
Well that is the way it was. My friend was not able to clear his English even after two years.
Even though the text book which both of us studied was The Apple Cart, by Bernard Shaw, it had changed later. He requested me to teach the new one – The Arms and the Man.
I accepted his request and started studying the book.
It is the story of a lady (Raina) who lived in the war time during the 1880s in Europe.
She gets an unexpected guest or rather a refugee in her house. Ironically he is from the enemy camp.
She is initially contemptuous and also a little surprised at the fact that he keeps chocolates instead of bullets in his gun.
He is referred to as the Chocolate Cream Soldier in the book.
He says the war is so horrible that surviving is the first priority since there is no food for days together.
She is also forced to change her opinion about romance. One can say that what many of today’s generation’s (or rather all generations’ when they are young) view about the romantic ideas of living together are not realistic.
The moral of the story is one has a glorious picture of war as a competition or as a heroic act but the hard facts- the suffering does not attract general public attention.
Romance and War..... Both have to be viewed seriously.
Bernard Shaw was able to highlight this 125 years ago.
And as far as my friend is concerned, he had a taken a room just for this class. We sat together in the afternoons for a couple of months until his exams.
I am happy that he passed his English.
Friday, April 30, 2010
The Jayaram incident
Jayaram was two years junior to me in Sankara. He had a group of 3 or 4 friends who used to move with him always. They were all co-students from his Perumbavoor school.
I had our own group of friends and sometimes various groups used to meet in canteen and other places as is usual in any college. Since most of my friends were from Perumbavoor, they knew him before.
He was in PDC first year when we were in Degree first year. He studied only for two years in Sankara and until the last few months of his college days, was not much known.
I remember he stood for election as class representative for PD2 and I was the class representative for DC2. Both of us were in the same panel. The alliance was called the Progressive Democratic Front(PDF).
During his second year Arts Club Festival, he shot to limelight as a mimicry artist. It has an interesting background.
Outside the college, in Ernakulam, The Cochin Kalabhavan troupe was getting famous through their "Mimics Parade" depicting mono-acting, parady, mimicking and funny mock stories.
Here is one sample. This is from a mock news reel shown in theatres before a movie starts.
"Biharil Vellappokkam.....(sound) Pradhana Mathri Indira Gandhi helicopteril vellappokka badhitha pradeshangal sandarshichu..." (sound of helicopter)
"Pradhanamanthriyute durithaswasa nidhiyil ninnu Oru Laksham roopa vellathilittu...!(sound of falling)
Jayaram's one man show was a tremendous success. Little did we know, and Cochin Kalabhavan know, that he had copied the entire program from Kalabhavan.
Jayaram did this in the morning session of the function in Sankara stage, and in the afternoon Cochin Kalabhavan was supposed to perform on the same stage.
In the afternoon, Kalabhavan troupe came and presented their show. The original looked like a duplicate and the response was not enthusiastic. They were surprised at the poor response, because they had just introduced these items and wherever they had presented, there was tremendous appreciation and applause.
Later, the Kalabhavan people had a talk with Jayaram and shared their unhappiness, it seems.
Do you know the final outcome?
Next thing we heard, maybe around 6 months later, Jayaram joined Cochin Kalabahavan!
Rest is history......
Postscript
I saw Jayaram in a crowded inaugural ceremony of a textile shop a few years ago and waved at him and told "Sankara College". We exchanged a few words and talked about common acquintances Ayyappan and Menon.
I remember him telling "Ayyappan ippol Muscuttila..."
I had our own group of friends and sometimes various groups used to meet in canteen and other places as is usual in any college. Since most of my friends were from Perumbavoor, they knew him before.
He was in PDC first year when we were in Degree first year. He studied only for two years in Sankara and until the last few months of his college days, was not much known.
I remember he stood for election as class representative for PD2 and I was the class representative for DC2. Both of us were in the same panel. The alliance was called the Progressive Democratic Front(PDF).
During his second year Arts Club Festival, he shot to limelight as a mimicry artist. It has an interesting background.
Outside the college, in Ernakulam, The Cochin Kalabhavan troupe was getting famous through their "Mimics Parade" depicting mono-acting, parady, mimicking and funny mock stories.
Here is one sample. This is from a mock news reel shown in theatres before a movie starts.
"Biharil Vellappokkam.....(sound) Pradhana Mathri Indira Gandhi helicopteril vellappokka badhitha pradeshangal sandarshichu..." (sound of helicopter)
"Pradhanamanthriyute durithaswasa nidhiyil ninnu Oru Laksham roopa vellathilittu...!(sound of falling)
Jayaram's one man show was a tremendous success. Little did we know, and Cochin Kalabhavan know, that he had copied the entire program from Kalabhavan.
Jayaram did this in the morning session of the function in Sankara stage, and in the afternoon Cochin Kalabhavan was supposed to perform on the same stage.
In the afternoon, Kalabhavan troupe came and presented their show. The original looked like a duplicate and the response was not enthusiastic. They were surprised at the poor response, because they had just introduced these items and wherever they had presented, there was tremendous appreciation and applause.
Later, the Kalabhavan people had a talk with Jayaram and shared their unhappiness, it seems.
Do you know the final outcome?
Next thing we heard, maybe around 6 months later, Jayaram joined Cochin Kalabahavan!
Rest is history......
Postscript
I saw Jayaram in a crowded inaugural ceremony of a textile shop a few years ago and waved at him and told "Sankara College". We exchanged a few words and talked about common acquintances Ayyappan and Menon.
I remember him telling "Ayyappan ippol Muscuttila..."
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