-- From the Recycling Bin -- Part 4/10
Jose Thekkumthala
-------------------------------------------
- FROM THE RECYCLING BIN -- Part 4/10 -
-------------------------------------------
Hi ackers,
It was not too long ago when sunil Kesavapillai of University of
Oklahoma complained about the poor quality of some ack articles
and in his own right, tried to rectify the situation by publishing
some interesting poems. I thought both the poems were very valuable
contributions to ack. I wonder what the Poet_Laureat of ack
(Jacob Thomas of Nynex Science and Technology) thinks about those
poems. Hope to see more of your poems, Sunil!
BTW, what happened to our renowned poet Jacob? Did he also fade
away like some of our eminent writers and writresses?
A Renaissance in ack
--------------------
No conscientious ack participant can help noticing a renaissance that
is taking shape in ack these days. Is not the quench for better quality,
as echoed by Sunil, heralding an era of renaissance in ack?
Mareena's(Bindu) article on her village KALAVAMKODAM
was notable for its free spirited liberalism. In no time did the
article reach the top of the charts. This fact was crystal clear,
judging from the fact that the said article picked up an ardent set of
followers who came up with articles on their own villages. This
"my village" bashing had an element of surprise because these people
proved that you can come up with very interesting articles based
on simple day-to-day events and scenes that are common in rural Kerala.
Ishtan(of Ariyangadi) and Dominic Kailath (of IBM Kingston)
came up with their own versions of "My Village". All these articles had
a courageous display of regional patriotism, realism and an unabating
love for rural aura of Kerala.
Another catalytic agent invigorating the ack renaissance is the element of
rural love. At the helm of this school is probably Mr. Anonymous who wrote
a very interesting love story, and a real one at that! I guess most of
us are awaiting the sequel.. At least, I am!
And are we not getting a refreshing dose of real humor from Koshy George,
the chairman of the Board of Directors of mal Incorporated?
This non-malfunctioning mal robot is up for grabs and the bonus is two
TheNgas! As for me, I am delaying my trip to the
Robotics store until Koshy is going to offer two TheNg~s rather than
two TheNgas for buying mal robot.
Down the Memory Lane
--------------------
The narrow winding yellow brick road leading to the early days of ack
holds lots of fond memories. As Prathapan(of CMU) pointed out, ack does
not seem to be noticing the absence of a certain remarkable lady of the
golden oldies -- Sudha Neelakantan(of Heinz School of Public
Policy and Management). As Sateesh of Caltech (TATA's own representative
in Pasadena, California) noted, she was a glowing star of ack of the old days.
I would say I share the opinion of Sateesh -- that we miss her writings.
So Prathapan, if you run into the blue-necked(neelakantan) lady in CMU,
please convey our request to her to come back!
Some old issues in ack
----------------------
The time when three important issues surfaced on ack can hardly be
forgotten. This was the time when the issues of dowry, peNNukaanal
and Regional Malayalam Accent bacame dominant. Nobody can forget
the Kurukshethra war that was waged and at the centre of the battlefield
was Mathai and Sudha against each other's throat.
I was watching this ack war with immense interest, along with some
ack fans here at this university. Even to this day I do not know
how it happened -- but one fine morning, Mathai was able to establish
a link between Dowry and the girl's performance in SSLC exam.
This raised ire of Sudha and ensuing war could not be compared to
anything except the Kurukshethra war! Sudha wrote a fiery article
which had ferocity of a Nuclear bomb. This Hiroshima episode was
so dramatic that it resembled the Kurukshethra war of the sorts.
Missile after missile was fired. I, along with my friends here, was
holding my breath, clutching to my dear life, being afraid that the
skies will collapse over our heads. Sudha's article probably
pulverized Mathai into a pulp and I am not sure
whether any issue was resolved. Imho, it was not so much a battle of
principles and ideals as it was a battle of sexes. I do not know if
Mathai came out triumphant like the hero Arjuna of the ancient war.
All I know is that those issues are no more mentioned.
Sudha, the iron lady of ack.. we miss her writings.
When the key players of ack fade into oblivion, we probably do not
notice it, as pointed out by Prathapan. But if Mathai leaves ack,
it is a different story altogether. I shudder at the thought of that
eventual thing happening. Mathai is the one and only Mathai..
More Reminiscences
------------------
I remember that I once suggested Kerala Bus Trip as an alternative to
PeNNukaaNal(PK), after Dominic wrote an article on BusYathra and mentioned
about some interesting experiences in the bus, not to mention
the shrinking capacity of Kerala women in our buses (I feel women shrink
in the bus, but Kerala men expand and explode in the same bus!). However,
BusYathra was not taken up as an alternative to PeNNukaaNal. Right now,
the only two paths left to meet your future love is Dating and PK. BusYathra
still remains an unexplored avenue in the quest for your true love.
The good old ack days! Those were the days when men were men
and women were superwomen.. I miss those days.
The following mini-drama is an attempt to capture the liveliness
and fun that characterized ack when the aforementioned issues
reigned high during its infancy.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ +
+ THE ART OF ACKING +
+ +
+ by +
+ +
+ Jose Thekkumthala +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ACT I
-----
[ Scene: Wild outbacks of the Down Under (Australia).
Music from the far, far away Sydney Opera
House fills the air.
Enter Mareena with a Kangaroo ]
Mareena: (to kangaroo) You know, I have this story about dowry.
Girl's father decided to give 10 lakh rupees as dowry.
Bridegroom unknowingly asked only for 5 lakh and he
got it promptly. Poor father did not know what to do
with the rest of 5 lakhs!
[ Laughter in the background. Kangaroo jumps around in
sheer delight.
Enter Mathai]
Mathai: If the girl fails S.S.L.C. five lakh times, she has to
give 5 lakh rupees as dowry. If she fails ten lakh times,
she has to give 10 lakh! What right does she have not
to give dowry?
[ Enter Sudha of The Private School of Public Mismanagement.
Turbulence in the air. The dry, hot winds of the outbacks
come sweeping by.]
Sudha: (to Mathai) You should be ashamed of yourself! Is this not
the height of intellectual snobbery? Is this your way of
building Utopia? Is marriage a legalized prostitution?
[ Tension heightens. Kangaroo looks puzzled. Music from the
Sydney Opera House suddenly stops.]
Mathai: (To Mareena and Sudha) Did you two flunk your SSLC exam?
did you? Did you surrender your pen to the registrar
after SSLC exam? In that case the dowry you owe is sky-high!
------------------------------------------------------------------
ACT II
------
[ Scene: Same as before. Tension is still in the air.
Mareena tries to moderate the situation. She tells
another story. ]
Mareena: Now, I have another story about Malayalam movie. You know
Mammootty and Mohan Lal. Mammootty is handsome whereas
Mohan Lal is more or less effeminate and babyish-looking.
I recently saw a movie wherein Mammootty marries Mohan Lal
at the end. The Actresses' Guild of Kerala protested against
this, saying that Mohan Lal was snatching their job.
[ More laughter in the background. Music resumes.]
[ Enter Njan with Icarus]
Mareena: (Singing) Praana_sakhee NJAN verumoru
Paamaranaam Paattukaaran
.....
Njan: Hey, you got it all wrong! I am neither Paamaran nor Paattukaaran!
Sudha: What kind of malayalam is this, Njan? I never heard this Malayalam
before. Certainly does not sound like Palghat Malayalam.
Icarus: That is English, Sudha!
Mareena: Unthootta Icaruse ee parenathu? Entha kdaave, sukhano?
Mathai: Peace! Will you both knock off this Trichur Malayalam and
speak in proper malayalam? Like the one spoken in Ernakulam?
[ Enter James Joseph of Chennapady]
James: (to the crowd) The best Malayalam is spoken in Chennapady.
Chennapady is the centre of the universe. That is where the
civilization started.
Sudha: That may be so. But then, civilization did not stay there! It went
right to Palghat. That is where the civilization is currently
residing!
James: No! That is not true. Chennappady is the cradle of Modern
civilization! Chennappady is where pure Malayalam...
[ Could not complete the sentence.. A Polar Bear enters
the scene and eats James Joseph ]
( Editor's Note: The day ended when all these famous ack-writers went to
Kangaroo race, to relax. All of them bet heavily.
The rumour says that both Mareena and Sudha lost
5 lakh rupees each in the race. Mathai won 10
lakh).
============================================================================
jose email: jo...@csd.uwo.ca
Dept. of Computer Science
Univ. of Western Ontario
CANADA
============================================================================
Jacob Thomas
In article 19...@julian.uwo.ca, jo...@csd.uwo.ca (Jose Thekkumthala) writes:
>
> -------------------------------------------
> - FROM THE RECYCLING BIN -- Part 4/10 -
> -------------------------------------------
>
>Hi ackers,
>
>(Jacob Thomas of Nynex Science and Technology) thinks about those
>poems. Hope to see more of your poems, Sunil!
>
>BTW, what happened to our renowned poet Jacob? Did he also fade
>away like some of our eminent writers and writresses?
>
re-appear. Poet_Laureat? Reminded me of an old 'samasya pooraNam' challenge,
which was to write three lines of poetry ending with the fourth:
kattakkayam kRaisthava kaaLidaasan
Kattakkayam was one of the few good christian poets at that time. The best
pooranam was:
pottakkuLatthil puLavan phaNeendran
thattinpuRatthaahu mR~gendra raajan (aahu = mouse)
kaattaaLaril kaappiri kaamadEvan
kattakkayam kRaisthava kaaLidaasan
I'm tempted to say:
pottakkuLatthil puLavan phaNeendran
thattinpuRatthaahu mR~gendra raajan
kaattaaLaril kaappiri kaamadEvan
pottakkavi jAcob 'ack' kaavyan
Any way, I haven't disappeared as you can see. I was just sitting back
after our initial flurry of activities to keep ack going, and enjoying
the postings. I was also too busy on a project to make stupid computers
recognize human voice. More later.
jacob
-----