Old Monk

The times are tough. Despite reaping the fruits of the plethora of privileges and having mastered the blessed skill of ignorance, living has become tough. While the effects of the scorching virus sending me into an endless cough fits are one reason, the major share of applause for breaking my spirit goes to the news I watch and hear. Like any other person in this giant country, I too wake up to news of people dying off breathlessness and lack of basic life-sustaining needs. Once dead, the bodies are kept, dragged and tossed around until they find a space to burn them. Like most of you reading this, I am broken as well. From the horrifying pictures of people carrying the dead bodies of their loved ones to the allegations of our supreme leader being an ignorant peacock, I have cried numerous times in the past few days. The lack of hope and “all is lost” is everything I hear inside my head. There are times when a human truly accepts defeat and there is nothing more horrifying than this....

 “US Election 2020: Biden inches closer to a majority as Trump sues 3 states”- This, without a doubt, is one of the most saddening headlines today.  Running US President Donald Trump is known for many things, lying being one of them. In earlier October, Washington Post had released an article with the headline “Trump downing in his own lies”, as appealing as the headline sounds, bizarre is the fact that its true. From the day of his incubation to the last public appeal speech, he did nothing but flaunt his good deeds and lie. So much so, that voters from US’ swing states came forward to acknowledge that they feel “sorry” that their neighbors are falling for lies by a candidate. Let’s not lose the point here. Donald Trump served as the US president for the past 4 years and not everything has been bad. He has done good deeds, as a leader of his people. He has worked on the tax reforms and he has ensured his people with more employment, among the few other decisions t...

  "There can be no existence of free citizens if the news media cannot speak, and therefore journalistic freedom lies at the core of freedom of expression, but it is not absolute,” said the Supreme Court bench comprising of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah in May 2020. The observation was made while asking Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami to move the competent court to quash an FIR for a news show on Palghar mob-lynching. The transfer of the probe from Maharashtra Police to CBI was refused by the bench, however, it extended some relief to Goswami by providing him protection for the coming three weeks from the hearing. Today, around five months later, Arnab Goswami is arrested by the Maharashtra police (in a suicide case of an architect), and the discussions are once again rising regarding the “freedom of the press”.   Arnab Goswami, as we all know is one of India's top news anchors. His name has been looming in courtrooms and newsrooms alike in th...

  Every year for 18 days, the otherwise sleepy village of Koovagam comes alive. Dance, music, lights, and prayers, the scintillating display of the utmost celebration of the transgender community in the country come together here to the Koovagam festival. Celebrated in the month of Chaitra according to the Hindu calendar (April/May), the one-of-its-kind festival in India challenges the extreme summer heat and brings together an oppressed community. The festival which gains more popularity by each year is attended by transgender people and a larger LGBTQI community from across India, Sri Lanka, and even Southeast Asian countries. Koovagam village located about 25 km away from Villupuram District of Tamil Nadu is home to the Koothandavar Temple is the place where this festival is primarily held. With a history dating back centuries, Lord Aravan is believed to be one of the core elements of this festival. Various mythological stories are told here that sheds light on the...

 A decade’s success story of Hero Motor Corp. The BS6 variant of the Hero Xpulse 200 is expected to be launched soon in India as it finally got listed on the company website. The news is a head-turner for all Indian adventure enthusiasts as the bike is expected to bear more torque than its predecessor. The amount of hype this motorcycle has been getting in the past few months is beyond compare. The Xpulse 200 is currently by a large margin, the flagship product of Hero MotoCorp. The success of this particular motorcycle came overnight but was in the making for over a decade.  Hero MotoCorp was always a visionary when in the Indian motorcycle market. Their partnership with Honda has produced some of the most successful selling motorcycles in the sub-continent. In 1999 Hero alongside partner Honda launched the Hero Honda CBZ. A 156cc 4-stroke engine with a come of age, stylish body was a revolution in the Indian motorcycle market. A decade later, in 2010 Hero and H...

Love is beautiful. It is divine and like any other divine procedure, love too takes a while to happen. Some people take up their whole life to find that one perfect partner.  I have been thinking more about this hyped-up system of 'finding love' lately. The internet has the best answers for questions relating to this. Well, all the millennials seem interested in the stuff there (do check out, when you get time).   Now finding love is easy. Yes, trust me it is. I don’t know about you, well I don’t know where you are from. In most parts of the world, this process is hard, agreed. You meet people, go on a date, you talk, get to know each other, sleep with each other and then after this schedule repeats for months, you evaluate the relationship and if it all seems going good, propose to your partner. (Which is a big deal). Now you move in with him/her (which is at times done before the proposal too) and after months from proposing, you surprise your partner ...

"Fish Out of Water" is the fourth episode of the  third season  of the American animated television series  Bojack Horseman . The episode features  Bojack  traveling to a film festival in the ocean, where he wears an oxygen-filled bubble to continue breathing. Notably, the episode features less than three minutes of audible dialogue. Plot:   BoJack’s publicist Ana sends him to the world's biggest underwater film festival to promote his movie ‘Secretariat’. Unfortunately, ex-Secretariat director Kelsey Jannings is also attending the festival. Faced with the thought of seeing her, BoJack panics. He goes to the festival lobby where press events are underway. A group of fish journalists takes his picture, so he poses for them—giving them the thumbs-up sign, not knowing that this gesture is offensive in Pacific Ocean City. He notices Kelsey sadly trying to drum up interest in her movie, so he tries to write her an apology note, but she disappe...

  It was nonetheless heart-wrecking as a football fan from Kochi to hear that Kerala Blasters were likely to play a few of their next season's home matches at Kozhikode's EMS Corporation Stadium, which is currently the base of I League outfit Gokulam Kerala FC. From the inception of ISL in 2014, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium near Kaloor in Kochi has been Kerala Blasters' home ground, where the players enjoyed playing in front of the formidable 'Manjappada.' Famed for passion, Manjappada is currently ISL's biggest fan base and quickly growing to be noticed on the international base. Even as there is no doubt in the passion of the fans or the players, the management's actions in the past few years have been very much questionable. The Kerala Blasters management reportedly held discussions with representatives from the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation on Wednesday (June 3) to carry out a few structural changes required for Kozhikode's EMS Corporat...

More than 397,000 people across the world have died till date due to Covid-19, yet a cure seems to be nowhere in sight. While around 150 drugs are undergoing rigorous trials and study, Gilead Sciences Inc., an American biopharmaceutical company claimed to come closest to cracking this code. Remdesivir, an antiviral drug designed by Gilead to treat Ebola proved itself effective on Covid-19 patients. The result of a trial of the drug showed an increased speed of recovery by up to 4 days. The result of this trial was accidentally posted on the World Health Organisation's website a couple of weeks ago and quickly taken down too. The test was marked 'preliminary'. However, fate seemed more lost when further tests of the drug conducted in China failed to show any remarkable improvements in the patient. As of now, Remdesivir still stands as the most effective drug to cure Covid-19 as it has helped patients with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers-CoV) and severe acu...

"The Shawshank Redemption" has a non-secular touch at some point in the movie as Warden Norton believes to have confidence in two things-“discipline and the Bible”. When the Warden first addresses Andy he cites from the Bible "Salvation lies within" which isn't said again in the movie until the scene where Andy escapes and the Warden reveals it from inside the inward cover of the Bible which Andy used to hide the rock hammer he used by making a hollow cavity between the pages. The Shawshank Redemption is a parallel among the biblical lessons and a movie. The story makes use of an individual’s journey of existence to portray problems based on the principles - hope and redemption. Hope Andy struggle inside the cage that is the prison until he eventually breaks free leaving his friend Red behind, who's later paroled. One day Red decides to walk away from his job in search of a field.  Andy had once told Red about a hidden box beneath a volcanic rock...

With almost all major football leagues in the world set to resume this month, multiple players have come forward voicing angst against the decision. With the games set to be played behind closed doors, it's only sane to state the fact that football won't be the same.   Officials of major football leagues including the likes of English Premier League, La Liga and  Seria A have decided to put their feet down and resume football countering the ongoing pandemic. English F.A, arguably the most prolific governing body in the list is facing claims of some serious criticism for going through with the "project restart". Multiple players have taken it to social media platforms and various media to openly bash the decision. Some of them claim that the restart is being done sheerly for the F.A's monetary gains and should be stopped.   Some of these claims are starting to sound more serious than the others as Watford striker Troy Deeney gave out a statement that he...

Picking and assigning sides are two of the best things Indians do. As the Malayalam saying goes, " അമ്മയെ തല്ലിയാലും രണ്ട് പക്ഷം ". The saying means that even when you hit your mother, there will be people picking sides either supporting or opposing your action. The purpose shall always stay unimportant for some reason yet   'jumping to conclusions' remains a classic Indian cuisine served at every corner of the planet.   The strangling of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man from Minnesota by Derek Chauvin, a duty cop, on claims of using a counterfeit $20 bill has started a series of protests in the U.S. People have come forward with a very strong claim that hate towards black people needs to end. Shouting slogans, marching with placards, burning public property and attacking the police, the protesters have started to put pressure and fear on the country’s government. The protesters have taken charge so much so that on Monday, President Trump was for...