Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Thinking of Him



About the film by jpkallikkal

[Thinking of Him has been chosen to be the closing film of IFFI 2017 and would have its World Premiere at the Festival]

Thinking of Him is a film that transcends boundaries of time and integrates stories of the present with that of the past.  The film cascading between two different chronological periods, one set in the 1920’s and the other, in the present, unveils an intimate yet platonic connection between Argentinian feminine writer and cultural activist Victoria Ocampo and Indian Poet, thinker and Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore.

The central theme of the film revolves round Argentinian feminist writer and cultural activist Victoria Ocampo hosting Rabindra Nath Tagore in Argentina in 1924.  A deep platonic bond develops between the two and thereafter Victoria becomes a distant muse of Tagore which finds reflection in a book that Felix, a Geography teacher stumbles upon at a detention centre.  The book fascinates Felix as he is drawn deeper into the story of Tagore. As Felix gains understanding of the intellectual, emotional and spiritual tenets of Tagore’s revolutionary school in India, he decides to pay a visit India to explore and experience the true meaning and teaching style dreamed for whole of mankind by Rabindra Nath Tagore.
 
"I began pre-production in 2008 following a suggestion made by India's ambassador to Argentina. But I could not wrap up the film in time for Tagore's 150th birth anniversary as the research and funding process took longer than expected," says Cesar.

"The idea is to emphasise the continuing relevance of Tagore”, sums up the essence of the film and relevance of the theme.

This 2017 Indo-Argentinian is Directed by Pablo César and produced by Pablo Ballester, Debendra Jagadala & Suraj Kumar.   Duration of this B&W/Colour film is 110 minutes and is dubbed in three languages: Bengali, Spanish and English.

Production & Cast
Director: Pablo César
Producer: Pablo Ballester, Debendra Jagadala, Suraj Kumar
Screenplay: Jernimo Toubes
Cinematographer: Carlos Essmann
Editor: Liliana Nadal
Sound Design: Francisco Bissone,
Gerardo Kalmar, Emiliano Monsegur
Production Designer: Emilio Basaldua, Vishnu Nishad

Cast: Victor Banerjee, Eleonora Wexler, Hector Bordoni, Raima Sen

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Breathe Delhi


‘Delhi air quality to be better this Diwali’, screamed out the title of an article dwelling on the effect of SC ban on fireworks in Delhi this year.  Another title read, ‘Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to help improve Delhi’s air quality in force from today’ and this day happens to be 17th of October, 2017 and Diwali is two days away.

While I have been constrained and concerned about the quality of air throughout of the year, like many of my friends, the steps going to be taken as per the GRAP surprised me, the most surprising one being multi fold (three fold) increase in parking rates. Other steps being stoppage of use of diesel sets, enhanced bus and metro (with enhanced rates) services and daily media alerts advising citizens about health issues of pollution.

It is pertinent to note here that while Judiciary has finally stepped into the domain of citizen’s health and issued strictures that treads over religious sentiments (banning of firecrackers on Diwali) the issue is far deeper than it looks on the surface.

Steps like tripling of parking rates seem like a big joke. Delhi has more than 1 crore vehicles running on its roads and the city does not even have sufficient parking lots to park such a large number of vehicles. Higher parking charges would just be fleecing the denizens without having a system of parking in the first place!   If the issue was making aware the need to park designate vehicles properly then a system of upright awareness was the first step to be taken before inflating parking fees!

Delhi has had a dramatically transformed into a city of chaos.  From being a city of shaded trees and manicured gardens, post 80s Delhi has changed it into a messy, polluted capital of a country coming in terms with urbanization.   While early independent years saw influx of white collared employees of government a.k.a babus and private companies located in Delhi, post 80s witnessed unchecked migration constituting a large chuck of unregulated population that settled down in shanties called Jhuggi Jhopri s(JJ) clusters without basic amenities like water, sanitation and electricity. 

Successive governments interested in vote politics let the proliferation rise leading to choking of priced locations, stressed up public utility services including transportation, housing and health.  There was no specific plan for future and the city continued to add numbers to its fore and Delhi Master Plan swelled across borders and the city finds itself as National Capital Territory Region that is choked with traffic, pollution and urban mess.

I am reminded of a Delhi that used to sleep on terraces during summers, winters were bon-fires and Moongfalis (Heated groundnuts).  One could walk or cycle miles around under shaded trees or laze around in open boulevards. Air was pure and winter fog melted away in crisp warm sunshine.  Yet with time influx of migrants for work kept rising.  Roads that were deserted and looked wide in early 70s started getting dug up.  Each civic agency had an agenda that did not match up with others.  While MCD dug up roads for laying pavements, MTNL dug it up once the entire work was complete. Thereafter civic agency will plaster it again for completion.  Immediately afterwards the legislator will feel the need to widen the road and the entire stretch would be dug up again. 

Contractors bank rolled projects, administration changed hands, bus owners changed certificates and Delhi would remain ‘under construction’ for years. Today we are stuck up at a point of no return. More than ten million private and personal vehicles clog its arteries. Metro Rail is available but it does not connect entire Delhi and perennially remains over-crowded and viable connectivity to localities are not available.


It has come upon the Apex Court to restrict movement of vehicles and ensure breathable air in the capital.  This Diwali there may be far less firecrackers burst but quality of air is going far from healthy.  Let us hope some more drastic steps like reduction of vehicles from Delhi roads, reduced emissions from polluting vehicles and an alternative lifestyle mode including a pollution free transportation system would be put in place in the city.  A city that used to be called ‘dil waalon ki dilli’ (city of hearty) and has now changed to a heartless dead zone of pollution, crime and chaos.
Can GRAP grapple with Pollution? Can Delhi breathe?

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Like freedom, happiness is a reality that entwines with the breath we take in and love we receive and spread out all around us" jpkallikkal©2017

Like freedom, happiness is a reality that entwines with the breath we take in and love we receive and spread out all around us" jpkallikkal©2017

Thirty years ago, fresh out of college, three friends that included me thought of options to move on in life. We were advised that Down Under, Australia, was the country we should migrate to in order to give shape to our dreams and aspirations.  Visa rules provided by Australian High Commission revealed that all three of us totalled up exactly the same points that made us eligible to opt for migration to Australia.  However permanent migration was the exact term used for such a move. While my friends immediately chose to migrate, I opted against it.  I chose to remain in the arms of my motherland, India, as I could not think of changing my economic or social status at the cost of changing my Nationality.

I am happy, I did. I am free in a country that holds capacity to change the way the world thinks. My heart is free to touch the soil where I took birth. It has not just my Karma bhoomi but a dharma bhoomi that lets me steer my people to a destiny that shall purely be ours despite all the challenges and struggles we encounter each day.

70 years of Independence has brought about huge change in mindset, standards and levels of understanding within and outside of us. Yet with each passing day, I witness the spirit of my Matru bhoomi (Motheland) needs to take on challenges facing us with higher levels of passion, dedication and introspection. I feel freedom is a notion that has capacity to transform into reality, if our minds as prisoners of desires chaining us to narrow territories of comfort, greed and possessions can be set free.

We shall be truly free if we can breathe in air of affection and breathe out love that encompasses and kisses each of our fellow nationals and others across the world. We shall be truly independent, if we can steer the course of history in the present and transform ourselves into a nation that is trusted, respected and loved for its spirit, character and energy. We are a vibrant nation and we are living in times that offer opportunities that need to be lapped up with perseverance, dedication and sincerity.
The air we breathe, the path we tread and destiny that we seek are indicators of an Independent nation that holds capacity to change life in and around us. Each step taken by us, as individual citizens of this great country shall impact the world in ways more than we can imagine.

I took a vow thirty years back, as our country did, 70 years ago, to be part of a great culture that shall shine  Independent and free. A nation that spreads love, compassion and brotherhood amongst fellow citizens and all across the globe.

Indian to the core, I once again promise and vouch to spread love, respect and compassion each day I live and breathe.  I believe, Peace is the mantra for success. Harmony is the key word for growth and Joy is to be able to watch smiles on faces of others.   As dew drops drip down free from leaves deep in a forest, we, with our free flowing ideas, hold power to be part of history that shall witness this country touch greater heights of pride, power and prestige.

I received a Watsapp message and a call from a friend who migrated many years ago to wish me a Happy Independence Day.  All he said was, I follow your feeds and fb posts, you seem happy. I replied, Like freedom, happiness is a reality that entwines with the breath we take and love we receive and spread all around us.   

Long live India

Jai Hind


jpkallikkal/15 August 2017©2017

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Do you believe in destiny


Do you know your destiny?
By J. P. kallikkal

India is a land of mystery.  If mysticism and religion developed here over a period of many centuries, pseudo-sciences too developed in various rural pockets independently.   The practice of Palmistry, Numerology, Astrology also developed and branched out with the passage of time.  However, Astrology, which dwells into the realms of human life through a peep into the planetary and heavenly dispositions flourished through intricate following and studies.

The predictions of astrologers have been viewed with awe.  Businessmen, politicians and people from every walk of life are influenced by predictions.   To find out what future holds for us is of course an issue, which could delight anyhow, especially if a gains are expected.  Therefore newspapers, magazines, TV channels all keep a section or time for this in their schedules and publications. However major thrust is given to horoscope and birth chart when advises are given.  To make matters simple this is simplified into a set of Zodiac or birth-signs, which seek to predict the future through the position of Planets and stars.  Horoscope is thus a chart which displays the birth or natal chart of a person. prepared keeping in mind the effect of heavenly bodies in his life during the time of his birth.

Astrologers basing their logic that sun passes through the twelve constellations of the zodiac during the course of a year have divided up a calendar year into twelve sections, which have come to be accepted as the zodiac signs.  Whereas each House represent and reflect a constellation, some planets rule more than one constellation and are believed to have strong or a weak influence on a person's life. The signs of the zodiac are also supposed to bear a relation to the human body parts and also the elements viz. Earth, Air, Fire and Water.  The zodiac, are also named on the names of animals.  Some people are said to be born on a ‘cusp’ or a ‘point’, signifying that he has been born at a time when the sun sign was changing from one to the next.  Thus he bears the characters to two adjacent zodiac signs.

Atheists and non-believers regard Astrology as a non-science and superstition.  However a significant section of population in each country are big believers of astrology and related forms of pseudo-sciences.

Though spirits, occult, magic and astrology has been part of every civilization the anxiety of knowing the future made many persons dwell deeper into this field of study and practice.  Though all major religions including the Hinduism have in some way give a nod to astrology because it rationalizes the logic that irrespective of what is foretold ‘what will be will be’.  However, Hinduism also places its logic of life on one’s ‘Karma’ or deeds of the previous birth and relies on astrology to also alter the course of events through series of vedic rituals.


Astrology has been traced back to many civilizations including Greek, Indian, Egyptian and Chinese.  However, Horoscopes and charts have today embedded themselves into the psyche of individuals all around the globe.  Computerization and use of electronic aids have added up to the scope of practice and use of this practice not only to predict the future but also for many social ceremonies including naming, match making etc.

A horoscope basically consists of three sections i.e. The Zodiac, The House and The Planet.  Astrologers include Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Sun and the Moon amongst the Planets.  Each planet interestingly also depicts and represents unique characteristics and traits.  Though many forms of fortune telling and future prophecies are relied upon depending upon the geographic and knowledge bases, the mainstay of Astrology across the globe is the Horoscope.  In India Horoscope is relied heavily upon for many matters of life.  These very behavior patterns are used by astrologers and fortune-tellers to co-relate with the personality of individuals and thus predict their lives.  A typically prepared horoscope enables an astrologer to decipher various patterns of character predictions.  These include the nature, health, wealth, luck and other factors or significantly the twelve House in the Horoscope are also believed to reflect twelve important factors in a human being life which include:- Health, Personality, Ideals, Family, Parents, Career, Travel, Possessions, Marriage, Children, Diseases and Death. 


So, if you wish to have a road map of the future, a horoscope might just come handy and perhaps show you a glimpse of that path, to your destiny!

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Do you Pine for...



Do you pine for …..
A place, a person, a moment
A tangible object, an intangible feeling!
A long walk could be as exhilarating and liberating as a session of serene serenade on the beach of the sea or a session of yoga on a mat. No I am not going to talk of exercise or a work out. I write this after my toe stepped on an innocuous looking object while on a morning walk yesterday.
New Delhi is chilly and hazy in winters and seeps into a tormenting pattern of summers soon afterwards. However a few weeks of bliss engulfs the city spliced between these two extremes, the Spring!
Long walk across expansive grass turf is bliss in such a season. If the esplanade is dotted with pine trees still better. Shade giving and aromatic, these trees with their distinct foliage provides the much needed succor to a mentally depressed city dweller during times of stress.
Belonging to genus Pinus, Pines are conifer trees that has more than 126 species found across the globe. In temperate regions, deserts, nearly every place except the tropics. I tread on this subject because a tree such as a Pine can evoke a diverse thought process if we tread deeper. There are actually three parts of a pine tree that are edible! The seeds or the pine nuts can be used in cooking especially in salads. If you wander into a forest and get lost perhaps you can considering using the inner bark of a pine tree which is edible and can be sliced and fried to be eaten in emergencies. The young make cones can actually be boiled to be eaten. Some needles are used to prepare tea. Even the twigs are supposed to be edible! It is understood that the pollen from pine cones (pollen is produced by only male cones) can be used as a substitute for flour or corn starch. Pines are actually very useful trees and they encapsulate many stories.
The Coulter Pine cone is perhaps the heaviest among cones of pine trees that can Weigh upto 10 pounds. The Sugar Pine cone is perhaps the longest of the cones that can grow upto 24”, it has a sweet sap which can be chewed like a gum, its nuts are edible too. This tree grows tall and can go upto 280 feet in height. The Knob cone pine is supposed to be the hardest pine with a closed cone. It relies on heat from wildfires to open up the cones. The Pinyon pine cone has large edible brown nuts and are also used for medicinal purposes. The Logepole pine is a small cone around 2 inches long. It is basically used for decorations. The Jeffrey Pine is another variety that has prickles on the end of its scales which bend inwards and can be handled safely.
As food, medicine, decorative items, basketry these aesthetically appealing trees have many unique features hidden behind their bark and branches. This tree is considered as ‘Great Pine of Peace’. However the health benefits of Pine trees are immense. The bark peels of the trees can be dried up and consumed. It can be brewed up as tea with the help of pine needles. These have high amounts of vitamin C and are extremely helpful as boosters of immune system. They also help improve vision and eye health. The edible parts of the pine are capable of eliminating pathogens from body and help lifting up skin health besides preventing hair loss. Respiratory ailments too can be cured with the help of pine cones.
A well known method of preparing and preserving a home remedy goes like this. Fresh pine needles can be soaked in apple cider vinegar for six weeks. A wide mouthed vessel can be used up for this purpose. The pine needles just need to be completely submerged in the vinegar and after six weeks an edible and medicinal potion is ready for consumption.
Though pine cone saps leave stains on clothes, they are preserved to prepare tincture and honey and are proven to have medicinal qualities. Pine resins form a component of propolis and bark of pine saplings are used to place cast for stabilizing broken bones.
If walking in a park laden with pine trees makes you heady, there is a little known reason behind this. Besides the aromatic fragrance that is brought in by the breeze hitting the Pine trees, pine pollen has very high levels of testosterone. Ingestion of the pollen or tincture of the pollen is proven to increase libido.
No wonder the innocuous looking object that came in contact with me while on a morning walk yesterday was a Pine cone that led my heart to feel high and my spirit to be invigorated. A peep into the reason for my exhilaration brought to light little known facts about pine trees and their qualities. There could be thousand reasons for us to set off for picnics or morning walks but we are blessed by unseen factors such as the flowers, rivers, breeze besides the pine trees and their cones that lend magic to our existence and outings.

Inner Vision


Magic of Inner vision
Part – I
Ambling across in a Mall last weekend, I happened to come across an Electronic outlet displaying a large flat screen TV which had a UHD tag supporting 4k; which in real terms translates as an Ultra High Definition Television with a resolution that can support content having horizontal resolution on the order of 4,000 pixels. My thoughts went across to my own eye, a small human eye that is so conscious to the colour variations that it has a capability of identifying about 10 million colours! Not merely the colours it can view objects in varying light conditions and can perceive distances and depths that makes our overall viewing experience many decades advanced than the existing gadgets and projection systems
The same is true of every human organ and here I am not going to explain the technical aspects of the human eye, but its connection with the human brain that makes life so much more exciting and colour filled. But what would a blind person see? A person born blind may not see anything at all or may not comprehend the sense of light or shades. However, a partially blind person may see some shreds of grey or off white shades. People who had eyesight in earlier part of their life and eventually went blind due to surgery, accident or disease may, despite their blind conditions, do not see black as one might imagine. But for them, it would be shades and patterns of variant colours that keep floating in their minds.
Our lives are in some strange way a walk from darkness to light. Those who can evolve to see through their hearts would start seeing vision of a different dimension. Of what use are the eyes that only see what light reflects on surfaces? A man with good eye sight sees what the world looks like in terms of colours, shapes, shades and patterns but what a blind man perceives is a completely different dimension of existence. I broach on this analogy to reiterate that human vision is much more than what we perceive. Each signal transmitted from the eye reaches the brain and the resultant picture, shape or shade is what comes to be recognised as the side of light. Now if you invert your vision into darkness and imagine that you turn into a bat or an owl, your sensory perceptions may change to a medium of ultra sound and start calculating distances or patterns to make out a figure, shape or texture.
Tuning further beyond science, imagine a situation when you tune your sixth sense or psyche to see objects or pictures of life. There would in all practicality be a phase when you have visions different from the ordinary. Apart from the sensory perception of sight, the power of hearing (sound), smell, touch add to our understanding of our environment and how about the power of speech! I go a step further and integrate the invisible ultra violet rays, radio waves, magnetic fields and the least understood psychic channels to accentuate our power of knowing and experiencing what we bump into during our active life.
With practice and experience higher channels of communication open up before us. It is like tuning to the right frequencies to see what others cannot see. Some may not believe in this at all, while there may be some who not only believe but travel and experience this state at various stages of inner consciousness. While a hypnotist may be able to put his subject to sleep and be able to communicate during the process of inducing a hypnotic spell but there are various other means through which we can cross over to other side and be able to be aware of a state of mind. Transcendal meditation is one of such ways of communicating to others without the means of wired or electronic means.
It is said, Mind is our inner eye. It has no definite place of dwelling. It can remain within our body or float out beyond notional borders to see what others cannot ever see or feel. In its highest realms through this inner eye we can achieve what others cannot achieve in a human state.
We often see predictions coming true. We come across individuals who can perform extraordinary feats through their sheer practice and skill. Many are said to have inherited ‘at birth’ amazing talents. There are still another section of people who hold immense power to change the world through their psychic and invisible energies. They however never bring into public domain such powers.
I believe every individual inherits a certain degree of such X-factors at birth. However worldly pursuits do now allow them to draw out such energies perhaps they may even not know that they hold such powers! It takes a concerted effort on the part of an individual to develop the skill to unveil such factors residing with him. This is possible through Inner Vision. A vision that enables a man to feel and experience a world beyond given realms of existence. Magic of inner vision is an amazing experience to travel through the world. It helps one to touch other human beings with love, compassion and trust which makes a bond possible. Such a vision is absolutely natural and does not have any ulterior motives.
Imagine one being able to fully absorb the marvellous creations of nature. Mountain, trees, streams add to it the capacity to experience the dimensions that can fully realise the potential of human that is rarely being done by us today. Are we aware of other dimensions?
In Physics the Kaluz-Klein theory is used a dimension that unifies gravity with electromagnetic force. Known as the fifth dimension it is a hypothetical additional dimension that goes beyond the three spatial dimensions (from a particular point in space the three physical dimensions will be (a) up/down (b)left/right (c) forward/backward and the dimension of time of Relativity. It is being understood by physicist that ‘Graviton’, a particle that carries the force of gravity has the ability to ‘leak’ into fifth or higher dimensions that lead it to get weaker than the other three dimensions. Does a human body and mind play with dimensions or tailor itself to channelize energies to travel through these dimensions?
Very few humans, as individual entities may fully understand the dynamics of mathematics. But Mathematics as a science of understanding the dimensions of numbers, quantities and space through abstract concepts (pure mathematics) or as a realm of applied segments used in physics or engineering is continuously being used by human bodies. Steig Larsson in his second book of the Millennium series, ‘The Girl who played with Fire’ provides insight into the dimensions in Mathematics that travel through number theory, analytics of complexity, spherical astronomy but do we ever realize that numbers and signs Mathematicians try to understand and decode our universe is naturally experiences by human psyches in a different dimension!
Emotions play an important part of our existence. Leaving the scientific analysis deciphering human emotions in its various dimensions we can bifurcate it in terms of Awareness, Analytics, Analogy, Assimilation and Application.
Awareness means understanding our state of mind, being aware of our emotional positivity and negativity, knowing the signals of our thoughts and being able to provide a response. Analytics on the other hand is untangling the web of sorrows or set backs, putting to a state of rest the upset mind, managing impulses, keeping a positive bearing and coming out of negative situations. Analogy is learning from the past experiences and setting future landmarks with perseverance and reaching the flag post. Assimilation treads into the psyche of nature, humans and animals through intense understanding of their feelings and state of minds thus creating an ideal state of exchange of responses. Application is the fifth and final dimension of emotional intelligence that integrates us with our inner vision that integrates our understanding of the universe and vice versa.
We are easily overawed at what humans create with their scientific, physical and intellectual strength. But do we comprehend the power a human holds if we transgress the known boundaries of intelligence and travel a spiritual path (not strictly from a religious point of view) but moving beyond structured layers of objective ideas?
Do we ever perceive the magnetism and depth of Love? The bond of affections or the distance human civilization can travel through Peace? Inner vision is a unique space and path that provides us the wisdom to comprehend. Some may call it conscience; some others may call it an impractical discovery of a desolate mind. As the first step, a sincere walk through our memories, dreams and experiences can easily help us locate our purpose of taking birth. Building up further, our sacrifice, surrender and sincere bond with the universe shall take us nearer to the store house of inner vision. The third and final step is integration of our mind with our souls. Here starts a fascinating journey to the other end of the space. A Space which helps you touch the un-touched and let you Feel the un-felt.
This, I would say is be the magic of inner vision, a vision that shall help you realize the sanctity of your birth and purpose of your journey; A vision that helps you see the past and decipher the future!
Continued in Part 2 : The Power of Words

Comments and views:
jpkallikkal@gmail.com
http://www.jpkallikkal.com

Cosmic Twin


Cosmic twin/jpkallikkal©2015
Mirror is said to show it all
Nature still is a stranger’s call
Seated in a corner rest
Some thoughts put logic to test
Destiny takes you to alien places. It also brings one face to face with new situations and makes you meet absolute strangers. Time as fourth dimension trudges on, marking each moment in your life as an event sequenced through the past into the future. I often wonder if destiny and history have some connection or if past has a distinct and common connection to the present or the future.
I see mirror as a reflection of a truth you are, yet it also transcends the borders of imagination by crossing the transient to the perpetual. Travelling further, we are confronted with new situations and new people who begin to look familiar after sometime of sharing. Yet, as we settle down permanently at one place or with a person, in some vague moments of weakness, our hearts jump out seeking new places and people, some that fit in exactly like a note of music we had always wished to hear. Such an embedding of patterns in our psyches, make us question the law attraction that defies logic etched by our thoughts and behaviour.
Some songs, few words born
Reminiscences of bereft bygone
Carefree, gay, left away
Memories like stacked dead hay
It so happens that you meet someone, an absolute stranger, who seems so known to you that every aspect of his/her speech, thought and action is sketched as a pre-marked Etch in your mind. In Hindu mythology is said that a person has six clones in other parts of the world. In essence it is thus believed that there are seven identical entities born at a single moment.
In music, some tunes stick to our souls. Some notes seem very familiar due to their close resemblance to similar notes in other songs. Yet combination of words of each song makes that it distinct and beautiful. Human souls are such combination of notes. Memories on the other hand are like untouched desires that probe through the lyrics in search of an association or link to some forgotten notes of music. Songs that may have left you lonely, happy or sad at some point of time! Are such reminiscences stacked and stored like dead hay? Perhaps kept dry for being used on some other day!
It rains intermittent slow
Like Myyazhi’s slow flow
Words resting like little birds
Perched alone in yesterday’s tone
Like dejavu, situations, places, fragrances and faces, return to haunt us, teasing our memories. They may take you to an edge of time which seems to be happening exactly the same way it had happened before! You meet people with whom you feel absolutely comfortable. People so naturally connected that they seem to be part of you in some way.
While the rains bring back thoughts and germinate feelings that ebb and flow like river Myyazhi (A river in Mahe), Words can soar, glide and flap their imagery like birds ending up seated in loneliness reminding us of the bygone. As we scurry around to clutch onto our present, it turns into our past within moments and also our future. This brings forth a period of emptiness we feel like drawing back from; Experiences of our past and reliving such memories in the mirror of time.
Step out, travel, tread along
Take your heart where it belongs
Zodiac, Stars, tides can bring
Reflections real, like your Cosmic twin.
Human emotions change like hues of the sky. A rising sun in shades of orange turns Golden and as dusk approaches it turns crimson red and eventually ambers die down in the night sky. If we listen to our minds, joys of travel and moving out of our hearths eventually reflect time frozen in our memories and make us realize that we need to move on. If we listen to our hearts, we tread the line of excitement, adventure and passion to ultimately be one with our desire and stay on in eternity, a true reflection of our loving awakened self. Yet sometimes the constellations and designs of nature bring us face to face our reflections and destiny. A new place you reached today could be a place you were destined to be and perhaps were present in some other time period. A new soul you met today could be the face you had always yearned to see! A face so similar that even the mirror you peer into would reflect on its surface an image of your cosmic twin!

Cosmic twin/jpkallikkal©2015

TIME


Time like efflorescence, are specks of memories that dot our life. It is not a mere reflection of ageing cells or a scalar quantity defining the fourth dimension, it is for us to hold on, value and cherish.
We can sail away, once in a while, in a moment or in a warp that oscillates between the past and the future. It energizes our present, wakes us up from the sleep that tends to wrap amnesia over senses during our travel, each day. Ticking away time machines can stop, when we wish them to, letting the bionic speckles of spams that intervene time, heal us.
I believe, our hearts can arrest the flow of time, to let it slow down or move fast as per our wishes. There could be times when it hurts. When gross sorrows outweigh the happiness of a moment but during those times, we need to scrape out the efflorescent residues of memories embedded in time to balance or tilt the scales.
Time, like true friends, eternal love and blissful God shall be there with us during times of trial, as a reflection to solace, transform and dissolve our bruises into a residue of Life.

©jpkallikkal/2015/Time
15 January 2015

FRIENDSHIPS, RAINY DAYS AND SUNDAYS



Friendships, Rainy days and Sundays
Jpkallikkal©2017
Friends are forever, so are friendships that last a lifetime. Trust, Affection, Love and Respect are four pillars on which friendships rest.
I have had innumerable friends since my early years. Many faces that came, connected and melted away with time.
What is friendship?
I guess for each age, friendship has a different meaning. Kindergarten and nursery has friends who are for play. Little bonds that the instant, immediate and centered around games and play. In loses friends are lost and in wins new hearts are won. Teenage and youth bring changes beyond one’s comprehension. One develops liking for unlikeliest faces and a tendency to connect with like minded leaders or followers set pace to striking friendships. Tastes, hobbies, skills, ideologies, social and economic status could determine friendships with exceptions that could have a biological or chemical deviation when looks, styles and mannerisms tilt conditions.
However maturity drives one home to a point of reality. Friendships attain larger meaning and transcend boundaries of merely sentimental value. They attain new dimensions in terms of. Social and financial position, health, comforts and awareness. An element of unconditional love, liking and desire germinate in terms of sharing thoughts, dreams and aspirations.
Friendship of teenage and youth tends to linger on in memories for long. They ingrain in them platonic and nostalgic elements too. They are the most innocent and open relationships that are cherished by individuals for their carefree unconditional associations that are revived cyclically over later periods in life.
Professional, Educational, Social and Family connections permeate yet another shade of friendship. These friendships though conditioned and partitioned in layers of likes, tastes, attitudes and affiliations, develop bonds between people that could be encompassed in circles of unrestricted time zones. They may begin at a juncture and fade out once the purpose for which such friendships are struck, complete their period of necessity. However some unique stroke of similarity and liking help people select few individuals who keep the bond active for long.
Turn around in Friendships
How long would friendships last? Would they last a life time?
If in the question above, ‘would’ is replaced by ‘should’ the equations change.
So long as friendships are unconditional they tend to remain healthy and free of valuation. But in a world where the pace of life and materialism seeps into the fabric of social and cultural ethos, friendships are increasingly becoming conditional with questions about viability, sustenance and suitability is questions again and again by individuals.
Change in social and economic status, attainment of higher professional qualifications; Alteration in health levels of self or family, change in preferences owing to behavioral and occupational patterns, Smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse also dramatically alter the friendship equations among individuals.
Another dimension of friendship is emerging with advent of social media today. On one hand new friendships are stuck and some turn deeper than the earlier ones. The main reason for it is the possibility of exploring inner desires, perceptions and fantasies that remain dormant in real life. Virtual release of emotions and expressions in a controlled manner directed at individuals who like, empathize and share common dreams and aspirations also form new bonds and friendships on the other new found friendships vaporize and vanish into thin air into obscure spaces of nothingness owning to various reasons.
Are friendships deeper than relationships?
A frequent question that arises in our minds is the percentage of weight to be attributed to relationships and friendships. This could be in terms of time, money, efforts or sacrifices. The last component mentioned here i.e ‘Sacrifice’, in reality is an invisible thread that strengthens bond between people.
The reason for mismatch in behavior and actions generally arise out of incompatibilities. Incompatibilities arise out unreasonable yardsticks, lack of capability or absence of sacrifice. Friendships score a point above relationships as there is a lack of challenge and responsibility that gets attached to relationships. The moment a friendship acquires the confidence of taking up responsibility it would transform into a relationship.
The reason children, teenagers and youth turn to friendships putting at stake their relationships is easily a reflection of a light hearted wish to remain outside the realms of responsibility and accountability. However it does not mean that friendships are outside the borders of these elements. Friendships too like relationships have demarcated boundaries that are generally flexible. The border posts are decided by mutual consent that remain within comfort levels. The moment any one of the parties turn rigid, friendships snap.
The same cannot be true for relationships. Half of the relationships are decided by birth and genetic connections the other half are extensions of friendships where individuals decide to bond keeping in view their likes and desires. The problem is once a person extends his journey of a friendship and treads into the border of relationship the rules of the game change. What ensues would be solely dependent upon actions, gestures and sacrifices of individuals.
This could be the very reason why some individuals can handle friendships and relationships with relative ease, while others stutter with both. I believe the wisdom of preferences and choices are inherent to individuals. It could be the choice of colors, food, music, lifestyles, people, fragrances, locations, profession, hobbies etc. the root to knowing one’s heart is the primary step to good friendships.
Strength of friendship
The deep craving of individuals to bond between self and soul gets reflected in friendships. The strength of friendship is the invisible bond of affection and love that on the surface remain calm as a serene sea of tranquil peacefulness. As human race progresses in terms of technology, economics and science, human genes struggle to latch on to emotions and chemistry of desires to surface in friendships. Perhaps friendships would last longer in an open regime of human sensibility where little joys and bonds bring relief from a continuous barrage of challenges and deadlines that complex water tight relationships throw up at individuals. This would be the very strength of friendship.
If relationships are equated with rainy days, sometimes they can be dull, mournful, sorrow filled and painful experiences, while at other times they may be times for poetry, desires, passions and Joys. Just as Sundays are welcome after a hectic week filled with appointments and schedules, friendships are fresh lease of life that livens up our life. This does not mean all friendships remain friendships forever. Some snap while others bloom into unforgettable relationships.
If you are someone who is sensible, responsible, reasonable and willing to take up challenges strike a friendship and let it grow into an everlasting relationship!
Happy Friendship Day

Jpkallikkal/2014©

Home Coming


Do you wait for someone in your life to come and change the way you look at yourself? Do you find yourself changed after their visit? Do you have guests?

People today are losing the sense of time. Chronometers may display digitized images of numbers or signs and minds may be seized of an urgency reflecting lack of it though! There is no time! To be departing before arrival may sound cryptic but it is exactly what is happening to people around. There is a general lack of interest in a place, person or event which is supposed to be focus point and the person arriving or taking it up is more engrossed with what he is supposed to be doing next after the task in hand gets over.

Three decades ago when a close friend who had settled in Paris remarked, ‘Relatives or Friends are supposed to take appointments to visit each other’ there, I did not believe him. Rather, I was flabbergasted. Today, I realize the same is happening to everyone around me.

Athithi Devo Bhava (Guests are equivalent gods and have to be treated so) has been our tradition but today I find that the respect, love and sensitivity of handling guests are changing with times. Except hotels and commercial establishments, rest of the segments of social activities ‘guests’ are turning out to be parasites or unwelcome visitors if they tread in uninformed.

I believe it is our heart that decides finally.

There are people who bring in a whiff of fresh breeze to our lives. People who are so loving and sincere that the very thought of their being around makes us happy. What can possibly happen if they arrive?

When they arrive we forget the sense of time. We choose to leave our egos behind. They become a reflection of our likes, our desires, our yearnings. They transform into elements of our attention, part of our own selves. They become one with us. They no longer remain guests or visitors.

They are people for whom we are willing to wait a lifetime. We love their company. We cherish the moments of sharing. We find the sparkling joy in their presence. They care and heal our sorrows. We lost the sense of time once again.

Their arrival signifies we cherish the magic of creation. The desire of our hearts, wishing them to stay on, turn into a prayer yet they have to leave.

They are not guests. They are part of our lives; our souls; Our Conscience
Our homecoming.


jpkallikkal©2014/homecoming



Saturday, April 22, 2017

Life and Death: Universal Connect

Life and Death

©jpkallikkal

I have often thought and pondered over a simple connection we make with people, places and events that leave us connected forever. Some believe it is destiny while others term it ‘Karma’ or actions that shape our future.  Is it the present or the past that determines our life or death?



The life movie


De Javu  We often come across instances that seem to us to have happened before. It could be people who you seem to have met before, it could be places that you are visiting for the first time in this life but seem to be so familiar or events that seem to have happened before. In those times, you are compelled to stretch your imagination back into time, scratching our heads to figure out when it could have happened?

The theory of Entropy suggests that the forces of the Universe tend to get more disordered with passage of time. It also means that time moves forward. According to Steven Carlip of the University of California at Davis, Universe was exceptionally ordered at the beginning. However new theories suggest that time need not flow in one direction. It is now being suggested that after the Big Bang, a parallel universe like that of ours was created flowing in the opposite direction to one of ours. In the Physical Review Letters according to Julian Barbour, Tim Koslowski and Flavio Mercanti, it is now being established that we see only see half of the universe.
The theory of life and death is a reality before us. Keeping in mind the fact that perhaps in all the religions and cultures across the world it is believed that upon birth, a being enters this universe and on death it crosses over to the other side. Does this crossing over means travel to the other universe? A universe that is a mirror reflection of ours and has a time zone that runs in the opposite direction?
I am not a Physicist but perhaps all theories of Physics would hold true with time moving forwards or backwards. No one engaged in the study of space science would say that universe is spherical. However keeping the basic science in mind, we can with certainty say that Earth and all the planets and stars we keep on discovering turn out to be spheres. This lets me imagine and cut the universe into two parts of a big sphere. One part is the universe where we exist and moves forward. A zone where the our clocks move forward. Imagine another sphere where the time moves backward. The point where our Earthly clocks stops (with the logic that the body dies at the point) imagine another clock starting off in the opposite direction, we tread into the next time zone or the other Universe. Thus keeping in mind the theory of entropy in mind, we can say that from that point we once begin a journey of life backwards in the other world. A world or universe that we have not travelled.
Keeping in view the current theories the world would be disorganized on the other side of the universe but that zone has the time moving backwards. On Earth the moment a baby is born, our system measures his growth in terms of time spent on Earth. Thus from few minutes the child grows into old. Biology proves that while cells of our body multiply it also dies each moment. Thus we say that our body is dying each moment. As we grow older and die, the physical cells decay and die. However we have not developed a system so far that measures the age of our souls.
The Life Movie
Extending the theory imagine life of person through a running video. The moment he is born to the moment he dies. If we replay the video backwards we would see a different picture of the whole sequence, a sequence where the physical clock moves backwards. Imagine a person who knows you since childhood, if he/she is shown the video of the person running backwards, the trail of events would trigger a story line that seems familiar. If the same video (running backwards) is shown to a stranger, his mind would show him a story in a different light. Though the primary character in the video is same, perception of the story line would be different in both cases. This example can be stretched to an imagination where you see a video of a movie running backwards, can you make out a story line after watching the full movie? Well, this example does not end here. The movie, I mention here is just half part of the universe, our side what about the other side? Theoretically there is perhaps a parallel universe where all the people, events and happening exist but the entire process is running in a reversed order. Conceptualizing from that perspective, we on Earth are yet to be born and moving towards a state of birth. What we consider birth, is in real terms a shift backwards in a different dimension. The moot point here is, are spirits, souls and the mystical, mediums that teleport us back and forth in time, traversing between these two universes?
Keeping this in mind if we proceed on a trail of imagination, we can infer that our bodies and souls are distinct identities that are ordained to perform specific functions. While our physical bodies have evolved over centuries to make us reach its optimum level, our soul act as our conscience keepers and handle higher functions of thought, emotions and cognitive evaluation. In many religions and cultures it is believed that while a human body is destructible, human souls are ageless. If we once again draw out an imaginary scale and place it at the focal point of a sphere it would have the negative and positive axis:
See Image
In the above diagram section A represents our universe and section B represents the other universe where in A, time moves forward and in B time travels in the opposite direction. The x axis in the diagram is divided up in two distinct parts in one section a human being takes birth and grows old, on the same axis on the reverse side he starts the journey as old and takes birth. The whole process is oscillatory where our soul has the capacity to travel back and forth, while on section A (Earth) the process is conscious and and in the section B (it is unconscious). The two universes are shaded in a worm hole of sorts that is penetrable and accessed by the evolved ones.
The human Genome project
We find that on Earth many humans are considered evolved. While different geographical, cultural and spiritual traditions exist at various places, the color of skin, hair, languages and ethnic diversities differentiate the physical self of human beings. Strikingly though the emotional and soul connections are similar across Earth. A human genographic project was undertaken by National Geographic Society and IBM which was a multi year anthropology to map the historical migration patterns through collection and analysis of DNA samples from thousands of people across the world. The markers to identify unique connection across continents and countries ensued. The project that started in 2005 ended towards 2012 when a new genotyping array was announced and dedicated to Genetic Anthropology called the Genochip that could test SNPs from atutosomal DNA, X chromosome DNA, Y-chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The point of mentioning the above initiative here is the results of the entire project somehow provided indicators that various ethnic and regional markers were indicative of a common connect between the human race over centuries.
Keeping view the big bang theory once again and the story of evolution, I once again take you back to the diagram indicating the x and y axis. The sphere once spliced up when imagined as two variant time segments where on the left side of x axis time moved forward and on the right side of x axis time moves backward would some day meet one point that could perhaps be at an individual level completion of the travel of his life. In terms of galaxies the time span of each individual may be different from each other but if in the event of the human race getting wiped off from the face of earth there would be other forms that would carry forward their individual journeys that may or may not be mapped by human intelligence as of now.
Cosmos and paranormal connect
Every human being and living organism on Earth is blessed with unique sense, intelligence and emotional mechanisms to understand and comprehend life. However, some individuals understand and feel a higher connection in their daily lives. Though some degree of divine element is existent in each object and life form the degree and level of the same is generally understood and interpreted by us a aura. Today mechanisms are available through which aura of individuals and geopathic stress of a geographic region can be identified. What can we infer from this? The point to be noted is that there are individuals on Earth today who can feel a divine connect with the cosmos and communicate with it to feel and understand a higher element missing from the bodies and minds of other individuals. Going back to the illustration, does this mean that such individuals touch their mirror reflections of self and others to reach back the present time zone to be able to feel and understand finer aspects of human existence?
It is said we are a reflection of ourselves. This means we live in a parallel world in the other universe and are in real terms connected with it all times. The day our journeys reach point ‘0’ of the illustration our lives on Earth end and reach the point ‘0’ Zero on the time line of the illustration.
Paranormal connects happens at extreme or higher levels of human existence when an individual passes on to other mediums and spheres of the galaxy. This can happen in a real or transient state. It has been proved that black holes and worm holes dot our galaxy, there could be points in space where the worm holes exactly take us to our reflective galaxy where we are travelling in the reverse time line? On this assumption our galaxy is reflecting the exact events in a reverse order in the other galaxy. Individuals with the cosmic connect who are able to the point ‘Zero’ on Earth through their mystic musings cutting across religious, cultural or physical barriers perhaps have a mapped route through the black holes or worm holes to reach the other side and search for answers to unanswered questions on this galaxy meaning Earth.
Such individuals perhaps also have the capability to touch and change lives of other individuals on Earth through their unique ability. Imagine an individual who can such a travel being able to see a ‘Video’ I mentioned about from the other Universe reaching the point zero! He in theory can see a snap shot of the whole movie of life of an individual or universe. For example on Earth if snapshots of a movie of a child at birth to his old age say 80 yrs and death at that age is documented and seen again, the movie would run through 80 years of Earth time but imagine a system where in the other universe the movie is running in the reverse direction but for someone from Earth it would be like seeing the future at point ‘Zero’, he also perhaps has markers and route maps of black holes or worm holes through with his mind waves travel in inertia and get back the required information in an extremely short time span. This exactly could be termed as the divine connect.
Universal Connect
I have often thought and pondered over the simple connection we make with people, places and events. Some believe it is destiny while others term it ‘Karma’ or actions that shape our future. I feel in broader terms imagining the point of dual galaxies, we perhaps do those actions that we are destined to do. This encapsulates both action and destiny. In recent times networking especially through internet and related mediums are enabling us to connect with larger group of individuals across diverse spectrums, time zones and continents on Earth. Have you ever wondered how we get attracted to certain individuals and connect with them or how we repel certain others? Facebook is one of best real time examples that can simplify the question. We come across hundreds of faces and send friend requests or receive many depending upon the facebook picture that is posted. An attractive face or body is sure of attracting wide attention and interest but the interest is not sustainable. Connects depends upon interests, hobbies, activities etc.
Part II (to follow)

©jpkallikkal

Festival of letters

 #sahityaakademi Festival of Letters Festival is a celebration that is inclusive and brings about a sense of joy in participation, sharing...