UCC: Random Thoughts

It has been two years. Time has moved fast, and I still remain where I was by the end of July 2013. I was going through the final stages of my project on vampire as a cultural construct at that time, and after two years, the vampires remain, or rather the ghosts of the vampires, and the new ones have also joined my imaginations. After two years, nothing really has happened with my life except for the fact that the distance has increased considerably; distance not just to one thing, but to many.

I am away from my college, the students and teachers, further than ever. We have moved from Aluva to the present location, which means myself and the college no longer shares the same town. Even after leaving Union Christian College, I used to wander around the place, having tea at the nearby restaurants and bakeries. I was close enough, and I had a few visits after I left officially. There were a few friends visited and the teachers were also there. The distance from my home to college remained three kilometres at that time.

Now, it has all changed though. With the distance, the world itself has broken away into two, one from the past and the other of the present which is a void. My only hope remains that my former classmates will call me for their weddings. I do suspect that some of the girls might be already married and I never knew. I hope that the food at those functions was not that good; otherwise I will be very disappointed. Well, I guess that I was pretty much expendable and the time had arrived to use that particular characteristic – I feel that now.

Everyone has evolved into something else, and there are no assignments, seminars or projects to talk about or to be of help. So, there is more chance of my mobile number being scrapped, and someone can always say that it was the mobile which was lost or changed. They are more practical and I am a wanderer in the thoughts which won’t have any significance for a normal person these days. May be I can use that “former intellectual” tag and use it on my name plate, hanging it on the gate of my house as a memory.

UC College has surely made me a better person, and I have talked about it on my earlier post. But the depressing thing was that it was too short a period of time for me. There were also enough strikes to make it even shorter. I feel it even more after watching the college in the movie Premam. But I would still not doubt the fact that it was the right time for me to study there. I did feel that the forces present there at that time were custom made for me, including the students and the faculty.

When you feel that a place has made you a better person, and now you have no connection with the same, it should feel terrible, or at least for me, it does. I know that as we consider the expected model of the college days, mine wouldn’t count as interesting. It is not worthy of being an entertaining collection of two years for humanity. I haven’t had a huge friend circle, and without those quiz programs, I would have been mostly unknown in my department too. But I was glad with what I had, and the books.

I enjoyed watching the rain which made the college which is close to nature even more beautiful, joining my favourite lecturers for a cup of tea or having onion vada with one of those faces which I knew. I loved to go to the library and collect those vampire-related works, and I loved where I parked my car. I won’t say that it was about having fun, and for the same reason, it was closer to my heart. I have enjoyed loneliness with a book under the tree and keeping on ordering for more tea at the canteen while working on my vampire thesis. And now there is no connection. My previous post, The College Days at UCC which was a contest winner, had a more optimistic side, but it has been some time!

***The photos were taken by me at UC College; there are no surprises there.

TeNy

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Of Knights and Wizards

[The story so far: The wizards join in the grand tower to make sure that the sons and daughters choose nothing other than the Dwarven engineering or the Elven healing. The Wizard of Wind takes another step towards the same as he receives the book “Guide to Destroying the Hopes of Others” and advice from the Dwarven Eldar which he takes to The Wizard of Life. For previous episodes, check https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/the-wizards-choice/ and https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/choice-of-eternal-dislike/ *The images used in this blog post are screenshots from my time spent in the games, Oblivion and Overlord.]

“Rise, Knight of the Void” said the Wizard of Life as he raised the sword and presented the Wizard of Wind with knighthood. “You are such a gentleman” he said.

The Wizard of Wind had not only returned with the book and advice. He had also captured the Orb of Negativity. It was not really a capture to be exact. He had threatened a little wizard who had created one as part of his assignment for the School of Wizardry, and forced the kid to give it up. He also used his old age to his advantage, as he always did. The book and orb were going to work so fine for them. They could just unleash the negativity with the orb as it could collect as much as possible through a connection to the spirit world.

About the newly acquired title, it was something that had evaded the Wizard of Wind for a very long time. He never practiced what he said, but can we really blame him, as he had almost no idea about all those things he talked about? But he wanted to show everyone that he was so awesome and knew everything. For the same, he had chosen to fill all the voids with meaninglessness, and this doing was actually a positive thing for the wizards.

The Wizard of Wind wanted to keep the hammer instead of the sword to hit random people.

The Wizard of Wind nicely managed what seemed to be an eternal void, as he made it certain that he had that quality. He used to fill all the voids in his life and make it seem awesome, but at the same time make the lives of others seem bad. If he said something, it was knowledge and if someone else said the same, it was ignorance. If his son said a lie, it was smartness, but if someone else said that, it was blasphemy. If his son loved someone, it was because he was too good, but otherwise, it was a dirty thing to do, and the culprit should be quickly married to some random person.

“I am deeply honoured by this title. I would like to thank my uncle’s wife’s cousin brother’s neighbour’s only son who has been an encouragement for me as he was always there listening to my wonderful ideas” said the Wizard of Wind.

“Yes, you are supposed to be honoured, as I am the one giving it. But isn’t that guy dead?” asked the Wizard of Life.

“Yes, that should be why he listens without saying even one word to me. Now, you can advice me whats next. What would that be?” asked the Wizard of Wind.

“You should visit the place. Then you can start advising him. Come when he is not spending time with the hobbits. Just visit when he is studying at home. Destroy his momentum. You are very good at that” advised the Orb of Negativity which had made a connection to the world of evil spirits.

“But I am busy tomorrow. I have to tell twenty five people about the greatness of me and my family along with degrading a few others. Otherwise I will be very unhappy. After all, the wind is blowing in the right direction these days, and this Wizard of the Wind doesn’t have a job”.

“You are the Wizard of Wind. Just use your wind power to spread the tales. Also add the copyright details with special thanks to the spirits from the Ninth Circle of Hell” said the voice from the orb.

The Wizard of Wind had absolutely no idea what kind of terrible evil he was turning into.

“Oh God. I am so much more interested in money these days. I can’t even bear to see these people who don’t earn enough money. I need to destroy his hopes as soon as possible because his happiness will give me blood pressure. Why would he be happy? I mean, I have so much money and I am unhappy, always hoping to make more money” said the Wizard of Wind to himself.

“I don’t know about that, but all non-Engineers and non-Healers shall suffer. By the way, when you come back, do buy some crocodiles for our magic pond. It looks like Mountain Dew without Salman Khan” said the Wizard of Life.

The Wizard of Wind went home with happiness like never before. He had made things possible, those which he thought was not anywhere near happening. He felt that he had grown wings, and those dark wings of maleficence were larger than he thought they were. It had the strength of a Minotaur and the regenerating power of a Hydra. It was also as venomous as the tail of a Manticore. Tough in the skin like the Nemean lion and most of the random Rhinoceros, the two wizards considered themselves so cool that they ended up frozen in the brain by their own magic wands.

[The saga continues…]

TeNy

Knowledge: Where it Stands

How often do we hear the phrase “knowledge is power”? It has been known to us for such a long time that it comes to mind for no reason, again and again. It was with us during our childhood and stays now too. Based on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the Malayalam TV show Ningalkum Aakaam Kodeeshwaran also makes multiple references to the importance of knowing and learning through its anchor Suresh Gopi, who has been among my favourite actors.

The show has been a good knowledge booster, and becoming what is to Malayalam like Kaun Banega Crorepati was to Hindi speakers, this show has been something worth the watch due to the knowledge content as well as the way in which Suresh Gopi was presenting the whole thing. It was all about the value of gaining knowledge, and how important it was to read and learn things, something which was reiterated. It was a great relief at a time when depressing serials and stupid reality shows were ruling the channels.

But as much as the show has money associated with it, people would surely choose money instead of knowledge on any day. It has been the thing guiding people, and in the outside world, people would choose money if it was placed with knowledge on a table. Yes, there is the need for money, but this is a greedy world – just money might not be enough in this case. There is the need for more and more.

The more saddening thing is when teachers say so. Is this what they are taught with BEd? If it is so, what is the value of education. There have been people who wanted to live forever. But if someone wants to learn at least for some more years, it becomes a hideous crime. Yes, after finishing the necessary course, go and do some job because there is the need for so much money – it should keep coming in bigger quantities.

More tha anyone else, the teachers should know the value of knowledge, and if those from the school level can’t realize it, there is no point in education. Yes, we have a flawed system. Just getting the BEd degree doesn’t make one a good teacher. Just learning things by-heart and vomitting them at the UGC NET exams can’t make a good professor. We need better things – we need good men and women, and not those who memorize or can score marks.

A flawed system of selection is what has lead to the new generation having even less hope. Already the relatives try to stop students from learning more and force them to earn money against their wishes. Then there are the teachers who think the same. When there are relatives who are teachers, it is even more horror. Why would they stop someone who wants to learn more, when lots of people hates that process? Shouldn’t those who want to learn be allowed to do so?

We have got lots of quotes about learning and power of knowledge and some people keep saying them. But does anybody care about that? Why are they often used, but why not when a real life situation comes? Why is the same applicable to only some people and not the others? Society makes us do things, but does it really know that we can do better even without crossing the limits? Is there the right to learn and acquire knowledge? Am I supposed to be money making machine or the knowledge seeker? Truth can only get further bitter.

*The television show says that one question can change one’s life, but I am left with all questions and no real change 😀 **All images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the television show, Ningalkum Aakaam Kodeeshwaran (https://www.facebook.com/Kodeeshwaran). For further reference, the Facebook page of the 1997 National Award winner, Suresh Gopi – https://www.facebook.com/ActorSureshGopi.

TeNy