Legend of Good People

The world is built on legends. We come across many of such kind. We hear something about King Arthur, Achilles, Lady Godiva, Robin Hood, Odysseus and many others throughout our lives. But there are times when I do wonder about whom the real legends should be created. It is not about people who does great things, but about people who convert little things into something that inspires us; to something that makes us feel good in this world which is surely not getting any better.

The goodness in this world needs to be talked about because it is becoming more of a myth about which stories will be made in future, and people of that age will only reply that such good deeds are not possible – for them, it will be all about profit, reputation and happiness will be a reflection of how much one has earned and what all luxuries someone can manage to possess. This is why we need these stories of goodness, and get the much needed inspiration as we go through this world of chaos.

Lets not travel to El Dorado or Atlantis, and lets not search for the Fountain of Youth, Elixir of Life or the Holy Grail, as we are looking for our people right here, between us, making difference like no other. I would like to talk about the same with Father Joy Ettuveettil, who runs Snehakoodu, the charitable trust for boys at the town of Aluva. He has been one of the most dedicated priests who have been involved in social work for a long time, and this particular home for the homeless has been a wonderful initiative.

We were hoping to make the season of Halloween special with a special initiative which included collecting money and old clothes, and this was the first place which came to our mind. Yes, the first meeting was a few years ago, but even last year, the children had sent us a Christmas greetings card as usual. I was going through those usual negative things which keep coming to the mind, and then this one returned to my mind, and it is part of those few moments of light which brightens the soul.

A sample of our notices during the season of Halloween.

This brings one back to that eternal question – is it about building those megastructures, all those worship places for God when what matters is what you have done for your fellow human being without discriminating on the basis of the social status, religion, community and caste? As you take the Parable of the Good Samaritan from the Holy Bible, you will find that even when Samaritans and Jews generally despised each other, it is the Samaritan who helps the injured man when people from the same community don’t care; humanity in the end is just one big family.

This is why every religion needs good leaders who don’t discriminate, and make sure that the needs of the common man is given the highest priority. We need leaders who try to do what they can to make sure that all our fellow human beings are provided the basic needs. The big festivals and more additions to the worship places can wait. We need good men and women who care for people just like they care for God and the places which are meant for him. We need religious heads who are people of God and men, not businessmen, and not those who make hate speech against others.

This is the same reason why we need initiatives like Snehakoodu, and Father Joy has done an amazing job in keeping the charity work going for the destitute and the homeless, as well as the other children in trouble. He has built this charitable organization from nothing, and it is a place which will require the donations. If you are planning to help, please go forward with that, as Snehakoodu is one of those charitable trusts where I visited so many times, and I have myself found it to be a very noble venture. Yes, goodness has its presence, we all have the chance to be part of it.

Btw, have you checked this link which serves as the mouthpiece of the youth as you take your time for the positive side and #SpreadTheVibe with stories of inspiration?: http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/

TeNy

Photos from the Past

On this day which has me looking at the memories again, I will bring a few photos which reminds of a few things which I really miss these days. Some of them are clearly not going to come back, and the rest also might not return, and so I will post these pictures and keep thinking about it. We are planning to include a Vampire Butterfly for creating a Butterfly Effect and do what happened in the movie with the same name, but until then, we will keep this on the list of nostalgia.

1. The Random Search: There was always this random search as part of the continuous journeys. But it has completely disappeared right now. On the following image, you can see where we reached during one of our journeys with navigation using a printed map. It was the time when I had no internet connection on my mobile phone and there was also no Google Maps. Well, there was such a time, and it is good to remember.

2. The Legend of Kochi Tuskers Kerala: I will always miss Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the IPL. The games at Cochin were so much fun. I watched three matches of the IPL with seven different people. Out of the three, they only won one and that was against Kolkata Knight Riders. But it was good at that time. Nowadays, thinking about IPL itself gives a shock. Well, the past and the present are not even close in this case.

3. The Kochi Biennale Memories: There was that time when I visited Biennale four times during one season, and then there was the return of the Kochi Biennale two years which had me not visiting at all. I felt strange about it, but still couldn’t visit the program at all. Well, this is not the end, but for some reason, I doubt if I would visit it again. May be I am just doubting for no reason – may be there is a chance.

4. The Missing Ceylon Tea: During my visit to Sri Lanka, I bought a lot of packets of Ceylon Tea and distributed them among my friends. Well, what weighed more than the most of the other things during my return were those packets of tea. It is that tea world that I miss a lot! Yes, I have been to other places with a lot of tea after that, but nothing matched the tea at Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka.

5. The Cricket of the Past: I will define my lost love for cricket with just one picture. This was there at the Oberon Mall during the last Cricket World Cup, and despite not caring about cricket much these days, I wanted to think about some cricket. Yes, it was part of nostalgia, and this past will no longer come back. Considering the state of cricket these days, may be it is good to forget them all completely.

6. The Great Halloween Night: We have always loved those Halloween nights, because it was the time to get those costumes related to horror, get some collection and donate them to the poor. Yes, it was how our youth club used to work – not much during the other festivals or days of significance, but full power for the Halloween. Those were the funnier days, and we are glad that the horror was not contaminated 😛

***All photos used in this blog post were taken by me only.

TeNy

Story of a Purge

There is something about the new generation people. They are angry, not just plain angry, but so angry that they need to go serial killer on their own people, even their friends and relatives. In that case, what is the chance of the common man whom they witness on the streets? Beware, people; the angry young men can take you on, and be careful when dealing with these people. You don’t know what they are capable of with the anger and frustration which have been going through them.

Some time ago, I had read something about a group of young men abusing and beating up an older man just because they found his vehicle ahead of their “super” automobile. This can’t be considered much different from what the cricket fans have been doing to Maria Sharapova, and yet this is also a case of disrespect to the elders which is the result of “spare the rod and spoil the child”, and the parents also suffer from a child who is not rightly disciplined, and it is such a shame.

This is where the movie The Purge comes to the picture. The angry young men need to purge their emotions and earlier they had chosen Sharapova for the same. A higher option is surely the life of crime and this movie talks about the need for a bigger purge, which means that people won’t have to abuse someone at frequent intervals, like Keralites have been doing with Renjini Haridas, Sreesanth, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Aashiq Abu. It is a shame that it has become so difficult to control negative emotions, and the need for such a purge is rather disgusting.

The purgers demanding their right to purge or abuse & kill (screenshot from the movie)

Coming back to the movie, it has a period of twelve hours every year set as the time for the purge in which every crime goes. All things become legal, and some people will have the resources to defend while the others will just have to become the victims. The number of purgers will be a lot more than expected, and even your best friends or relatives can kill you. It is a terrible situation, and all this hatred and abuse which is going on in the Facebook pages is actually a kind of purge, a harbinger of something worse.

The Purge has lots of elements which should terrorize people, with the absence of any feeling of remorse or regret among the purgers, the blood and gore, as well as the declaration that these criminals are good, educated youth. That should bring a question about the point of education as we have seen what kind of words a group of literate people use on Facebook, but that would be another story. Here, the purge is about the absence of a heart and a soul.

The Purge has a terrible thing at its centre. The idea of such a purge itself is horrifying, but in the end, this movie is a violent movie with a message against all kinds of violence and has a stance for equality and kindness among all. We all have the tendency towards violence and it can’t be ignored. But the problem is that people only care about violence happening towards their own, or those who are kind of like their own. Otherwise, these people seems to find it okay, and it is impossible for them to realize that it happens both ways.

Yes, the purgers are the educated youth (screenshot from the movie)

The tendency for violence will only increase among the upcoming generation as they are introduced to the world of blood and gore at such an early age. They are not disciplined and live the way they want to. Therefore, it is natural to get abused just because some young person rams the car into yours and start abusing you even as it is clearly their fault. You can’t argue with them, as they don’t listen to the voice of reason, and the new tendency is to completely avoid the word of God.

TeNy.