Friday, June 29, 2007
The Runaway
In a bid to pass my time during those boring hours of solitude, I started reading English novels very recently. Thanks to one of my close friends in Pune, for introducing me into this new world of English novels. I stared off with “The Last Juror” by John Grisham. It was pretty decent but not brilliant. The next one I read was “The Partner” by John Grisham.
This blog is about “The Partner”. Don’t worry people, I am neither writing the review of the book nor am I any good at it. I was more absorbed by the plot of the novel rather than anything else. It is about a partner in a law firm who fakes his own death and escapes with loads of cash. The chase begins and after a while the culprit gets caught. How the culprit justifies his side of the story and comes through against the trial by court make up the rest of the novel.
Our hero gets an idea of running away from everything and starting a new life all over due to his personal and professional pressures. He builds a plan and things fall beautifully in place for his getaway. The reasons given by the hero are an adulterated wife, being father to somebody else’s illegal child and the backstabbing by his partners.
Every one of us have gone through times when it feels as if you just want to leave everything as it is and run away. Where? When? How? We don’t bother. Just run away from this piece of shit and get lost. But is there such an option really on? What are the pros and cons? Nobody knows. Because nobody has really ever tried it.
Siddhartha would have gone through the same ordeal on the night he decided to flee. What would have been his feelings when he decided to leave his kingdom, throne, beautiful wife and lovely child? The force of the closed door pulling against the treaded (probably dreaded as well) path. How strong could have been the force? Certainly strong enough to throw Siddhartha into the world of Buddha.
The makings of a classic – Irresistible force against the Immovable object – are on. The force has the advantages of a fresh lease of life, no past burdens both financially and personally, doing whatever the hell you want without being accountable to the society and perennial freedom. The disadvantages being a need for financial backup to be procured either in the right way or the wrong way, guilty conscience and the fear of getting caught which can be tougher to overcome than the actual event.
The object has the advantages of familiarity, security to whatever extent and the bond. The bond especially is a very strong one. We develop a bond towards everything ranging from the dog next door to the beggar down the road to the office. The familiarity gives us a strange happiness and a sense of relief that nothing has changed. It is the same familiarity that becomes the disadvantage when there is an overdose.
Is the force strong enough to move the object? My answer is a strict NO. Indian culture provides a very strong bond between an individual and his family. A bond that is impossible to break away from. Whenever you sort of look out for a subway or a sub-route it is that bond which pulls you back. The more we think of leaving, the more we convince ourselves that staying is the better (if not best) option. Right choice I would say.
Throw in your 2 cents on this matter.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
My name
For people who didn’t know my name yet, it is A.C. Karthick. It denotes the younger son of Lord Shiva. In my part of India, the name is a very usual one and also heavily redundant. At times, you could count 4 to 5 Karthick’s in a single classroom. Enough of the self-admiration let's get down to work.
"Your name is the sweetest thing you can hear in the world" (forgot who said it) .For starters, there is absolutely no problem with the pronunciation of my name. North Indians who have the history of butchering South Indian names tend to get my name right the very first time. But the real trouble lay in other areas.
It was because of the two letters in my initial. My full name would read Ariyapampalayam Chellamuthu Karthick, with my father’s home town followed by father’s name and then by my own name. In class rooms filled with students who had single initials I was the only one with a double. Every time a new teacher took attendance she would pause before my name and would ask the explanation of the initials without fail. And I would say Ariyapampalayam as eloquently and quietly as I can in an effort to go unnoticed. And the teacher would utter a giggle to which the whole class would reply in kind by joining with her. It was almost as if irrespective of what explanation I gave for the initial they would laugh.
Some friends who tend to make people around them laugh with one-liners loved me. Not because I was such a charming kid with gentle character. It was because they could say anything ranging between Air Cooler Karthick to Asst. Commissioner Karthick and get the crowd into splits. I could do nothing but laugh with them though it would be more of a smirk. I almost wanted to ask what business is that of yours or why does that concern you. But would keep quiet assuming it would be the last time I heard such one-liners.
I thought the ghosts surrounding my name would finally rest after I joined the company. But on the very first day (induction, I believe) it came back to haunt me again as if an LKG classmate calling in the wee hours saying not to forget him. There was a process for email id generation and that required the first and last names of the employees. I had filled the form with Karthick and AC. This was unacceptable for the person generating the email id and she asked me to utter my full name. I began again in that eloquent and quiet tone. She was dumbfounded. She then explained for about 5 minutes that the email generation process required two names (US style I presume) and it is up to me to provide the clear first and last name for the process. I decided then that my father’s name would more than suffice the requirement and told her the same. She was also fine and the email id got generated with my name followed by my father’s name. Phew, they keep coming at you dont they.
Frankly the names with hometown as first initial have gone completely out of favor. It was an age-old tradition especially in South India to have hometown names first as it would help immensely in identifying the background of the person. Now the modern trend has made me (or at least my name) look like a throw back to the old era. But I do not have any regrets over my name as what other chance would a village like Ariyapampalayam have to be known somewhere this far and across. It is my name and I have lived with it for years (This line is a blatant lift from Stephen Leacock’s “With the Photographer”, due credits given). To hell with all the queer giggles and one-liners.
Tidbit:
If people had trouble with my name, then try these for a change.
Chaminda Vaas - Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas
VVS Laxman - Vangivarapu Venkata Sai Laxman
"Your name is the sweetest thing you can hear in the world" (forgot who said it) .For starters, there is absolutely no problem with the pronunciation of my name. North Indians who have the history of butchering South Indian names tend to get my name right the very first time. But the real trouble lay in other areas.
It was because of the two letters in my initial. My full name would read Ariyapampalayam Chellamuthu Karthick, with my father’s home town followed by father’s name and then by my own name. In class rooms filled with students who had single initials I was the only one with a double. Every time a new teacher took attendance she would pause before my name and would ask the explanation of the initials without fail. And I would say Ariyapampalayam as eloquently and quietly as I can in an effort to go unnoticed. And the teacher would utter a giggle to which the whole class would reply in kind by joining with her. It was almost as if irrespective of what explanation I gave for the initial they would laugh.
Some friends who tend to make people around them laugh with one-liners loved me. Not because I was such a charming kid with gentle character. It was because they could say anything ranging between Air Cooler Karthick to Asst. Commissioner Karthick and get the crowd into splits. I could do nothing but laugh with them though it would be more of a smirk. I almost wanted to ask what business is that of yours or why does that concern you. But would keep quiet assuming it would be the last time I heard such one-liners.
I thought the ghosts surrounding my name would finally rest after I joined the company. But on the very first day (induction, I believe) it came back to haunt me again as if an LKG classmate calling in the wee hours saying not to forget him. There was a process for email id generation and that required the first and last names of the employees. I had filled the form with Karthick and AC. This was unacceptable for the person generating the email id and she asked me to utter my full name. I began again in that eloquent and quiet tone. She was dumbfounded. She then explained for about 5 minutes that the email generation process required two names (US style I presume) and it is up to me to provide the clear first and last name for the process. I decided then that my father’s name would more than suffice the requirement and told her the same. She was also fine and the email id got generated with my name followed by my father’s name. Phew, they keep coming at you dont they.
Frankly the names with hometown as first initial have gone completely out of favor. It was an age-old tradition especially in South India to have hometown names first as it would help immensely in identifying the background of the person. Now the modern trend has made me (or at least my name) look like a throw back to the old era. But I do not have any regrets over my name as what other chance would a village like Ariyapampalayam have to be known somewhere this far and across. It is my name and I have lived with it for years (This line is a blatant lift from Stephen Leacock’s “With the Photographer”, due credits given). To hell with all the queer giggles and one-liners.
Tidbit:
If people had trouble with my name, then try these for a change.
Chaminda Vaas - Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas
VVS Laxman - Vangivarapu Venkata Sai Laxman
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