Recently came to know that the Railway reservation centre at Rajaji Bhavan, Pattom, has been shut down. During my college days, I was a frequent visitor in those premises. In the last seven years or so that I have been in Trivandrum, I have not been there even once. Still, when someone dies, it is […]
Category: Other
Transience
Dazzling colors and brilliant lights fade away To silence, the clamour of fireworks gives way Only shreds of paper remain on the ground, Smell of gunpowder in the air hangs around. Of pleasures relished for as long as they last, Vague memories remain, like dreams of the past Of a life well lived, after a year or […]
The Greatest of Henpecked Husbands
Stories of pativratas – women devoted to their husbands – are generally celebrated in history, folklore, and classic literature. Henpecked husbands, on the other hand, are mostly not considered worthy of mention. So when I came across the tale of such a person in our scriptures found it very interesting. More so because, instead of looking […]
A Defiant Letter to the Principal and an Invaluable Lesson for Life
It was a long time ago, in my school days, that I wrote a defiant letter to the principal of our school. I was in the eleventh or twelfth standard, and our school had just got a new principal. The school had been in a state of confusion after the retirement of our previous principal and students […]
Is Tamil older than Malayalam?
Which is the oldest South Indian language? Is Tamil older than Malayalam? These are some questions that often come up during discussion of Dravidian languages and their history. It is a matter of pride among many Tamilians that their language is the oldest, and Tamil was also the first Indian language to be declared a […]
Curious Result of Percentage Changes in Value
This will be elementary to those who are sound in high school maths, but might easily be overlooked by others. Since it is counter-intuitive to the untrained mind, as well as relevant in many day-to-day situations, hope this discussion will be valued at least by some. Yes, value is the topic of this discussion – specifically, the […]
Bargaining with Street Vendors – Exploitation or Prudence?
Today, a video was brought to my attention through WhatsApp and it wasn’t difficult to find the same on YouTube. It carries a message which at first seemed to be perfectly valid. The comments on this YouTube video also showed that many or most viewers agreed with it. However, if we think a little deeper, […]
Sethubandhanam on Kazhakkuttam-Menamkulam Road
Having studied geography at school, it is not difficult for me to appreciate that where there is a mountain today could once have been under the sea, and may again go under water. But I did not expect such changes to happen so close to my home, or over so small time frames as a […]
Magic Squares With Katapayadi
The Katapayadi system of representing numbers that we introduced in a previous post opens up the possibility of numerous tricks and techniques to memorize numbers and patterns of numbers that are useful, or otherwise interesting. An example of this is an easy technique involving this number system to create ultimate magic squares with perfect symmetry. […]