Right at the peak of the summer heat I seem to have found some solace and consolation. About what and from whom? Don't Know and who cares? But this May fortnight turned out be an ointment of sorts. It could be the Sea of stories and Guppees, or even the dwindling bank balance that has infused some serenity into the otherwise perennially perplexed me.
What caught me through these 15 days was the ZH in Kanimozhi. She was everywhere, the reporters reported from the district court in Delhi, from the congress head quarters and from the news rooms. Invariably they had a varying pronunciation for the zh. Every time someone on my television said Kanimozhi I smirked. J, Jh, Z, Dh all was used but none got close to what I knew "ZH" is. So KaZHakottam continues to dispense pleasure even when Kerala is quite a few months behind me. Incidentally those live from Chennai on television remain better than me in the enunciation of the "ZH" and the cleverer once in Delhi quickly moved to the safer "Kani".
“Why can’t the corrupt lead an anti-corrupt brigade? You don’t need morals to say that something is immoral.”
A weekly magazine had it somewhere in its middle pages, this one was not expected to churn minds or roll many eyes.Afraid of the anti-corrupt brigade, I didn't venture too close to them. But these were like the words from a sermon and steadily all my doubts evaporated. My passport needed a bribe, my Birth certificate to be made on a week notice needed a kickback (I like the sound of the word kickback), every TATKAL railway reservation tickets I get are from touts, with all the chaai-paani, I somehow felt complicit. So this came as a liberator, as a redeemer.
I took joy in the Kani case and discovered that I am a forced bribe payer in a country where everything is systemically wrong. And I felt so much more comfortable.
What caught me through these 15 days was the ZH in Kanimozhi. She was everywhere, the reporters reported from the district court in Delhi, from the congress head quarters and from the news rooms. Invariably they had a varying pronunciation for the zh. Every time someone on my television said Kanimozhi I smirked. J, Jh, Z, Dh all was used but none got close to what I knew "ZH" is. So KaZHakottam continues to dispense pleasure even when Kerala is quite a few months behind me. Incidentally those live from Chennai on television remain better than me in the enunciation of the "ZH" and the cleverer once in Delhi quickly moved to the safer "Kani".
“Why can’t the corrupt lead an anti-corrupt brigade? You don’t need morals to say that something is immoral.”
A weekly magazine had it somewhere in its middle pages, this one was not expected to churn minds or roll many eyes.Afraid of the anti-corrupt brigade, I didn't venture too close to them. But these were like the words from a sermon and steadily all my doubts evaporated. My passport needed a bribe, my Birth certificate to be made on a week notice needed a kickback (I like the sound of the word kickback), every TATKAL railway reservation tickets I get are from touts, with all the chaai-paani, I somehow felt complicit. So this came as a liberator, as a redeemer.
I took joy in the Kani case and discovered that I am a forced bribe payer in a country where everything is systemically wrong. And I felt so much more comfortable.
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