Musings from Antique Origins

Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja T he Malayalam film Pazhassi Raja has been creating many headlines in the media, and apparently there is a revival of interest about the historical settings of the twilight years of the 18th century South India. A peep into some of the actual recordings of those days as history unfolded itself shall be quite appropriate and interesting. One of the remarkable attributes of the Englishmen had been the habit of writing daily journals. This was especially true of the early travellers and adventurers of the empire. These journals have helped us in no small measure to understand history and to learn about the people and their lives of those far away times .While the writing of journals was rather a norm with the Englishman, the habit was more of an exception with the Indian. A classic exception is that of the journals of Anandaranga Pillai who was a translator- Dubash- in the service of the French East India Company and who was a confidante of the then French Go

M y cousin Suma started a blog aptly named Aparajitha. She is one who bravely battled polio, graduated and became an accomplished musician. She also paints and despite her severe limitations lives contentedly in Cochin with her parents. While searching the word Aparajitha , I came across a blog under the same name from a most promising and talented teen-aged girl. She had quoted a questionnaire supposedly asked to a celebrity by a media man and had given her own interesting and most original answers, assuming that these questions were aimed at her. This made me to think as to how I would have answered these questions, if it were asked to me. I think, by answering these questions, we express our personality to enable a friend or reader to understand us more. I would request my fellow bloggers and readers to answer these questions themselves- whether to publish or not- for the fun of it and for a self analyzis. It can be quite exhilarating. Here are the questions and my answers. Fun to