Mechilpuram

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Incomplete Musings: Silent Stories Across Café Tables

The author is just out of view, waiting for his iced tea:) Musings I’m writing this piece at a Third Wave outlet, sipping on an iced tea. Fresh after receiving my paycheck and completing my quarterly targets, it felt right to treat myself to some caffeine, so that my Friday could last a bit longer. Finance Team were gracious to release the paycheck earlier than usual, so more reasons for cheer :) Cafés provide me with new dimensions of observation whenever I visit. As a person who visits cafés alone, it sometimes feels intrusive to check the crowd out while sipping on a beverage. Here are some of my thoughts: Overpouring Emotions I have been in situations where patrons shared happiness in passing, silent tears, shared camaraderie, etc. I’m sitting at this table, where a lady seated across me is shedding tears, a laptop in front of her, while on a call. For me, it has always been a bit uncomfortable to hear someone shedding a tear. It never felt personal. It felt like I was intruding in...

Kerala Cafe (2009) : Off-Season - Happiness in Passing

Musings Shyamaprasad has been able to convey the everyday happenings in the life of a guide beautifully through this segment. The ease of handling languages, standing agreements with dealers, the street-smart mentality, tricks up their sleeve to secure a buck and their observant ( critical but humorous ) commentary on tourists that visit the beach during the holidays. With the added twang of the Trivandrum slang. After the emotional weight of the previous stories, the cafe takes a small step back and breathes. This one's a bit more light-hearted, so let's relax. No overt analysis, no pondering for deeper meanings. Let's breathe easy with this one, with a smile :) Reel 7 : Off-Season On the sun-kissed beach of Kovalam, a Portuguese couple arrives with little money and even fewer plans. A local tourist guide, always on the lookout for a quick opportunity, finds himself dealing with them. Simply part hustle, part survival. What begins as a chance encounter slowly turns into s...

Kerala Cafe (2009) : Aviramam – Between Hope and Collapse

Musings I'm writing this piece at a time that may well go down in history, and one that feels strangely apt. It has been over two weeks since the three-way geopolitical tensions between Israel, Iran and the United States began, and slowly the ripples of that conflict have begun touching our motherland. Today, there is a widespread shortage of LPG cylinders in India, amongst whispers that they are being scalped for exorbitant prices in the black market. Restaurants, cloud kitchens, and our beloved kutty bakeries currently face a crisis of income slowdown, all because they sit far below the power chain. The Indian stock market has been tumbling since the beginning of this week, wiping away whatever returns (though minimal) the past year had managed to offer. It doesn't help ease the uncertainty when one realises that COVID-19 struck the world exactly six years ago. All those tales of wars that were waged, famines endured by the powerless, and powers that came tumbling down once...

Friday Mornings in DXB - A Childhood Reminiscence

An image of our Sunday School hall on Fridays Fridays. The actual start to the weekend, as opposed to the jumpstart that was Thursday evenings Friday meant one thing. Church. Oh boy, I was not a fan, especially the getting ready part The day would begin at 5:30 am when Amma would wake up and prepare tea for us. Being Christians, we don't have food before church. So the tea was the only thing keeping us up until Sunday School snacks (more on that soon!) I was the non-grumbly type that took two calls from Amma (sitting in the hall) to wake up. Eyes shut, brushing my teeth away. My brother was the one who extracted maximum effort from my parents to finally open his eyes. Amma would keep calling out his name, each call increasing in intensity and finally when she conceded defeat, Acha would enter the ring. My brother could really test our parents' patience hehe. Since Acha is the no-nonsense type with a soft liking to him, it would take some soft words to finally cajole him into wa...

Kerala Cafe (2009) - Happy Journey

Reel 5 : Happy Journey As the horrors of the mana fade in the distance, we now commence on a bus ride. A bus filled with expectant passengers with places to be. Enroute from Kochi to Kozhikode The writer is able to present caricatures in our society from the very beginning - namely, a misogynist (JK), a media person who claims to expose the dirtiness of society while secretly working in cahoots with influential figures to wash away their sins, and a steadfast woman (Nithya). The bus ride commences, as the co-passengers rest easy. The scene pans over to the nineteenth aisle where JK and Nithya begin their journey too, driven by a natural curiosity about one another. JK leads the narrative. Layers to the character help provide context. An Insurance agent will be well versed with body language and reading context. How many of us have tried to stay away from a pestering LIC agent relative xD? With each passing moment, the steadfast woman fields questions, with little revealed in retu...

Kerala Cafe (2009): Mrithyunjayam - The Mana's Whisper

Reel 4 : Mrithunjayam While Hiranmayi waits at the Cafe awaiting her train, another story begins at a table, where two siblings meet over coffee to discuss about a Hindu Thirumeni, who is being investigated by the Intelligence Bureau over his alleged connections to black magicians in Tunisia and Kazkh voodoo practitioners. The siblings are namely an IB Officer and an Investigative Journalist, Over coffee, we get a look-in at the banter shared by the siblings, with a joke by the IB Officer (played by Anoop Menon), in the mix. Cappucino in our Kerala Cafe - you don't say! The scene then pans over to a trio of journalists undertaking an assignment to cover the spooky goings-on at the Vanneri Mana. It excites, arouses curiosity upon the lead journalist that wanted to get a feel, get lost in the mystery of the mana. The thirumeni stays unassuming, with a fear within. With the mana having an infamous reputation amongst the inhabitants of that land, claiming lives in the process ...

Kerala Cafe (2009): Lalitham Hiranmayam - Unfinished Warmth

Musings This segment describes a married man's descent into uncertainty - of not losing the loves in his life, but while repenting for mistakes made in the name of love. I was amazed watching Suresh's performance and more importantly with Shaji Kailas' ability to tell a conflicting story. Sure, it could have been more fleshed out, but here we are. Reel 3 : Lalitham Hiranmayam The rushed pitter-patter of rain, the unsipped glasses of tea now cold and the crushed butts. Everything lies in his wake. The essence in them, extinguished. The turmoil bubbling within doesn't betray. The unrest behind those eyes doesn't stray. The beauty of a blossoming flower is an antithesis to this scene - fragile, defiant, and painfully out of place. Its beauty stands in a stark contrast to all that has been undone. Ramesh always had a safe abode. His Lalitha. A calm presence to soothe his baby self. A mind that he knew and loved. A conscience that he admired. Somewhere down the journey...

Kerala Cafe (2009): Island Express - A Tale of Lost Loves, Lorn Losses and Quiet Reflections

Musings The ambiguity of life and fate is deeply intertwined, guiding the course of an individual’s journey on Earth. Too often, we dismiss fate as nothing more than God’s mischievous play - a delicate walk across a rope bridge, if you will. The ends of the bridge are anchored to firm, unchanging foundations. The middle, however, can sway, fray, or even snap. Yet as long as the ends remain fixed, the bridge - or what’s left of it - stands as a testament to endurance and collapse alike. Introspection offers a fleeting escape: a dive into the memories we cherish, cringe at, and can never quite forget. In those moments, we yearn to rewind the reel of our lives - to correct the turns that went wrong, to perfect the scenes that fell short, and to reshape the story we continue to live. Death is something similar. A void left by someone close. Irreplaceable. A fragment of life that continues to live in hearts. A great legacy is what we wish to leave in our wake The way that the Pe...

Kerala Cafe (2009): Nostalgia - A Quiet Reverie

Musings Kerala Cafe: Oru Yathra, 10 Kathakal A cafe is what we would associate to - say a new beginning, an ambience that sheds a sense of familiarity to daily routines, relationships and a longing to bask in it's warmth. In the setting of Kerala Cafe however, we journey as a silent passenger. A journey through multiple stories, interwoven to leave you reflecting on how life and situations are perceived by manushyanmar, from different walks of life. Everyone has a story to tell. Intimate, no frills attached and which lends a sense of curiosity. A kind of childish kusruti if you will Stories that speak of yearning and return, of love found and lost, of choices made in haste and the quiet reckoning that follows. Carrying that familiar aroma of manushyanmar, flawed, hopeful and endlessly searching. Kerala Cafe is one journey that I'll cherish forever, for having taken. Just raw, unfiltered stories that have their kutty cracks in them. Nothing polished, just raw storytelling. Ree...