The Man who Never was

ചിദംബര സ്മരണ | Chidambara Smarana by Balachandran Chullikkad My rating: 4 of 5 stars Balachandran Chullikkad is someone who is intimately familiar to Keralites; at least those who were born in the 90s and 2000s. Well known for being a gifted poet, whose verses are capable of creating embers in your mind, he was also a mainstay on the film scene, often doing small supporting characters in motion pictures. This was something for which he was ridiculed and judged, both by the general public as well as some of his intelligentsia cohorts. Balan, of course, in his typical irreverent and piercing nature, didn’t bow down or apologize, for consorting with the capitalist machinery, a group viewed as the ideological rivals of the intellectuals. While growing up, I too had some amount of reservation, as to why a respected, erudite literary agent would stoop low and star in soaps and commercial ventures like this. As an adult, the reasons are clear enough; very...

Daivathinte Charanmar - You Could Be One by Joseph Annamkutty Jose My rating: 3 of 5 stars Rating 3 out of 5| Grade C; Simple things, Not so complex, Some enlightening, mostly mundane The Good: The Book is filled with snippets & anecdotes from the life of the author, which he presents to the audience in forms of parables & observations. Some of his stories & viewpoints does give you new perspective on things which you'd taken for granted in life. The Bad: Perhaps it is because of his rooted religious background, or because he was for a time enrolled in a Seminary Jose's words can at times come across as preachy, and dare I say patronizing. In some topics, such as racism, Sex education, Assault, Addictions and religion, he makes some observations which, in all honesty might've been quite enlightening in his own life. But in Recounting them to the audience, he comes across in the same way as that one youtuber, who 'saw...