preLoadedSoftware





THE FACTORY LOADED SOFTWARE

12/21/11 04:07:11 PM GMT


        the words came out loud and clear from my television set:
“nayinte makkallu;

ontammmkku kottunnu.”


        No; it was not that I was watching a porn movie in malayalam; on the contrary. the words were part of a running commentary on a football match for the santhosh trophy being telecast by the national channel of doordarshan.

       again NO; it was not a stray comment caught accidentally – some one was directly speaking into the mike.

       I was in agarthala then - in the north east india on the other side of bangladesh ( allar mekh de, paani de ! ). The tournament that year ( around 1991 - 92 ) was being held in kerala, if I remember correctly in cannanore - It has to be somewhere in north kerala for the catch phrase looses its sinister connotation once you move towards the southern part of kerala where it is a very innocuous word.

       Feel bad about it ? That I am putting it in the public domain after all these years ! Dont worry; you go to the “officer” police and he can always arrange a dr. sujathan to declare that it is all signs of “mental unsoundness, HARBOURING jyothi”. mark the words - “harbouring” dr. S is a “genius”.

        But there is a catch – it is possible that this episode of the telecast is still available with the doordarshan's archives.

      But, again, you don't have to worry over that also – the higher judiciary of kerala state will see to it that any petition that i file to prove a point is never admitted – animal's like cheriyathe jyothi do not have legal rights. You can say anything about him or do anything to him with impunity – thank you judge.

       I am an avid sports fan ( there  was nothing much I could do there but watch and drool ) and real fond of football - yankee: soccer. And there was a reason - My school had a very good football team. you talk about bending like beckham and all now a days but I have seen it all, in those yonder years. Of course not exactly beckham but some thing akin to it.

       In my school days a football match between L. B. College, my Alma Mater, and french school ( ecole de garzon ? ) was something like a hockey match between india and pakistan. 

        And what I remember most vividly was a free kick – I think it was jagannathan from the opposite side; the ball rising slowly from the midfield, curling in and sliding just under the cross bar into the net with our goal keeper, for once, reduced to a humble spectator. I still can feel the awe which I felt. 

           And tell you what; I have an aversion for cricket matches and the way it is being given priority on the national channel even cancelling news bullettins to accommodate the money spinner for doordarshan. I think rather than the charm of the game, the fact it is very commercially viable could be the one reason for its omnipresence in india.

      What I am trying to impress on you is that I have been listening to live telecasts regularly; but I never had heard any thing any where close to the comment I have mentioned above, any other time I was listening to sports telecast, whether in english or hindi, or any other language for that matter – I can follow a couple of other indian languages as well.

       That is a typical keralite for you - he is a slimy crook. it is the rule, not the exception. He ( or she for that matter ) cannot help it - it is built in; factory loaded - that is putting it in IT terminology.

       To make him a sober person you have to tweak him. And there is a limit to which one can tweak a software.

        You cannot change or upgrade the operating system – the machine is not compatible with an improved version. The poor chap is left with whatever has been preloaded.

       For example you cannot run win xp on this computer on which I am working now - with a P III 700mHz processor and corresponding paraphernalia it cannot crunch the numbers. – I have got a licensed copy of win XP for which I have paid in hard cash with me but it is lying idle for my P IV system has been compromised.

        Now how am I concerned about it ? Am I trying to improve the world or give moral lectures and all ? Not at all, I mind my own business; and even here I am doing exactly that. 

         the fact of the matter is that these are the type of characters I am forced to deal with in my day to day life now a days. I per force have to speak out. . . . . and i will.
. . . to be continued