R S KURUP
Born to N K Raman Pillai and P Saraswathi Amma in Chingam 1122 M E that is in Augest –September 1946 AD has early schooling in natilve village Varenickal, Pallikkal East and Kurathikad .college Education in Pandalam, Thiruvanthapuram and Alppuzha .
MS.c In Mathematics , Diploma in Banking, Under gone Higher trainings in Management , Accountancy and Costing.
Retired as Senior Audit Officer in A G’s Thiruvanantha puram (Kochi Branch)
Passion was reading, especially literature .Selected as Student Editor ( Malayalam) Pandalam N S S college magazine as early as 1962 while a Pre University Student .Continued the passion for rading literature history and Philosophy all through life .The first article appeared only in 1999 –A write up on Plague the famous camus Novel .The article published in SAMAKALIKA MLAYALAM Was Titled Jeevithathtinte Kotippatam ( Life’s Flag Flying )
Continuing in writing articles in main stream Malayalam periodicals .Takes up Hindu religious dis course -Geetha and Upanishads from a laymans point of view.
Continuing in writing articles in main stream Malayalam periodicals .Takes up Hindu religious dis course -Geetha and Upanishads from a laymans point of view.
- BOOKS PUBLISHED- Acollection of Two Plays
- Amma Maharani
- Brantha Parvatham
- A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS
- Yugavasanathinte Randamoozham
SELECTED ARTICLES AND RIVIEWS
LETTER
I am R S Kurup fatherof Kumar (dr sukumarakurup krishna kumar of the management school ndsu) father.Its about a play written by me on Naranathu branthan that Kumar discussed with you recently I am enclsing an english translation of the forword to the drama titled The Legend
The original legend has it that Naranath Branthan is a member of 'PARAYI PETTA PANTHIRU KULAMA(THE TWELVE BORNOUT
OF THE PARAYI THE LOWEST CASTE WOMAN And the entire kerala population is descendants of these twelve.The twelve
starts with a vedic Brahmin comes down throug the master builder Perunthachan et al to Paakkanar the paria.The
story goes on tio say that every time a child is born the father a vedic brahmin asked if there is a mouth for the
new born .when the Mother said yes the father said each time the Lord who has torn up a mouth has in store some
food for it some where.so throw it away .The mother obeyed eleven times and the twelth was born without a mouth
who was put on a hill as god
The most famous anecdote about him is his encounter with the godess of the buriyal ground.The godess is not expected to see any human during her burial ground dance and if she happens to see one she has either to curse the person or give boon.Once she met Naranath during the dance ;the crazy saint was preparing his supper from the frir from the pyre.He declined to go out from the vicinity and the godess hashas no intention to curse him .so naranath had to to ask for a boon.He asked for a prolongation of his life span atleast by a split second.Its impssible even for the Lord who killed the death god the godess said .Then shorten the span by a split second so said Naranath .That too was impossible for the godess.If so Naranath said be kind enough to transfer the filarial edima on my left leg to the right leg.the legend doesnot speak of the reply given by the godess I request you to kindly go through this mail and the attachment and If you are interested I will send an english version of the play.
I have taken some freedom with the myth sorry to have taken so much of your time with apologies
R.S. KURUP
Naranath is a crazy old saint who found some amusemnt in rolling the stone uphill every day and putting it down to
the valley and clappingand laughing aloud in innocent joy.Unlike his greek counter part sysiphus naranath does it
not as a result of any punishment.Camus 's thesis that absurdity becomes tragic because of the prior knwledge of
failure is not relevant here because naranath doesnt recognise success or failure because he does it all on his on
volition for fun perhaps.(In my play I have attributed some motives and an element of tragedy )
The most famous anecdote about him is his encounter with the godess of the buriyal ground.The godess is not expected to see any human during her burial ground dance and if she happens to see one she has either to curse the person or give boon.Once she met Naranath during the dance ;the crazy saint was preparing his supper from the frir from the pyre.He declined to go out from the vicinity and the godess hashas no intention to curse him .so naranath had to to ask for a boon.He asked for a prolongation of his life span atleast by a split second.Its impssible even for the Lord who killed the death god the godess said .Then shorten the span by a split second so said Naranath .That too was impossible for the godess.If so Naranath said be kind enough to transfer the filarial edima on my left leg to the right leg.the legend doesnot speak of the reply given by the godess I request you to kindly go through this mail and the attachment and If you are interested I will send an english version of the play.
I have taken some freedom with the myth sorry to have taken so much of your time with apologies
R.S. KURUP
LETTER WRITTEN TO DR LIFTON
The Author was returning to Delhi from IIT Kanpur after a talk about his first book Five point some one. He had a lone co-passenger--a profoundly beautiful young lady-who was not at all ecstatic about his book. An embarrassed Bhagat told her that he was writing about the youth of India and so it deserved more attention. The lady did not agree. She instead told Bhagat that she had the thread of a story. However, she insisted that she would tell only if Bhagat agreed to make it the theme of his next novel. She indicated that the thread was about the sequence of events happening during one night at a call center; the night when God’s call was received.
The events take place at a call center at Gurgaon near Delhi. The center answers complaints received from consumers of an American home appliances company. The characters--two young men, three young ladies and one middle aged ex-serviceman are all destined to talk to Americans using American accent through the night. They are even required to change their names for the convenience of the American callers (e.g. Syam becomes Sam).
Syam the narrator of the story is a disappointed man. He is in love with Priyanka a coworker. However, this relationship is already broken. Additionally, he is frustrated about Manager Bakshi’s tantrums. The manager forwards a website designed by Syam and Varun to their U.S Headquarters as though it was the manger’s own creation. Varun is dissatisfied not because he is paid less, but he knows that he is toiling for another nation. The very thought makes him sad and also rebellious. It’s in the same night that the other characters in the story all knew that they are being deceived by those for whom they spend sleepless nights. It is then that they accidentally have to face grave danger: They get THE CALL from GOD.
GOD comes up with pragmatic suggestions, when implemented, could solve all their problems. What makes this book different is not exactly GOD’s intervention but its approach (may be even unknown to its author) towards the ideological crisis the world is going through. The socio-economic order known as Capitalism, had its origin in Europe in the 18th century, and subsequently spread through out the world.
But capitalism never remained static. The first stage of capitalism dealt with the production of commodities and the worker was the slave of the machine. s/he was alienated from his or her labor/product. The modern day worker is different .S/he is a knowledge/service worker. S/he is not a slave of his/her machine; rather the machine serves him or her. Knowledge is the resource and the tool. The management guru Peter Drucker noted that the knowledge\service worker cannot be dealt with by old management tools. The success of Chetan Bhagat’s book lies in its portrayal of this idea with artistic excellence. The stereotype of the old “manager” who thinks he or she can deal with any situation by jargons, graphs and diagrams is excellently portrayed through the character of Bakshi.
People like Drucker are of the view that the Post Capitalist Society has made socialism insignificant along with Capitalism. I disagree. The knowledge\service worker is as much alienated as his counterpart in the manufacturing society (the machine worker). Look at Varun. He is dissatisfied not because he is paid less but he knows that he is working for the benefit of another country, another people, another nation. And alas they don’t have anything superior to his country except money. It is not only Varun, every self respecting Indian youth, who work in call centers, IT centers and transcription centers must be having the same feeling: ‘alienation’. That basic Marxist concept is still very much relevant.
It is also certain that they will come to know that they are not paid their due .In other words they will be come aware of the exploitation they are subjected to very soon. And there will be a revolt .No one can predict how it would occur. And that’s where GOD comes in. In short, the novel portrays the ideological crises of the day with great artistic excellence. It reminds us of the terms “alienation”, “surplus value” and “exploitation” without mentioning them even once.Bhagat has succeeded where professional left wing politicians who make a living out of chanting these terms miserably failed
It is said that the new generation has a very shallow and amoral outlook about life in general. May be true! The uniqueness of this book is that even while it portrays the permissiveness of sex and drinking it sees a ray of hope. I leave it to the reader to find out.
The story telling comes to an end before the Train reaches Delhi.Bhagat comes to know that the narrator is not one of the ladies in the story. Then who is she? How does she know the whole story? While she was alighting from the train-compartment Bhagat discovers that the book she was holding was the Bhagavat Gita
Discard all Dharma and come to ME says Gita.Who is this “Me”? What is self? It is Dharma itself. It is not the “prevailing” Dharma but the ONE which must prevail. It is for establishing this DHARMA that prophets have come and gone.
Of course we can posit that the prophets’ dream remained as a dream .The revolt at the call center itself may be another dream. But it is the dream about a beautiful world that is the progenitor of a world order where there is no evil. Our Great Poet Vyloppillil has sung (translated from Malayalam):
“Dreams? Aren’t night’s dreams the good morning’s Flowers?” This novel conveys the same idea. And this is what makes this book, likely to be classified as popular fiction, a great work of art!
Syam the narrator of the story is a disappointed man. He is in love with Priyanka a coworker. However, this relationship is already broken. Additionally, he is frustrated about Manager Bakshi’s tantrums. The manager forwards a website designed by Syam and Varun to their U.S Headquarters as though it was the manger’s own creation. Varun is dissatisfied not because he is paid less, but he knows that he is toiling for another nation. The very thought makes him sad and also rebellious. It’s in the same night that the other characters in the story all knew that they are being deceived by those for whom they spend sleepless nights. It is then that they accidentally have to face grave danger: They get THE CALL from GOD.
GOD comes up with pragmatic suggestions, when implemented, could solve all their problems. What makes this book different is not exactly GOD’s intervention but its approach (may be even unknown to its author) towards the ideological crisis the world is going through. The socio-economic order known as Capitalism, had its origin in Europe in the 18th century, and subsequently spread through out the world.
But capitalism never remained static. The first stage of capitalism dealt with the production of commodities and the worker was the slave of the machine. s/he was alienated from his or her labor/product. The modern day worker is different .S/he is a knowledge/service worker. S/he is not a slave of his/her machine; rather the machine serves him or her. Knowledge is the resource and the tool. The management guru Peter Drucker noted that the knowledge\service worker cannot be dealt with by old management tools. The success of Chetan Bhagat’s book lies in its portrayal of this idea with artistic excellence. The stereotype of the old “manager” who thinks he or she can deal with any situation by jargons, graphs and diagrams is excellently portrayed through the character of Bakshi.
People like Drucker are of the view that the Post Capitalist Society has made socialism insignificant along with Capitalism. I disagree. The knowledge\service worker is as much alienated as his counterpart in the manufacturing society (the machine worker). Look at Varun. He is dissatisfied not because he is paid less but he knows that he is working for the benefit of another country, another people, another nation. And alas they don’t have anything superior to his country except money. It is not only Varun, every self respecting Indian youth, who work in call centers, IT centers and transcription centers must be having the same feeling: ‘alienation’. That basic Marxist concept is still very much relevant.
It is also certain that they will come to know that they are not paid their due .In other words they will be come aware of the exploitation they are subjected to very soon. And there will be a revolt .No one can predict how it would occur. And that’s where GOD comes in. In short, the novel portrays the ideological crises of the day with great artistic excellence. It reminds us of the terms “alienation”, “surplus value” and “exploitation” without mentioning them even once.Bhagat has succeeded where professional left wing politicians who make a living out of chanting these terms miserably failed
It is said that the new generation has a very shallow and amoral outlook about life in general. May be true! The uniqueness of this book is that even while it portrays the permissiveness of sex and drinking it sees a ray of hope. I leave it to the reader to find out.
The story telling comes to an end before the Train reaches Delhi.Bhagat comes to know that the narrator is not one of the ladies in the story. Then who is she? How does she know the whole story? While she was alighting from the train-compartment Bhagat discovers that the book she was holding was the Bhagavat Gita
Discard all Dharma and come to ME says Gita.Who is this “Me”? What is self? It is Dharma itself. It is not the “prevailing” Dharma but the ONE which must prevail. It is for establishing this DHARMA that prophets have come and gone.
Of course we can posit that the prophets’ dream remained as a dream .The revolt at the call center itself may be another dream. But it is the dream about a beautiful world that is the progenitor of a world order where there is no evil. Our Great Poet Vyloppillil has sung (translated from Malayalam):
“Dreams? Aren’t night’s dreams the good morning’s Flowers?” This novel conveys the same idea. And this is what makes this book, likely to be classified as popular fiction, a great work of art!
Metronic is seeking an experienced.
I start with a relevant excerpt from my article titled “Dhrishyangalum Darshanavum” (VISUALS AND THE VISION).
‘The Statement that TIME lies stagnant here necessitates an understanding of concepts of space and time, both of the ancient and the modern. Time becomes creation’s or the created object’s material cause (Upadana Karana) and the SOUL (ATMAN) its instrumental cause (Nimittha Karana). One can relate to the example of the creation of a pot, wherein the clay becomes the material cause and the potter its instrumental cause. As a result, it is through the transformations of the created object that time is signified and conversely time ceases to exist in the absence of transformations.
The views of modern science are concordant with the above. It has been conclusively proven that neither time nor space can exist in isolation, and both entities exhibit mutual dependence.
A traveler while on a train journey can conclusively state that he has remained motionless. However, this statement retains its integrity only within the scope of his viewpoint. To an observer stationed outside the train, the traveler is in a constant state of motion. This presents the relative aspect of space.
It is the Theory of Relativity that determined the relative aspect of time. Irrespective of the uniformity in the measuring devices used, time has been found to vary relative to the place at which it has been measured. Imagine a situation where a person has been sent to space, wherein another of similar age remains on earth. On the former’s return to earth, we find a deviation between the current ages, thus signifying the relativity of time.
These concepts were grasped by Naranath Branthan, who came to realize that the time at the top of the hill and that of the valley differed. Add the effect of the mass of the stone that he rolled up, and the difference increases further. By constantly rolling up the stone and letting it roll down, he achieved the feat of increasing and decreasing time, if only by a split second. The goddess of the Burial ground, who he comes face to face with, is constrained by the norms of everyday life and is bound to the valley’s space-time constraints. This renders her incapable of changing time one bit.
While delving into concepts of space-time during the composition of this article, the story of Naranath Branthan popped up quite surprisingly. It was after all his plea to the goddess to either increase or decrease his lifetime by a second. Time, the everlasting riddle, drove him into action. To all those persons bound by the rituals of daily life and this includes the goddess; his actions would have seemed aimless. However, his quest to conquer time drove him forward.
To touch upon a few other worthy points of discussion regarding the play:
Philosophy was created in the workplaces, the creator of food –the farmer/hunter being the first philosopher. That Sankara was taught the principles of Advaitha Vedantha by a chandala (the pariah- worker of the lowest caste) is proof of this statement.
The philosopher Ishwarakrishna mentioned in the play is the author of the Saankhyakarika,. The samkhya system of philosophy preaches that Creation is the handiwork of prakrthy (primordial matter- in common parlance nature) Purusha (the Jivathma or life force) disinterested observer. It is mentioned in the text that prakrthy dances for the sake of Purusha’s happiness. That this great Acharya could succeed in transforming such dense philosophy into enchanting poetry forces one to bow in respect.
One wonders whether this poetic form influenced successive poets, who depicted the nature-man relationship as being the Parvati-Shiva bond and the creative process as their dances of romance. The Shiva Parvati dance, which has been presented as a Tamil folk song in the play, originally appears in the Tamil Epic Chilappathkaram. It seems the intention of the great poet Elankovadikal is to commend on the performance of Koothachakkayyans (now known as Chakyars the Koodiyattom performers) . This part has been incorporated into the famous book “Kootum Koodiyattavum” by Ammavanthampuran.
The NANDI (the customary opening sloka of Indian classic plays)of the play is the introductory sloka to the Kalavarnnana (Time narrative) section of the Bhagavatha Purana.
The views of modern science are concordant with the above. It has been conclusively proven that neither time nor space can exist in isolation, and both entities exhibit mutual dependence.
A traveler while on a train journey can conclusively state that he has remained motionless. However, this statement retains its integrity only within the scope of his viewpoint. To an observer stationed outside the train, the traveler is in a constant state of motion. This presents the relative aspect of space.
It is the Theory of Relativity that determined the relative aspect of time. Irrespective of the uniformity in the measuring devices used, time has been found to vary relative to the place at which it has been measured. Imagine a situation where a person has been sent to space, wherein another of similar age remains on earth. On the former’s return to earth, we find a deviation between the current ages, thus signifying the relativity of time.
These concepts were grasped by Naranath Branthan, who came to realize that the time at the top of the hill and that of the valley differed. Add the effect of the mass of the stone that he rolled up, and the difference increases further. By constantly rolling up the stone and letting it roll down, he achieved the feat of increasing and decreasing time, if only by a split second. The goddess of the Burial ground, who he comes face to face with, is constrained by the norms of everyday life and is bound to the valley’s space-time constraints. This renders her incapable of changing time one bit.
While delving into concepts of space-time during the composition of this article, the story of Naranath Branthan popped up quite surprisingly. It was after all his plea to the goddess to either increase or decrease his lifetime by a second. Time, the everlasting riddle, drove him into action. To all those persons bound by the rituals of daily life and this includes the goddess; his actions would have seemed aimless. However, his quest to conquer time drove him forward.
To touch upon a few other worthy points of discussion regarding the play:
Philosophy was created in the workplaces, the creator of food –the farmer/hunter being the first philosopher. That Sankara was taught the principles of Advaitha Vedantha by a chandala (the pariah- worker of the lowest caste) is proof of this statement.
The philosopher Ishwarakrishna mentioned in the play is the author of the Saankhyakarika,. The samkhya system of philosophy preaches that Creation is the handiwork of prakrthy (primordial matter- in common parlance nature) Purusha (the Jivathma or life force) disinterested observer. It is mentioned in the text that prakrthy dances for the sake of Purusha’s happiness. That this great Acharya could succeed in transforming such dense philosophy into enchanting poetry forces one to bow in respect.
One wonders whether this poetic form influenced successive poets, who depicted the nature-man relationship as being the Parvati-Shiva bond and the creative process as their dances of romance. The Shiva Parvati dance, which has been presented as a Tamil folk song in the play, originally appears in the Tamil Epic Chilappathkaram. It seems the intention of the great poet Elankovadikal is to commend on the performance of Koothachakkayyans (now known as Chakyars the Koodiyattom performers) . This part has been incorporated into the famous book “Kootum Koodiyattavum” by Ammavanthampuran.
The NANDI (the customary opening sloka of Indian classic plays)of the play is the introductory sloka to the Kalavarnnana (Time narrative) section of the Bhagavatha Purana.
R.S KURUP
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