Only In Kerala

Fluorescent pink houses,
erechi fry,
loyal and subservient servants,
family histories,
unabashed downpours,
bugs,
baby coconuts,
and even tinier mangoes.

Thrice christened octogenarian dogs
still being called "puppy",
Bridal chambers,
Coconut oil,
old, fast fading childhood memories,
and a renewed interest in life.

Far off birds and more distant trucks,
a peaceful break,
clean , pure, air,
malyalam.

My beautiful grandmother and regal grandfather,
black and white pictures of lives gone by.

Frozen time with a sense of the inevitable future,
temple speciality paysam,
distant relatives,
the smell of sandalwood,
and a sense of Finally, I'm home .

Sociological Blues

Marx spoke of the development of human society in a two fold aspect-
With the increasing control of man over nature, and the increasing alienation of man from nature.
Alienation, as Karl Marx stated was when products produced by man himself confront him in a manner that eventually leads to his dominance by the product.
Marx warned that as society progressed, alienation of man from his creation, himself and his community will continue.
On my way home from my sociological theory examination,(with my head swimming with ideas of comte, Durkheim, Merton , and what not), I saw a sight, that made me wonder if Karl Marx was a predictor of the future, or if society has progressed to this mess.
There was a man, on the curb of a street, who was one of those “walking advertisements”.
He was actually wearing a bill board. All though living in Mumbai for more than half my life has enabled to see sights like this (and even stranger, mind you), this was the first time, and it hit me so hard, and suddenly, all that social theory came rushing back.
“Man eventually becomes a victim of exploitation- the more wealth he generates, the greater is his devaluation-until finally, he is reduced to the level of a commodity.”
Have we as individuals in society stopped respecting the power of the individual intellect?
Has greed taken over all our other social emotions?
Comte stated that society would eventually progress to a state he called Positivism- this would be a period governed by rationale, love and order. Some how, in 2008, that seems pretty far away for a goal of society.
Has society progressed to such a level that the capitalist spirit has taken over everything? Must everything be determined by profit, rationale and division?
Where are the individual, the emotional and the psychological in this process- have we lost touch with who we really are in this race against time for money?
Do men still deal with problems of identity in places apart from their homes? Are we all inching towards a self caused alienation or is this something that the general collective creates?
I can’t help but wonder- who is to blame and how will this story end?