போதும்,

போதும் என்பது –
போதாததாய் தோன்றும் நிலையில்,

போதாததாய் இருக்கும் அனைத்தையும் – போதும் என்று நினைத்து விட்டால்,

வாழ்க்கை அழகு.!

– ஜெறின் மனுவேல்

LETTER TO PAPPA

Hey big man..!!!!how are you doing. I think I did a good job without you so far. I wish you were here to witness how far I came. I hope I have not shattered the belief you had in me. But saying that it was not that easy of a ride. Firstly to accept you were not there was hard. Going out in the world making decisions was the toughest. But then I got used to it. That simile you taught me had so much to do with. When I was thinking okay I can manage life then comes the people part, believe me it was harder. Felt like crying but couldn’t wanted to act strong to make people around me stronger. You remember we talked a lot about being kind to people, that was holding me during that phase. Every time I remember this thing you said “you don’t have to hurt people who hurts you, that’s what weak people do”. You know what I am a strong person now. You have had friends and you told me to have few. I wish you could see my circle now it’s small but it’s so precious. Also, I got lot of genuine people to wish only good deeds to me. Yes I have been blessed with good people around me. They say that I am a very good person to hang with, but I feel sorry for them that they couldn’t meet you, probably they might take that back after seeing you.  But yes there is another side of life where people are good to one another and life is more smoother. The days I can spend in that life is shorter than what I wish. Each minute is teaching me lessons that is totally new. I don’t know how to take this without you, I am learning to live by myself. I am tired pappa, life is getting tougher than yesterday wish you were here. Woohoo..!!! It’s been almost a decade and what horrible journey. This made me the man who I am today. More matured, more stronger, more calmer, thinking before acting, more poised, being gentle, not overreacting bla bla bla bla………
BUT,
I prefer being a looser with you beside me.        
                            

   Your’s son…

Jerin Manuel

PC : Hutson Manuel

ASSUME NEVER CONCLUDE

What does people think of their life?
May be an easy question by the look, but can you ever find an answer for this, I doubt it. If you find one I bet that’s temporary. The answer varies according to situation, depends on people you talk to, things you see, stories you hear but it will never stay the same. It is the sake with other people as well you can’t judge a person’s life with one incident or situation.

You can observe smile in people staying in refugee camps and sorrow in people who own bungalows. The place becomes irrelevant of how you live. A person working in an air conditioned room feels the same heat as like the person working under burning sun. The place becomes irrelevant of how you earn. One might have cozy beds but sleeps lesser time when compared with people who sleep in bare ground. It doesn’t matter what you have if you can be satisfied with what you have.

One can assume a persons life is horrible but only he knows how happy he is. Everyone has problems even you, but that doesn’t mean that mine is smaller than his or vise versa. You can’t measure pain or even happiness. Just feel it, live with it and try to get over it.

This world is good and bad enough to love and hurt you. Surround yourself with good people and be a good person for your surrounding. You can always be good, the coin is in your court to decide that. Remember if you can forgive yourself then you should forgive others as well. Everyone has their own problems and their own share of luck and their own happiness.

Never come into conclusions about ones knowledge, their time, their value, their views and most importantly their life. You can assume but can’t conclude.

– Jerin Manuel

Death and People

What is death doing in this world can’t that wait or should something this cruel exist in first place. These will be the questions that will pop up in ones head when they lose their dear ones. But can’t you remember how curious you were to know at least one question to leak for the next days exam.

This happened to me when I was very much nervous about my first interview. I called my senior to get some insights about interview process and probably some questions that might be asked. He said technically you have to believe you know everything and be confident with your answers but the starting question will be “tell me about yourself”. So better be prepared for that question, if you can crack the answer for that then probably they will believe whatever you say afterwards. Believe me or not I wrote two page essay about myself and mugged it up. And bet what I cracked the answer and indeed the interview as well.
Now imagine what is the one thing that you know about your life, you know that death will happen one day. Over the past few years I observed this strange emotion of people showing sympathy towards the one in death bed. You can say it’s human nature to show some sympathy. But don’t you know that everyone is in death bed. Can you guarantee one person who won’t die, I don’t think you can. Then why can’t you show the sympathy towards all people. If you can’t show sympathy to other at least show some to yourself. This life on earth is a beautiful journey, cherish every moment. Yes you will be cornered with some cruel situations but always remember life is like an essay introduction was written when you came to this world and also the conclusion that you will die some day, but the content has to be written by you and only you. Make it a good essay to read. If you can enjoy your journey on earth I am sure that you will make everyone around you happy. So love everyone and everything but most importantly love yourself.

– Jerin Manuel

ஏன்❓ / WHY ❓

ஏன் இந்த சமூகத்தில் இன்னும் இதைப் பற்றி பேசி கொண்டிருக்கிறோம்?
அறியாமையில் செய்யும் காரியமா இது?
இன்னும் எத்தனை முறை கேட்க வேண்டும். சமூகமே என்ன செய்தோம் நாம்?
இன்னும் எத்தனை காலம் குற்றச்சாட்டுகளை மட்டுமே வைத்துக் கொண்டு இருப்போம்?
சமுதாயத்தில் முகமூடி அணிந்து சுற்றி திரியும் இந்த கோழைகளை அருகில் இருப்பவர்கள் கூடவா அடையாளம் காணாமல் போனார்கள்?
இன்னும் எத்தனை உயிர்களை பறிக்க போகிறோம்?
சுதந்திரம், ஜனநாயகம், சமத்துவம், மனிதம் எல்லாம் குப்பையோடு குப்பையாக தீயில் எரிக்கப்பட வேண்டும்.
என் மகள், என் சகோதரி, என் சொந்தம். இறைவா நீ இருந்தால்…. எனக்கு கண்டிப்பாக கணக்கு சொல்ல வேண்டும்.
இந்த பொறுக்கிகள் சுதந்திரமாக வெளியே சுற்றி வருகிறதை வேடிக்கை பார்த்துக் கொண்டு இருப்பாயானால் நீயும் அந்த நால்வரோடு எரிந்து விடு.

English Translation

Why are we still talking about this shit, isn’t it enough?
Is this happening since people are still illiterates and doesn’t know what it actually means. And if you want me to believe this then better I die before that. Complaining about this is going on and on for centuries if not millennium, what’s going wrong in this. There are such rascals in this society roaming with masks on but are people near them not recognising this if so it’s such a shame. How many lives is required for us to act in the correct direction. INDEPENDENCE, DEMOCRACY, EQUALITY, HUMANITY everything sucks, just tie up everything and dump then burn it with waste. GOD if you are there and still watching all this then you have to answer me for my daughters, sisters and my families. If these cowards are roaming freely then you are an utter waste just like the four things I mentioned above you can also join them as the fifth one and burn yourself.

– Jerin manuel

Life is Good & Bad

THEME : “EVERY GOOD HAS A BAD AND VICE VERSA”

The ☯ symbol:

The white dot in the black shows we can always find light in darkness and the black dot in white says we can find dust even in the purest form of air.

The Triangle:

The things we see/observe has been represented as a triangle.The Triangle in this art represents the bermuda triangle which means MAYA (illusion). The triangle has many colours in it and the ☯ symbol. Which means that whatever we are seeing/observing might have so many colours but everything is an illusion and in every good thing we are looking, will have a bad intention and vice versa.

The Circle:

The things we hear/listen has been represented as a Circle. As we know the circle has no start and no end likewise the words we hear/listen also has the same quality. The music we hear/listen might vary according to the situation and person. But remember every praise has a criticism, every scolding has a compliment in it.

The Human Head:

Humans are so complicated in nature. I always believe one should have a devil ears and devine eyes. And the devil ears and devine eyes were connected to the brain which is a human itself. As like humans, the brain is also too complicated in choosing sides and hence it is like a seesaw. And all of these are connected to the tongue which is the most powerful weapon as far as I am concerned. The gun can shoot anyone at sight, Or it can also shoot bubbles which brings joy.

Every human according to me is a mixture of good and bad it always depends on each individual to express themselves. You can’t be good to everyone and everytime. But if you can forgive yourself why can’t you forgive others, if you can tolerate you why can’t you tolerate others, if you can help yourself why can’t you help others. Listen to others but take only the good. Observe everything but feed only the good. You will only shoot bubbles of positivity and that is what the world needs. Treat everyone as you treat yourself. After all everyone is even in nature.

Art : Jerin Manuel

THE RIDE

The rain has just stopped its music and the birds started their vocals. The climate was perfectly apt for us to have a chat and we didn’t miss the opportunity. Me and my friend having a conversation on our road trip in which we were chasing the sun literally. It was in Agumbae, we were heading to watch the sunset and it was getting late. In this modern age we were lucky enough to have all the internet facilities, we checked in google for the sun setting time it was showing 6.02pm. And obviously like anyone,we were also using map for our travel and if you are a regular user of map you might have noticed that in the map it will show the approximate time of reaching the destination, that day it was showing 6.10pm. And there was 6 km to travel. We said to ourselves that we are reaching there on time no matter what. So it was not only chasing the sun but also playing with time. The travel was so bizarre that we had to climb mountain and on top of that the road condition was horrible. But thanks to kurama (my bike), he didn’t disappoint us and we reached there before time at around 5.55pm and was enjoying the view and stayed there till it became dark.

I literally said sorry to kurama on the way back to hotel, because that’s when I saw the road and realized how much I pushed him. When we came back to the hotel it was like that we did something special on chasing sun we won and even beating time. And added to that the view it was so perfect that we won in all aspect, but came to a conclusion that we are not going on  that road again. We finished our chai and our chat too and left to our respective home. On my way back I saw a old man riding his bicycle,on what was not really a good road. This made me think a lot, we had one bad road experience and we are discussing not to go back there and this man in his 70’s still riding his way to home daily, probably on the same road with even worse conditions than this. I came back home and was thinking just of the old man. “May be life taught me a good lesson that day no matter what, we are going to find this journey in life with ups and downs. It doesn’t mean that you are going in the wrong direction sometimes you have to ride on the difficult and worst roads to have good views. If you think that, you are getting old and you will get some concessions, kill it right away and expect no mercy from life. You have to be strong and ready to face anything that life throws at you. You might fall but never forget to stand up and walk in the same direction you will have some good views waiting for you.“

Photo courtesy : Sathish Hutson and Abidni

எது சுதந்திரம் மனிதா..???

போர் முரசுகள் முழங்குவது உனக்கு தெரியவில்லையா…!!!!

வெடிகுண்டு சத்தம் உன் காதுகளில் வெடிக்கவில்லையா….!!!!

உரிமைகள் மறுக்கப்படுவதை உணரவில்லையா…!!!!

கற்பழிப்பு செய்திகள் உன்னை கலங்க வைக்கவில்லையா…!!!!

மக்கள் மனிதத்தை இழப்பதை மறக்கின்றாயா இல்லை மறுக்கின்றாயா..??

நாளையத் தலைமுறைக் குறித்து கவலை இல்லையா…??

காற்று தன் கனிவை ஏன் இன்னும் காட்டவில்லை…??

பூக்கள் புன்னகையுடன் உலகை என்று பார்க்கும்…??

அலைகள் ஆனந்தத் தாண்டவம் எப்போது போடும்…??

மலைகள் தன் மதுரத்தை எங்கே மறைத்து வைத்திருக்கிறது…??

எது சுதந்திரம் என்று உணராமல், சுதந்திர தினம் கொண்டாடும் மனிதா உனக்கு என் சுதந்திர தின நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்……!!!!!

– ஜெறின் மனுவேல்.

அழுகை :

அழுகை என்பதை அறியாமல் இருந்தேன் அப்பாவின் முகத்தில்..!!!

அழுகையின் ஆழத்தை உணர்ந்தேன் அம்மாவின் கண்ணில்..!!!

என் அழுகையின் நகலை பார்த்தேன் சகோதரன் / சகோதரி இடத்தில்..!!!

அழுகையின் தேவையைப் புரிந்தேன் உறவுகளிடத்தில்..!!!

அழுகையின் வலியை அனுபவித்தேன்
நண்பனின் கண்ணீரில்..!!!

அழுகையும் அழகு தான் எ‌ன்பதை உணர்ந்தேன் மழலையின் முகத்தில்..!!!

-ஜெறின் மனுவேல்.

MY CAPTAIN

I have been blessed with some amazing human beings as my seniors/guides/captains. In this post I will take a leaf out of my captains in my college. My first captain was my department senior Samuel who according to me still is the most nicest captain I have ever played under. When I say he is nice, I mean it completely. How nice???? never in my three years under his captaincy he scolded one single person in team meetings. Such an encouraging captain. The most closest memory of him which I admire the most is it was their final year and at that time I was a regular member of my college cricket team, but he only plays department matches. And in the sports day department match he went for the toss and came back winning it we had a hurdle before deciding what to choose and said ok this time I’ll only go for toss and inside field he called our name and said “He’ll take care of the proceedings inside the field”. The second one is my first college team captain Swamy Nathan. He’s always strict in his game leads by an example. But one day his act made me realise how much he cared about me. We had a match at Loyola and to our luck it was raining that day every one in the team is arriving at ground in groups and I was the last to joint them when I reached the gang I was fully wet. No one but my captain took his small towel out of his bag and started drying my hair. Saying “don’t be in wet hair you’ll get cold”. And finally Dinesh Kumar, I can call his as my brother, senior, friend, partner and also my captain. We have traveled together from my first year. His dedication towards cricket is something beyond imagination. We have so many memories you look  back and under his captaincy we had a whole bunch of people in the team. And this incident happened during our zonal tournament. I was in a good touch and scoring some runs in that tournament we won three matches in a row. After our third match we came back to college at 2 pm in the afternoon we had a heavy lunch at our canteen and my captain said “take rest for an hour we are having practice at 3 pm I have arranged for a session with state player”. We after our lunch, being a day scholar had to skip our hostel wardens eyes to take a nap in our friends room. And somehow we managed to do so like always. The tiredness and food made me sleep for a while and when I woke up it was 4 pm with no more delays I hurried back to the ground. Only to see my angry captain. Not even a second thought he gave before saying this to me “run around the ground untill you get sick”. I started running we normally run only 3 rounds approximately 400 meters per round. That day I counted till 8 and after that my eyes were flickering, my head was rotating, my throat was dried and yet my legs were running. And what hurts me more was the one who came after me had to run for 5 round. We lost in the quarter finals in that tournament. After that we had a team meeting with not only the 15 members in the squad but with all the 24 members in the team. My captain was addressing all, he asked me to come forward face the team, his arms in my shoulders and with a tight hug said “He’s my favorite in this team and he sets a benchmark it’s a challenge to all of you, beat him and become my favourite”. I was flabbergasted by that and guess what I was his favorite till the end no one could beat me. These three played a huge role in my life. Those were the times when I was about to break and I had only cricket to hold on to my life and these three individuals helped me in that. You know sometimes your act will be a very small one but it can mean a world to others and specially when it comes from the person you admire. When your captain is having that much confidence in you then automatically your confidence in you will be doubled. So let you be your own captain and have confidence in you. When you have a problem just look back to the path that you came by. You have crossed lots of shits, give a pat on your back for that and say to the shit in front of you “I have seen much worse shits than you so move aside”

Photo courtesy : Jebin felix raja