Who ever lives in their own world is mad

An excerpt from one of the novels that I read,

"A powerful wizard, who wanted to destroy an entire kingdom, placed a magic potion in the well from which all the inhabitants drank whoevr drank that water would go mad.

The following morning, the whole population drank from the well and they all went mad, apart from the king and his family, who had a well set aside for them alone, and which the magician had not managed to poison. The king was worried ad tired to control the population by issuing a series of edicts governing serenity and public health. The policeman and the inspector, however, had also drunk the poisened water and they thought the king's decsions were absurd and resolved to take no notice of them.

When the inhabitants of the kingdom heard these decress, they became convinced that the King had gone mad and was now giving nonsensical orders. They marched on the castle and called for his abdication.

In despair, the king prepared to stpe down from the throne, but the queen stopped him, saying 'let us go and drink from the communal well. Then, we will be the same as them'.

And that was what they did. The King and the Queen drank the water of madness and immeditealy began talking nonsense. Their subjects repented at once, now that the King was displaying such wisdom, why not allow him to continue ruling the country?

The country continued to live in peace, allthough its inhabitants behaved very differently from those of its neighbours. And the king was able to gover until the end of his days."


The person who's right is just the person who's strongest.

Whoever lives in their own world is considered to be mad or wiered. We restrain ourselves from doing many things as it is not considered to be good/ decent with respect to others or society. Do we live for others? If you do not listen to what others say you are labeled as snobbish. If you do something out of the routine norms set, you are labeled abnormal.

Our lives are governed more by Conformism.
It has been a natural evolution principle to accept what majority believes to be good. We do not use our knack to know if its good for us or not. We would never be independant. Without our knowledge our lives are guided by the principles and norms set by someone else.

No two minds think alike, but how is it that all of us should follow the same rules, or behave the same? Everyone would have their own perception of what life is, what is good and what is bad. As long as you opinion doesn't harm anyone I dont think there is a need to listen to what others say or what others label you as. If I say life is not all about working 8 hrs a day, spending rest of the time with your family/ for your family. If I say life is living to fulfill a passion/ dream which would never come true, but still living with a hope till the end, they laugh at me and say you are mad. If I say happiness is being a free bird without any responsibilities, without any relations/ bondings to worry/ care/ account for they say am an escapist.



One can never be opinionated in this world of madness. Eventually we end uo drinking the poisioned
water from the well so that you are the same as others.

To be an Unknown

How do you feel when you think all of a sudden you have come to a place which is not meant to be, being lost, wondering
why the hell one had to come here? As if you have come to a deserted island, an alien place, where you know no one
nor does any one knows you. Wondering how long it would take to establish your own identity, getting to know others
and letting others know you, letting go old friends with the past. And suddenly on the verge of no hope things change,
and you are poured with too many friends, with many people around you, who recognize you as a friend giving an identity.
And there it starts again, endless chatting with them, parties, movies, trips etc etc. I dont think I can handle too much of anything at a time.

Am the one who's not open to changes. It takes time for me to get accustomed to any change. But ironically change is
the only thing that doesn't change in my life. Changes noticeable, changes un-noticeable. Changes pleasant, changes
that are not pleasant. Changes expected, changes un-expected.



I like to live without an identity whos presence/ absence doesn't make much difference, not being worried about what
others have to think about me. Strange or wiered but I don wanna be noticed. Not able to trace out the reason for my
wiered behaviour, not eager to know as well, cos am happy this way! But again am blessed( obliged) with many people
around me who bother to think about me as a matter of subject for their discussions. Why cant people leave one alone?
I wonder how they have time to think about other's or other's life?

I read this somewhere - people who watch TV news or gossip a lot are the most unhappy people. They do this so that
they can satisfy themselves thinking that their problems are nothing in front of the disasters that happen in daily life some
where in the corner of the world. They talk/ discuss others not out of the interest in the person but cos of the hidden hatred/ jealousy.

Is a woman vulnerable?

This question has been troubling me since I started reading the book ‘Ladies Coupe`’ by Anita Nair. She tries to answer few of the questions that every woman would have faced in her life, but fails in doing so. This novel is good in answering the question ‘Is a woman vulnerable?’ rather than ‘Can a woman stay single and live happily?’. She narrates stories of six women who are very much different in their age, social status etc but all being Indian women. But I think a woman’s life is the same wherever (across the world) you go… a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a wife. She is the same ..compassionate, caring, affectionate, at the same time she is mighty, vindictive, erosive.

I liked one of the characters comparing herself (a woman) to ‘water’. Water – one among the five elements that constitute life. Water that moistens. Water that heals. Water that comforts. Water that flows tirelessly. Water that also destroys. Capable of dissolving just about anything which as mere water, it wouldn’t even dare to aspire to. Raging with a vehemence that could burn and destroy poisons that if allowed to remain, would kill that was natural and good.



Protagonist Akhila in this novel tries to seek an answer for her question from the stories of other women. I basically did not like this character Akhila, who is a mere hypocrite, an insane person who thinks that she can share her sorrows/ intrigues with co-passengers who are women like her. How could some one else solve your problem of life? If it was that simple to get answers to your questions from other’s lives why would this world still have many problems? After all are the problems of two women the same?

The only two characters I liked are Prabha Devi and Margarette.

Prabha Devi a woman who doesn’t go by the norms set by men. A woman who has her own opinions and plans for her life. A woman who does some thing out of routine to make her life interesting. Who likes to be the way she is. Who is completely assured of who she is, who knows what she wants and who knows what she doesn’t like. A woman who is confident and content with what she is.

Margarette, a chemistry lecturer who tolerates all the contempt from the most loved husband and finally decides to be evasive to him in order to touch and shake his self-esteem the very foundation of his being. She knows how to come over the male egoism.
I liked her theory of comparing people to chemicals – arsenic, bromine, lithium, cobalt, tetrasulphur tetranide, nitrous oxide and finally hydrogen sulphur.

Bromine – Heavy, volatile, not very active by herself, but united readily with others.
Lithium – Light and slivery, dazzling everyone with smile and charm.
Cobalt – Evil spirit. Hard and brittle.
Tetrasulphur Tetranide – The trickiest. Trusted aide, changes its color with the room temperature.
Nitrous oxide - Laughing gas. Droll and funny.
Arsenic – Poisoner of minds
Hydrogen Sulphur – King of chemicals. Given to extremes.

You ought to read the novel to understand how she compares her colleagues with these chemicals.

All the six characters in this novel have had their mother’s influence in the way they were brought up. Their mother saying how she should be like a daughter, like a wife, like a sister, like a mother. But none of them tell them how to be like a woman, a woman with her own identity. I owe a lot to my mother for this. She did never teach me all these. She taught me how to be independent. How to be successful. How to be unvanquished. My Dad’s affection makes me a child but my mother made me a woman. To me, my mother and grand-mother are role models. They did never impose any restrictions on me and they did never forget to let me know if there was something that I should know.