Come evening the spirits come alive, men women and children alike dance in a frenzy and smite their foreheads with a sword, cuts and bruises, blood and gore, nothing can stop them at Kodungaloor- Its Kodungaloor Bharani, the return of the spirit at the Kodungallur temple in Kerala, South India (March- April of every year). The velichappad (spirit) descends on them and a slur of profanity is offered to the diety.
I'm the average guy you often miss out in the crowd. For twelve years I was taught Hindi, English, History, Geography, Civics, Math, Chemistry, Physics and Computer Science, Sanskrit and Socially Useful Productive Work to become I-do-not-know-what.
I was taught Integration, Differentiation, Algebra, Basic Electrical, Electronics Civil Engineering, Graphics, Basic Mechanical Engineering, Lathe, Surveying, Basic Mechanics, Computer Science, C, C++, Algorithms and a lot of other things for four years to become an engineer. In between I learnt Kalari Payattu, tried Kathakali, Acting, Drawing and Singing-- none of which I was good at.
I grew up watching Reporter, Surabhi, Malgudi Days, Byomkesh Bakshi, Aladin, Mougli, Sea Hawks, Rangoli, Chitrahar, four’o clock Sunday movies and other DD shows.
I am now a journalist. I like news, views, reviews, propaganda, Bob Dylan, Che Guevara, Mehdi Hassan, Tea, table tennis, photographs, and table talk. I like walking the walk in my Lungi (Panche/ Mundu); talking the talk when I’m friendly and cursing the traffic not so loudly. Reach me at jpkhood@gmail.com. Twitter handle: therealjpk