Rani Poduval-Ajith

  In the balmy weather, typical of coastal towns like Pondicherry, there is a sprawling Central University campus which broadens to at least 800 acres   where all professors, students, trees, foxes and hyenas live amicably with each other in complete respect of the relevant boundaries barring one or few instances. Amidst the lush foliage there are departments that are built to the level of the tallest tree nearby.. I am quite sure there are architectural measurements to the uniform structures across campus but from where I sat which was mostly facing the canteen window- this amusing calculation of height seemed perfect. One of these structures housed our management classes where professors would   drone on in their field of expertise adding their own observations ( I like to call it “tales”) just so that we relate to the otherwise mind boggling terms in the books that were anyway busy weighing the desk down. We may not remember every word they have eloquently put forwar...

  To be able to live a stone’s throw away, sorry I correct that..( I can imagine my elders wrinkling their forehead) a flower’s throw away from one of the historical monument like temple is considered a privilege and undoubtedly a blessing. But when you are young,   I mean hold your palm out and” that’s the size of my leg kind of age”, you are pushed, prodded and woken up at hours much before the hen deems fit to wake the world up as every week there would be a reason to pray. My mom and aunts would say the names of those special days but when you are little there’s only so much you grasp. The  wakeup calls almost always begin with the lady crooning Suprabhaatham in our ears through Ammuma’s bigger than life radio which we cousins have failingly tried reducing the volume countless number of times. But she would each time drop her breakfast prep in the kitchen and come to the big hall where we all slept like assembly line factory produce and turn the knob till the sound vi...