An Ode To Openness!!

Well... although I don’t want a major part of my blog to be about symbiosis, I just can’t help writing about my second exciting week here. I guess this is the first time ever that I’ll be writing on my academics. For a person like me… that is actually something.  Anyway this week, as I mentioned in the title, was all about how open a person should be to everything. When I first got my week’s Time Table, I was horrified because we had classes till 8 in the evening. And the worse part that concerned me was that whole week… right from 9 in the morning to 8 in the night, will be dealt by only one professor. I dint know what to do. No matter how great the lecture is, bearing one person from morning to evening and that too for ONE WHOLE week wasn't something I was looking forward to. So I woke up on Monday, got ready, had my breakfast, and I went to the class. Little did I know that something else was waiting for me there.  There he came, a human encyclopedia,  a man of substance, Mr. A.F. Mathew. He is  an Ex faculty at MUDRA and now will be joining IIM Kozikode after his workshop here. He dealt with different elements in the society which included castism, gender, reservation, nationalism,communalism,violence etc. 

On the very first day, he showed us what kind of a pathetic life people are leading in the name of religion. Being an atheist, he feels that the country is in a greater danger. “All Religions are Equally good or Equally Rubbish”… that’s what he said. And frankly, I was not at all happy with his first lecture because I wasn’t comfortable with his idea of taunting all the religions. Then, after he said all that he has to say, he finally showed us movie, which actually burnt the insides of my stomach. The movie, titled Magdalene Sisters, is a real life incident on how religion ruined the life of 3 innocent women in Ireland. I’d say that the movie had a great impact on everyone who watched it.  I could’ve easily bunked the second day as I wasn’t comfortable with everything that he said. But then he revealed so many facts that it was hardly impossible for me to NOT attend his class.  On day two, he dealt with gender factor and how the lives of women are affected in this male dominated society.  The movie that he showed as a proof of this was an Iranian movie called Two Women.  Quite a brilliant work.  The day three was something  that excited me as he dealt with Nazis. He showed us a movie on how homosexuals were treated during the Nazi revolution. The outcome was.. I CRIED my lungs out.  Similarly, everyday he used to tell us about different sensitive issues that ruined the true spirit of humanity. He gave us ample facts to make us understand why India NEEDS reservations, why one SHOULD NOT supports a person like ABDUL KALAM to be the president and also made me realize that Humanity stands ahead of patriotism, nationalism, communal ism. As shocking as it was... at the end of the day… it all made sense.  Now I think I am a bigger person and I do know that I should do a thorough analysis before supporting someone blindly. I would like to say that this is one of the BEST LECTURES that I ever had in my 19 years of education.

Here are some of Sir Mathew's Epic lines....

“I am like a ray of light in your wretched lives”

I feel like a genius everywhere I go because you people know nothing"

"U don’t read newspaper, u don’t watch TV, so what u do all day, watch Porn....hmmm "

"god is standing in front of u
don’t worry now I have come
everything will be alright...hmmm "

"If a girl sleeps with ten boys of her class, she's a slut. If a boy does the same with ten girls, he's a stud. This is the bang-on-target example of gender bias...”

Addressing a lady: "Do you go home and declare, Mom! Great news!! I'm a lesbian!! "

"I will declare I will screen a Lesbian film in auditorium and when all the seats are occupied, I will play the Gay Film"

"Of course I don't believe in that rubbish that all men are equal...You can't be my equal"

"In Mills & Boon, hero plants a kiss on heroine's forehead and she faints. I think she'll have epilepsy during intercourse”