#fakingnews

All my life, I've heard numerous stories from friends and relatives, about other friends and relatives, who forgot their past and lived a luxurious, ignorant, haughty present. But I had never taken them too seriously, partly because I thought they were just jealous of others' successes, and partly because I'm used to doing things only partly. After the recent three years of extensive research on my hair under all possible lighting conditions, in ambiance varying from the mirror in my home to the rear mirrors of bikes to the wall-size mirrors in shops, I have finally come to the conclusion that the two strands of hair above my forehead and the one strand near my left ear ARE indeed white hair, and not merely light reflecting that way, as I had desperately hoped for. White hair being synonymous with old age and wisdom, I started looking into worldly matters deeply to gain some wisdom. And I have come to the conclusion that this world is indeed lurking with ingratitude.

I know of a recently successful businessman who got himself a sleek, black Mercedes Benz. One glance at the windshield and rear-glass of the car was enough to tell me he had changed. Completely. He was never like this when he owned an Ambassador Deluxe. His Mercedes Benz doesn't have S. Ammukutty, S. Kuttymani, S. Thangavel written in red at the top left, center and bottom right of his rear. Heck, his Merc's windshield doesn't even have Baba Ramdev Thunai in bold yellow. He used to be such a transparent, kind, intelligent person when he was poor and owned just an Ambassador - he put up his Family Tree chart on his car so his kids don't get confused and board someone else's car, advertised his religious orientation with pride, and sometimes even stuck Parle-G Shaktiman stickers here and there. Now with a few extra lakhs in his bank account and a luxury machine at his disposal, he's totally forgotten his past - it's just a plain, lifeless, expressionless, useless car that he owns now, quite similar to what he has become lately. Ingratitude.

Another observation that led me to my conclusion about the world is the case of bus lovers. Ok, I've to be specific here. Lovers in the bus. They used to be so environmentally sensitive, they didn't want to fell trees to print their wedding invitations. Instead, they carved it out of steel in buses. "Raja loves Malathi I yam lowe you di chellam so much di 9873488732". Wonderful people, made sure everyone knew their love. But hey, they've changed today. They no longer care to update their graffiti with the name of their son. Maybe they're so successful, they consider it too low class to come back and update their 'writings'. Why can't they still come back to buses and scribble? Something like "Raja loves Malathi gives birth to Muthu goes to school still pees on my lap". Arrogance, I tell you.