Kochappan,Bradd Pitt and ' The Hindu'.

The sky was overcast throughout the day. At 7.30 in the evening it started to rain. I was in an auto to Kochapp's place. I reviewed the happenings after I met him last.

I spoke to Gopal alias Kovalannan ( in Trivandrum style) about improving my writing skills to impress Kochappan. I was bent on impressing Kochapps ; as bent as the the 14th bent in the Mettupalayam-Ootty ghat route.One of the suggestions given was to make some changes and improve the writing of articles in the English dailies like The Hindu or Indian Express. This evening I was going prepared.

The TV serial actor Soman died in a bus accident at Alleppy. I mentioned about the news in the papers. He nodded his head and said that he had also read about it.

'The Hindu has not reported it correctly'' I said with confidence ; with the same confidence as Advaniji on the day of no confidence motion.
''correctly.?'' he asked. '' What is wrong.?''

'' Twelve dead in a bus accident.Seventy three injured.
Among the dead is the famous serial actor Soman.' was the headline. such a known actor and a casual mention? That's wrong'' I answered.

'' This headline can be in many styles'' kochappan said.
As usual he had a large peg of fresh air and wore the look of a scholar and continued '' One is the
type you mentioned the others could be

' Major bus accident in Alleppy
Twelve dead and seventy injured.Among the dead is the famous serial actor Soman'

' Soman famous serial actor dies in an accident.
Twelve dead, seventy injured'

' Private superfast crashes against a tree
Twelve people including serial actor dead
Brake failure is reported to be the cause'

Kochapps paused again for a large and having satisfied himself continued

'' The number of people dead is the main point in the 'The Hindu' headline
In the second the stress is on the place, Alleppy , where the accident took place. Importance is given to one of the dead, like the actor in the third one, and the type and cause of the accident is given prominence in the fourth one. All are correct. It depends on the news and the factor which a paper values that decides the style of title. The Hindu never errs, aniyan, it never does'' he concluded and had another large. If the 'larges' he had were what others have he would have been flat out on the floor. But he stood erect like the 'Statue of Liberty' ; if you have any prejudice against the a fore mentioned statue I would suggest the 'Eiffel Tower'.

We Menons donot take setbacks lying down. I had another ace up my sleeve. I took that out; a paperclip from The Hindu of Monday the 14th July. Gave it to him. He read it aloud.

' Twins for Angelina Jolie'
Oscar award winner Angelina has given birth to twins on saturday evening at the Lenval waterfront hospital ..... . The Actor Bradd Pitt, the twins father, was believed to be at her side'

''If I were a reporter for The Hindu I would have made a correction.'' I told Kochapps point blank.

''Like what'' he, with raised eye brows.

I followed the suit. I with my raised eyebrows, not as bushy as his, yet. ''The verb is placed wrongly. It should have been 'The Actor Bradd Pitt , believed to be the twins father,was at her side'.

Have seen people freezing or frozen ?. You should have seen Kochapps. He froze. he was a block of hard ice. Few moments passed. The room was hot . The placement of the verb as I did , took him by shock. He never thought I could be this creative. He started melting. He transformed from a frozen block to small pool of cold water.

Today he did not walk to his bedroom.He flowed like a small rivulet ; leaving a wet trail on the vitrified tile floor.

I sat back happy and contented; probably like Bradd Pitt believed to be the father of Angelina's twins !!