praveennair
A getaway to Thekkady
Published June 27, 2011 | 
It was an idea to plan out a short-break which later took shape into a memorable getaway with loads of beautiful moments to cherish. Here in this travelogue I share with you all the experience of this small but sweet tour to the enchanting Thekkady!
Cochin to Thekkady (2days/1night)
We (Aji, Amjath, Kiran, Mithun, Rinoj, Vijay and me) were all geared up to flag off on our long awaited trip to Thekkady(India’s largest wildlife sanctuary), it all started with few jitters on to how our journey will take shape, what the place has to offer us, will the weather gods would play any foul game on us, will our two highly ambitious but amateur drivers (Aji, Praveen) would take us safely to our destination.
Finally it was time to go, we started our trip on our two Hyundai i10 cars on a lovely Saturday morning with light drizzling and cool breeze hinting as if even the mother nature is quite pleased today. We were on and the car gained the momentum, heading towards our first stopover which was Muvattupuzha, after having a quick breakfast, we were on with our journey ahead.
We crossed over many villages and towns en-route to Thekkady, with loads of scenic sights and glimpse of village life on the side of the roads. We moved along at a brisk pace to make sure we reach our destination by lunch, we kept on moving on state highway which was in a sorry state and at least not so pleasing for a driver to enjoy his driving. But as we reached the high-ranges of the Idukki we were welcomed by the spectacular views of lush green mountains covered in the mist.
As we were heading towards the Idukki dam (the 14 th largest arch dam in Asia) we could hardly sight the road, it was mist all over, as if we were driving amidst clouds. After driving for another 5km through the thick mist we reached the Idukki dam which is 555 feet in height and stands between two mountains, Kuruvanmala (839 feet) and Kurathimala (925 feet). We were not allowed to take any pictures of the dam by the guards at the sight, but standing on the 14 th largest arch dam in Asia made us feel really special.
After an hour drive we reached Kumily – a small town, but worth interest for its spices, we saw many small and big spice shops along the side of the roads, adding a tinge of spices in the air.
Soon we made our way to the hotel and lazed for sometime before exploring Kumily. Bordering Tamil Nadu, Kumily has got a decent amount of Tamil speaking people who mainly live here and work in the nearby spice gardens to earn their living. What more shocking was that, Tamil though is even equally spoken here along with Malayalam. After unpacking, soon we stepped out to find what this place has in-store for us.
Kumily, being the main town of Thekkady is the main centre for spice trade, Thekkady sits just 4km from the main town Kumily. The climate was pleasant with temparature well around 25 degree Celsius along with light showers every now and then. We spotted many tourists both national and international strolling down the streets buying stocks; from spices to artefacts, handlooms, to local products.
There were also many ayurvedic centres offering all sorts of massage and treatments for guests, for art lovers there were the Kathakali and Kalaripayattu centres offering live performances by trained artists everyday. Apart from this, the forest range office also provides many activities and packages for tourists including, green walk, forest trekking and stay, border hiking, backwater cruise, elephant ride and even tribal village visit.
We decided to go for the boat ride the next morning which covered the enchanting boat ride on the periyar. The day started early for us and we were all geared up to explore the periyar and Thekkady with the cruise promoted by the KTDC. After filling up the form (personal information) and taking the pass priced at Rs 150 per person, we were guided towards our cruise “Jalsundari” and were given the life jackets, we were comfortably seated on the open deck cruise. Soon the boat was unanchored and we were on for the voyage on periyar, it was told to keep silence and be watchful as it may disturb the wild animal whom we we will spot along our voyage to periyar. The boat soon skimped through the waters and we could feel being in the forest with a serene ambiance and thick forest on all sides.
Sprawling over an area of 777sq km Periyar remains the best known wildlife sanctuary in Kerala and also one of the 27 great tiger reserves in India. Ideal for wildlife photography which even motivated Aji and Mithun to keep clicking amazing pictures of the wild along with few horrifying pictures of us. This 100 year old artificial lake make the best option to explore the wildlife, we were told that Periyar has got 49 species of mammals, 246 species of birds, 28 species of reptiles, 8 species of amphibians, 22 species of fishes and 112 species of butterflies. The guide in the boat told us that he spotted a tiger three months ago on the bank of the lake, and usually in summer these tigers do come to drink water along the side of the lake. We were not lucky enough to spot a tiger but do saw langoor, wild boar, and few species of birds. Our boat cruise lasted for one-and-an-half-hours but was worthy.
After the cruise it was time for breakfast, we drove back to the town and decided to enjoy homely food in one of the nearest homestays. It was nice ambiance and made us feel as if we at home, our dining table was well big to accommodate all of us. The food was nice and delicious and the host even gave a briefing of the attractions of Thekkady. After having a heavy breakfast few of us headed back to our hotel and rest decided to do some quick shopping.
Time ran like anything and soon it was time to start our return journey, we had few more places to explore on the way which we all were eagerly waiting for. After an hour drive we reached Parunthumpara (Eagle Rock), this view point near Peermade, Idukki gives a spectacular view of The Pamba and Sabrimala forest. This viewpoint gives a panoramic view of the peaks and trenches and forest. We even spotted few waterfalls, it was mist all over and before we could explore more it was heavy downpour which made us to rush back to our cars for shelter.
We again started our journey back via Kuttikannam, Mundakayam with hairpin bends making our driving all more exciting and thrilling. Soon we crossed over Ponkunnam, Pala, Ettumanoor, as we were driving, villages and towns were passing on one after another, as if one turning pages of a book. Each village and town seemed as if it is telling something new to its name, after seeing all this we all realised the untold truth; life in those high range still remains so simple and well balanced ,just reverse to the materialistic city-life.
After lot of driving and exploration our journey came to a halt with all hugging and waving bye to each other settling back to our daily grind. But everyone loved this small yet sweet breakaway to Thekkady which will surely leave a trace on all of us. Now we all understood the crux of the adage, ‘Good thing comes in small packages’.
Short travelogue; Vytilla to Tripunithura
Published October 5, 2010 | Travelling in Cochin city buses have always been a challenging task, and I was the victim last evening, when I had to reach Tripunithura ( a market town in Cochin). The distance from my work place to the destination (Tripunithura) is only 6km and a bus fare of mere 5 rupees, but, thanks to the heavy traffic congestion and unexpected showers your short journey gets stretched. The 5 rupees then gives you the pleasure of a jam-packed bus trip that runs into hours – a full Cochin sightseeing tour.
Well last day it was my chance to experience this bitter reality of the city transport service, while our bus driver was somehow making way amidst the traffic block, daily travelers were keeping themselves busy by chit-chats and other talks. The topic of discussion was the sensational tamil flick Enthiran (Robot), few college-goers were discussing how stars in the movie did justice to their roles and what the movie lacked. After few minutes I realised the bus again started moving, I was relieved and checked the wrist watch which was ticking past 6:20, which meant in the past 20 mins our bus moved only 2kms!!!
Even though our politicians may call our city great names at the end of the day things remain the same and local people have to bear the brunt of the administrative apathy.
Meanwhile, the chat regarding the movie continued and was getting more expressive with those college students enacting few stunts and facial expressions of the movie. Though I haven’t watched this much-awaited flick of Rajinikanth, ‘Enthiran’ in the past 10mins I was lucky enough to get a good visualized review of the movie. Watch was ticking past 6:30 and now another 3km was left to finally reach my destination.
The bus stopped in between at different bus stops with many passengers getting down and more getting in. Amidst all this chaos, the person who remained ‘as cool as cucumber’ was the conductor who was not even managing the crowd inside the bus, but was also making sure he was giving tickets to all passengers. Kudos to him to collect the money from everyone even when there was hardly any space to move freely.
After all the hardships I made it to Tripunithura and finally was out in the fresh air and took a deep breath and saluted those thousands of daily commuters who face this hardship daily after their daily grind.
Cochin Twestival 2010 – A meet up of tweeters of Kerala
Published March 26, 2010 | It was yet another festivity in the city of Cochin last day with the cities avid tweeters converging at ‘Somewhere Else Cafe’ for the much awaited ‘Cochin Twestival 2010′ – A meet up of the twitter community in the state. This one-of-its kind Twestival is the second global Twestival which apart from Cochin was hosted in many other cities across the country including Banagalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Goa on the same day. This years Twestival happens to be the first ever Twestival in Cochin with the celeb guest ‘Archana Kavi’ (Neelathamara fame) gracing the event.
The event was coordinated by a team of young lads all from different fields and cities who with their hard work and efforts pulled up all the needed for the Twestival. Sajan Mani (@vmsajan), an organizer of Cochin Twetival 2010 (@cochintwestival ) addressed by telling how he along with few other gang members worked out day and night to make this dream come true. He even narrated his experience behind the Twestival and how last year no one showed up but this year the Twestival turned out to be a great event for Cochin. Sajan also added that, many rock bands including an international band had agreed to perform for free. But due to lack of venues and sponsors they had to drop the idea. He even expressed his gratitude for the support he got from few people who made this happen. Firstly he thanked the owner of ‘Somewhere Else’ Cafe, who agreed to lend the cafe free along with free welcome drink for the guests of Twestival. While DJ Arvee (@djarvee) also voluntarily preformed for the Cochin Twestival.
The Twestival was attended by quite a decent number of people from across the state, you can find them at http://tweeple.in/compare/1/. Twestival also supported the cause for under-privileged with the help of Concern Worldwide by generating funds for them using social media as the platform. The celebrity guest Archana Kavi (@archanakavi) remained the center of attraction with tweeters asking all sorts of questions, for which she elegantly replied. She seemed very pleased at being part of the first ever Twestival in Cochin, after proving her talent in her recent flick ‘Neelathamara’ this Delhi based Malayalee actor is at present shooting for her upcoming flick ‘Best of Luck’.
In conversation with ‘Archana Kavi’ -
1) How is twitter helpful for celebrities to make a link with their fans?
Archana – Well, Twitter does help a lot to have a one-on-one communication with our fans and we get to know what they feel about their stars and it even helps to reach out easily.
2) Can Twitter be thought as a tool for reputation management?
Archana – Not exactly, I don’t feel so, may be others might take it as a tool for building their repute for me its just a medium to stay connected to my friends, fans and well-wishers.
3) Do you reply to all the tweets?
Archana – Not for all, Like I can’t reply to a ‘hi’ to hundreds of people who wave me a ‘Hi’ each day, still I try my best to make sure I reply to most of them.
4) Do you think that twitter has come as a boon for the new celebs who can reach out to the masses easily, something yesteryear celebs missed?
Archana – Ya sort of! Now most of the celebs have a twitter account and they do tweet a lot about themselves, what they feel, what they are doing, and how they are and even reply to their fans.
Tweeples hurled plenty of questions on her with few funny questions as well, like with her second name ‘KAVI’ (Poet), have you ever written any poems lol!. Making her contribution for the cause the celebrity too contributed donation for Concern Worldwide foundation (@concern ).
Apart from Archana Kavi the highlights of the Twestival 2010 remained the stand-up comedy by budding stand-up artist Siddharth who with his funny acts forced the gathering to laugh out loud. The mega event winded off with DJ Arvee rocking the party with some of the foot-taping
tracks. The MAD (Make a difference foundation) guys were also part of this festivity and called for participation for the foundation, they even handed over questionnaires for tweeters to be filled out and returned back to know their views about MAD and to seeks willing people to join up with MAD’s initiative.
In all, it was a nice experience to be part of such an event which winded up with new ideas, noble deeds and lot of new friends and tweet pals. Kudos to all the guys behind Cochin Twestival 2010.
Union Budget 2010: Nothing to cheer for Keralites
Published February 27, 2010 | It was a long wait for the Keralites before the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee finally announced the Union budget 2010. People of Kerala were expecting something to cheer about this year, but it turned out to be a disappointment for them, with the total revenue allocation for the state dropping.
Well this year’s budget seemed to be favouring more on the province from where these ministers hail from, first it was the Railway Minister ‘Mamata Banerjee showering goodies to West Bengal in the railway budget 2010. Followed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s proposal to include embankment schemes along rivers Bhagirathi and Ganga-Padma in the Central Sponsored Flood Management Programme, will benefit the people of Eastern state. At large the budget 2010 has thrashed the hopes of Kerala which was expecting something this year.
The left government of Kerala has termed the budget to be a corporate’s budget with nothing for the common man. The so-called common man was bearing the pressure of inflation and with this budget it seems the “Aam aadmi”(common man) has nothing to be happy. Even the Kerala government were continuously demanding relaxations to protect the domestic sector by maximizing the custom tariff of primary agricultural products but nothing came out for them this year.
Highlights of Union Budget 2010
What got dearer :
- ACs
- TVs
- Big Cars
- Petrol
- Diesel
- Cigarettes and Cigars
- Non-Smoking tobacco products
- Air Travel ( due to the rise in fuel prices)
What got cheaper:
- Mobile phones
- Medical Equipment
- Agricultural Equipment
- CFL bulbs
- Clean energy equipments like solar panels
- Set top boxes
- Compact Disc
- Toys
- Books
The budget might have triggered the sensex to crawl up by 176 point but it failed to please the people with fuel prices going up. It seems people of Kerala have to wait for the next year’s Union budget to find if they have something to cheer.
On being asked to the people about their say on this budget, they were not so excited. It seems the calculation of the common man of Kerala has completely gone down with the hike in fuel price and nothing special for the state in the budget!
Aqua Show 2010 an institutional event
Published February 16, 2010 | The city was once again in the buzz with the ongoing India International Aqua Show 2010. This ornamental fish and accessories exhibition and trade fair has been organised by the Department of Fisheries, Govt. of Kerala and is witnessing a massive turn out every day. Being an ardent lover of aquatic animals me along with my friends were also among those thousands of people who came for this spectacular event.
It was a unique opportunity for me and all others to be a part of such a show which exhibits a rich variety of ornamental fishes and accessories clustering under one roof. This five day long event started off on Feb12 and culminates on Feb16 drawing exhibitors,breeders, traders and visitors from across the country. Even with an entry ticket for Rs 40 for adults and Rs 15 for kids, has not deterred the enthusiasm of the city goers who seemed quite excited for witnessing this grand event. We any how took the entry passes and made our way to the long queues which had a couple of twist and turns before finally culminating to the exhibition dome.
As we along with all others were eagerly waiting to make it to that exhibition arena, announcements were on full swing, requesting people to have patience and maintain the queue. The wait was quite a bit tiring, though the organisers do availed few temporary wood benches along the queues for rest, but it seemed quite inadequate for such a huge gathering. Thanks to the musical event which kept us entertained while we were moving in the queue. It was really a rare scene to watch kids, teenagers, adults to old aged people all waiting so desperately for having a sneak peek to those aquatic creatures.
Key Features of Aqua Show 2010 :
- Perfect platform for breeders and traders to meet under one roof.
- Opportunity to marine colleges to participate and showcase latest techniques for breeding.
- To facilitate the exchange of ideas regarding new trends in fisheries.
- Encourage entrepreneurs of the state towards the untapped potentials of fishery sector.
- Motivate and inform people regarding the possibilities of employment in this sector.
- Popularise fish breeding and ornamental fish keeping among the masses.
With the objective of encouraging hobbyists, breeders, traders and entrepreneurs, the Government of Kerala has been organising this annual event regularly over the last five years. And it is quite evident that people have started recognising the possibilities of ornamental fish keeping and breeding which is a commendable thing. As we made it to the exhibition dome we were amazed to see so many varieties of fish in different size and colours.
Though photography was strictly prohibited, still many people managed to click these wonderful breeds with their mobile cameras. As we moved along we saw many salt water fish and other aquatic plants and creatures, starting from star fish, lobster, crabs to other varieties. It was truly amazing to watch such a collection of ornamental fishes at one place, but it was ‘Miss Kerala’ who fascinated all with its scuttle curves and cute shape, this beautiful fish gained a huge popularity among all fish enthusiasts in the show.
There were also lot many stalls showcasing and selling a variety of fish products, fish tanks of all shapes and sizes; from the traditional ones to those ultra modern tanks which can lift up the look of your living room. With lot many offers and discounts, it seemed a smart deal to buy those attractive fish tanks at affordable rates.
The Aqua Show in Kochi has always been a major event in the realm of Ornamental Fisheries and attracts people from all walks of life. Like every year this year’s show too stood out to be a great event, providing a forum for interaction for the breeders and traders about new methods and use of technology in fish breeding.
Battling it hard on tracks
Published November 25, 2009 | How many of you have ever given a thought about those millions of poverty ridden people who do have nothing to lose but still weave golden dreams. Well, if you are quizzing what their golden dreams are, then its just to live another day with adequate food and shelter.
Living with such a dream is a family who came to Kerala two years back with a hope to sustain their livelihood. There assets were few pairs of clothes, an old suitcase which never shuts and a harmonium. This family is lead by Devendra (42), Kamala (32) and daughter Sapna (13).
Though they don’t hail from Kerala nor do they have any ties with ‘God’s Own Country’ still they say, they like this place which embraced them with open arms. Now the big question comes; did they get that channel or path to sustain their life here! Music paved their way earning them their bread, but they don’t do any street shows nor they go door to door.
On the contrary this family performs in trains plying in Kerala. Their day starts early and winds up late. You can spot them in Passenger trains, Express and even Super fast trains, selling their skills for mere coins. They do have to face many abuses of those Railway Officals (T.T) who make things worse for them.
On being asked how much do they earn a day, “some time two hundred to three hundred a day while at times have to contain with fifty to hundred bucks” said Devendra. He also added that he has to bear the dis-interest of many of the passengers who do shrugs off them. But he also thanked many of those passenger who do behave nicely and even applaud their skill.
Singing on those hit Bollywood numbers and other languages in order to some how get enough money to earn their food remains the only goal for the family. No time to think for any other thing, the 13 year old girl wish to study and go to school one day.
There are many such hopeful families who comes to this state in a hope to make a living for them and their family. It may be the labourer working in any of the construction sites near to your place or any street vendor selling toys. In the rat race, many of us don’t even realise or notice such faces do exist around us.
Aren’t we all slowly becoming victims of our self-centred existence?
Sabarimala – The centre of faith and devotion
Published November 21, 2009 | Like every year the doors of the famous temple Sabarimala were once again open for two months for the pilgrims. Being a devotee of Lord Ayyappa I was also one among those millions of pilgrims waiting to get a glimpse of Lord Ayyappa. The temple gets thronged with devotees especially during the main pilgrim season from November to January. Mandalapooja(Nov.17th)and Makaravilakku(Jan.14th) the two main events of the pilgrim season. The temple remains closed during the rest of the year except for the first five days of every Malayalam month and during Vishu (April).
Throughout the route to pamba we spotted hundreds of pilgrims marching ahead to their destination ‘Sabarimala‘. After reaching ‘Pamba’ ( the third longest river in the South Indian state of Kerala and considered as the Dakshin Ganga due to its association with the pilgrim centre – Sabarimala) I was much pleased, the way the authorities have cleared up the banks and made ample space for the pilgrims to take the holy dip in Pamba.
After taking the holy dip in ‘Pamba,’ we marched towards the Pamba Ganapathy temple, we started our journey bare footed with Irumudi Kettu (Irumudi is the only travelling kit which a pilgrim carries on his head during the pilgrimage) on our heads toward the hilltop Sabrimala shrine. Metal detector and scanning machines were installed to keep a vigil. Thousands of devotees were marching up chanting ‘Swamiye Ayyappa’ ‘Ayyappa Swamiye’. Even the arrangements seemed quite perfect this year with many commendable works by the dewasom.
Glimpse of the development this year :
- Construction of new Cardiology Centre.
- Broadening of pathways
- Concreting the pathways
- Building up new barricades on the way
- More resting shelters on the way to the shrine.
- Medicated water stalls for devotees
Many temporary restaurants and tea stalls were there on both sides of the pathway. We all were moving on chanting the name of Lord Ayyappa, and suddenly the climate changed,and it was rain all over. Soon we moved on to those resting sheds constructed this year, again we started our journey towards the shrine after the rain.
Walking for an hour more we finally reached the ‘Nadapanthal’ where devotees were queued waiting for making it to the 18 holy steps. All along the journey I found more devotees from Tamil Nadu, Andra Pradesh and Karnataka rather than Kerala and few foreign nationals were also there stating how popular Sabarimala is. As one steps on those holy eighteen steps, a full throated cry goes up from the devotees, “Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa!” It is the realisation of a mission. Policemen were deployed all around. After few struggle we managed to those 18 steps (Pathinettu padi) made up of pure gold, where policemen were standing on both side of those 18 holy steps pulling up devotees quickly.
Actual Timings during the Mandala Pooja – Makaravilakku Season
Opens at 0400 hrs 0400 hrs
Nirmalya Darshanam 0405 hrs 0405 hrs
Neyyabhishekam 0430 – 1130 hrs 0425 -1130 hrs
Ganapathi Homam 0435 hrs 0430 hrs
Usha Pooja 0730 hrs 0730 hrs
Ucha (Noon) Pooja 1230 hrs 1300 hrs
Closes at 1300 hrs 1330 hrs
Opens at 1600 hrs 1600 hrs
Deeparadhana 1830 hrs 1830 hrs
Pushpabhishekham 1900 hrs 1900 hrs
Athaza Pooja 2230 hrs 2230 hrs
Harivarasanam and Closing at 2250 to 2300 2250 to 2300 hrs
My eyes were taken by surprise to see such a massive turn out of devotees, the Lord Ayyappan temple (Sreekovil) was glittering with gold all over it, from roof top to pillars and doors all made of pure gold. In the sannidhanam there is a shrine of Lord Ganapati which is also recently platted with gold facing to the south-west of the main temple, known as Kannimula Ganapati. The special offering to this deity is Ganapati homam.
After worshiping the two deities, we moved to our camp. Though it was 10 pm but the buzz and enthusiasm of the pilgrims made me to realise that its nothing other than Gods blessing which keeps those pilgrims active even after walking for hours bare footed.
Next was to buy the prasadam, the queue for arvana was really long with devotees waiting to make it to the counter. I felt the lazy approach in the arrangements made by the police, as many devotees jumped the queue to buy the prasadam. After an hour we got the arvana payasam (prasadam of Lord Ayyappa).
Next morning we woke up early to take the holy dip in the ‘Bhasma Kulam’(About a 100 metres away is the shrine of Malikappurathamma. where hundreds of devotees takes holy bath in memory of the tapaswini Sabari who entered a fire to end her mortal life. It is after her that the peak is named Sabarimala). After taking the holy dip we started our journey back to pamba, while descending on the route we saw tall trees standing dead straight appearing like skyscraper. We spotted many ‘Doli’(Palanquin) carrying old aged and disabled devotees. I appreciate the efforts by those palanquin carriers who carry pilgrims on those hilly terrains.
Being the first day of Mandalamasam there was huge rush of devotees. After reaching pamba, again we took a holy dip refreshing ourselves from the fatigue of descending down the hill. With the first dip in water something brushed my feet, it was a mundu – Many devotees abandon their mundu after taking the holy dip on their way back.
In order to avoid any traffic congestion heavy vehicles were not allowed to be parked in the parking lot near pamba. So we opted for a public transport towards Nilackal (An important Temple enroute to Sabarimala and located between Plappally and Pampa) an intermediate halting area with ample parking facilities distributed separatley as per states, like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andra Pradesh. This year lot more parking area was allotted, from there I boarded my bus and started my return journey with the hope to come back again next year, with more fervor and devotion. “Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa”.
It's all in the 'Name'
Published November 19, 2009 | Almost everyone loves their names and when it reaches out to the public on a positive note then one really feels proud or honoured. Well, this race for popularity is not only shared by high profile people or celebrities who crave for the so called ‘popularity’. But these days Kerala villagers are not willing to miss out on a single opportunity to bring up their names in limelight in one or the other way.
Kerala has always been known for its rich culture and traditions, with festivals on almost week in one or the other part or region of the state. Let’s peek into the other side of these festivals which offers a golden chance for those popularity craving morons to come out to the limelight and shine out like stars. Talk about any small or big temple festival in the villages in Kerala and you can see how active these temple committee members are not discussing the programs or events, but more concern about how big and colourful their pictures are on the brochure and pamphlets.
The popularity saga doesn’t ends here, even special supplementary is issued in local newspapers with almost half page dedicated to the committee members showing off their colourful pictures and names in bold. From young to old everyone wants to look their best on the pamphlets and brochures. One more trend which is very much in practice these days is the way people love to donate things or money, ‘good indeed’, but the catch is that they want their names to be mentioned. I’ll share a recent incident which made me think, “are donations given for some gain?”
It was like any other day, but some fuss was there in my locality, later I came to know that the ‘deepasthambam’ (many-tiered lamps) placed in the ‘Aal thara’ (a Banyan tree with a base foundation considered to be sacred) in our place collapsed, soon a meeting was called by the committee and donations were asked to bring in a new ‘deepasthambam’.
“The estimate amount is around 40 thousand INR”, said one committee member, so all decided to pool in money as donation, this was all really commendable. But then came the idea of why not inscribing the names of the donors on a marble plaque and fix it for public view near the new ‘deepasthambam’ as a remembrance.
Really a small, but an eye-opening instance tells us that, villages too have been infected by the so-called popularity syndrome.
Kerala villages: Abode to moral values
Published November 10, 2009 | In this materialistic era where artificiality and selfishness has over powered our moral values and customs, there are instances which highlight how people still believe and practice such morality in real life. A recent experience of mine made me think morality and humanity has been washed off in our so called modern society.
Well, Kerala has always known for its rich culture, traditions and hospitality, but with the changing trend this so called ‘God’s Own Country’ seems losing out its cultural heritage slowly. In the race for livelihood the city goers in Kerala have some how forgotten the values of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (which means that the whole world is a single family).
Amidst the rat-race of daily life people have programmed themselves to be least bothered with what is happening around them. For instance on the city roads if untowardly any ill-fated guy meets up with an accident, it’s upon his luck if anyone really stops, putting his work at stake to help the victim. Well this is a normal scene nowadays, which has pointed fingers over how artificial people have become and how soon they have forgotten their values.
But, in my case I feel quite lucky enough to be living in a Kerala village where people still are rooted to their values and culture to a great extinct. Now, what I am going to share with you is a personal experience which forced me to sit and think that the decision to relocate to a village rather than a city was a wise decision of my parents.
It was a Sunday morning and I was going to the near-by market on my Hero Honda motorbike. As I was about to reach the market a stray dog suddenly jumped in front of my bike. As we all knows stray dogs are known for their menace, and its the same in my village. Many riders end up in mishaps with these road side dogs and that day it was my turn. Though I tried my level best to avoid the accident, as the elders say, “what has to happen will happen”.
The collision was not so fierce, but I got severe injuries on my ankles and knees, it all happened in fraction of seconds and as it was over, the culprit dog smartly fled the scene of accident. It was a Sunday morning, even though village roads hardly have any traffic, and on Sundays the streets usually remain deserted.
After the mishap, it was at first a bit difficult for me to understand what had happened, as soon as I tried to lift my bike which was lying about 5 feet away in pain, one of the passers-by spotted me lying on the road injured. Soon they stopped and lifted me up and my bike. Soon few more other passers-by gathered and everyone was doing their best to make me feel comfortable and that genuine concern was very well clear in their eyes.
I was for a minute taken aback by the way they were concerned about my condition, it made me think of the values and helpfulness that still exists in our villages. By experiencing this I felt really happy to find that, the village people in Kerala are still unfazed by the artificial and self-centred lifestyle, which the people living in city have adopted.
Terrifying traffic of Kochi
Published November 5, 2009 | 
I was asleep when a voice woke me up – “It’s 8′O clock!” What!!! It was another bright day and I was still sleeping. I jumped off my bed to get ready for office, though my work starts at 10 and it hardly takes me an hour to get ready for work, but I don’t want to take any chance gambling with the “traffic of Kochi”. This is a daily scene in almost every home in Kochi (Cochin).
The commercial capital of God’s Own Country, Kochi has witnessed a huge transformation in almost all aspects in the recent years. Not only political changes, but in the past five years the city has developed a lot in terms of its population, construction, and even transportation, adding to the traffic congestion. The narrow roads and unscientifically constructed pedestrian walks do have messed up the condition more for the Kochiites.
Figures have proved that the traffic of Kochi is increasing constantly at a rate of 333% each year. Another factor is the continuous rise in the number of four wheelers in the city roads adding to the woes of common man. Official records have also pointed out that about 5.5 lakh vehicles ply in Kochi and the number keeps on growing. It is also seen that about 2000 vehicles are registered in the city limit a month, out of which 85 per cent are private vehicles. The vehicles are rising in a geometric progression trend but the infrastructure is falling short to bridge the gap.
The peak of the time, between 9am to 11am remains the most high time with office goers, students, businessmen and workers all rushing for their work place. Amidst this a screaming ambulance finds its really tough to somehow manage to squeeze its way out from the bottleneck.
Traffic block has become a common scene in Kochi and the Kochiites are used to this daily. Amidst all this the poor and dilapidated condition of the city road do make life really miserable for commuters. Though the plans are in the offing for starting a sky bus service in order to curb the traffic problem but at large the administration seems really cold on this raging issue.