What Mangrove Forests have to do with Kerala Politics & Environment Protection?
Published July 21, 2010 | Mangrove Forests are lately in the news in Kerala since CPI (M) got involved with the establishment of a Mangrove theme park in Valapattanam of Kannur district. The theme park is now shut following a controversy. The Kerala Coastal Zone Management Ministry ordered its closure on the charges that it was functioning in violation of Coastal Regulatory Zone(CRZ).
CPI (M) is very keen on developing Kannur, don’t know whether their sole intention is development or is it a mere political agenda hidden behind it? Their first initiative was the Parassinikadavu Water Theme Park. The Mangrove Park is under the Pappinisseri Eco-Tourism Society in which CPI (M) Central Committy member E.P. Jayarajan serves as the advisor. The park is located in the 12 acres close to the Valapattanam Bridge and towards the east side of the Valappattanam River.
The park was beautified with a walk-way through the Mangroves, bright lamps that’ll make the night to look like a day, colourful water fountain, special zone for children’s entertainment, fish tanks, conference hall and small food huts. Bridges, two jetties and an observation tower in the river were also built along with it. The owners have already spend a sum of one crore for the park and is expecting 5 crores as expenditure in the next five years.
Although they have established the park saying that it was for the development and protection of Mangroves and the different species live in it, it’s clear that the park is in no way going to help it. Not only won’t the park help in the Mangroves protection but it can completely endanger the ecosystem of the living species here.
How mangrove forests help our environment?
Mangrove forests are naturally resilient, having withstood severe storms and changing tides for many millennia. Mangroves have specially adapted aerial and salt-filtering roots and salt-excreting leaves which enable them to occupy the saline wetlands where other plant life cannot survive.
- Mangroves’ protective buffer zone helps shield coastlines from storm damage and wave action, minimizing damage to property and losses of life from hurricanes and storms.
- Mangroves have been useful in treating effluent, as the plants absorb excess nitrates and phosphates, thereby preventing contamination of near-shore waters.
- Mangroves absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon in their sediments, thereby lessening the impacts of global warming; and help in the protection of associated marine ecosystems
- Sea grass beds and coral reefs depend on healthy mangroves to filter sediments and provide nursery grounds for resident species.
Mangrove Forests are largely facing deforestation. However, mangrove forests are treated as “wastelands,” or useless swamps. This mistaken view has made it easier to exploit mangrove forests as cheap and unprotected sources of land and water. Mangrove Forests were largely destroyed in the name of unsustainable developments like:
- Shrimp aquaculture
- Charcoal production and logging
- Oil exploration and extraction
- Tourism
- Urbanization and urban expansion
- Ports and roads
Continuing heavy loss of mangrove forests represents a real tragedy for our oceans and the extensive life-support systems mangroves engender. With climate change and sea level rising upon us, we must look to the mangroves to help turn the tides which these forests can do through their ability to control erosion by buffer against storms, and sequester huge amounts of carbon. Mangroves may in fact be one of our last defenses against the perils of climate change and global warming.
If the authorities stick on to the decision of the closure of the park, this may well contribute to the survival of our environment and in turn the species live inside it.
Hartals alias extended weekends!!
Published July 8, 2010 | 
Kerala recently made a dubious distinction by holding two hartals for a single cause that too in a week! It is intriguing that the political parties almost always make sure to choose Fridays or Mondays as hartal days. May be this could be a ploy to make it more people friendly by offering sops in the form of extended weekends and more holidays to the people. Whatever be the cause, it is a fact that the majority of the population have started accepting political parties’ decision to conduct hartal without any major opposition.
The bus stands and railway stations were jam packed with holiday revelers as people from other cities planned a home coming to enjoy the unexpected leave they got from the second hartal on Monday. While the general public chose to leave the price hike issues to the political parties, people preferred to enjoy the time with their friends and families. Most of them chose to make use of the extended weekends to catch up with the latest movies in their home theatre or to soak up the charm of the monsoons in the hill stations!
How many of us had even bothered to think about those hapless people who were left out in the middle of the road all day or those countless patients who suffered for want of medical aid on the so called hartal day. In a way are we compromising with the political parties’ decision?
The psychologists opine that people were only trying to take a break from their busy schedules on hartal day though it might make it look like they are actually favoring hartals. The recent shift in the behaviour of the people suggest that holidays in any disguise are welcome in God’s own country. However, this easy go lucky attitude of the jovial malayalis would give a long stick to the political parties to get along with their frequent hartal calls. Most of the antihartal proponents think that if there was a strong public opposition to the frequent hartals, things would have been much better in Kerala; however the happenings around us suggest that malayalees are enjoying the hartals and the unexpected holidays that they bring!
Kerala football fever and err… Communism
Published July 7, 2010 | Kerala and West Bengal, the football crazy states of India are having a great time with the FIFA world cup getting to its final stages. Even the hilarious ‘Laka Laka’ Mallu song on YouTube has caught the national spotlight! The state rooted for Brazil and Argentina with fan clubs watching it here like they are cheering for India. Somehow with football Kerala gets more affected than even cricket, the national religion.
Coming from Calicut, I remember watching Nehru Trophy matches at the Stadium Ground. The ruckus they created, the collective groans and cheers are to be seen to be believed. Malabar people come out with vigour when they watch football and everyone’s an expert, I have heard shouts like, ‘attack the goalie’, or ‘poke his eyes out’, ‘change that guy‘ – rants’ being made with murderous looks. Ha ha!
Sitting in Kochi now I miss the spectacle being played out at the numerous cafes, clubs, and reading rooms in Calicut. They know all the details of scores of yore, lost chances and tactics and argue at the drop of a hat and even place bets. Scuffles were also common among friends during matches of opposing teams. Such drama hardly happens for cricket matches in Kerala, though with IPL Kochi team in the fray now, there is scope for similar stuff.
However, taking up causes far, far away has not been new for Kerala; Communism has seen Keralites and Bengalis shouting slogans for Cuba, Korea, Russia and even China. Even President Bush had been a popular effigy being burnt on the Kerala coast. Strange are the dynamics of this connection but then like football, we also tend to obsess about certain ideologies even if they don’t seem feasible these days. Keralites with communist leanings will speak of the life and times of Che Guevera, Karl Marx, Lenin, Castro and the like with ease.
So, here I’m left wondering did the football craze come years ago through Communism to the state. Hmm! If you are living in Kerala, there comes a time when you think- ‘Am I communist?‘ Nowadays it’s a mere thought, though it probably was a phase in a person’s life decades ago and a way of life much earlier. Like the Latin American countries with their Communism and their football craze, did football come to us in Kerala the communist way? Whatever be the reason for the football craze, even if communism doesn’t stay football is too deep-rooted in Kerala to fizzle out.
This Sunday like most people, I too am ready for the match on the big screen with a lot of crazy football fans. Food and drinks to flow; along with agonies and ecstasies. Though Brazil and Argentina have been routed out, the state seems to be coming together for Spain and The Netherlands. There is a delightful polarizing happening, bets being placed and Twitter tweets all playing a part to build up the excitement. Did I mention the number of LCD TVs being bought? Sony had a unique free World Cup replica football offer on. Paul, the Oracle octopus, is being discussed at length as well!
Kerala is ready, and nothing beats the joy of a sport, it’s a pure joy that’s frankly like no other! So, who are you supporting? 
Kerala Strikes as America Recesses
Published July 5, 2010 | From my perspective halfway between the USA and Kerala, you get a real feeling of how the world is changing. The US economy is in dire straits with a mere 58% of the working population in work. Last month unemployment grew by 600,000, the largest monthly growth recorded. Americans are facing the possibility of a douple dip recession. American workers are buckling down to it, accepting that wages must be cut and workers released. India with its growing economy and its real hope for the future is on strike today instead. What a difference a few years make.
Not so long ago, it was the US where workers could strike or at least demand better health care benefits. Today, it is Indian workers who are demanding better wages and standards. In their case, it is the cost of petrol which is worrying the Indian worker. National and state wide strikes are still popular and common even if the Indian worker is becoming more and more disenchanted with this approach to economic management.
The question for Indian economists is whether the Indian market is sufficiently large and independent of the world to continue growing whilst the rest of the world stutters to a second recession. Can India compete on the world stage with its haphazard economic modus operandi.
Over the past 15 years American companies have been investing more and more abroad to enjoy cheaper manufacturing and research. In Kerala the same process has been operating in reverse: companies move away and Indians as a whole view Kerala as a holiday paradise where nobody knows how to work. Kerala has been sustained by its leading product: exporting natives to the Gulf or the rest of India. What will happen to Kerala is anybody’s idea. Perhaps Indians will trust that Kerala will be a place to do business in future but that is not yet.
Signing off, at Karmakerala, for the weekend…with a ?
Published July 2, 2010 | Hey ho! It’s almost time for us at Karmakerala to sign off for the weekend; but this time we sign off with a big ‘?’. Those of us who are going to our native towns this weekend have bought two return tickets each, one for Monday and one for Tuesday. Can’t say when the office will open up after the weekend- Monday or Tuesday. It all depends on the politicians, the scheming politicians (I mean the politicians who have lots of ‘schemes’ for our welfare and well-being).
It was just last Saturday that we had a hartal against fuel price hike. That was just for Kerala. This time, it’s going national. National parties have decided to join forces and force us to remain indoors for one whole day, on Monday, the 5th of July. It’s called by them the ‘Bharath Bandh’, a quite popular word already all over India. Since ‘Bandh’ is banned in Kerala, our heroes (I mean the politicians) dish it out, yeah the very same dish, with a different name- ‘Hartal’. Well, we have got some of the most enlightened of people in Politics here and they can very well come up with explanations, taking us round and round for quite some time and pointing out that a ‘Hartal’ is much much different from a ‘Bandh’ and hence there’s no violation of court order. All that we get to grasp out of all that verbosity is that ‘Bandh’ or ‘Hartal’, we’ve got to stay indoors and if at all we want to stray outdoors it would be at our own risks.
Well, there are lots of talks going around. Some say it may be put off, as the ‘selfless’ politicians don’t want to burden us with another ‘hartal’ in just ten days. Some say that it won’t be put off, as it’s a fight for justice, a noble crusade against injustice.
Well, all that we know now is we got to watch the television news on Sunday and then, as per the updates, cancel one of the tickets and make it back to Kochi on Monday or Tuesday, or whenever our leaders please, and then, without ever daring to ask a question or a doubt, let the oil companies sell petrol, diesel and LPG to us at whatever price they want. (Mathew, our accountant, has informed us all in clear words, in a group chat…
“OFFICE WILL REMAIN CLOSED ON 05.07.2010 due to hartal…please ensure attendance in case of cancellation/postponement of hartal”
Thanks Mathew!!
Nice thoughts indeed…a real different way to sign off the weekend….
So, see you all on ….well, I donno, maybe Monday, maybe Tuesday…..
Another Hartal. Wow, what a day!!
Published June 26, 2010 | Wishful thinking on a hartal day…
It was yesterday evening, when a colleague called up and asked me that I came to know that the LDF (Left Democratic Party), the ruling party in Kerala, had declared for today a dawn-to-dusk hartal against the hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG. As I was already back home for the weekend, there was not much to worry about. Of course I do have plans for the weekend and go meet friends, watch movies, do some shopping and some little things that keep my mind free; but all those could be avoided. (Why should I bother about those people who had plans to do more important things, all of which were going to be upset by this sudden call for a hartal? None of my botheration! They should have kept their weekends free.)
So, another dawn-to-dusk hartal; and I spent the whole of my day either in front of my computer or in front of the television and sleeping for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Thanks to the LDF, I have saved on some money that would have been spent if I had ventured to go outdoors as I usually do on weekends.
I feel happy and proud when I think that all this has been done to achieve things bigger. Many of the examinations and interviews scheduled for the day by the State Government have been postponed. But many others scheduled by the Central government did take place and I am sure there have been many who could not make it to the exam centres. There were reports of stone pelting at places and of a bus driver being injured too. People who arrived at various places in Kerala from other states and from abroad would have been stranded for hours at railway stations and airports. The State would have incurred a loss amounting to lakhs of rupees. Why bother? The hartal is bound to fetch immediate results. The fuel prices will go down and so will the prices. Life would be easier for us commoners; these politicians plan and do it all for us after all.
It’s so good to understand that the State Government is only too eager to safeguard the interests of the LDF and supports the hartal (or for that matter any hartal) by keeping buses off the road and seeing to it that the hartal, which is an integral part of democracy, is complete in all ways. (The interests of the people at large, who cares?!) It’s good to hear on TV the opposition leader urging the State Govt to help the public by reducing sales tax and the State Finance Minister retorting by asking the Central Govt, led by the United Democratic Front (which is the opposition party in the State) to first cut down the fuel prices. It’s good to see buses off the road and shutters down even after 6 pm, when the hartal is supposed to end. It’s indeed good to have a day all for oneself.
I just wanted to make some suggestions that would make hartals more credible and easy to handle.
- First of all, the State Government could set apart certain days every month for hartals so that we could all make alternate plans and arrangements, well in advance.
- Secondly, the hartals could more conveniently be changed from dawn-to-dusk ones to full-day ones, as it is already in effect a day-long hartal.
- Thirdly, there could be some system in place as per which those people who earn their daily bread working in hotels, shops etc could be paid some allowance by their employers. (Hey, did anyone say something about the loss incurred by these employers? That nobody can help it.)
- Fourthly, the government or maybe some private agency could arrange for and set apart some brand new buses, newly furnished buildings etc to be plundered and burnt on such hartal days, since it’s all in the scheme of things and we should see to it that it’s all perfect.
- And lastly, I’d be happy to know the difference between a ‘Bandh’ and a ‘Hartal’; hope our politicians can give us a convincing reply. It was only a few years back that the Court had banned bandhs in the State and at that time a bandh was just what a hartal is today. So, has there been any change in the meanings of the two words afterwards? Could someone please make this clear to us, the citizens of the largest democracy in the world who pay taxes out of our pockets to see to it that the loss and damages done by way of hartals and strikes are recompensed?!
Long live, hartals!!
The Corporate Banyan Tree
Published June 25, 2010 | 
For an ordinary pair of eyes it might look like a paper back title or a corporate management manual. However, it is actually a passage from the blog of a self made man who rose to the annals of power in a foreign country before bowing out to the nepotism, pockets of political influence, lobbyists and ‘Yes’ men in his own land at Kerala !
This is the story of an extremely gifted prodigy who excelled in his studies since his childhood. With the coveted IAS degree under his belt he easily bagged a senior position in one of the biggest State Govt enterprises in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram . If you thought that the story is heading for a happy note, you would be caught unawares.
Like any other government office set up in Kerala or infact India, he was denied any creative outlets to express his views or make decisions, the powers of which were in the hands of a coterie of lobbyists who did nothing but put on the air of doing something BIG. As they say only empty vessels make most sound, these people talk big and do nothing but grab the credits of all the hard work put in by a handful of sincere and dedicated workers.
Days passed by without any meaning as he twiddled his thumbs in anguish and looked for a respite from haplessness and drudgery in the office, which appeared to be as distressing as a padded prison cell. When things got beyond the limit, he decided to put in his papers to the management, which failed to take off its blinkers and recognize the valuable potential that they were wasting by not giving the right opportunities to him.
He was a simple and unpretentious guy who wanted to give back his knowledge and expertise to his homeland, where he grew up. But even as the corporate honchos and the HRD ministry cry foul of brain drain and how it puts India back by many years in the economic field, the grim fact is that conditions are not conducive for the growth of dedicated and selfless professionals in this country. All you need is a big mouth and bigger attitude if not anything else to pull the wool over the power corridors and the corporate honchos here in this part of the world- he concludes!
At present he is a board member in a fortune 500 company in the US and enjoys multiple citizen ships, jet setting schedules and a plush life style. With a pledge never to return to his home land, which has given him only bitter memories and pain irrespective of all his skills, he concludes his blog with a snappy one liner- Nothing grows under a banyan tree – corporate or otherwise!!
PS: This is only one of the many stories of pain and frustration of professionals in India, There could be many more unknown Indians who are denied their well deserved recognition and appreciation. Just take a closer look at your office( no matter whether it is private, public, or MNC ) you would find at least a couple of ” empty vessels” that live off your sweat and blood. Single them out, they deserve nothing less than that!!
Film Review – Katha Thudarunnu (The story Continues)…
Published May 12, 2010 | Sathyan Anthikad has set a trend with his series of family entertainers and, “Katha Thudarunnu” is his 50th film in this series. Like his other films, Katha Thudarunnu also strikes the hearts of many family-entertainer loving film audiences of Kerala. 
Katha Thudarunnu narrates a story that surrounds the life of a single mother Vidya (starring Mamtha Mohandas) whose life turns to complete helplessness once her husband Shanavas (Asif Ali), (whom she dared to live with despite objections from both the families and religion), gets killed in an attack by the quotation group. It was then that the autorikshaw driver Preman (Jayaram), who lives in a colony, came to the rescue of her and child. She finds new meaning to the life once she starts feeling the love and care of the people living in the colony. Her life turns around completely once she completes the MBBS degree that was stopped with her love marriage, with the help of the poor people in the colony. And, the story continues with here off to Kuwait with Preman awaiting her return.
While the events in the film, Sathyan Anthikad has tried to showcase the various aspects of the life, politics, religion, exploitation of women, quotation gangs and robbery.
Mamtha has been given a strong character as a single mother, who overcomes her ill-fate and is able to cope up with every condition that life brings in. The child actress Anikha has successfully enacted her role as the little daughter.
In this film too Sathyan brings in some of the actors, who played lead roles in his previous film “Bhagyadevatha.” Another thing Sathyan Anthikad has brought to the scene is the Star Singer contest and the hopes of the poor parents which in turn raises the waves of laughter among the audience.
So the film takes us through various events that let the audience to shed some tears and also raise some laughter. The songs are written by Vayalar Sharath Chandra Varma and are given its life by the great Ilayaraja. The song ‘ Aaaro padunnu.. ‘is sure to catch the attention of music lovers.
So in total, I think Sathyan Anthikad has been successful with his film ‘Katha Thudarunnu‘. This film indeed gives some hope to the Malayalam film industry which suffers from poor stories and other crisis.
Leave us alone we need no roads to development: Kerala
Published May 10, 2010 | National Highway Authority of India is initiating the need to widen the roads of the country to international standards. This means our national highways will be 6-lane road and will have access on both sides, flyovers, pedestrians walkway and zebra crossings to name a few, it all sounds so wonderful. But, hold on! the politicians in Kerala are thinking something else. Strange, but all political parties in Kerala have united together (a rare sight) for a common cause and unanimously they say, ‘We need no roads..oops sorry no wide roads.
The politicians after having decided over a cup of tea that the state needs only 30 metre broad roads against the proposed 60-metre. All the good Samaritan (politicians) of the Kerala society have finally decided to meet the Prime Minister, and apprise him about this decision. And we know what the PM is going to say ”Who cares, if you want 30-45-60 meter roads, it is you who is going to suffer.
The narrow minded politicians aren’t thinking practically, what this decision means for the future generation who will be forced to squeeze themselves for space. As a literate state, is it not the duty of these politicians to come together with intellectuals and educate the people how much it will benefit. But sadly, none have really bothered to tell us what it is all about, and shamefully we all know what it is all about. Vote bank politics and we have rather become politicians slaves.
Why is that the people of Kerala are getting so laid back, I have seen them agitating everywhere and for everything, but when it comes to real issues there is no reaction. It takes more than 9-years to complete and still no where to build a railway-overhead-bridge on a busy NH-17 highway, Edapally, Kochi, but we rather prefer to adjust with the situation and suffer.
Remember we are living in world’s largest democracy, so no one to blame but ourselves. Leaders don’t build nations, its build by you and me. Had we realized the power we have, this state would have been a different place all together. Till then lets keep grumbling and complaining.
I am for hartals!!
Published April 28, 2010 | Saluting the spirit of the ‘Great Indian Hartal’
It seems my colleague Jisha has no sense at all. Her post on hartals is nonsense, utter nonsense. (Hope Jisha doesn’t read mine and also that she remains a friend! I hate foes! Don’t you?)
Hartals, it must be remembered represent democracy in its highest form. Democracy allows or rather grants us the right to protest and raise our voice whenever some injustice is done. I think I read about these rights in my textbooks at school. (Fundamental duties? I think Jisha would like to point this out. But Jisha, the teachers forget or rather skip that portion. They no longer believe in what’s called ‘duties’. It’s ‘rights’ that’s sacrosanct. Duties, who cares?!!)
So, back to it. Rights. Yes, rights. Hartals happen to be part of our fundamental rights. Right is right; there is nothing wrong in it.
Hey just remembered a portion of Dr.Abdul Kalam’s famous speech, “YOU say that our government is inefficient. YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don’t work, the railways are a joke, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?”
OK, granted that he said these words, words of wisdom. But for us here in India, all these words uttered by eminent men are mere words and never make it to our hearts. The eminent persons too remain mere names etched in the annals of history. Why bother the historians who are contented with that? Why bother the teachers who teach history without ever trying to explain or themselves bother to understand what it all means to each of us? Why bother the students who simply mug it all up and earn marks (and ranks too)? Why bother at all? Kalam is for many Indians a thing of the past.
So Jisha, let me count you the benefits of having a hartal once in a while:
- The results are immediate. (Yesterday’s hartal was against price-rise. It will have an effect. Very soon you will see prices going up, if not down. Something happening is better than something not happening).
- ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop’, goes the adage. Hartals give us Keralites, who have a penchant for doing nothing and prefer making it big in life by doing nothing, the chance to show that we can do lots of ‘great’ things. We can disrupt life in all ways possible. We strain ourselves picking big bolsters and putting them on the roads to halt the traffic. We barge into offices, banks, private establishments, thrash up people who ‘dare’ to work on hartal day and force them to down the shutters. We sit on the tracks and stop trains from running. (The railways won’t let that go that easily; they would issue warrants to regular train goers based on the addresses that they provide for acquiring season tickets and make up for that loss by way of fines.) We can do lots of things on a hartal day to give vent to our pent-up energy.
- Vandalism and hooliganism, combined with philistinism, is given free reins on hartal days. (Don’t think they bother on other days!!) Vandalism, which is creative too, is exhibited in the large scale destruction of public property and other things. You are given the right to throw stones at glass windows and burn buses. You can pelt stones on anyone and anything. You can do irrpairable damage to public property and even historical monuments. You can do all those things that your imagination lets you do. And if at all anyone is going to get punished, it won’t be you; it would be someone who has no one to protect him or speak up for him. Imaginative and creative too, isn’t it?
- For those who are Keraliites in the fullest sense, hartals give them the chance to do what they specialise in doing; and that is doing nothing. They can stay back home, sleep and sleep and sleep.
- For government employees, it’s a golden opportunity to get paid sitting at home, doing nothing. (Don’t ask me Jisha, what they do on other days. I can’t. I won’t. Because if I open my mouth, they will see to it that I am ‘rewarded’ for my words!)
- For those many who work from morn till night to earn their daily bread, on daily basis, it’s indeed a relief from their daily toil. Who cares whether their monthly expenditure and even day-to-day living expense is upset. (I myself have seen the apple cart of my day-to-day life upset frequently by hartals and strikes, at a time when I used to earn my daily bread by teaching).
So see Jisha, Hartals are absolutely necessary in our scheme of things. Now don’t you feel that you ought to expel yourself from this country and go live elsewhere. All the best Jisha!!
Postscript: At a time when caste, religion and umpteen other things divide and cause discrimination among us, its hartals that bring us together. We are one because of hartals. Hartal, Jai Ho, it’s hartals that bring us together. We are one, because of hartals. Hartal, Jai ho…!!!