Nano cars turn friends of Kerala lottery agents
Published August 5, 2011 | 
The much hyped ‘car for the masses’ Nano, which hit the market with an unbeatable sticker price of just 1 lakh has failed to leave its mark among the masses as yet. However, Tata Nano has found a new set of patrons in Kerala in the form of lottery agents in Kollam district. It is interesting to note that the lottery agents in the district have already rolled out a fleet of Nano cars over the last few months. The small size of Nano gives it a top edge in maneuvering through the narrow and busy streets of the Kollam city, which enables the agents to do brisk business by being at the right place at the right time.
Apart from its good mileage and affordable price tag, the fancy appearance of Nano has endeared it among the lottery dealers. The cute looks also attract curious onlookers apart from the fortune bill fans. Some lottery agents have as many as three cars in their fleet and are only happy to add more in future. Nano is taking up the place of the old favorite, Ambassador, which is being sidelined due to its low fuel efficiency. Even if the soaring petrol prices are taken into account, buying a Nano works cheaper than hiring a shop in the city, where rented commercial spaces cost a fortune and are hard to find.
The lottery sales have plummeted to an all time low following restrictions on other state lotteries and number of draws of Kerala lottery. This has prompted the agents to look for cheaper options in selling lotteries and Nano has truly served this purpose. At present there are over 18 Nanos plying in the city of Kollam alone and as more lottery agents are planning to add Nanos to their fleet to ensure better market penetration and faster access to the niche zones, the future of Nano appears bright at least in this segment.
The day’s catch!
Published October 12, 2010 | Rise, brothers, rise; the wakening skies pray to the morning light,
The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn like a child that has cried all night.
Come, let us gather our nets from the shore and set our catamarans free,
To capture the leaping wealth of the tide, for we are the kings of the sea!
- Sarojini Naidu, The Coromandel Fishers
Travelling along the National Highway (NH 47) to Ernakulam in the morning, I usually happen to come across fisher-folk going about their day-to-day activities. Starting from Neendakara in Kollam to Purakkad and Cherthala in Alappuzha district, I come across lots of fishermen and women who are busy, setting off to the high seas, transporting fish from one place to another, collecting ice from ice plants (ice-manufacturing units) for preservation, selling fish et al.
Here we go, with a compilation of photographs that I took today morning, on my way to our Karmakerala office from my home town Varkala, a journey that usually takes me about four hours. I had come across some other things too, like fishermen on the way taking a break and having tea and chatting at a wayside tea-shop, fresh fish being sold at roadside markets etc. But since I had to be at office on time, I couldn’t get them all. Here’s what I got, ‘the day’s catch’ for me!!!
Ayodhya Babri Masjid Verdict and God’s own Country!
Published September 29, 2010 | The Ayodhya-Babri Masjid dispute issue is finally set for verdict tomorrow, on Thursday September 30, 2010. The Allahabad High Court will be making the historic judgement on this issue that has caused agony to our motherland. This issue has its own effect in our little state Kerala.
Although a small state in appearance, our state has contributed big in creating terrorists in and around the country. Above all our beautiful state is known for creating a ruckus of even the smallest issues happening at the international level. It’s no wonder that the state government is on alert!
Prevention is better than cure: Kerala government is ensuring tight security throughout the state as a precautionary measure against the background of the verdict on Ayodhya case.
Some of the security measures taken include-
1. Ban orders have been declared in Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram, Alappuzha and Kollam districts from midnight on Wednesday.
2. Ban orders came into force in Ernakulam district from this morning.
3. Restrictions on organising of marches, meetings and demonstrations are to be declared in other districts.
4. About 30,000 policemen are proposed to be deployed by midnight to enforce the orders and maintain peace.
5. Preventive arrests are also likely.
6. Special security is being extended to important places of worship, railway stations and bus stands.
7. Armed reserves have positioned in district centres.
8. The media is warned against speculating the outcome of the Ayodhya dispute until they have a copy of the issues of the judgement by the Court and the operational part of the order.
Kerala seems to be ready to face any untoward incident that may crop up post the verdict. The Allahabad High Court announced that there are plans on making the judgment available to the people via the internet.
Let us hope the verdict finally brings peace to all and allow the Gods to rest peacefully in our ‘God’s Own Country’. 
Kochi to Varkala: A weekend traveller's monologue…
Published May 3, 2010 | 
Well, this post is intended to be different, as the focus would be on presenting, for the sake of our readers, a bevy of scattered images that are encountered during a weekend trip from Kochi to Varkala (in Thiruvananthapuram District), which happens to be the home-town of the person who pens (or to be precise, types out) these lines. These pictures wouldn’t have much significance as such, but they would definitely present a slice out of life in Kerala.- You begin parking your bike at the two-wheelers parking slot in the railway station compound. The guys there (two North Indian young guys) come to you, helping you find some space amongst the parked vehicles. Then, they ask when you are taking it back. When it’s said, “Monday morning”, they give you the tickets, saying “Thirty rupees”. That’s a shock. Just a week back it was Twenty Rupees for two days. The guys explain that the Railways has increased the parking fee from Five Rupees for 6 hours to Ten Rupees for the same period of time. You start grumbling and they settle in for Twenty-Five rupees. Magnanimity indeed!!
- Inside the Railway Station, in front of the ticket counter, you come across two or three women engaged in cleaning the floor. They pour water all over and then mop it up, after asking you to move over. But they do it before you get the time to move over and a small wavelet comes and strikes your feet. You once again grumble, but it’s their world after all.
- Now comes the turn to make inquiries about the train. You approach the counter, start making inquiries, the guy at the counter tries to answer, but the people who come for ticket keep him engaged. It’s then that you notice that it’s stated there, in bold letters ‘NO INQUIRIES HERE’. It’s also added that inquiries are to be made at Platform No.1. To go over to Platform No 1, you got to cross four or five platforms by a foot-over bridge. For that, as per railway rules, you need to have a ticket, at least a platform ticket. That would take time as Ernakulam South is still to get a platform ticket vending machine, which is there in some smaller stations.
- You dial 139 from your phone to get the train details. After about 5 minutes and too many entries, you come to know that it could be a two-hour wait and hence you decide to go by bus.
- Stepping out of the railway station, you find autorickshaws queued up there. Since you feel that these guys could fleece you, you prefer to walk some distance and take another autorickshaw.
- It’s a Thiruvananthapuram-bound Fast Passenger that you find, ready for departure. Seeing lots of empty seats, you are attracted to it. But just as it gets ready to depart, people just pop up from here and there and it’s full in a minute.
- The person sitting next to you, a Tamilian, hums songs, chews pan masala and spits out, through your window at stops.
- At Harippad, some families get in, look here and there for seats and decide to stand all the way to Kollam, as it’s the only solution. Your neighbour, the Tamilian, gets ready to let a child sit on his lap while you prefer to be insensitive and indifferent.
- The Tamilian guy has no scruples throwing the plastic carry bag, containing the remains of the grapes that he had been eating, inside the Kollam Bus Station, as the bus starts moving away.
- You get down, get ready to catch a private bus that would take you to Varkala. The bus arrives and eager to get a convenient seat, you go and stand near the bus, waiting for people to get down. There is a puddle of muddy water and you hope nobody steps on it. People are watchful and don’t step on it. You are happy; but the happiness is short-lived. A middle-aged guy steps right into the puddle, splashes it on your jeans, which is thus rendered specked and dotted and moves away, not at all aware of the mischief he had done.
- The moment the bus moves on, a song starts playing, a nice, melodious song from a 1980′s movie, one that you love hearing again and again.Ah, it’s going to be a pleasant journey.
- The conductor comes, gives you a ticket of Seven Rupees, tells you that he’d give you the balance three rupees later. You tell yourself, “He’ll deliberately forget it. Better keep that in mind”. In about five minutes the conductor, a young chap, comes and hands you the balance amount. You realise, with dismay that it’s easy being a cynic, but being good is not-that-easy.
- Your neighbour, a bit inebriated, starts grumbling, spitting out of the bus at times, but you can’t help it. You look towards the sky, wondering when the gathering clouds would burst out into rain.
- A group gets in from a bus-stop. They are workers from some construction site and the group consists of men and women, young and old. A young guy in the group has a lighted cigarette in his hands. Since his mates ask him to avoid smoking inside the bus, he prefers to stand on the footboard. The whirls of smoke sent up by the guy, and his friend, who too joins him and partakes of the cigarette, leaves you grumbling. But you prefer to say nothing for the simple reason that you’d be left all alone and if you make it a big issue, they could even go violent. The conductor prefers to let it go unnoticed, because that’s for him the best thing to do.
- Finally, when the bus waits at a railway gate for a train to pass by, you spend time counting the passing minutes; and as the train passes by, you realize that it’s the very same train which you could have caught at Kochi. Anyway, in another fifteen minutes you arrive at your destination. Home sweet home!
Alappuzha-Kollam boat service re-launched
Published February 10, 2010 | The Alappuzha-Kollam boat service, which used to attract tourists in large numbers and which was stopped in 1996, has now been re-launched, after a long gap of 14 years.
The Alappuzha-Kollam luxury boat service of the State Water Transport Department (SWTD) has been re-launched yesterday, February 9th, with the State Coir and Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran flagging off the service. The luxury boat service, which is sure to attract tourists once again, has halts at Thottappally , Thrikkunnapuzha Coir Village , Aayiramthengu, Amruthapuri and Chavara too.
State Transport Minister Jose Thettayil has said that the State Water Transport Department had launched 14 new steel service boats in the last one year and five more would be launched before March this year. The forthcoming 2010-2011 State budget will have provisions for 13 more boats, he reminded.
The Alappuzha-Kollam inland water route has always been one of the most sought-after routes by those who reach Kerala for backwater tourism, especially as it covers almost the whole of Alappuzha and Kollam districts and gives one the full feel of what life along the backwaters of Kerala is.
The trip is one of the best things that visitors to Kerala can enjoy and cherish in their memories for ever.
Good news indeed for the people of Kerala as well as for visitors!!
The longest solar eclipse of the century
Published January 15, 2010 | 
A rare celestial event in the form of the longest solar eclipse of the century is happening today, on January 15th . It will be visible in many parts of the world including Kerala. Unlike a total solar eclipse when the sun will be fully masked by the shadow of moon today’s eclipse is going to be annular. In this case the moon is farther from Earth than normal and hence its shadow will not completely mask the sun, making it appear like a bright ring outlining the moon. It will give the sun a spectacular appearance of a ring of fire, which will be visible for over 10 minutes in Kerala with the best views of the Bailey’s rings being visible after 1PM .
In Kerala, the best spot to watch this celestial spectacle is Varkala near Kollam . Many enthusiastic astronomers and sky watchers from all over the world have reached Varkala to record this rare celestial phenomenon. Arrangements have also been made for the people to watch this event in many places. In Kerala, all temples will remain closed during the eclipse and special rituals will be performed to ward off any evil effects of the eclipse.
Vedaranyam in Tamil Nadu will witness the last touch of the annular solar eclipse. Apart from India, the annular eclipse will be visible across Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. Solar eclipse should be watched only through properly designed solar filters or goggles to ensure that the eyes are not effected.
From Sivagiri to soap wrappers, the 'Guru' is everwhere
Published December 30, 2009 | Varkala, my home-town is known far and wide for the Papanasam beach that attracts tourists from all over and for Sivagiri, the hillock on which Sri Narayana Guru, one of the greatest of social reformers in Kerala, had attained ‘samadhi’, where stands now the famous Sivagiri Mutt, often referred to by many as a centre of spiritual thought and spirituality.Well, starting today, Varkala will be abuzz with people and different kind of activities, focussing these two places. People from all over Kerala, especially from the Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts flock to Sivagiri to take part in the ‘Sivagiri Theerthadanam‘, held annually on Dec 30, 31 and January 1. (I had come across, while coming back to Kochi after the Christmas vacations, groups of yellow-clad pilgrims marching to Sivagiri on foot from different parts of Kollam and Alappuzha). People from places near Varkala would be flocking to the Papanasam beach tomorrow evening to celebrate New Year’s eve in ‘grand style’, boozing, howling, paying fines to the cops for drunken driving etc.
It was in 1928, the very year in which the Guru had attained samadhi that the Sivagiri Theerthadanam (Theerthadanam=Pilgrimage) was conceived by a couple of his disciples and approved by the Guru himself. The Guru, who had always stood for the ideal of ‘One Caste, One Religion and One God’, wanted the pilgirms to observe 10 days’ self-purification according to Buddha’s principles of Pancha Dharma and wear yellow clothes,yellow being the colour of the garments worn by Buddha. He did make it clear that no one should purchase yellow silk or new clothes and also that a yellow garment can be had by dipping a white garment in turmeric water and then drying it. He desired the pilgrimage to be conducted in all simplicity. The Guru also recommended holding a series of lectures.
Of course the Sivagiri Theerthadanam began on the same lines, as said by the Guru. But in the course of time, or to be more precise, in the last one decade or so, it has attained more popularity and is now more of a celebration and fair than a pilgrimage for many. Of course there are the devout, especially those who come from far off places, who still see it as a real pilgrimage. But, there is no denying the fact that yellow robes and the seminars and lectures notwithstanding, the ‘Sivagiri Theerthadanam‘, like most other things associated with our cultural life, has taken the proportions of a festival held on a grand scale. The politics, which includes power-politics as well as caste-politics, which has crept into the ranks of the Guru’s followers too has led to it all attaining a different colour.
I too had been visiting Sivagiri during the Sivagiri Theerthadanam days in the past many years and, to be honest, I too have been seeing it and ‘enjoying’ it all in a very festive mood. But I’d say that other than the festivity-austerity issue, there is something of more serious concern relating to it all. It’s to be remembered that the ‘Guru’ had envisioned a society which would be casteless and where there would be no strifes and issues based on religion, caste and God. He had always stood for the ideal of ‘One Caste, One Religion and One God’ and had been against idol worship, but the saddest fact remains that in today’s Kerala, where age-old social evils like casteism, dowry etc seem to be still rampant (Remember our honourable President’s comments made a couple of days back?!), the ‘Guru’ and his ideals are all almost forgotten and he himself deified. In this context I am reminded of what noted Malayalam poet Chemmanam Chacko, noted for his waspish tongue, said in one of his poems about this particular thing- “Oru Jaathi, Oru Matham, Oru Deivam koodi Manushyanu” (Yet another caste, Yet another religion and Yet another God…for man)!!
I do agree that Sri Narayana Guru is there everywhere, right from Sivagiri to the bombastic speeches made by our politicians, cultural spokespersons et al to soap wrappers. (Yes, coincidentally it was today morning, on the very first day of this year’s Sivagiri Theerthadanam, that I happened to take a bath-soap out of its pack and find it wrapped by a small ad of ‘Yugapurushan’, a bio-pic in the making about Sri Narayana Guru. (It’s the same guy who manufactures the soap and produces the movie and hence the promotion strategy, hats off to his thought and novel ideas). Yes, the ‘Guru’ is there everywhere, from Sivagiri to soap-wrappers; but not in the hearts of the people. (Doesn’t this apply to all great men, including Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teressa, Buddha etc?).
Well, that’s the way things are. Anyway, since it happens in my hometown, I am always with the Sivagiri Theerthadanam. Jai Ho, to Sivagiri and Sivagiri Theerthadanam!!
NASA gives a malayalee name to a minor planet
Published May 8, 2008 | 
Kollam: In a prestigious honour, the US space agency, NASA has named a ‘minor’ planet after a Kerala zoology professor, Sainudeen Pattazhy, to commemorate his research works in environmental issues. Sainudeen has undertaken studies on the strange phenomenon of red rain and the adverse effects of mobile communication tower on people residing in the immediate areas among other issues.
Sainudeen Pattazhy, who is a college professor in S.N College in Kollam, had a pleasant surprise when he received a phone call from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory run by the space agency to convey the information that the minor planet ’5178 CD4′ has been named after him. The minor planet will now be known as ’5178 Pattazhy’. So far, 185,685 minor planets or asteroids in the solar system have been allotted numbers by the International Astronomical Union.
The US-based scientist Rajmohan, who discovered the planet way back in 1989 proposed that the planet be given the name of Sainudeen in appreciation of the research conducted by Sainudeen on various ecological and environmental issues of contemporary relevance. The rare honour has indeed brought accolades to his nondescript village in south Kerala.
Who will grab the tail of the elephant?
Published April 10, 2008 | 
Kollam: This is a race of a different genre altogether exclusively for the brave hearted amongst you! Devotees of Sri Bala Subrahmanya Swamy Temple at Umayanallur scurry after an elephant to catch its tail at the ‘aanavaal pidi’ ritual. It is an exceptional Hindu ritual where the participants who have been fasting for seven days, run after the tusker trying to catch its tail. The participants opine that they experience a spiritual delight by participating in this ritual and believe that it will fulfill their wishes.
Devotees chase the elephant for about one hundred metres and try to catch its tail and the astonishing fact is that till date, no elephant has lost its cool in spite of being chased and bullied by scores of people who vie to have a hold at its tail. This fact deserves special mention as these days it has become quite common for the elephants to run amok thereby creating chaos and confusion in temple festivals.
This ritual held every year in the Malayalam month of Meenam as part of the ten-day annual festival, which falls during the months of March-April at the Umayanallur Sri Bala Subrahmanya Swamy Temple in Kollam recreates the childhood high jinks of the presiding deity of Lord Bala Subramanyam and his younger brother Lord Ganesh. The ritual aptly named as ‘catching the elephant’s tail’ (aanavaal pidi) traces its origin to over 1500 years.
Thousands of devotees participate in this ritual with frenzy and fervor where the caparisoned elephant will be chased by men. The ritual also attracts tourists from far and wide who are awestruck by this exceptional spectacle.
Beach cleaning machine is all set to make Kollam beaches spotless.
Published April 2, 2008 | 
Kollam: The garbage littered sandy stretches of kollam beaches would be a thing of the past once this amazing beach cleaning machine hits its shores in a couple of months. The Civic body has set aside a budget of Rs.20 lakh to import a beach cleaning machine as part of its beach beautification programme to complement the fabled tourist destination of Ashtamudi Lake. Kollam beach will be the first in Kerala to have a beach cleaning machine. Marina beach in Chennai is currently using an imported beach cleaning machine.
Beach cleaning machines can move along the beach easily and is built with a dual action mode for digging and sifting, which would help to dry and aerate the soil. It has a multi-gauged mesh, which filters out the rubbish on the beach on to special containers, which can later be emptied. It would be a boon in keeping the beach clean, which is being visited by hundreds of foreign tourists and local populace. The gadget is expected to start functioning in June.
Plans are also on the anvil to revive the botanical garden located at the eastern side of the beach by planting tress and plants apart from setting up a lawn. The water sports complex and aquarium would be the other major attractions in this scheme. The sprucing up of the botanical garden and the Mahatma Gandhi Park of Kollam beach will be on a BOT basis and tenders would be soon floated in this regard.