Kerala gets ready to celebrate Vishu
Published April 14, 2011 | 
Kerala is all set to celebrate the harvest festival of Vishu tomorrow, which is the first day of the month of Medam in Malayalam calendar. Hindus celebrate this festival in different names like Baisakhi, Mesadi, Bihu in different parts of India. Vishukani is the most important ritual on Vishu festival in Kerala. Temples like Sabarimala and Guruvayoor temple will witness unprecedented rush of pilgrims who congregate to have the Vishukani darshanam.
Vishu kani is the offering of farm produce, fruits and vegetables to Lord as a thanks giving to a bountiful harvest. The native crops of Kerala like mangoes, jackfruit, bananas etc occupy a prominent place in Kani which is arranged in the traditional vessel of uruli ( a shallow round vessel) made of brass. The golden shower flowers, known as kanikonna forms an inevitable item in the kani. The elders of the family give Kaineetanm ( cash gifts) that represent a prosperous year ahead to the rest of the family. New clothes, fire works, gifts and above all the traditional Kerala style luncheon with many curries , pappadam and payasam ( desserts) add up the fervour of this festival.
Vishu festival also marks the day of Mesha Sankranti during which Sun transits to the first zodiac of Aries. The word Vishu literally means the equinox and is considered as the astrological New Year day as well. Though the break neck speed of modern lives have robbed off the charm and traditional flavour of many of our festivals, even today Malayaless look forward to celebrate Vishu with zest and enthusiasm. Vishu is not just another holiday, it is part of our culture and identity. Let us celebrate the way that it was intended to, without diluting the essence to suit our convenience:)
Karma Kerala wishes all its readers a happy and prosperous Vishu
Celebrating Christmas with carols, cakes and Chinese lights
Published December 17, 2010 | 
Christmas or the mass of Christ that signifies the birth of baby Jesus Christ in Bethlehem is undeniably one of the most popular winter celebrations in the world. The first visible clues of the impending celebration of Christmas start dropping in by October when frenzied shopping and decorations highlight the festive mood in the air.
Kerala too is getting ready to celebrate Christmas with gaiety and religious fervour. However in the onslaught of modernity, the celebrations of Keralites too have undergone a sea change, which has robbed off the warmth of yesteryears. As ready made Christmas gifts, sumptuous dinner coupons and exciting travel deals took over the Christmas market, the flavour of the home made recipes that were so special to Kerala including appam and stew to the simplicity of the hand made greeting cards and stars, has been pushed into oblivion.
This year, the markets are flooded with imported lights and decorative pieces from China that flaunts a low sticker price to lure the avid shoppers. These Chinese lights are available in a bevy of designs and patterns including floral patterns, star lights and many more. This year, the low-cost cane cribs that came all the way from North India has also created a lot of interest among the Christmas shoppers.
With the nuclear family concept taking strong roots in our society, most Malayalees prefer to celebrate their festivals in their reclusive comfort zone far away from their relatives and extended families unlike in the past. But don’t you think that the traditional Christmas with all the merriment and grandeur of the old days was the perfect time to slow things down and to do something noteworthy for mankind. In the break neck speed of today’s high technology world, did our festivals became nothing but excuses to plunge into the party mood, eat, shop and splurge?
Miss Kerala beauty pageant ready for August 5!
Published August 4, 2010 | Kerala awaits the next beauty queen who will be crowned as Miss Kerala on August 5, 2010. It is the most anticipated event of Kerala fashion and film world which is conceived and organised by the event management company Impresario. The winner gets a shot at TV and films like Ranjini Haridas and Rima Kallingal who have shot to fame through Miss Kerala.
The 22 contestants who have been selected for the beauty pageant are readying to face the music on Thursday evening at Le Meridian. Among the contestants are girls who have flown in from Malaysia, Dubai and Bahrain. The rule of the contest is, the participants should be girls of Malayali origin (either of the parents must be Malayali) with age between 18-24 years. The event sponsors for Miss Kerala 2010 is Hairomax and this is the tenth edition of the contest. This time the organisers are trying to make things different.
The other titles in the contest to be won besides the main three include Sumangali Miss Beautiful Skin 2010, Cuticura Miss Radiant 2010, Hairomax Miss Beautiful Hair 2010, Hairomax Miss Talented 2010, Miss Beautiful Eyes, Miss Beautiful Smile, Miss Perfect Ten, Miss Photogenic, Miss Congeniality and Club FM Miss Voice 2010. Actors Anoop Menon and Ranjini, writer Anitha Nair,photographer Nisha Kutty are among the others in the judging panel. There will be four costume rounds in the contest – sari, casuals, fusion and gown. The dress designers Atit and Semu, the brother and sister from Mumbai have designed clothes for the whole pageant while keeping in mind the concept of a blend of the traditional and the western. To try for variety, this time they have gowns made of Kerala sari and for the casuals round, not with the usual jeans and T-shirts.
The pageant supports the Save a Girl Child cause and the winner will be a part of the campaign.
The first ever Tibetan wedding in Kochi
Published June 28, 2010 | 
Kochi played hostess to the first ever Tibetan wedding in the city, which is home to a small community of 8 families of Tibetans. Both the groom and the bride owns businesses dealing in apparels, shoes and accessories near the Children’s park area and the Fashion Street respectively .
Typically Tibetan marriages are held in the Nyingmapa Tibetan monastery and Golden Temple at Kushalnagar, near the Coorg town of Madikeri in Karnataka. In this case also, the horoscopes were cleared by the priests at the Kushalnagar, where the sacred Golden temple of Tibetans is situated.
The wedding was conducted in the traditional custom and when the groom Tenzin Khando tied knot with Namgyal Thundue, it became a memorable moment for everyone around. The bride accompanied by her parents and relatives went to the groom, Tenzin Khando’s house where the groom’s mother welcomed the couple inside for a pooja seeking god’s blessings. Both the bride and the groom were dressed in traditional attire and the bride was welcomed with a funneled box containing barley and Tsambas, the principal cereal of Tibet.
After accepting the ‘khatag’ presented by the groom, the bride enters the house to receive good wishes and gifts from guests. The exchange of white shawls between the bride and the groom symbolises the culmination of the marriage ceremony. The marriage was attended by many Malayali friends and their well wishers in Kochi, a city these Tibetan families have made their second home since many years now!
Life inside China Walls
Published May 19, 2010 | A slice of my School life..
You might be wondering… have I been to China to live inside the China walls. Sorry friends.. I am planning to describe my life inside the campus of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kasargod, and spread across 30 acres protected by a wall like in China. For your information, this school is located almost close to the Mangalore borders. If you haven’t heard of Navodaya Schools, I’ll make a brief explanation about it. 
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are Indian schools for talented children and form a part of the system of gifted education. In Kerala, we have Navodaya Schools in all the 14 districts. The objectives of the scheme are to provide good quality modern education to the children predominantly from rural areas, without regard to their family’s socio-economic condition. For more details refer to wikipedia.
If any of you have studied in Navodaya vidyalaya you will know how life goes inside (Now, things must have changed a lot for sure). “It was a prison and we were prisoners,” so I say and some other students (may be or may not).The imprisonment is for 7 years (from 6th to 12th). The main reason why we say this is that at our time, we couldn’t go out except to go home and that too was like once in a blue moon, as we say – for Onam, Christmas and for the summer holidays. Except this we had no contact with the outside world.
Once we return from the holidays, the far away sight of the School’s water tank would make us distressed and gloomy and, a day is needed to free ourselves from homesickness. Once a month our parents are allowed a visit and we used to await their coming like the hornbill which yearns for the rains. All the communication between us and parents were done through letters, like the things to be brought when they visited. Though, not everything was communicated through this method. It was the time we, especially the Navodaya Students utilized the Indian Postal Service.
Now, this is only one side of our Navodaya life…
To describe the other side of life inside the Navodaya Campus is a joy! We were a big family of over five hundred members. Inside the campus we are all one. If it’s Christmas, it’s Christmas for all… So are Shivaratri, Vishu, Onam, Pooja, Holi, Easter and all other Indian as well as Kerala festivals. Every celebrations and festivals had a spirit of oneness.
But this spirit of oneness is divided only when our Annual Days, Sports Days or a competitive spirit bonds the houses (each student is given and is divided according to a house like Ganga, Kaveri, Yamuna & Krishna). I excelled in many sporting events so did every student in the School.( I think my secret behind in achieving many prizes for running competitions…Shh…. is nothing but the 500 metre distance from our study hall to Dining hall 
). The united spirit during sports days, picking flowers to make ” Pookkalam” (flower carpet) for Onam, and various other inter-house competitions… all were real great fun and something that makes me smile when I think of it even today. I think, the life I described here is too little to know about Navodaya. Because it is something that I am unable to fully express out here.
But I’ll tell you, it is in here I learned about many things of life, music, art, traditions, festivals, languages and people. The schools are what that makes us out as a person. If the student is able to realise his/her potentials, the school system is a success. And, it is this realisation what makes one child the citizen of tomorrow.
To bring out good citizens for tomorrow, we need to do only one thing – give our children good and proper education while standing united in the spirit of being Indians first.
Photo Taken from the Official Website of JNV Kasargod.
Prostitution to be legalised in Kerala?!
Published December 17, 2009 | Just think of the impact if prostitution is legalised in Kerala. The matter is under consideration at the Supreme court! The Supreme Court judges Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik argued in front of the Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam that, “when you say it is the world’s oldest profession and when you are not able to curb it by laws, why don’t you legalize it? You can then monitor the trade, rehabilitate and provide medical aid to those involved.” 
Let’s take a look at what the famous Sex worker Nalini Jameela, author of “Autobiography of a Social Worker” which sold out 13,000 copies within 100 days of its release in 2004, has to say. While attending a conclave of sex workers in Bangalore, she said that, her profession should be legalised. Nalini Jameela added that, only if her profession is being legalised, the stigmatisation- the sex workers community faced will change, so that they can be a part of other mainstream groups.
Education Minister M. A Baby and other famous personalities in Kerala, however feel the legalisation should not happen, since the tradition and the moral values we follow don’t allow such things in public and legalising’ such an issue will endanger the image of the so called “God’s Own Country”. In order to tackle HIV and to give basic education, special emphasis on adult education need to be provided at certain levels, the minister stated..
S.K Harikumar, behaviour physician and a leading consultant in HIV/AIDS, had this to say -”The right to privacy in sexual acts, urges and desires should be vested with the individual and, decriminalization of multi-partner sex among both males and females should take place.”
According to the recent statistics, Kerala has more than 55,000 prostitutes, and this figure is growing rapidly. Now, can you imagine if prostitution is legalised, where this figures will be? Or, will it come to a situation that Kerala has to change it’s tag -’God’s own country‘ to something else?
I am sure, if Supreme court ever made a move towards legalising this issue, the many good natured and moral valued people in Kerala are going to stage a protest. But who knows, may be in future there will be a time when all these things are made legal and public. Let’s see what happens!