The poly-tricks in Kerala

Kerala has a lot of firsts to its credit. First Indian State to achieve total literacy/ State first to implement land reforms/ State with highest life expectancy/ State with lowest birth rate/ State with lowest infant mortality/ Only state with hospital facility in every village/ State in which the communication infrastructure is the highest.

Every political party in power, will high-light these 'firsts' as their own achievement...But there is also another side...ie its the state with the highest suicide rate, highest alcohol consumption rate, highest morbidity, highest unemployment rate and probably the home of caste, communal and coalition politics......

In Modern Kerala the usual trend especially in the last 25 years is to vote in either of the two 'democratic' coalitions (Interestingly in the dictionary coalition describes a temporary group or union of organisations usually formed for a particular advantage!). The two fronts are the LDF or the Left Democratic Front headed by CPI(M) or Communist Party of India( Marxist) and the UDF or United Democratic Front lead by the Indian National Congress or simply the Congress party.

The first coalition was in 1967 when the Communist party under the late EMS (Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad) led a seven-party coalition including the Muslim League (now called by the Communist party as a communal party) to form the government. Before that in 1957 he had led the Communists to victory in the first election for the state government, making him the first communist leader anywhere to head a popularly elected democratic government. It is said that that government was probably one of the better ones that Kerala had as each and every minister with a couple of exceptions were experts and specialists in their own field like Prof Joseph Mundassery for Education, Dr AR Menon for Health, Mr VR Krishna Iyer for Law etc. This government soon introduced the land Reform Ordinance and Education Bill and subsequently was dismissed in 1959 by the Central Government, which invoked the controversial Article 356 of the Indian Constitution following what became later known as the 'Liberation Struggle' or വിമോചന സമരം ...

Over the years coalition governments with and without the Communists or Congress and with the help of so called 'communal parties' (overtly or covertly) came to power in Kerala. The most popular and deep rooted political party in Kerala is the Marxist party or CPI(M), (though the CPI or UDF wouldn't agree to that)... Their policies have a big influence in the daily life of Kerala. The other parties tends to follow or react to what Marxist party does. However, the CPI(M) tend to exhibit their basic instinct of study and struggle (as the "kutti" comrades of their student faction) even when they are in power. The CPI(M) since the demise of EMS have been searching for a theoretician who can lead them and this remains as one of their main problems. When I recently visited Kannur, Karunakaran Uncle told me that EMS was good in Tharkashasthram ie creating a debate out of context and from no-where, winning the debate and reaping the benefits. The vacuum left by EMS is yet to be filled.
At the other end what the congress party (and UDF) does, is to wait for every alternate 5 years to get into power. The UDF and their supporters love to be in power as it's the 'harvest time'. They become cold as soon as they are in opposition and take a break or holiday for 5 years before coming back into power on an anti-incumbency wave. There is nothing much to say about this party which has been slowly degenerating over the years. There were two major factions the Antony and the Karunakaran group. But now it's all the Antony group, which is being led by Mr Oomen Chandy who is probably one of the better Congress leaders. It's good for kerala and specifically Congress party, that Karunakaran group has lost it's stranglehold in the party.

The 100% literate Keralites are very happy to vote either the LDF or the UDF alternately every 5 years, who are not much different from each other. So Keralites literally and figuratively follow the words of de Tocqueville, who said “in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.”

World Alzheimers Day 21 September

World Alzheimer's Day is commemorated today (ie every year on 21 September), when people from around the world come together to focus on raising awareness and the reality of life with dementia.

In Kerala there is now some awareness; thanks to the movie Thanmatra and the excellent portrayal of the affected person, Rameshan Nair by Mohanlal. There was also a bollywood movie with the same theme that was nowhere near the quality of Malayalam movie (as usual, not a big surprise!)

The condition was first described by Dr Alois Alzheimer in Germany more than 100 years ago. It is a dementing disease that affects the patient and also indirectly wrecks the caregiver, family member and family resources....there is no cure for this condition, like many other neuro-degenerative diseases.

No time to lose! is the theme for this year. This year is to focus on carers by emphasising and celebrating the contribution they make to society and giving them the recognition they deserve! Alzheimer associations around the world are organising events and campaigns including Memory Walks, meetings, tea parties and seminars.

This condition will have a huge impact in Kerala especially as Kerala has a large ageing population (more than 11% of Keralites are over 60). It is very important that the government take this into consideration and prepare for its efficient management before it becomes a social problem.

Three letter acronyms

BBC, ABC, DNA, RNA, ATM, USD, INR, GBP, LCD, TLC etc etc.

What is common in all this?
They are all Three Letter Acronyms(TLA!). So, Why are the three letters so popular? Why can't it be two-letter or four-letter?

Let us take some examples: If we look in Medicine which has a long list of acronyms; 3 letter ones stand out....For eg: CAD(Coronary Artery Disease), TOF( Tetralogy of fallot or Tracheo-esophageal fistula etc) or FSH ( follicle stimulating Hormone) or DNA, RNA etc

In Clinical-Genetics there are a group of disorders called "Trinucleotide repeat disorders" (also known as trinucleotide repeat expansion disorders) caused by trinucleotide repeats (like CAG, CGG etc) in certain genes exceeding the normal, stable, threshold, which differs per gene.

Countries, Cities, Airports all have popular 3 letter acronyms like USA, NYC, JFK, TRV, DBX etc etc. If we look at the names of politicians; its AKG, EMS, PKV etc or political parties---BJP, CPM, CPI, or INC. The list is endless.

Is this because our brain has some sort of inherent tendency to remember and recollect acronyms especially 3-letter acronyms? I looked in Oxford dictionary and also 'Googled' this: In English language, it says, as literacy rates rose, and as advances in science and technology brought with them more complicated terms and concepts, the practice of abbreviating terms became increasingly convenient especially from the mid 20th century. I am not sure whether this trend is also seen in other languages.

Its interesting to think about the Malayalam saying in this context- ഒന്നില്‍ പിഴച്ചാല്‍ മൂന്നു!!!

Amazing Amazon

I was watching a program by Bruce Parry (on BBC 0ne) who begins an epic adventure in the Amazon following its downstream journey from High Andes. He travels over 6,000 kms down the length of the Amazon river. Parry meets and lives with local tribes, coca growers, loggers and illegal miners during the six part series. In this first part of the series he is in the Amazon part of Peru. This journey takes him from High Andes (with caravans of Llamas and donkeys following an ancient trial) to the Apuramic Valley and Ashaninka tribe, down the amazon river, the path used since the Incan times. The first tribe live about 4000 metres above sea level on snowy mountains....Its a tough place to live and an irresistible challenge...

'Apuramic' is a Quechuan word...the language of Incas ...'apu' means God and 'rimac' meaning speak or to talk. The river ('head waters') changes its name many times (the Ene, the Tambo, the Urubamba, the Ucayali) before it gets the name AMAZON.....one of the greatest (if not the greatest) river system on earth.

It seems over 100 tonnes of cocaine are made here every year. Amazing...how they clear the forests to make bases (bossas) to process Coca leaves. This is illegal of course. They add kerosene, sulphuric acid, ammonia and all sorts of chemicals and put in 4 days of hard work that earns them $80-$100 per harvest (almost the same price of 1 gram of cocaine in the streets of London). This is the start of the multi-billion dollar drug industry. Colombia is the largest producer of Cocaine and Peru is second. It seems Peru is catching up fast. Everywhere the forests are burned to make new coca fields.

This is also the stronghold of redzone (river Ene) which is the last refuge of the most brutal terrorist organisation in this part of the world...Shining Zone (Maoist revolutionaries who fought a bloody war in the 70's and 80's)

'Ashaninka' (literally means 'a brother to all') is one of the oldest and original indigenous tribes in South America...mainly seen in Peru and some in bordering Brazilian forests. Saw how Masato (the local beer) is made. It seems that the women chew 'Yuca' (Cassava or the 'kappa' as called in Kerala) and spit back into a container!The saliva ferments it!!

Should try to watch the rest of the programme in the coming weeks.

“Satisfaction guaranteed ...and definitely”

So what qualities you need, to be called an NRK or Non-Resident- Keralite. You will tell me a lot of qualities they have or should be having that make an NRK. But I feel the common thing which all the NRK's do at present, irrespective of their country or place of residence is watching 'AKKARAKAZHCHAKAL' every week in you tube or Kairali TV.

This is the new buzz word among 'mallus' when ever they get together. Rather than asking the usual questions of ഹലോ എന്തൊക്കെ ഉണ്ട് വിശേഷങ്ങള്‍ or ഇന്നു ഡ്യൂട്ടി ഇല്ലെ...now a days they ask, ഈ ആഴ്ചയിലെ അക്കരകാഴ്ചകള്‍ കണ്ടോ or ആ ഗിരിഗിരിയുടെ തമാശ അടിപൊളിയായിരുന്നു etc......

In a short period of time in 2008 George, Rinci, Gregory, Mahi, Babykuttan, Appachan etc have become household names among the expatriate keralites. They are the 'super stars' in the first-ever, weekly Malayalam sitcom, ‘Akkarakazhchakal,’ broadcast through YouTube.

This Sitcom is a refreshing change to all those boring serials and some 'reality' shows.

The story is based around a Malayali family consisting of George, his wife Rinci(who is a nurse), their 2 children, born and brought up in US, George's dad, Appachan, Gregory or Girigiri, George's hilarious assistant who helps him in getting insurance business and 2 recent immigrant male nurses; Mahi and Babykuttan. Each episode depicts common themes that happen in the everyday life of an average overseas malayali in a sarcastic way. The script and direction of the sitcom is by Abi Varghese and Ajayan Venugopalan. I understand that all the cast and crew are unpaid.

For all the kerala diaspora watching the series, it is as though they have experienced the same themes in their real life at some point or other. As George says about 'thekkummottil insurance' the sitcom definitely guarantees 100% satisfaction.

Drama and Skit

Today we have practice and rehearsal sessions for a drama and a skit. We had performed a small skit at the last New year- Christmas celebrations. It seems that was a success as it was a 'hit' among most people and the feed back was quite good. Skits are not very easy as I had thought before; it needs a lot of practice especially the timing, lip movements, actions and dance (though you don't have to practice the dialogues by heart)

We decided to do a proper drama this time for the Onam celebrations. Most of the scripts were proper professional 1- hour dramas. So we went for a shorter one and was lucky to get this nice short script ('purushadhanam'). The advantage of the drama was that you can demonstrate your artistic and acting talents....but the downside is to learn by heart the dialogues. It's of no use if just you learn it, but the others in the scene also should be telling the dialogues at the right time for you to respond and make it a success. (I still remember the play we did at grade 10; "The death Trap") Fortunately the group we have for the drama this time is quite alright......

Somehow I feel that in the real stage, people act tremendously better than at the practice sessions. Don't know why and how is it like that?

First day at new school

03.09.08
Today was the first day for Manikutty at new school. I went back many years and tried to recollect what happened on my first day at school. I remember clearly the Nursery which Anju and I went as 3-4 year olds. It had huge walls all around like a fort, so that 3 year olds wouldn't jump over it! Royal-blue coloured big gates, had an open space in the centre, classrooms all around, a kitchen, dining hall and office room at one end. It was like a 'nallukettu' so that all teachers and students can see whats happening in the central field. I remember that for many years we had a group nursery-photo taken at that time in our house, but don't know where is it now.

I also remember clearly when my parents took me to HolyAngels Nursery school (Marion Villa Convent) at Kumarapuram for admission to Grade 1. I some how did not like the school, probably terrified by the traditional habit worn by the Nun sisters:-(; It seemed that I was very upset and tried to run away ( in fact ran...) from the school office when I saw the 'officials'..... My parents were puzzled by my behaviour which seemed to be quite uncharacteristic of me. Anyway they got the message that I didn't like the school and so took me another school. That's when I saw Arya Kumara Ashram or Arya Central School for the first time.

I felt in love with the school when I saw it the first time. It had lots of play grounds, few nice buildings and classrooms. There were lot of paintings from Hindu Mythology all around the office walls. I especially remember Saraswati devi, Lakshmi devi, Lord Shiva and also Swami Vivekananda. I met Mr Shankaran Nair, the strict principal at school. He was a bit bald, but what ever hair was left on his temporal side of the head was nicely combed backwards. He always wore light colored clothes (well pressed) and walked around with a long cane in his hand. Usually children from Upper Kindergarten at that school progress on to Grade 1. So I had to write an entrance test that included learning an altogetherly new subject for me - HINDI. I had a couple of days to prepare for the test, including learning and writing all the Hindi alphabets. It seems that I came first in the test( that's what my mother told me) and was offered a place in Grade1 ( though I had a few more months left for my 5th birthday).

Now back to Manikutty. After her 2 years at Montessori Preparatory school and Grammar school, we were looking for good schools around Leicester for year1. We shortlisted a few schools and she was offered a place in all the 4 schools after assessment. Though fairfield prep was the furthest of all schools, we (Manikutty too) chose it, due to many reasons. The moment I saw the school, I felt like studying here! It was a sense of belonging. The school was big with many buildings and lot of open space and playgrounds. It had a proven track history...More than 500 years is not so bad ahh!( http://www.leshigh.org/) .The approach and attitude of all the officials were fantastic, especially the Head Teacher.

Woke up early today and prepared breakfast and packed lunch for Manikutty. Woke her up and got her ready for school. While driving and waiting in the traffic congestion with Manikutty sitting at rear seat, thought about how our parents went through all this; 10 years each for all of us.......felt good and relaxed.....We were listening to 'Shivakeerthanam' in car stereo. Manikutty was also relaxed (as usual) and at the same time excited to reach schools as fast as possible. But the traffic was slow moving, especially when we were nearing Loughborough schools. Somehow got a parking space and carried Mani and her school bag n lunch to reach the classroom before start. It was nice to see the parents, students, teachers etc walking in an orderly fashion through the walkway that led to school. Mrs Collington ( Class teacher) was waiting outside Year I classroom...She welcomed us and took Mani inside. Manikutty was fine and I gave her a kiss before heading back to the car. It all appeared like a movie...so surreal....

Tail piece: Just read that 30 years ago on this day, a group of young men started shooting a Malayalam movie in front of Attukal temple in Trivandrum. Any guesses?.........
The movie's name was 'Thiranottam' and the actor who took the first shot was none other than Mohanlal.