The day had begun in a relaxed manner and the reason was simple - the venue of our meeting was scheduled in the press briefing hall of the government guest house which was adjacent to our room. The Payyambalam beach looked quiet with the usual morning walkers/joggers/runners going about their exercises, right across our balcony. The meeting was to begin at 1100h and hence, we'd plenty of time to carry out the morning chores.
The sad part was that my cellphone was useless, all through the day, as the service provider seemed to be ineffective in the area. Beating our estimates, we'd a huge crowd of about 110 people for our briefings/classes. The additional logistics in terms of chairs, tea/snacks during the break, lunch and evening tea were sought from nearby agencies including the guest house and provided without difficulty.
The seven panchayats were well represented by their presidents and their selected trainers. The process of procurement of the 'tablet PCs' was on by most of them. The enthusiasm and the eagerness to execute the programme was very evident. Their doubts, regarding the execution, were cleared. A couple of the presidents did point out our shortcomings in having to organise additional chairs when the original numbers had fallen short and about a few among them not having got the 'snacks' with their tea! Thankfully, none of them had any criticism regarding the e-literacy programme that's being put on stream!
Looking back at it in hindsight, probably, we could have erred on the positive side insofar as the attendance was concerned!!
There was a post-lunch session and by the time we'd secured for the day, it's well past tea time. After a quick round of tea and clearing of the bills, we're off for Kasaragod, the northern most point of our yatra. Enroute, we'd stopped at the 'Rajarajeswara' temple off Thalipparamba to pay our obeisance.
The oldest deity of Lord Siva, was supposed to have been placed by Parasurama there for his prayers. A quaint tradition that's prevalent in the temple premises is that the womenfolk aren't allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum till 8 in the evening. It's believed that Lord Siva's consort, Parvathy, comes into the premises around that time - in fact, her idol is placed beside him then - after which the access for the womenfolk is permitted.
We'd, then, dropped in at Kannettan's house who'd lost his elder brother - all of 86 yrs - three days ago. His wife has also been under treatment for the last couple of months. He was to be with us at our sessions at Kannur and Kasaragod but has had to stay away because of the bereavement. We'd to retrace our tracks to his house to collect my cellphone which I'd forgotten at his house giving us a few anxious moments especially because the message 'the number has been switched off' kept coming in continuously when the others tried to ring up my number!
We're finally at the government guest house at Kasaragod by about 5 minutes short of 11 o'clock.
Tailpiece.
(a) Sakthan becomes the new speaker of the Kerala Assembly effortlessly by polling 74 votes against 66. The media had made this look a pretty tricky show towards the run up!
(b) The treasury and the opposition benches have whipped up a frenzy regarding the budget presentation by the Finance Minister, KM Mani, who's under a cloud on corruption charges. The LDF has said that they wouldn't let him present the budget while the UDF has said that he will. Consequently, the entire lot of MLAs are staying within the premises of the Assembly! We 'mallus' are really very crazy!!
The sad part was that my cellphone was useless, all through the day, as the service provider seemed to be ineffective in the area. Beating our estimates, we'd a huge crowd of about 110 people for our briefings/classes. The additional logistics in terms of chairs, tea/snacks during the break, lunch and evening tea were sought from nearby agencies including the guest house and provided without difficulty.
The seven panchayats were well represented by their presidents and their selected trainers. The process of procurement of the 'tablet PCs' was on by most of them. The enthusiasm and the eagerness to execute the programme was very evident. Their doubts, regarding the execution, were cleared. A couple of the presidents did point out our shortcomings in having to organise additional chairs when the original numbers had fallen short and about a few among them not having got the 'snacks' with their tea! Thankfully, none of them had any criticism regarding the e-literacy programme that's being put on stream!
Looking back at it in hindsight, probably, we could have erred on the positive side insofar as the attendance was concerned!!
There was a post-lunch session and by the time we'd secured for the day, it's well past tea time. After a quick round of tea and clearing of the bills, we're off for Kasaragod, the northern most point of our yatra. Enroute, we'd stopped at the 'Rajarajeswara' temple off Thalipparamba to pay our obeisance.
The oldest deity of Lord Siva, was supposed to have been placed by Parasurama there for his prayers. A quaint tradition that's prevalent in the temple premises is that the womenfolk aren't allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum till 8 in the evening. It's believed that Lord Siva's consort, Parvathy, comes into the premises around that time - in fact, her idol is placed beside him then - after which the access for the womenfolk is permitted.
We'd, then, dropped in at Kannettan's house who'd lost his elder brother - all of 86 yrs - three days ago. His wife has also been under treatment for the last couple of months. He was to be with us at our sessions at Kannur and Kasaragod but has had to stay away because of the bereavement. We'd to retrace our tracks to his house to collect my cellphone which I'd forgotten at his house giving us a few anxious moments especially because the message 'the number has been switched off' kept coming in continuously when the others tried to ring up my number!
We're finally at the government guest house at Kasaragod by about 5 minutes short of 11 o'clock.
Tailpiece.
(a) Sakthan becomes the new speaker of the Kerala Assembly effortlessly by polling 74 votes against 66. The media had made this look a pretty tricky show towards the run up!
(b) The treasury and the opposition benches have whipped up a frenzy regarding the budget presentation by the Finance Minister, KM Mani, who's under a cloud on corruption charges. The LDF has said that they wouldn't let him present the budget while the UDF has said that he will. Consequently, the entire lot of MLAs are staying within the premises of the Assembly! We 'mallus' are really very crazy!!
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