Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup sir, popularly known among Malayalees all over the world as ONV, passed into the mist of time this evening around 1635 hrs. Renowned poet and lyricist, he breathed his last due to age related illness. He was 84.
I remember my last meeting with him quite a few years back, at his residence when my Maman and I had gone to invite him for a function related to the 'Vaayana Dinam'. I remember him wanting to have a good look at PN Panicker's grandson, then and had held my hand for a while. I shall never forget an anecdote of his that he'd passed on about my grandfather during that meeting and I quote.....
"I used to be invited by Panicker sir for all the meetings concerning the Grandhasala Sangham and initially, I used to love attending them because I got a chance to speak to a large gathering of people and could share my poetic creations. Gradually, I got a bit tired of it all and would find excuses to skip Panicker sir's invitations to similar programmes. After a while, Panicker sir had called me aside and asked me that if youngsters like me kept away from such interactions how could he spread the slogan of 'Vaayichu valaruka, Chinthichu vivekom neduka' to the people. He didn't scold me or give me sermons - which he could have - but instead made me understand the purport of my presence. That put me in my right senses and from then on, I never ever missed any of his invites. People like PN Panicker are born once in a lifetime and I feel that I'd the fortune to be associated with him."
RIP, ONV sir. My tears and prayers for a great poet and a wonderful human being. Here's wishing that God gives the strength to his near and dear ones to pass through these stressful times.
* * *
2. Dangerous!
What's happening in the JNU campus at New Delhi? The descending into the campus of the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Seetaram Yechuri, D Raja and others point to dangerous portends. Politicising student agitations can have ramifications because all the political parties know fully well that it has the potential to snowball into catastrophic dimensions that will defy logic and rationale.
The actual ground realities say something and had they studied them, they wouldn't have rushed in to end up looking like a bunch of misguided kids! And so, here I go into the sequence of events of the last week at the JNU campus:-
- A group of students held an event, "The Country without a Post Office", at the campus on
09 Feb attended by most of JNU's political outfits, to support the democratic right to self
determination of the people of Kashmir and to protest the judicial killing(?) of Afzal Guru.
- It soon turned out to be a scuffle between the ABVP and the Left organisations. Here are
the samples of slogans shouted:-
- Bharat ke tukde honge hazaar.
- Bharat ki barbadi tak jung zaari rahegi.
- The varsity says that it was mislead by the organisers who'd asked for permission for a
"cultural programme". The ABVP had pressed for cancellation and termed it as anti-
national.
- JNU Students' Union president, Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on 12 Feb in connection
with a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy.The police also wants to identify the other
accused, through his interrogation.
- The Left inclined SFI have distanced themselves from the protests against the arrests!
There has been a widespread debate to term the incident 'Anti national' vs. 'Stifling of dissent'.
I, now, leave the final deductions to all of you.
Tailpiece.
The same crowd of opposition leaders had rushed in to offer their 'support'(?) to Rohit Vemula's family on the latter's death at the University of Hyderabad, a couple of weeks ago. They don't seem to have been chastened by the closure of that agitation once the truth was out in the open.
Why doesn't somebody matured enough in the Congress put some sense into their VP's head?
I remember my last meeting with him quite a few years back, at his residence when my Maman and I had gone to invite him for a function related to the 'Vaayana Dinam'. I remember him wanting to have a good look at PN Panicker's grandson, then and had held my hand for a while. I shall never forget an anecdote of his that he'd passed on about my grandfather during that meeting and I quote.....
"I used to be invited by Panicker sir for all the meetings concerning the Grandhasala Sangham and initially, I used to love attending them because I got a chance to speak to a large gathering of people and could share my poetic creations. Gradually, I got a bit tired of it all and would find excuses to skip Panicker sir's invitations to similar programmes. After a while, Panicker sir had called me aside and asked me that if youngsters like me kept away from such interactions how could he spread the slogan of 'Vaayichu valaruka, Chinthichu vivekom neduka' to the people. He didn't scold me or give me sermons - which he could have - but instead made me understand the purport of my presence. That put me in my right senses and from then on, I never ever missed any of his invites. People like PN Panicker are born once in a lifetime and I feel that I'd the fortune to be associated with him."
RIP, ONV sir. My tears and prayers for a great poet and a wonderful human being. Here's wishing that God gives the strength to his near and dear ones to pass through these stressful times.
* * *
2. Dangerous!
What's happening in the JNU campus at New Delhi? The descending into the campus of the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Seetaram Yechuri, D Raja and others point to dangerous portends. Politicising student agitations can have ramifications because all the political parties know fully well that it has the potential to snowball into catastrophic dimensions that will defy logic and rationale.
The actual ground realities say something and had they studied them, they wouldn't have rushed in to end up looking like a bunch of misguided kids! And so, here I go into the sequence of events of the last week at the JNU campus:-
- A group of students held an event, "The Country without a Post Office", at the campus on
09 Feb attended by most of JNU's political outfits, to support the democratic right to self
determination of the people of Kashmir and to protest the judicial killing(?) of Afzal Guru.
- It soon turned out to be a scuffle between the ABVP and the Left organisations. Here are
the samples of slogans shouted:-
- Bharat ke tukde honge hazaar.
- Bharat ki barbadi tak jung zaari rahegi.
- The varsity says that it was mislead by the organisers who'd asked for permission for a
"cultural programme". The ABVP had pressed for cancellation and termed it as anti-
national.
- JNU Students' Union president, Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on 12 Feb in connection
with a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy.The police also wants to identify the other
accused, through his interrogation.
- The Left inclined SFI have distanced themselves from the protests against the arrests!
There has been a widespread debate to term the incident 'Anti national' vs. 'Stifling of dissent'.
I, now, leave the final deductions to all of you.
Tailpiece.
The same crowd of opposition leaders had rushed in to offer their 'support'(?) to Rohit Vemula's family on the latter's death at the University of Hyderabad, a couple of weeks ago. They don't seem to have been chastened by the closure of that agitation once the truth was out in the open.
Why doesn't somebody matured enough in the Congress put some sense into their VP's head?
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