Is the state of our economy bad?

Maybe this should help us form a balanced outlook....

It is time the world kills the GDP and the old Economics need to evolve with the time!

(Nobel-winning economist) Stiglitz would like gross domestic product (GDP) to go the way of the pyramid inch and the Arabic mile. "The world is facing three existential crises, a climate crisis, an inequality crisis and a crisis in democracy", he writes. "Yet the accepted ways by which we measure economic performance give absolutely no hint that we might be facing a problem".

He's right! In the US, GDP figures and continue with the status quo. GDP gives no hint of environmental degradation or resource depletion, nor inequality, middle-class suffering or lower standards of living. "If growth is not sustainable because we are destroying the environment and using up scarce natural resources our statistics should warn us", he says.

"It is clear that something is fundamentally wrong with the way we assess economic performance and social performance".

His new book, Measuring What Counts : The Global Movement for Well-Being, co-written with French economists Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Martine Durand, provides a blueprint for how countries can use more appropriate matrics that account for details such as sustainability and - imagine! - how people feel about their lives.

This all began a decade ago, when Nicolas Sarkozy, the then President of France, asked Stiglitz and fellow Nobel winner Amartya Sen, along with Fitoussi, to set up a commission studying GDP. They published their early deliberations in a book called Mismeasuring Our Lives.

From an economist's perspective, metrics are the key to everything.

"If we measure the wrong thing, we will do the wrong thing", writes Stiglitz.


Tailpiece.

It was a quiet Saturday. Was glad that the government has postponed the introduction to FASTAGs on all vehicles by a fortnight. It will, now, come into force with effect from 15 Dec! Told Vishnu to tell his contact man to get me mine, the delay of a few days, notwithstanding! 

Brutality in Hyderabad!

Adapted From The Message Forwarded By Vishnu Vardhan and Kalpana Subramaniam......

What led to Priyanka Reddy's death?

Police insensitivity or Planned brutality?

Priyanka Reddy, all of 26 years, was a Hyderabadi veterinary doctor. She went missing on Wednesday night and yesterday morning, her charred body was found by a milkman from about 30 km away from the place where she last called her sister - at Chatanpally Bridge near Shadnagar town in Ranga Reddy district.

Her sister identified the body from the Ganesh locket that she was wearing. Priyanka had parked her TVS Scooty near the Tondepalli toll plaza at Shadnagar (In the outskirts of Hyderabad) and gone to the clinic in a cab. She came back at 2120 hrs to find a guy offering to drop her home while the other let the air off the rear tyre.

She, then, called her younger sister and told her that she was afraid with what was going on because the men who were trying to help her looked scary. Her sister told her to leave the Scooty and stand near the toll gate and that they were arriving to fetch her. After 15 minutes, the mobile was switched off and her family couldn't trace her.

They arrived at the toll gate and didn't find her. They went to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport police station only to be told that the place was not in their jurisdiction and directed them to report the matter at the Thondapalli police station. Unfortunately, the police didn't take the complaint seriously and instead, suggested that she could have gone somewhere and will fetch up later. Her father requested that a search party be sent to trace her but they refused to heed to it.

The family says that the police talked as if they suspected she had eloped with someone and the parents were unnecessarily getting panicky. This drama went on till 4 AM and they advised the family to go home and return later in the day, when the Circle Inspector came to work.

In the morning, around 5 AM, a milkman saw a gang lighting a fire under the Chatanpally Bridge and thought that they were lighting a camp fire to warm up. At 7 AM, he realised that it was a human body on fire and informed the police.

The Telangana police has arrested four truckers viz.:-

     * Mohammed Pasha (26)
     * Jollu Shiva (20)
     * Jollu Naveen (20) and
     * Chinthkunta Chenna Keshavulu (20).

Note. It was Pasha who had offered to drop her home while Naveen deflated the rear tyre of the scooty! The other two dragged her to the nearby bushes. The four of them, then, gang raped her all night. They gagged her and strangulated her to death. The badly mauled body was taken to a spot about 30 km away and after wrapping the body in a blanket, burnt it after pouring petrol over it. The Scooty was dumped amid the bushes about 10 km away from the scene of the crime, after removing its number plates. 

RIP Priyanka Reddy. My tears and prayers and I hang my head in shame for the violent end that you didn't deserve brought about by monsters. May the culprits be brought to book at the earliest and be given the harshest punishment!


Tailpiece.

Had gone to town and completed the backlog of work that had accumulated all these days.

It was yesterday, once more.

Had got up around a half past 5 and since getting back to sleep seemed to look well nigh impossible, I was lying in bed with second thoughts about going for a walk. Finally, the discipline within me had taken charge and prompted me to get out of bed, go through the chores. Was ready by a quarter past 6 and had got out of the house, soon after.

There weren't any auto rickshaws in the stand and the tea shops, enroute, that used to be active as I remembered them to be, remained closed and there was a great amount of calm and silence in the morning air! It was then that I'd overheard two guys talking about a 'hartal' at Guruvayur, called by the Youth Congress activists who allegedly had been roughed up by the police, yesterday, resulting in injuries to many.

I was crestfallen, in that, everything that I'd planned to do today had to be postponed for tomorrow. What a tremendous loss of opportunity besides adding on a day's delay for the execution of the work! There was no question of getting out of the house and I wasn't planning to drive today because the agitating people would not like their fellowmen go about doing their normal work!

Lekha was doing admirably well without help. Incidentally, Annie, our maid, left for the Gulf last Friday where she was gonna look after two children, of a neighbour of her's, working there. She had played foul, in that, while she left without giving us adequate notice, paradoxically batted for a delay in the reporting of her substitute because of the mandatory notice they had to give to their employers before calling it quits!

Vineesh - our standby driver - has promised to get us a substitute and even Seena, Lekha's beautician, has been looking around for one but without success, till now. So, shared Lekha's work in the kitchen like disposing of the waste - category wise and the washing of the dishes.

Only hope that a new maid takes up her position soon!

It was a quiet day otherwise and life had picked up momentum by afternoon. I've lost count of the number of 'hartals' that have been imposed upon us by the various political parties, this year.



Tailpiece.

A quick round up of the news as of now:-

  (a) Udhav Thackeray takes over as the chief minister of Maharashtra with the support of Sharad
        Pawar's NCP and Sonia Gandhi's Congress party.
  (b) The BJP loses all the three Assembly bypolls in West Bengal much to Mamata Banerjee's
        delight.

PS.
The sky was overcast for most of the day. Could rain at night.

   

Sabish you're tough! You're doing good!!

We'd got up around a half past 5, with the hymns and devotional music wafting out of the loud speakers of the nearby temple. Lekha wished me many happy returns with a peck on my cheek accompanied with gifts! Today happens to be my birthday as per the Malayalam calendar. Padmakumar and Rema followed suit. We went through the chores and were ready well in time and had a nice breakfast of 'Puttum Kadalayum' along with bananas, brought from Ramachandrettan's backyard, nearby.

Before we boarded the Uber cab, there was a brief cake-cutting ceremony that was covered photographically. Sujith's cab dropped us at the Vyttila hub and we could board the 1015 hrs' air conditioned, low floor bus bound for Kozhikode. It was ideal for travel on this warm day and it was not cluttered but my happiness was short lived.

A few people, bound for Kottakkal, boarded the bus at the Nedumbasserry airport and they flooded the bus with a lot of luggage which clogged the passages of the bus. He was building a new house and there were a lot of electrical and electronic devices that had been bought.

We got off at Kunnamkulam and Sabish, the auto rickshaw driver, volunteered to take us through the final leg of our journey, to 'The Quarterdeck'. He helped us in getting packed veg lunches. Through the conversation, we came to know about his sad story.

Sabish is of 35 years of age with a badly damaged pancreas - from birth, diagnosed finally after a tortuous seventeen years! He used to suffer from frequent stomach cramps and the doctor attending him said that he was suffering from an ulcer and put him on pain killers. The young man suffered for a while till he was put on to his current doctor at the AIMS, Kochi.

It was there that he was diagnosed with a damaged pancreas and has been on treatment, for the last three years. He has accepted his medical condition stoically and given below are my observations of the case:-

    * The family consists of his mother, his younger brother and his wife.
    * He has decided not to marry as he was sure that he would be wasting a woman's life with his
       problems.
    * He can only take vegetarian food and doesn't crave for the ones that he can't indulge in.
    * If and when pain pops up, he gets back to the hospital - "it's costly, sir!", he says.
    * He drives the auto rickshaw so that he doesn't get to brood and is able to meet different people.
    * He's cheerful and talkative that no-one would feel that he's badly sick!

My take.

Sabish, you're yet another hero of mine from today. The manner in which you remain calm and positive minded, the people who are fortunate to interact with you - like Lekha and I were, this afternoon - leave you on a positive note. 

God, please take care of this tough youngster and I sincerely pray that he has my years added on to his, because I want him to succeed! He's surely a role model worth emulation and the charmful thing is that he is completely unmindful of his charm!!


Tailpiece.

The unpacking was done systematically, took our forty winks to shed off the tiredness. Lekha, even went to the nearby department store to fetch fresh provisions.   
   

Rameswaram to Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi.

We'd entered Thiruvananthapuram city by about 6, went through our chores and were ready well in time. Last night, we left the collectorate's compound and hit the highway to Tuticorin, soon after all of us had finished our dinner. Peter Thomas guided us through the city traffic.

We got our turns right for a change today and had reached the Foundation by a quarter to 7. The wash and change were performed within the office and I had peeled off, by a quarter past 8, to the railway station. Bought a ticket and met up with Asokan, the guy who issued it. But the train doesn't stop at Thrippunithura which I'd realised as we approached the station.

Meanwhile, there was this drama of a couple who differed about going off to Pune without the consent of the lady's parents. Both of them had married for a second time - the man's first wife had passed away while the lady's husband had divorced her. There was a lot of crying and promises being made to each other but realised - after seeing the 'tamasha' - that the parents had not gone about it correctly.  

I'd got down, finally at the Ernakulam North railway station, at a half past 1. Went to Rema's place by the hired car, after dumped my luggage with Lekha and proceeded to the doctor. The post-prandial result was higher than what it was on my previous outing and I'd put on an additional weight of 2 kgs. Met the dietician, Sindhu, who has advised certain regulations on my intakes.

The next medical review is gonna be on 24 Feb '20.


..........contd

                            Prize and Prejudice

According to Gora, however, Malala's real loss of credibility happened with her series of tweets on Kashmir immediately after India scrapped Article 370 and ended the state's special status. "You say, 'Let Kashmir speak'. But have you ever said 'Let Balochistan speak?' You don't care about Hindu and Christian girls, but do you care about the sufferings of your own Pashtun sisters?

Thousands of Pashtuns have been killed because of the brutalities of the Pakistan Army. But you have no shame".

The red carpet welcome given to Malala by the Pakistan Army and her conducted tours with full official protocols revealed to the world that this girl was a plaything of the military. Gora points out that her tweet claiming to be the voice of girls in Kashmir are highly suspicious. For, if there was a telecom ban in Kashmir how was she able to communicate with those girls? Gora is certain these are fake anecdotes from people who do not exist. "I'm sure you are putting these words in their mouths", he says and adds that he has been following Malala's writings since her early days and is prepared to do a "forensic analysis" to prove she's simply recycling her words. "What a fraud you are, Malala," Gora concludes.

Clearly, the Nobel committee goofed up in Malala's case and may now be about to commit a bigger blunder with Thunberg.


Tailpiece.

Took my first ride on the Kochi Metro. Padmakumar and I had gone to the Poornathrayeesan temple where the annual festival was on. The additional lights, the festoons and the buntings gave a rich look!    

At Rameswaram.

Got up leisurely around a half past 6, went through the chores and was ready on time. Along with Aji and Prince, I'd gone for tea outside the collectorate compound and brought in tea for the other two. We left for our local office to review its activities and I was impressed with the young lady, Jayadevi, a BCom graduate who swept the floor clean of the dust that had accumulated over the weekend!

A quick flit to a local stationery store to collect materials for the forthcoming training programme had taken up the entire forenoon. Lunch followed by a run through our strategy of this afternoon's meeting with the Collector, Vira Raghava Rao, preceded our meeting.

The meeting began at 1700 hrs and I was impressed by his dynamism and resoluteness. We told him that we would look up the piece of land that he'd offered. Nagarajan, the officer-in-charge, accompanied us to the site and we could make out that he was not interested in helping us.

The land seemed to be occupied and we made a beeline to the Collectorate. 


.........contd

                                           Prize and Prejudice

Francis Sejersted, rhe chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in the 1990s, said without mincing words : "The Prize.....is not only for past achievement.....the Committee also takes the possible positive effects of its choices into account......Awarding a Peace Prize is, to put it bluntly, a political act".

In fact, in a rare moment of candour, the Nobel Academy questioned its own competency : "Is a committee that is constituted only by members of the political establishment in one small West European nation really capable of assessing who - in the whole world, in the preceding year - has done the most for peace? Is it not likely that their decisions will be marked by ethnocentricity or by some kind of ideological bias?"

Tools for subversion

India has always been a target of the West's propaganda apparatus. In 2014, when child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi was awarded the peace prize, author Sankrant Sanu wrote in Niti Central : "The verdict is still out on Satyarthi and the Nobel on whether he is a hero manufactured by Western institutions for their own interests or a simple, unassuming human rights worker. Given the pattern of funds.....and relationships with evangelical organisations such as World Vision, we should take our newly minted hero with a grain of salt".

Malala, who was jointly awarded the prize with Satyarthi, could have been a credible voice against the ongoing radicalisation of her country's society by the Pakistan Army and the Islamist parties. Instead she has kept up a steady stream of tweets against India while not saying a word against the killings and mass disappearances of Pashtuns, Balochs, Sindhis, Waziristanis and Swatis in Pakistan.

In Mar 2019, Malala travelled to Japan "to meet with young women and girls who are challenging the country's long-standing patriarchy". In Tokyo, she called on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and said, "I hope that he can use his G-20 presidency to help my sisters in Japan......reach their full potential because the world works better when the girls go to school".

Only a fool would believe Japanese women need advice on patriarchy from a hijab wearing Pakistani.

Her constant tweets on Kashmir have exposed her true intentions as a front for the Pakistan Army, says Canada-based journalist and TV anchor Tahir Aslam Gora. "The girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban has become the voice of the jehadi Taliban, Kashmiri militants and ISI.

Gora argues Malala's transformation started soon after she got the Nobel. That's when she decided to use her celebrity status to advance the agenda of the Pakistani establishment by cherry picking facts. "The aim of the Malala Foundation is to talk about issues facing young girls around the worldbut she never talks about home. She has never spoken about the forced conversion of Hindu girls in Pakistan".


Tailpiece.

Based on our feedback, the collector has offered us five acres of barren land elsewhere and between Maman, Dr. Kamalasanan Pillai and me, we decided to work our way through to convert the barren land into a piece of rich, cultivable land within the shortest possible time. We return on the 10 Dec to see the formal inauguration of the land's conversion to prosperity!

We set off from Ramanathapuram by a half past 10, after dinner. We were on our way to Tuticorin, through rains, at many places.

This date in 1955!

Dateline 24 Nov.

On 24 Nov 1955, this bloke was born to K Kuttappan Nair and C Chandramathykutty Amma. Yet another birthday, when my friends and a few relatives (the remainder and the bulk of them will wish me on my birthday as per the Malayalam calendar, on the 27th! Felt nice and happy being in touch with many at a go!! Lekha was the first to call.

Had got up at my usual time and was ready to go to the lab for the tests on my blood sugar. Maman had accompanied me both times - for the fasting and the post-prandial drawal of blood. The readings are coming down steadily and now, I'm armed to meet the doctor on the 26th, at Kochi.

It was a quick lunch at the new eatery at the Dhanya, Remya theatres. The food was nice and the staff seemed to be enthusiastic. We kicked off for Rameswaram by a half past 3 and a slight slackness, saw us doing an additional 80 km - the Foundation's team consisted of Maman, Dr Kamalasanan Pillai, Aji, Prince and myself in the Eeco!

The journey was fun and I kept getting calls which gave me a nice feeling!

A superb feeling!

    *                    *                      *

............contd. 

                              Prize and Prejudice

It was Wilson who introduced segregation in the US civil service, which had offered social mobility for black Americans.

Another nasty character honoured by the Norwegians was Cordell Hull. The American, who received the peace prize in 1945 for his role in establishing the United Nations, was directly responsible for condemning hundreds of Jews to the Holocaust.

In what is known as the St Louis crisis, in Jun 1939, Hull threatened to withdraw support to US President Franklin Roosevelt if the ship SS St Louis, carrying 950 Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, was allowed to dock in an American port. Lobbying by Hull and the Christian Right, ensured the Jews were not allowed to enter the US but had to return to Europe, where the Germans despatched more than a quarter of them to the gas chambers.

In 2013, the peace prize could have easily gone to Vladimir Putin. While the Americans, their NATO allies and the Gulf emirates had wanted to bomb Syria into the Stone Age, it was Russian President's forceful intervention that averted war in the Middle East. But Putin is not strictly speaking a Westerner nor an Eastern rebel so he didn't fit the bill..

Europeans preferred

Ever wondered why famous Indian authors such as Munshi Premchand, Amrita Pritam and Narayan never received the Nobel? They were giants of the literary world, yet they didn't make it.

Whether it is the raw primal emotions in a short story like 'Kafan' or the decadent sensuality of Nawabi Lucknow in 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi', Premchand was both master stylist and storyteller and an obvious candidate for a Nobel, says Swarajya magazine.

Narayan was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times, but never won. In an illustrious career spanning six decades, he produced classics such as 'Swami and Friends' that introduced Indian writing to the world. Narayan won fans all over the world of whom author Graham Greene was the greatest, but the Nobel Committee didn't ignore him for decades. India's opposition to the West during the Cold War was definitely a factor.

But there could be an even more insidious factor at work. According to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the Nobel Academy prefers to pick European authors. "Since 1995, 85% of the winners have been Europeans", it said in a 2008 article.

According to American author Burton Feldman, the Swedish Academy lacks the linguistic competence needed for a truly international jury, which is not surprising. "Unprepared to read fluently and directly in major and populous languages such as Chinese, Arabic or Hindi, not to mention minor ones, the Nobel committee is overly dependent on translations...."

Prejudice was evident in the very first prize in medicine. in 1901, the Nobel was awarded to Emil von Behring for the discovery of antitoxins but not to his close collaborator Shibasaburo Kitasato, the legendary Japanese physician.

The Nobel judges aren't above bribery and corruption either. In 2008, Harald zur Hausen bagged the Nobel Prize for medicine for discovering that HPV causes cervical cancer. But even as the Swede was basking in his newfound glory, he was being investigated by the police. It emerged that AstraZeneca, a pharmaceuticals company with stakes in HPV vaccines, had close links with key members of the selection committee. Further investigations revealed AstraZeneca was also sponsoring the Nobel website.

In 2018, a sex scandal cancelled the literature prize. In Nov 2017, the Swedish media revealed that the husband of one of the Academy members had been accused of serial sexual abuse, in assaults alleged to have taken place over more than 20 years. The accused man was Jean-Claude Arnault, a French photographer and cultural entrepreneur, married to the poet and academician, Katarina Frostenson.

During the investigations it was discovered that "there had been heavy and well-informed betting in advance of the prize in several of the early years of the century". Frostenson was accused of leaking the names of seven prize winners to her husband ahead of the announcements. The names of the prize winners are the subject of intense speculation and on which many people place bets with betting firms.

Causes of bias

While European ethnocentrism is clearly at work in the fields of science and literature, in the peace prize a deciding factor is Norway's geopolitical tilt. As a NATO member, Norway reflects the prejudices that are inevitable because of the country's entanglement in the military alliance.

.....to be continued.....


Tailpiece.

Reached Rameswaram by a half past 10. Since the bookings were done by the ever efficient Indira ma'am, we parked into the Collectorate's Guest House on arrival.

An interesting articulation!

  Reproducing an interesting article written by Rakesh Krishnan Simha.
     
              Prize and Prejudice : Why a lot of rotten people win the Nobel Prize

In 1964 when Jean-Paul Sartre was given the Nobel Prize for literature, the French author and leftist icon rejected the award, saying it was "an honour restricted to Western writers and Eastern rebels". Sartre also understood the underlying intent of the Nobel awards as a tool of co-option. In fact, his other objection to the Nobel was that the winner of the prize is "in a way inevitably co-opted by simply being crowned. It's a way of saying, finally he's on our side".

Just as entry to elite universities is not always based on merit, the winners of the Nobel Prize are not always deserving of honour and recognition. The unfortunate mutation of peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai from a diehard (no pun intended) critic of the Pakistan Taliban's misogynistic laws to a mouthpiece of the very Islamist forces that tried to kill her, is a pointer to the bad picks - and misses - of the Nobel Academy.

Here's a short list that even a blind judge could not have missed:-
    * Mohandas Gandhi (rejected all forms of violence)
    * Dmitri Mendeleyev (the Russian scientist famous for the Periodic Table
    * Leo Tolstoy (the greatest novelist of all time)
    * U Thant (played a key role in defusing the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis)
    * Antony Chekhov (one of the world's greatest writers) and
    * RK Narayan (most prolific Indian author of the modern era).

Against this backdrop it comes as no surprise that Swedish teenage climate activist for her cringe-worthy How Dare You monologue - has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded this month. At 16, she would be the youngest recipient of the $930,000 award won by the likes of Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Peace Prize for warmongers

For all his failings as a political leader, Gandhi should have been a shoo-in for the peace prize. Many people of British origin living in different parts of the world today owe their existence to Gandhi because he prevented the Indian revolutionaries from carrying out a massacre of their forefathers - the 100,000-odd British soldiers, bureaucrats and civilians ruling India.

The British were committing genocide in India, but Norway - which which annually awards the Nobel Peace Prize - did not want to ruffle any feathers in Britain by honouring Gandhi. It was a clear case of racial solidarity. Considered the home of the Germanic people, Norway enjoys very close relations with Britain.

In 1972 the peace prize should have gone to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Firstly, she stopped the genocide of Bengalis in East Pakistan, where three million of them had been killed by the Pakistan Army in a short span of eight months during the previous year. Correspondents of Time magazine quoted a US official admitting that what the Bengalis had endured was"the most incredible, calculated thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland.

Secondly, Mrs Gandhi prevented the massacre of 93,000 Pakistani prisoners who had surrendered before the Indian Army by mass evacuating them out of East Pakistan, thereby preventing their killings by vengeful Bengali soldiers of the Mukti Bahini guerilla army.

However, Norway had no problems awarding the peace prize to Henry Kissinger in 1973. There is a special place in hell for Kissinger, the US Secretary of State, who was responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. During the 1971 Christmas bombing - named Operation Linebacker - American bombers dropped 20,000 tons of explosives on North Vietnam, mostly Hanoi. During Linebacker and a bombing campaign preceding it, the US dropped a total of 155, 237 tons of bombs on Nort Vietnam, killing thousands.

American satirist Tom Lehrer commented : "Political satire became obsolete when henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize".

Kissinger was a serial offender. Just two years earlier, he had winked at Pakistan's massacre of nearly three million Bengalis, mostly Hindus, in East Pakistan or modern Bangladesh. He had described Indians as "bastards" for putting an end to the genocide.

The Norwegians were red faced when North Vietnamese leader Le Duc Tho, who was jointly awarded the prize, declined it, saying peace in Vietnam was a big lie. Kissinger had no such scruples and accepted the prize "with humility".

In 1994, the Peace Prize was awarded to three people jointly - Yasser Arafat, the head of the terrorist outfit Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. One of the Nobel peace prize committee members, Kare Kristiansen, resigned in protest at the honour given to Arafat, whom he described as "too tainted by violence, terror and torture".

Presidential follies

By giving the 2009 peace prize to Barrack Obama even as he was ramping up the war in Afghanistan and in 2012 to the European Union after it had bombed and destroyed Libya, the Nobel awards gave tacit approval for war. It was almost Orwellian. Russian channel RT commented ; "Sometimes the makers of permanent war are awarded for bringing in temporary peace".

Obama wasn't the first American president with a penchant for war to be honoured by the Nobel Academy. In the exact same year he became a Nobel Laureate, Theodore Roosevelt showed his determination to see the US as a great power using military force, primarily in the Caribbean. Many American newspapers found the award curious and The New York Times later commented that "a broad smile illuminated the face of the globe when the prize was awarded.....to the most warlike citizen of the United States.

US President Woodrow Wilson was awarded the peace prize in 1919 for his sponsorship of the League of Nations. But Wilson was a racist whose administration wreaked havoc on the government careers of thousands of African Americans in the 1910s, says Eric S Yellin, associate professor of History and American Studies at Richmond University, Virginia.

"In 1912 and when Wilson arrived in the nation's capital in Mar 1913, he brought with him an administration loaded with white supremacists", Yellin writes in the literary magazine Berfrois. "His lieutenants segregated offices, harassed black workers and removed black politicians from political appointments that had been held by black men for more than a generation".

.........to be continued.


Tailpiece.

Had got up leisurely and we saw Chambu off, who was going for a test at Kochi. We reached the Foundation by about a quarter past 9. By a quarter past 10, we were at the venue and kicked off the painting competition for children of all ages at a half past 10. The exhibition, meanwhile, was on the roll. The afternoon session saw two MLAs visiting the exhibition and we went through the prize distribution ceremony as well as the weekly discussions on 'Start Ups and their relevance in contemporary times'.

The curtain came down on the three-day exhibition at 1800 hrs, this evening. The Foundation's footprint all over India was the factor that was passed on to the people who had dropped by over the last three days! The legendary PN Panicker and his extraordinary library and literacy movements were getting to be known far and wide!!

    

A sad incident!

This is the tragic story of li'l Shahla Sharin.

  * She was 10 years of age.
  * She was a student of class V.
  * Studying in Government Sarvajana Vocational Higher Secondary School at Sultan Batheri.
  * Last Wednesday, around 1500 hrs, a snake and a damn poisonous one at that, which was in a hole
     on the wall of of her classroom, had bitten her.

Now, see the colossal lapses on the part of the various authorities connected with the incident.

  * Her teacher, Shijin, was the first to be reported by her and she'd painfully said that she was bitten
     by a snake but the teacher did not take any action.
  * It was her father, upon being told about the incident, who'd taken her to the hospital.
  * And sadly, the hospital neither had the anti-venom serum stocked within nor was it equipped to
     handle snake-bite emergencies.

A lot of valuable time was lost and in the bargain, li'l Shahla Sharin passed into the mist of time.

RIP, Shahla. My tears and prayers. There was no reason for you to leave us so early without fulfilling your aspirations and we, all, have let you down. How does one redeem oneself from this serious lapse on the part of the people responsible? And above all, what about the lapse on the part of the local self government agency which did nothing to repair the dilapidated school?

If I were to be asked, the entire lot of people concerned should be taken to task, for dereliction of duty!


Tailpiece.

The day had begun at 5 AM. Went through the chores and Maman and I, were out of the house by 7. We'd picked up Pannian Ravindran ji to call on three ministers. Consequently, the three of us had a delayed breakfast at a quarter past 9! I was the chauffeur and was very cautious driving the huge van!! And after dropping our guest at his party office, we'd returned to the Foundation at about a quarter past 10. Our morning forays, however, did not fetch us the desired results - at least not in the immediate future but on a long stretch, would!

We'd visited the venue of the exhibition when the press had also dropped by. Tomorrow is the culminating day. There will be painting competition and elocution for the children.

It was a comparatively early evening!  

A review of the Foundation's activities.

Maman and I'd returned home by a half past 2, much past midnight, after setting up the venue of the photo exhibition. Both of us felt bad when we found that about 20 photographs had been missed out and retrieval, at this late stage was well nigh impossible! Consequently, the script had to be modified to suit the reduced set of photographs!

As the complete array of the photographs were on display, I felt goose bumps all over me seeing my Muthachhan's photograph being revered by children and the elders alike, in all the states on the occasion of the "Vaayana Dinam"(Reading Day) of '19. PN Panicker has, indeed, arrived at every nook and corner of India, much belated though!

We'd seen off the four workers, dropped Prince at his home behind the MG College and reached home. Manu, the driver, was asked to take the vehicle to his house so that he could reach at 8, to take us to the site. By the time I'd wound up, it was a half past 3, in the wee hours of the morning. and I knew that my sleep would be at a premium!

The potted plants and the ornamental lights enhanced the ambiance of the hall. The programme started, on the dot, at 1030 hrs with everyone of the guests arriving on time except for the chief guest, the Minister of Industries, Mr. EP Jayarajan. He seemed to have got stuck in the Assembly thanks to the ongoing ruckus! Anyways, I would say that it was his loss! Probably, he might visit us informally, tomorrow.

My director from the JSS, Kollam had come by for the meeting that I'd called for. We discussed the issues and I gave my decisions without much wait. The three of us, along with the ladies of the Foundation's staff, settled down for a nice lunch prepared at the church. Bijumon was given certain specific tasks and we'd gone back to the office.

Sasi, was seen off soon after. I'd completed my duty on task!


Tailpiece.

We'd secured from the Foundation by 2000 hrs and headed back for home. It was a very early evening compared to what it was yesterday but then, what the hell.    

Limbering up for the photo exhibition.

Had got up around a half past 6, gone through my chores and was ready on time. Chinnu's husband, Rajesh had dropped by and he was advised to be his normal self to get things back to normal. Since I didn't have the time, I'd left it at that with a promise to hear him further, at a convenient time. And it was work, in plenty, at the Foundation.

Around 11, we'd gone across to the press club for the briefing of our event tomorrow. The strength of the young journalists who'd attended it was disappointing and after our say, they had no queries either! There were other errands that I'd run during the day, either to get things done or for purchasing stuff that were required for the do. It was hectic but not tiring, I must admit!

Meanwhile, Lekha, along with my sister and brother-in-law, had gone across to the Lulu Mall, purchased cushion covers - long standing work - and they had a ride on the metro.

Girija, from the staff, had fetched our lunch from the cafeteria, nearby. It was wholesome and filling! But there was no question of catching my forty winks after that!

By evening, the photographs of the Foundation's activities had been collected and we made a beeline to the parish hall to set up the pieces and have the auditorium arranged to our requirements. The clock kept ticking, had dinner from a wayside stall to ensure that the interruption in our work was minimal. and we worked and we worked......


Tailpiece.

A long day by the end of which I was dog tired! But it was all fun working with the staff and Maman and I stayed till the end!! 

To Thiruvananthapuram.

The day had begun at 4 AM thanks to Lekha's cellphone alarm and I thought it was a sensible decision because there was plenty of time at our disposal to cross check on things that we'd to do and the things to carry, before we went across to the road transport corporation bus stand by 7. Hamid, with his auto rickshaw, had arrived promptly as directed.

Certain times one does dumb things. Today, I'd inquired about the departure time of the morning fast passenger to Thiruvananthapuram and it was confirmed to be at 0725 hrs. We boarded the bus accordingly but there was an earlier bus to the Vyttila hub, which we'd to miss because I was not very enthusiastic to change the buses, making Lekha go through the rigmarole while carting two pieces of luggage and my laptop.

The bus reached Vyttila a trifle beyond half past 10. I'd, as is my custom, shook hands with Aji, its driver before making a dash to the rest room. On return, I was delighted see my brother-in-law, Padmakumar who was there to take Lekha to their place at Thrippunithura while I left for Thiruvananthapuram by the low floor bus, soon after. The halt for lunch was at Kayankulam and it was there that I happened to meet Aji, all over again and he was surprised to see me headed to my destination after having got off from his bus. I'd to tell him that I was one who thrived on the frills of life and an air conditioned environment only added to the comfort. Did he feel let down especially after I'd told him that I liked his driving?

Pavithran, the driver of the low floor bus was an even better driver as he maneuvered the hulk through heavy traffic in a masterly fashion. I did express my appreciation after disembarking at Thiruvananthapuram and wasn't he glad? 

Reached the Foundation by a half past 4 and it was great to see Maman and our team, at work. There was frenetic activity, at the office, in preparation for the exhibition of our activities, beginning 21 Nov. Had a long chat with our horticulture expert and a disarmingly simple man, Dr. Kamalasanan Pillai. He was preparing for our visit to Rameshwaram, to take stock of our farming activity there using the latest technology, over the weekend! 

After a quick visit to the venue of the forthcoming exhibition to finalise the arrangements, we'd set off for Maman's home. Chinnu and her daughter, along with her mother, Girija, made the evening quite boisterous! It was yakkitiyak all the way!!

Tailpiece.

It was nice to see Ammayi's niece and her little daughter. Should fetch the li'l one a teddy bear tomorrow in between the busy schedule. They are flying off to Qatar tomorrow evening!        

News views.

Just going through the news that are making the headlines at these moments. Without much ado, let me begin:-

 (a) Altaf Hussain Seeks Asylum.

       The MQM leader, Altaf Hussain of Pakistan, residing in exile at London has appealed to our
       Prime Minister to grant him and his colleagues asylum in India or introduce him to someone
       financially influential, to help him fight a legal battle in the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
       against the Pakistani government and its Army for committing atrocities against the minorities
       in the country!

       It's a tight slap across the face of Imran Khan and his Army! The horrid conditions existing in
       Pakistan is once again coming to be noticed worldwide!!

 (b) The JNU Students Agitation Spills into New Delhi's Streets.

       The students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) agitating against hostel fees hike have
       taken to the streets of New Delhi to make an impact on day one of the current Parliament session.
       Though the central government has constituted a three-man panel to look into the remedial
       measures, the students have pressed on with their street march towards the Parliament house
       which the police had rightly stopped from creating disturbances.

       Never letting go a chance to embarrass the ruling dispensation, the opposition consisting of the
       Congress and the Communists have lent their support for the agitation, saying that Modi's
       emergency is trying to suppress the "legitimate democratic expression of dissent"! And they
       are totally silent over the anti-India videos shot, within the campus, sometime earlier!!

 (c) The Hong Kong Protests Worsens.

       The fairly prolonged protests in Hong Kong have taken a violent turn and pitched battles
       between protesters, hurling Molotov Cocktails and the extensive use of bows and arrows,
       against the police using tear gas and water cannons! The Chinese Ambassador in London has
       gone on record saying that such a situation was unacceptable and that the Chinese armed forces
       in the mainland, can tackle the situation with ease.

       Is it just a matter of time before the Chinese forces marched in?

 (d) A Review Petition on the Ayodhya Verdict.

       The AIMPLB (All India Muslim Personal law Board) along with a few other groups are
       filing a review petition against the Ayodhya verdict. So, though many of us thought that the
       longish, bitter feud had come to an end, it's not gonna be so judging from the latest call for
       review.

       Sad! When will we get a respite?


Tailpiece.

It was a quiet day and the systematic shutting down of 'The Quarterdeck' in view of our next sojourn. 

        

Swami Saranam!

Today is the first of the Malayalam month of Vrishchikam, that marks the beginning of the Sabarimala season. Devotees from war and wide, across India, will make a beeline to the hill temple to have their annual tryst with Lord Ayyappa. This time the state government is not taking chances and making it clear that there would be no support from its side to enable women pilgrims - between 10 and 50 years of age - to enter the shrine, this time.

It took a drubbing at the Lok Sabha elections to understand that the average Malayalee does not like any sort of interference in his/her beliefs. Last year, this time, this government had stood firm that it was committed to execute the Supreme Court verdict of allowing women of all ages into the shrine. To that extent, with heavy police presence along the pathway to the shrine, a few women were covertly brought into the sanctum sanctorum and the consequences were there for all to see with the believers clashing with the police - all over the state - consequent to it.

To my mind, what went against the collective psyche, was the sight of those ladies' first action of taking selfies on reaching the sanctum sanctorum, as though celebrating a victory!

It was an ugly scene that should never have happened. Massive egos were at play and the net result was that the 'political foot soldiers' took the brunt during the clashes on the streets. The people were watching and biding for their time......which came in the form of the General Elections. The CPM came a cropper with just one against the total number of 20 Lok Sabha seats! It was this electoral drubbing that forced the party to have a rethink on the issue.

The fact is that the latest Supreme Court verdict on the subject has not annulled its earlier verdict of '18, regarding gender equality. In other words, women have the right to enter Sabarimala but the state government has changed its tune. Today, many women pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh were asked to return by the police from Pamba -a question of being once bitten, twice shy! A novice can always turn around and ask as to whether the present action by the state government is not tantamount to a contempt of court!

But we are known to take diabolically opposite positions to tide over difficult situations without any sense of shame! And all political parties - without exception - dabble in this double play!! Sad!!!


Tailpiece.

Mithun and Ammu had reached 'The Quarterdeck' by 8. After a quick wash and change followed by breakfast, they were dropped at the Private Bus stand to go to Thriprayar to rendezvous Achu, to meet up with Arunima.

Incidentally, I shall be following the Sabarimala routine from today, for the next two months, but shall not undertake the trek.

  

Tidbits.

                        Brevity is the Soul of Wit.

Brilliant Puns

1. A man who wants a pretty nurse........must be patient.....
2. A man who leaps off a cliff.....jumps to a conclusion....
3. A man running in front of a car gets tyred;
    And a man running behind a car......
    gets exhausted......
4. War does not determine who is right......
    it determines who is left.......
5. A man who drives like hell......
    is bound to get there.....
6. A lion will not cheat his wife......
    but a tiger wood......
7. Toilets are a great place to think......
    no wonder they are called
    "Sochalayas"......


                       Sometimes I feel.......

Sometimes I feel
I want to go back in time.....
Not to change things,
but to feel a couple of things twice.....

Sometimes I wish
I was a baby for a while......
Not to be walked in the pram
but to see my mother's smile.

Sometimes I wish
I could go back to school
Not to become a child
but to spend more time with those
friends I never met after school....

Sometimes I wish
I could be back in college
Not to be a rebel
but to really understand what I
studied.

Sometimes I wish
I was a fresher at my work.......
Not to do less work
but to recall the joy of the first pay
cheque.

Sometimes I wish
I could marry again all over
Not to change the partner
but to 'feel' the ceremony better.

Sometimes I wish
my kids were younger.....
Not because they grew fast
but to play with them a bit more.

Sometimes I feel
I still had some more time to live....
Not to have a longer life
but to know what I could give to
others.

Since the times that are gone can 
never come back, let's enjoy the 
moments as we live them from now
on, to the fullest....

Let's celebrate our everyday life....... 


Tailpiece.

Another one of those usual days. Went to Vishnu, at the bank, to get a work done. Mithun and Ammu left for Guruvayur, from Bangalore, by a Volvo that was about 45' late!

Sabarimala - the legal aspects.

Preamble

Would like to quote PR professional, Smitha Menon, who is against young women visiting Sabarimala,

 "The five-judge bench in Sep '18, by a majority ruling said the following:-
      
      (a) The temple and its devotees cannot claim the status and protection of a denomination as they
            are majority Hindus.
      (b) The restriction on women aged 10 to 50 to enter and offer prayers at the temple was held to
            be not an essential practice.
      (c) Much was also spoken about untouchability and cheating women of their right to worship". 

  She further continues, "Sabarimala is a pilgrim centre and has several unique practices. It is these 
  practices that lead a devotee to the deity (Lord Ayyappa). We believe that Lord Ayyappa has
  suggested a school of renunciation and prescribed a path to self-realisation. A devotee rejects the
  elements of 'grihasthasrama' for 41 days. An age restriction is prescribed for women from
  adolescence till before the age of 'vanaprastha' so that rejection of family life for 41 days is
  possible".

The Verdict

In a 3-2 majority verdict, the Supreme Court referred the case to larger seven-judge bench the pleas
seeking review of its historic 2018 judgement allowing women and girls of all ages to enter Kerala's Sabarimala temple. Three other contentious issues of alleged discrimination against Muslim and
Parsi women, listed below will also be considered:-

       (a) Entry of Muslim women in a durgah/mosque.
       (b) Entry to fire temple for Parsi women married to a non-Parsi and
       (c) Genital mutilation in Dawood Bohra community, a Shia Muslim sect.
             (However, the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Women's Association for Religious Freedom -
             DBWRF, a representative association of 72,000 Dawoodi Bohra women had argued that
             'khafz' or female circumcision as practised by them wasn't female genital mutilation).

The scope of the review pleas was limited to the entry of menstruating women into the shrine. In other words, the ambit was between Religious matters vs Rule of law.

The Court Sets Out Seven Questions Of Law

 1. Interplay between freedom of religion under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution.
 2. What is the sweep of expression 'public order, morality and health' occurring in Article 25(1)
     of the Constitution?
 3. Need to delineate the expression 'constitutional morality'.
 4. Extent to which courts can enquire into particular religious practices.
 5. Meaning of sections of Hindus under Article 25.
 6. Whether 'essential religious practices' of denomination or a section thereof are protected under
     Article 26.
 7. Permissible extent of judicial recognition to PILs in matters calling into question religious
     practices of a denomination or a section thereof at the instance of persons who do not belong to
     such religious denomination.

And an additional point concerning Sabarimala alone, "Whether the statutes laid down in the Kerala Act of 1965, regarding the entry of people into public places of worship covers Sabarimala also?"


Tailpiece.

Has the Kerala Government jumped the gun by saying that it shall not facilitate entry of women into Sabarimala, this time, because the court has made it clear, that the compliance of its orders is not optional!

 

     

The verdicts of the Supreme Court.

It's another installment of the news views. Today was a great day, in that, the Supreme Court had delivered its verdict on many issues. Interesting, to say the least! Without much ado, here I go:-

 (a) Women's Entry Into Sabarimala Temple.

       The Supreme Court unanimously agreed to refer the religious issues to a larger bench, while the
       five-judge bench by a 3-2 verdict decided to keep the pleas seeking a review of the top court's
       decision allowing the entry of women of all ages to the shrine. It will be incumbent on the next
       CJI, on taking over, to constitute the larger bench.

       The Kerala Government will have a tough time but I hope that they don't escort women in a
       covert manner this time, earning the wrath of the believers.

  (b) The Rafael Agreement.

        The Supreme Court bench headed by the CJI had dismissed all the petitions asking for a review
        of its earlier verdict on the Rafael Agreement, according to which India will acquire 36 Rafael
        Jets from France through an Inter-governmental agreement.

        Rahul Gandhi was chastised for calling the PM names and falsifying the facts regarding the
        case. Alas, he remained defiant and has asked for an investigation by the Joint Parliamentary
        Committee. Why isn't he being put to size?

  (c) CJI's Office Brought Under RTI's Ambit.

        A five-judge bench - consisting of the CJI, Justices NV Ramana, DY Chandrachud, Deepak
        Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna - has brought the CJI office under the ambit of the RTI, saying that
        "in a constitutional democracy, judges can't be above law".

        Wish the politicians also takes a leaf out of this decision!

  (d) The Disqualification of the MLAs.

        The Supreme Court had also upheld the disqualification of the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs but
        has permitted them to contest the Karnataka byelections on 05 Dec.

        15 of them have been admitted into the BJP and many of them are the party's candidates too!
       
        How the revolt within the BJP will be handled is the question. The sad story of engineering
        defections continues and the unscrupulous elements continue to have a ball!


Tailpiece.

A quiet day when I'd gone to town to clear a few pending work.
    

Back at 'The Quarterdeck'.

We'd got up leisurely around a half past 6, went through the chores and were ready by about 9. Without much ado, we had gone down to the restaurant to have our breakfast. George wasn't there but we met each and everyone to thank all those, who'd made our stay memorable. The winding up was swift and we left Golf View by a half past 9. Manas was tipped as he was a consistent, quiet worker who'd run many errands for us since our arrival, last evening!

The timing of our getaway was such that the traffic was manageable and I took the Container Road to reach the Naval base canteen without delay. The ever-smiling Anand was there to receive us with the query as to why we had not dropped by last month. I could find a suitable parking for my Chevy, while Lekha had entered the grocery section to buy the items.

I think we took more than an hour at the premises because the computer system had a problem. Thankfully, it did restart without further delay and we could finish our purchases by about 12 o'clock. Meanwhile, I'd called up Dhanoop, the insurance man to collect the premium for our Chevy whose insurance needed renewal this coming week.

Continuing our drive, we crossed the bottlenecks of Vyttila, Palarivattam and Idapalli without any delay as they were not clogged with traffic! Had lunch at a wayside restaurant by about a quarter to 1 and we were particularly impressed with young Ilayaraja, for looking after us and Ramar for guiding our vehicle, in and out of the parking!

Reached Guruvayur by a half past 3. Our first visit was to Vimal's electronic shop to find a solution for the voltage stabilizer that had gone kaput on the day, prior to our departure for the course get together. Riyaz, had promised to drop by at 1800 hrs. Lekha had to pick up fresh vegetables and fruits from the department store and we were back at The Quarterdeck by a quarter past 4, but not before buying a few snacks from the tea stall opposite the Mammiyoor kshetram.

A quick cup of tea followed by unpacking and washing 'machinex' saw the end of our short, cute trip to Orissa where we did have a great time. Riyaz came by at 6 and picked up our faulty voltage stabilizer, to give it for servicing.


Tailpiece.

And what were the take aways of the trip?

   * The anxious stretch of our onward journey from Madras to Bhubaneshwar. The anxiety was on
      two counts - the delay in take off and the likely repercussions of cyclone Bulbul on our landing
      at Bhubaneshwar. They were, however, found to be unwarranted.
   * Bhibhu picking us up from the airport on time and off chasing the group which had already left
      for Puri. He was thrilled for the anticipated drive to Puri which was altered as we'd caught up
      with the gang at Dhauli.
   * The warmth with which we were received by one and all. Lekha and I were the last of the lot to
      join up. The long drive to Puri after seeing Dhauli where Emperor Ashoka had embraced
      Buddhism on seeing the untold fury of the Kalinga war.
   * The warm welcome at the'Empires' hotel that was gonna be our home for the next three days and
      the winsome attitude of the staff all through.
   * The miserable wobble of Nandi and Paddy because of their problematic knees. The latter would
      be going for surgery next week but the former is gonna wait a while.
   * Everyone's reaction at my temple going rig with a few clicking snaps on their mobiles, to send
      them across to their children. A few of them even touched my feet!
   * The jostling within the temple and the manner in which Lekha was helped through the crowd
      between me, Rana and Parameswaran. And my success in holding on to my dhoti!
   * Lokhi's thoroughness in collecting the 'prasad' from the Jagannath temple after a puja for Lekha,
      the next day.
   * The easy banter, throughout and the way we had caught up with each other.
   * The genuine and spontaneous reactions from all.
   * No change in egos on certain guys despite their forays into spirituality. Or probably it would take
      more time, perhaps!
   * Lekha's tumble on the elevator at Madras airport.
   * And the decision to meet up at Amritsar, next November, for the next get together!
   * And of course, the thrill of Prem Gulati on seeing us without any sort of ill will.



   

Lekha's tumble!

We had got up at 4, gone through the chores and were ready before 7. As planned last night, the aim was to load the luggage by 7 into the vehicle earmarked for us, have breakfast and kick off to the airport by 8. We were slated to take off from Bubaneshwar, transit through Madras and reach Kochi, around sunset.

We managed to leave 'Empires' by 8 and because of the comparatively sparse traffic on the highway, we could reach the airport by a quarter to 10. There was sufficient time for our aircraft to arrive and we finally took off at 5' past 12......and reached Madras by a half past 1. The peculiarity of the lay out of the airport was that the transit passengers made it to the arrival, to repeat a security check to get through the rigmarole of the second departure procedure!

Soon after the 'Security Check'was over and we were poised to go for lunch, disaster struck. Lekha was going towards the 'gate' that we were to depart from, following a misstep on the elevator she took a nasty tumble. I could only helplessly and to my horror, watch it happen as I was a couple of steps behind her. The elevator was quickly shut down by a watchful staff and it prevented a major catastrophe. Sivakumar and another person helped me get her back on her feet but I could see that it had left her badly shaken.

A quick observation confirmed that she did not have any serious injury, except for a few superficial bruises and she was able to walk without any hassle. I told myself, then and there, that from now on whenever there was an option to use an elevator or an escalator. only the latter would be chosen.

Subsequently, it was a long wait at gate 5 and then, at  gate 4 because our flight to Kochi had finally taken off at a half past 5. There was an excitement among the passengers that a cine actress - didn't know her name - was travelling along with us.

Meanwhile, I'd spoken to the manager of the hotel about our arrival and he'd messaged me that Jaison would be there, with the vehicle, to pick us up. His cell number was also passed on. Consequently, we were at the Golf View by 7 to be received by Mr. George and a welcome drink!

After a quick wash and change and viewing television, we went down to the restaurant for supper. Stanley - a bachelor in his 50s - looked after us and made interesting conversation. Returned to the room and had helped Lekha with the pain balm to sort out the aches and the pains. Hope she's refreshed by morning after a good night's sleep.

Felt very tired after the day long travel and hit the sack soon after.


Tailpiece.

It was a good outing except for the fall that Lekha had. We could get a slice of Orissa over a short span of four days and meet a large number of our Naval friends!

Day 3 - To Chilka and back.

The alarm went off at 3 AM but Lekha had pain on her left knee, we decided to drop the idea of going to the Jagannath temple. Accordingly, Lokhi and Rana were told about our changed plans and to conduct a puja in Lekha's name, on our behalf. We had got up at a half past 6, gone through our chores and were ready well in time. It was during breakfast that the others told us about the sun being obscure at sunrise in the morning!

We cast off at a half past 9 towards Chilka. The journey was over two hours and after freshening up at the Yatri Nivas at Satapada, we boarded ten each in small motor boats. The boat was catamaran-like with a small canopy atop that kept the fierce sun away from us. Boarding in and out of them was an exercise by itself and our helmsman, Dilip, took us to two unscheduled stops to help the vendors make a fast buck on us by selling their small eats and drinks and even pearls!

The over two hours of boating were uneventful but gave us ample time to interact with each other and understand us better. We had a nice lunch, based on local cuisine, at the clean Yatri Nivas (I suppose this is the Oriya version of the KTDC's Motel Araams!). The return journey was spent mostly on snooze and we were at Hotel Empires by a quarter to 5. Piping hot tea with small eats were provided at the hotel and we'd about two hours to get ready and be down at the spacious lawns for the valedictory function and dinner.

The evening was a sentimental journey. Rana had conducted an interesting quiz competition, though the questions above our heads due to:-

    (a) The questions weren't audible and what was written on the slides was not readable.
    (b) And of course the questions were tough to answer.

Bid farewell to each and everyone, to the extent feasible, and everyone seemed to be wanting to come to Guruvayur. Let's see as to how many would come by. Many people had a lot of nice things to say about Lekha being present for the get together despite her discomfort.


Tailpiece.

Three days of fun with course mates and wow, am already looking forward to the next GTG at Amritsar in the first week of Nov '20!   

Day 2 - At Puri.

We'd got up early in the morning at a half past 4, gone through the chores and were ready to go for our tryst with Lord Jagannath. The journey in the SUVs took us to the exit point of the temple, where all of us deposited our footwear at the cloak room and had a long walk to the eastern entrance of the temple for entry. The trick was nice because we would reach the point, plonk after the visit to the temple was completed. Was only bothered about the strain on Lekha, due to the protracted walking.

The arrangement had gone awfully awry. We were conjoined with the normal queue and boy, we were subjected to the worst kind of jostling when the devotees pushed each other to have a glimpse of their good Lord. Lekha, why me too, had a tough time to remain upright in the crowd and I was attired in a dhoti and an angavastram! Thank god, my clothes stayed in place and we went through the hustle and bustle of being in the long queue! My angavastram was retrieved by a lady and I was extremely grateful to her; I didn't even know that it had slipped off my body!!

We'd returned to the 'Empires' for breakfast after which the ladies went for shopping while we rested in the hotel itself and I could finish up the backlog of work on my laptop during the period. Went down by about 12 o'clock to be with the guys who were swimming in the inhouse swimming pool/ After a leisurely lunch, we'd set off in two buses to see the Sun Temple of Konark. After a two hour journey, we had reached our destination. Thirty years back I used to visit the Jagannath temple at Puri and the Sun Temple at Konark as part of my liaison duties for VVIPs visiting Chilka. While it was 'special darshan' at Puri, the Sun temple could be approached, as close to the monument, in vehicles then. Not anymore and rightly so; the vehicles are parked quite far away from it and it's a long trek subsequent to that.

The walk around was okay with us clicking a few photographs and soon after sunset, we witnessed the sound and light show that talked about the monument. It was almost an hour's programme preceded by high tea. Our return trip was comparatively a quiet affair and we were back at the hotel by 2100 hrs. A quick wash and change, followed by the evening's get together on the lawns with dinner, was the way the events had wound up for the day.

Tomorrow, it's gonna be an early day as we are slated to go for the 'mangal aarathi' of Puri Jagannath, hoping like mad that the crowd is gonna be less at a half past 4. I want Lekha to have a good darshan of Lord Jagannath.


Tailpiece.

Tomorrow, we are also slated to go to Chilka, where I'd spent a year and ten months on appointment prior to my marriage to Lekha and I couldn't take her then as I'd to report for the staff course at the DSSC, Wellington almost immediately. Is it destiny that has made this tryst a reality, ensuring that Lekha visited Chilka, 28 years later?   

Kochi to Bhubaneshwar via Madras.

We'd got up by about a half past 5 to the alarm, gone through our chores and were ready to kick off on our journey by a half past 7. The hotel had given us packed breakfast and Jaison dropped us at the airport just as the clock struck 8. Met Thomas-Martha and Sivakumar-Raji and later, Parameswaran-Bina and Ajit-Asha and the excitement was palpable. We finished up a part of the breakfast of cut fruits and sandwiches much before boarding the flight to Madras, the others had peeled off for their flight towards Bangalore as they were travelling by that route.

The security was unprecedented as the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court delivered its verdict on the Ayodhya case but it did not dampen my enthusiasm even a wee bit!

We were at Madras by a quarter past 10, only to get a message that our onward flight was delayed by a half an hour. Finally, the flight had taken off for Bhubaneshwar by 1400 hrs, late by over an hour and a half. We had the proud privilege of being pampered by one of the stewardesses, Monika, who seemed to have taken an affinity for us! The in flight meal of Chinese fried rice, served by her, never tasted so nice!! She'd followed it up with her inquiry as to whether we liked it and showed her  genuine concern over our well being!! Must send over our appreciation of the young lady's efforts to her superiors!!

After much apprehension, we landed at Bhubaneshwar by a half past 3. Bhibhu, our sa'arthi, was there to receive us and as per the changed programme, we headed for Puri instead of joining up with the rest at the hotel because of the delay in our arrival. The rest had already set off for Puri as per schedule, by then. The first thing that I noticed was that the airport and the stretch of the highway had changed drastically since I'd seen it last during 1989-'90 while I was posted at Chilka! There was so much of travel, on official purpose, then.

It was an emotional meeting up with the rest of the gang of my Naval course mates as I made it a point to meet each and everyone of them, along with their wives - some of whom, the ladies especially, I was meeting up for the first time - and made it a point to familiarise Lekha with each one of them.

The evening was memorable as we bonded over an entertainment programme and dinner, that had a mouth watering spread. Pattanaik has really done a good job of organising the event; kudos and full marks to him. There was an emotional meeting with Prem Gulati after I'd last seen him when he'd to leave the service prematurely after a Court Martial, of which I was a member! He has grown - I must admit, much more than I have - as he doesn't bear any ill will from the incident. When he conceded that he was very happy to see me, he had meant it as it came from his heart and I was left gasping for the appropriate words, with emotions overpowering me and I gave him a tight hug!

There was, incidentally, no sign of the cyclone Bulbul! It had veered off in a north easterly direction!!


Tailpiece.

It was a kaleidoscope of emotions at being amid my friends, with whom I'd begun my Naval career, 41 years earlier! Thank god that Lekha and I could make it for the jamboree this time!!  

Step one to our course get together.

The day had begun on the usual note, we'd got up around our normal time, gone through the chores and were ready on time. Missed out on meeting the newspaper boy, Ramakrishnan but the franchisee, Preman had dropped by to collect the last month's owing and I could tell him about my requirement. Vishnu, the accountant from the JSS, Kollam had reached 'The Quarterdeck' fairly well in time. After going through the papers that he'd brought with him, I'd given my decisions and sent him back so that he could board the passenger train to Thrissur at a quarter to 12!

A quick lunch and after shutting down the house, we were out of the house by about a half past 1. Had stopped by at the nearby petrol bunk to top up the Chevy with fuel and check the tyre pressure. My next stop was at an ATM to pull out some money and it was then that I got a shock! The balance reflected something that did not match up with my calculations and the thought worried me as another cheque would be coming up for clearing within a couple of days!

We drove into the Golf View by about 1600 hrs and Mr. George, the new Manager in place of my friend, Murali was ready to welcome us. After giving us their 'welcome drink' he took us to our assigned room and noted down my requirements before and after our trip to Bhubaneshwar. Meanwhile, cyclone 'Bulbul' - hurtling, currently, in a north westerly direction over the Bay of Bengal - is poised to veer towards a north easterly direction and finally, peter out over Bangladesh and Myanmar, skipping the eastern coast of India over the next couple of days! So our flight, scheduled to land at Bhubaneshwar tomorrow afternoon, is poised delicately!

Meanwhile, had spoken to Vishnu, the bank manager and he allayed my fears on the balance in my account!

I've been praying to the weather god very fervently as the timely arrival is a must for being with the others and to commence the subsequent serials planned for our get together. Am tingling with excitement to be with my Naval course mates after what has been a long while! Hope Lekha also enjoys the gathering.


Tailpiece.

When Body Parts Are Used As Verbs.

Many parts of the body can be used as verbs in either a physical or a metaphorical sense.

You can head a company but if things go wrong you'll have to shoulder the blame or face your investors. A good leader will back his employees but if you don't toe line the management can skin
you. Did you muscle your way into that job?

You might eye someone suspiciously or wait for the police to finger a suspect.

But if you need to get out of town, you can thumb a ride or you can ride with me if you can stomach the thought. Use strong arm tactic if you want to elbow out someone. 

I don't always sing along with the radio but I sometime do mouth the words.

That's amazing English!    

News views.

My personal views on the news that are, currently, grabbing the headlines. One wonders as to why things happen this way because facts are distorted - despite video grabs, if you please - and the final outcome is, many-a-time, parsimonious with the truth.

 (a) The Tamasha Continues.

       As the deadline for the lame-duck government of Maharashtra to go, no consensus has been
       reached between the BJP and the Shiv Sena regarding the formation of the new cabinet as the
       latter is insisting on the post of the chief minister for its leader's son. It's dirty politics in the
       hunger for power at any cost. From the contradicting stand taken by the Shiv Sena, till now,
       it seems likely that it will lose face in the ultimate reckoning.

       It has already gone down in esteem of many citizens of its unprincipled decision to flirt with
       Sharad Pawar's NCP - Congress opposition. But, then, these guys are so thick-skinned that they
       forget their actions after a milestone is achieved.

       The right thing would be to have a short session of President's rule, followed by fresh elections,
       the additional expenditure to the state coffers, notwithstanding!

 (b) The Kartarpur Corridor.

       The emotional urge of visiting Guru Nanak Devji's gurudwara at Kartarpur is overwhelming
       and the average Sikh looks forward to the visit as a personal fulfillment! It's this fine and noble
       sentiment that Pakistan seems to want to exploit by giving the pro-Khalistan faction to put up
       their banners and placards at the site.

       This is in direct contravention to the fundamental rule that governs relationship between two
       countries that nothing which would embarrass any of them would be bandied about.

       The Pakistani action, thus far, seems to smack of mischief. Only time will tell!

 (c) The CPM-CPI Feud Regarding The Approach Towards Maoists in Kerala.

       Consider the following:-

           * Two CPM cadres have been arrested and charged under UAPA - Unlawful Activities
              (Prevention) Act - for leanings with the Maoists.
           * The CPI and many in the CPM have aired their grievances in public that the police should
              not have clamped the under the UAPA as it's non-bailable.
           * They fault the police for having used the Act.
       
       For once, the chief minister, is seen supporting the state police! But, of course, he is the state's
       Home Minister!!

       The CPI's fact-finding team condemned the firing at the Maoists, terming it a 'Fake encounter'.

       It's sad because the activities of the duo point towards unlawful activities towards the integrity
       and security of the country. It will be interesting to see as to how this pantomime will come to
       its end. Incidentally, was the Maoist encounter brought in to shift the focus of the rising public
       sentiments against the Walayar killings?


Tailpiece.

It was a normal day to begin with. Had gone to town around 1000 hrs to drop the cheque at the bank and to give my 'Life Certificate' and it was Sijo, who was my sa'arthi!



     
       

Two adieus.

There are a lot of people who come into one's life and though the contacts could have been fleeting or for short periods, their personalities leave a permanent imprint in one's life. I'm speaking of two such people - who'd touched my life - making a tremendous impact deep within. So, without much ado, let me put across my narrative and tell them, albeit quiet late, that they've already got into my list of those for whom I say my prayers every morning.

Both of them had passed into the mist of time towards the end of last week.

 (a) Alappurathe Amma.

       97-year-old KP Thangamma of the Alappurathu House at Neelamperoor was the wife of the
       late Raghava Panicker, who was a cousin of my grandfather, PN Panicker. I have a faint memory
       of all of them and the unrestrained love that they had showered upon me during my childhood
       visits which was a must in the yearly itinerary drawn up by my grandparents and my parents to
       ensure that my generation was well aware of their near and dear relations!

       It was sometime during the latter half of 2015, when Lekha and I had accompanied my mom to
       Neelamperoor and I remember having spent a good amount of time at the Alappurathu House.
       The old lady was lying on the bed and registering the footfalls of each and everyone who came
       into the house. My mom was thrilled at seeing her, went close to her and introduced herself when
       I saw an electric transformation in Alappurathe Amma. She'd got up and felt my mom's face and
       her upper torso when my mom informed her, that her son and his wife were also beside her. She
       quickly embraced me and ran her palm over my face and upper body and said, "I can see you
       both, now".

       A botched up cataract surgery had resulted in the loss of her sight about two years earlier! And
       she'd learnt to live with that shortcoming without complaints!!

       Three days prior to her passing away, her food intake had drastically reduced and she passed
       away peacefully. She leaves behind a daughter and two sons, who were beside her, when the end
       had come about. Yet another link to that era of our family has snapped!

       RIP Alappurathe Amme! My tears and prayers!! Your love and kindness shall always be
       remembered deep within.

  (b) Gopala Panicker.

        87-year-old Gopala Panicker was a hard working farmhand and a good rubber tapper. He was
        my dad's loyal understudy and used to work in our paddy fields, the farm immediately around
        the house, pluck coconuts/betel nuts, take the dry 'copra' to the mill for oil and tap the rubber
        trees every morning and prepared the rubber sheets for selling to the guy who collected them at
        the market.
     
        He had a weakness for the bubbly and drank himself silly, often, without backing it up with
        wholesome food. His tall and wiry frame was regularly seen at our place when either my dad
        or me were home on leave. I used to tip him and my dad used to caution me about giving him
        large amounts as he headed straight for the bar to down his sorrows - though he did not tell
        anything to anyone. He'd married twice, but both the families kept a distance from him till his
        very end!

        Mom used to give him a lot of pep talk about not being addicted to liquor but it fell on deaf ears.
        Consequently, my parents had kept him away from doing any of the farm work but he made it a
        point to come home, at least twice a week, to spend time with them. My dad gave him a chhota
        peg, once in a while, while mom gave him food.

        I, however, distinctly remember his visit during mom's last trip to Raj Nivas, when she allowed
        him to sit on a chair next to her to read her palm. I was quite amused about the incident and she
        gave me that characteristic smile when I'd questioned her about it, subsequently.

        I shall miss his visits to our house during my next trip. He, too, had given us his unadulterated
        love without seeking anything in return.

        RIP Gopala Panicker ji. My tears and prayers. Shall always remember you for the love and
        affection that you'd showered on me and have added you in my prayers.


Tailpiece.

Had got up about half an hour late, gone through the chores and washing machinex. Tied up quite a few things that had to be completed before our forthcoming trip.
     

        
       
       

Unfortunate!

The clashes between the police and the lawyers, over parking in the premises of the Tis Hazari court, is indeed an unfortunate incident. By no way should such a situation have escalated to the magnitude that it has. Hope it is handled with care and maturity, the culprits brought to book quickly and the situation handled in a mature manner. I support the police in this messed up incident where the lawyers, to my understanding of the reportage till now, had exceeded the limits of propriety expected of them.

   *                             *                                *

Back at 'The Quarterdeck'.

It was a normal day to begin with. We had got up at our usual time of 6, gone through the chores and were ready by 9. We left Rema's house around a quarter past 9 with Padmakumar showing us the way on to the main road. The Kundannur choke point was negotiated with ease and we reached 'Shenoy Care' much before 10.

The registration formalities were gone through and the crowd today seemed to be much more than usual. Lekha's blood sample was drawn for the ANA (IFA) test and the results will be added to her case history in the clinic's records within a couple of days. Any variance will be intimated and remedial measures taken. By a quarter past 12, she was was called up to the second floor, the preliminary clinical investigation was carried out by a young doctor by the name of Anju.

Lekha was apprehensive about the reactions of the staff after incident yesterday but the concerned sister was all smiles and came and inquired as to whether everything was going smoothly! 

We met the doctor at a trifle past 1 and he was at his usual witty self. He was happy at Lekha's medical condition, tweaked the dosage of a particular tablet and we were off from the clinic with the next appointment fixed for 07 Feb '20, a Friday. We headed straight for the Avenue Center, at Panampilli Nagar, for lunch where we had a buffet which had a nice spread.

It was then that we had called on my cousin at her office, handed over some stuff that we'd picked up for her, during our recent tour and collected Lekha's personal stuff that she'd deposited for safe keeping prior to the journey. We left for Guruvayur, by about a half past 3, after collecting the food supplement, Prox D, from Dr. Satish Bhat's clinic.

The traffic was quite okay and the journey was smooth. We'd a stop at our usual joint at Angamaly, for tea and a rest room break. We reached Guruvayur a trifle after a half past 6, hit the department store to collect grocery and reached home a few minutes after 7. The unpacking and the settling down took the usual time as we went through the evening chores.

It was a nice short trip when much was achieved and I'm glad that Lekha's medical review had gone off well!


Tailpiece.

A lot needs to be done over the next couple of days before we head for Bhubaneshwar to attend a get together of my Naval course mates. It's gonna be for four days.   

  

A day of twists!

Lekha had got up at 4 to the alarm that she had set last night. It was pouring at that time and I wanted to tell Lekha that we could cancel our journey because I was not very keen to drive through the blinding rain. However, the possibility of the rain stopping completely a few hours later shook me out of my stupid apprehensions and went through my chores. But Lekha had no doubts about the day's programme. We, finally, set off on our journey by about a 10' mast 6! And it turned out to be a bright, sunny day!!

The transit through Thrissur town was smooth, as the traffic was sparse and we reached the Paliyekkara toll where there was an inordinate wait and soon, all the vehicles were let off without having to pay the toll fees, wonder why? And it was then that I noticed that the warning lights of the brake and the ABS (Anti Brakelock System) had begun blinking on the dash board! Now, an emergency of this sort was the last thing that I was expecting at this point of time because:-

       (a) Lekha had an appointment with her dentist and there was no question of cancelling the
            programme.
       (b) There were quite a few events that were scheduled within the next fortnight and a
             rescheduling was not possible.
       (b) A plan 'B' was not even thought of.

With the trouble looming large behind, we had breakfast at the Saravana Bhavan, near the toll gate and soon after it, I and Lekha had run through the Cruze Manual to see the cause of the error and the way to tackle the emergency......Speed had to be restricted to avoid harsh braking till I showed it at the next Chevrolet service station at Kochi and I had over a 100 kms to go to reach there.

After handing over the Chevy at the service station for defect rectification, Godwin who was assigned the responsibility to attend our vehicle, got us an Ola cab that saw us at Dr. Mallan's clinic well within the time assigned to us. Samish, the sa'arthi, was damn sweet to agree to drop us back too. Without much ado, the doctor had gone through the x-ray, the correction and the treatment after which he discussed a lot of non-dental issues with us.

It was a nice lunch at the Indian Coffee House, enroute, followed by our return to the service station to collect the Chevy. The order for the spares, required for the repairs, were placed on line and I shall have the job done at the service station at Thrissur. Padmakumar, meanwhile had reached the mall near the Kundannur junction to show us the way to their place. Meanwhile, another anxiety was looming large - the 'Shenoy Care' had not called up Lekha to confirm her appointment with the doctor tomorrow. After leaving the both of them in the Chevy, I decided to go to the clinic, myself, to clear the doubt.

Had hired Moncy's autorickshaw that was at hand - he was very rude and told me that he would charge me Rs.130/- for the short trip because of the potholes enroute and I'd meekly agreed to his demand. But it was the clinic's reception that beat me ultimately - one of them tells me and I quote, "Sir, we would have made that call before 1800 hrs and by the way, your wife doesn't have an appointment with Dr. Shenoy tomorrow, as per the records". My reply brought about a deathly silence around the reception area which was, "Young lady, I would be out of my senses to have driven all the way from Guruvayur, dreaming of an appointment with your doctor. Should I meet him now to sort out the matter?" She quickly added Lekha's name on the register and asked us to be there tomorrow at 1000 hrs.

Moncy, was watching the entire spectacle and on dropping me near my Chevy just took Rs.150/- as fare for the up and down trip! I was surprised to see his benign transformation!!

We were at Rema's flat at Thrippunithura by about 1600 hrs and it was a quiet evening thereafter! And an end to a day of twists!! Phew!!!


Tailpiece.

We hope to be back at Guruvayur by late afternoon, tomorrow. The proposed trip to the canteen will have to be postponed as it's gonna be a half day!