Happenings, happenings.

1. Another 'Malayalee' ingenuity.

Thanks to the police being vigilant to apprehend motorists who drive under alcoholic influence, the men behind the wheel - especially those of the private buses - have found an innovative way to outdo the impasse. They inject drugs - alarmingly, available in plenty from reliable reports - into themselves before exhibiting their prowess on the roads. By doing so, they go undetected in the 'breath analyser' tests! One shudders to think about the safety on the roads!!

We Malayalees can teach the world, a lesson or two, in ingenuity. Haven't I been saying that, time and again?

2. The 'Miss Kerala pageant'.

Tomorrow's the finals of the Miss Kerala beauty championship. Enthusiastic participants drawn mainly from the student community as well as new professionals are gonna make the event an interesting one for the Keralites to be proud of. The event has come a long way from the days when girls gave a wide berth to such competitions as they were thought to be harbingers of a life of waywardness and debauchery.

I shall view it closely from the ringside to understand the young Malayalee lady of today - her hopes, psyche, aspirations and the things that ails or actuate her. Am I sounding pompous - no way, I consider it as a process of an ongoing education, a part of my growing up!

3. The same mistake being revisited.

When the officials of the Corporation and the government promised us roads - resurfaced to world class quality - I'd swallowed it hook, line and sinker. I was impressed that the powers-that-be had, at last, learnt from their mistakes and we're gonna get good, durable roads to drive on. Nothing could be farther from the truth from what's witnessing in the form of the shoddy work that's going on all around.

The unscrupulous contractors, along with their political and bureaucratic mentors, are going to rake in the moolah at the taxpayers' expense! The roads are not going to last beyond the approaching North Eastern monsoons, for sure - one doesn't have to be a 'Nostradamus' to predict that!!

On the Rheumatologist's trail.

Lekha's ongoing medical management, on our return to Kerala, was undertaken by the Physiatrist at the AIMS, who's a consultant from Kozhikode. He was introduced to us by her doctor at Delhi. Quite an affable and genial doctor who(as he puts it) was quite fond of his patient and looked forward to his interaction with us during his bimonthly visits to the hospital.

Last week, realising that his medical management of Lekha needed augmentation, he'd referred her case to the Rheumatologist. Going from one doctor to another at the AIMS is a tortuous evolution and an ordinary patient can soon get disillusioned and opts to move out of the hospital thanks to the irritating red tapism prevalent at the reception counters - why quite a few of those young ladies, who man the numerous counters, behave in a callous manner beats my imagination! They can at least treat those who approach them with respect and a smile, at no cost!

We too had our disappointments and moments of disillusionment, but finally was successful in achieving our goal thanks to our dogged persistence and boy, wasn't it worth the wait? The doctor was affable and dot on his prognosis despite the fact that he was working late into the evening. And as coincidence would have it, we soon found out that we'd a lot many common friends in the medical field thanks to Lekha's ailment!

Lekha's on to a new set of medicines and it's my fond hope that she takes off for the better without further hiccups!

Durga Puja courtesy Rajani.

Lekha and me are indeed fortunate to have picked up a few good friends over the years. Rajani is a second generation Bengali who's born and brought up in Kerala. Her father was a businessman(he'd migrated to Kerala quite a while back in pursuit of his banking business and if I were to borrow his words, fallen in love with the 'green country') and she's the wife of a successful businessman - these are Bengalis who've beaten the mallus at their game, as I put it to pull their leg! They've a lovely villa at Kochi and the entire family- their two children, especially - can speak Malayalam fluently and can beat many of the mallus at that!

It was on Rajani's insistence that we went 'pandal hopping' and boy, wasn't it an experience? She took pains to explain the nuances and introduced us to many of her Bong friends to ensure that we never felt out of place. The universal Bengali fervour in celebrating Dussehra was very much in evidence and we couldn't help from getting sucked into the celebrations, the related bonhomie!

The Durga Puja, this year, was indeed a memorable event for Lekha and me. Thanks, Rajani for making it special!

PS.

I always end up stuffing myself silly with the 'bhog' that's at once mouth watering, delicious and sumptuous. This year was also no exception!!

Dussehra wishes. Those were the days....

May I take this occasion to wish all of you a very happy Dussehra!

I'm taken back in time when I see the frenetic preparations for setting up 'pandals' at various parts of the city for celebrating the 'Puja festival'. I used to be a part of a huge joint family, the patriarch of which was my maternal grandfather, PN Panicker. Since the house consisted of around 26 people - included about four to five resident guests over and above our static strength of 21 - every event was celebrated at a correspondingly large level. We kids - 13 of us - enjoyed such occasions thoroughly!

On the eve of the Dussehra, we used to be instructed to hand over our study materials and musical instruments to be offered for puja, in the puja room and on those three days no one would ask us to study(one's supposed to abstain from reading of any sort during those days when Goddess Saraswati was perusing one's books!) which was a great thing. We kids used to be on the look out for defaulters amongst us who read inadvertently during this phase - I must confess that I was a constant defaulter on this front because of having read a line or two from the newspaper or magazine lying around! The other children - my cousins - used to consider me a 'black sheep', on this score and because of their constant surveillance, I was prone to err much to their mirth. What made matters worse was that some of the uncles and aunts used to take a vicarious pleasure in pointing out the defaulters to the others! And the penalty was high - the defaulter had to sacrifice his or her pudding(It was here that my grandmother was very helpful in that she would give me secret helpings with a promise that I should not tell about it to the others. No prizes for guessing that I'd break it soon after consumption, making her position rather tenuous).

Another added attraction was that there would be so many visitors on call that we children would be left to ourselves without the supervision of any of the elders and usually, we took advantage of such situations!!

O, those halcyon and carefree days! Hope one had the power to rewind to such happy occasions....

My latest girlfriend!

"Man realises the importance of a relationship when he gains one or when he loses one".

What a paradox, eh? If relationships were that important why should one ever reach the point of losing it - but that's the tragicomedy of life! And I'd like to leave it at that and dwell upon a new friend that I've acquired in my present neighbourhood.

She's Anoushka, all of 9 years and studying in class 3. Actually, I must recount as to how I made friends with her. About a month back, when I was returning from my customary evening walk, a bunch of five little girls - Anoushka was one amongst them, of course! - crowded around and requested me for a donation for a nearby orphanage. I promised to help them but with a rider, that they'd to help me with my spelling! I'd then asked for their assistance to spell 'pudding' and each one of them rattled out the correct answer. I stumped them by saying that it was actually 'pu..ding...ding' and that they're all wrong. The li'l girls went to town with their mirthy laughter and it was Anoushka's reaction - that reflected a maturity far beyond her age - that really stumped me, 'Uncle, that was a good joke' she said rather matter of factly. Thank god, she didn't call me a joker! The foundation of our friendship was firmly laid that evening.

From then on, there has been no looking back. She waits every evening to tell me about all that happened in her class that day and I really look forward to these interactions with Anoushka. This evening she's let out a secret - her birthday falls on 13 Oct and she's invited me(and I would like to believe that I'm the first and the only uncle that she's invited!!).

It'd take a lot of effort on my part to think of an appropriate present for the li'l princess.

The Mall culture and other trivia.

1. The Mall culture.

The numerous shopping malls dotting the cityscape have changed the concept of spending a holiday. People throng these massive arcades where shops of all varieties, alongwith facilities for entertainment, rub shoulders with one another and makes shopping a wonderful experience, amply supported by the availabilty of 'plastic money'.

Another significant factor that attracts crowds to the malls is that one doesn't have to drive through clogged and overpopulated roads looking for specific shops - it's a one stop shopping! Parking - which, otherwise is a pain due to dwindling sites - is also easier within its precincts.

We'd gone to the nearby 'Gold Souk Grande' to catch up on a new Malayalam movie and couldn't help but join in the general exuberance of the popcorn culture!


2. Another Gandhi Jayanti is here.

02 October is synonymous with Gandhiji. People come out in large numbers on a cleaning drive under the glare of the arc lights of the media. I've always wondered as to why we remember that we live in filth, only on this day, to go into a frenzy of collective cleaning and again lapse into insomnia till the next Gandhi Jayanti.

Probably, it's the guilty conscience deep within every Indian that he's living in a make believe world prone to corrupt practices, where the values and principles that Gandhiji tried to inculcate in his fellowmen have been conveniently forgotten. By resorting to 'shramdaan', some sort of spring cleaning is achieved off this guilty thought, perhaps!


3. Onam celebrations are still on.

Yes, Onam is still being celebrated with verve and fervour in many parts of the state - in fact, I'd an invite for an Onam lunch today. In my opinion it should be termed as 'Onam - on - Dussehra! The ongoing celebration is because of the fact that most people had taken off on leave, to be with their near and dear ones, during the actual period. Strictly a matter of convenience to celebrate the festival with their official counterparts - the authenticity of the dates be damned!!

My afternoon was, indeed, a very interesting one. A residential welfare association, nearby, where my friend is an active organiser was the prime mover. Children, ladies and gentlemen participated in the lively and colourful cultural programme prior to the sumptuous lunch spread. My favourite was the 'thiruvathirakkali' put up by the ladies.

Why is Kerala reeling under a slew of illnesses?

I've now spent ten months in Kerala after my transfer from Delhi. Many things have undergone a change but what baffles me is that the famous 'Malayalee' addiction to all round cleanliness has taken a beating. Consequently, ailments of all types are rampant and the average Malayalee continues to suffer silently as the govt hospitals are pathetically understaffed, badly maintained and quite a few of them, lack the latest medical tools to tackle normal, if not, additional workload! Paradoxically, all these are available in the 'five star hospitals' set up in the private sector but one needs a fortune to enjoy those facilities and hence, the common man is at a serious disadvantage.

Formerly, a 'mallu' used to flaunt his penchant for keeping his surroundings clean and used to make fun of his immediate neighbour from Tamilnadu, in that, he lived in much wretched and filthy conditions! I wonder what he's to say now with the widespread problem of illnesses that obviously stems from unclean/unhealthy living. I think, the 'mallu's' fabled cleanliness was limited to the four walls of his house beyond which, any amount of filth could accumulate and he didn't care a damn. It was someone else's problem, not his! And therein lies the problem.

It's indeed sad that a state like Kerala, whose people are more aware of things thanks to their high literacy levels, has neither taken steps to encourage serious thinking nor undertake massive initiatives focused on the setting up of an effective waste management system backed by scientific reasoning. The pathetic manner in which waste is managed, according to my perception, is the prime reason for the spate of illnesses plaguing the region.

An effective waste management system is the need of the hour. Let's not hesitate in our actions on this score!