The case of the Mullaperiyar dam.

In my view, fully knowledgeable of the fact that I'd be termed a 'turncoat' speaking against the interest(?) of my state, the case of the Mullaperiyar dam has been unnecessarily dramatised by certain political parties towards their game of vote bank politics. I'm of the firm opinion that the river waters within our country must be shared by the riparian states through a policy of equanimity coupled with accommodation.

The 'fight' between Tamilnadu and Kerala, over the waters that's stemmed by the dam, reminds me of the dynamics at play on the Indo-Pakistan borders! Please do not forget the fact that both the states are very much part of this country!!

The Background.

The dam built across the River Periyar is 120 years old. On its commissioning, its creator, Colonel John Pennycuick had given a guarantee for its life as 30 years. But the dam had begun to leak right from the beginning and was damaged in the floods of 1924, which was the first major setback followed by the damage to its 'head sluices' in 1925. The damages were repaired by the then Madras government! (Kerala and Tamilnadu had come into existence in 1956 during the reorganisation of states on linguistic basis).

The controversy over the dam started with an article in the Times of India of 11 May 1962. This was invoked by a gentleman named PS Nair(who was working in the PMG's office in Ahmedabad) in his complaint to the then Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Pattom Thanu Pillai. The government secretary, in turn, had taken up the matter with Tamilnadu laying the foundation for the interstate dispute.

The Expert Committee's Findings.

The dam is safe from the hydrological and structural viewpoints. That it is situated in a likely seismic zone does not alter the fact that ample reserves exist in the strength and other properties of the dam material against likely stresses.

The Supreme Court's Ruling.

The Supreme Court today has ruled that the full reservoir level be retained at 142 ft as against Kerala's plea of maintaining it at 136 ft citing safety reasons from the facts mentioned above.

The Aftermath.

Sadly, vested interests have already termed the Supreme Court's ruling as a victory(?) for Tamilnadu and injustice to Kerala. 

My take.

It's high time that all the political parties accepted the verdict of the Supreme Court in the right spirit. In the meantime, the governments of Tamilnadu and Kerala should sit across the negotiating table to work out the modalities of building a new dam, in a time bound manner.


Tailpiece.

A statewide 'hartal' has been called in Kerala, tomorrow, to protest against the injustice(?) meted out to the people of Kerala. The flip side of the clarion call is that it does not have the support of the entire spectrum of the political parties of the state! 

Rains have come in and other stories.

Another collage of thoughts as there were quite a few but significant things that had happened today and so, here, I go:-

  (a) Rains have come in right earnest.

   After the hesitation, the rains have been on in right earnest. From what was experienced over the last
   month, the pre-monsoon showers had mysteriously kept away from most of northern Kerala while it
   was active in the southern stretch. Well, from this morning, things have changed and the meteorological
   department has forecast heavy showers over the next four days. Thankfully, the intensity of the heat has
   come down drastically and the cool whiff of air was very soothing. The newly surfaced road track in front
   of my house has been a boon and timely laid! .....The losses in the state, due to the thunder showers have
   been heavy.

   May the spate of rains continue but hope that there would be no more damages.

   (b) An eventful one year.

    The poly clinic, for the ex-servicemen out here, was celebrating its first anniversary today. Me and my
     neighbour were there at the appointed hour as we'd been invited by the Director of the clinic. And it
     so happens that all the three of us were from the same school and clicked for posterity on the occasion.
     The clinic has grown significantly by adding on quite a lot of additional facilities thanks to the dynamism
     and the dedication of the Director and his staff.

     May the organisation be a boon for all the ex-servicemen dependent on it for their medical cover.

   (c) A case of telepathy?

    I'd, after dropping my neighbour at his residence, proceeded to run quite a few errands that were
    awaiting accomplishment all this while thanks to my tardiness. One among them was the reservation
    for our trip to Nagpur and back, towards the third week of the month. Soon after I'd reached home,
    my friend had called up from Nagpur to confirm about our attendance. How did he know that I'd just
    done the reservations? Was it telepathy, in play? He was, however, lamenting about the poor response
    from the other course mates of our Squadron.

    May there be more of our course mates attending the do, I'm gonna prod them into attending!

    (d) Singin' in the rain.

     The evening rains put my plans for the customary walk in tatters. I'd substituted it by exercising on the
     walker and after the work out schedule, it's great to sit at the balcony watching the rains, gently rocking
     on my favourite chair. Time well spent.

     May there be many more occasions, like today's, to enjoy nature.


Tailpiece.

It was a pleasure to meet up with many of the veterans at the official function this morning. Yes, time had eroded their 'beauty' but not their resilience, not their grit and not their sense of humour! 

A collage of thoughts.

Today's thoughts are but a random collection of what I'd experienced during the course of the day. And so, without much ado, let me begin:-

  (a) The first major pre-monsoon shower.

   Last week when we'd gone to our ancestral house, the entire belt was experiencing pre-monsoon showers
   as never before so much so that it gave one the impression that it was the monsoon itself. Comparatively,
   Guruvayur was devoid of rains and the heat was getting to be very, very oppressive. But past midnight,
   around 2 o'clock, the showers had inundated the place with all its attendant fury. The high temperatures
   had receded and pleasantness had returned, albeit, for a short while. The day continued to have an
   overcast sky all through but the humidity was passable.

   And I'd stayed indoors for the most part of the day!

   (b) My sister leaves for Palakkad.

    My younger sister and family, who were with us for the last couple of days, left for Palakkad this morning.
    After staying there for a day, they'd be off to Delhi to spend a week visiting friends and relatives. They
    were literally rushing towards the private bus stop nearby and managed to board the 'limited stop' bus to
    their destination with hardly any time to spare! And they're blaming themselves for not having got up a half
    an hour earlier!!

    The house wore a deserted and silent look after all the chatter and laughter of the past days!

   (c) A real shock.

    I was on my evening walk and one of the errands was to pick up mom's medicines. During the onward
    trip, I was able to get my pocket watch fixed that was not working for quite a while. As I was reaching
    the outer precincts of the temple, a dignified looking gentleman that I'd come abreast with, started getting
    violent and abusive. It was then that I realised that he wasn't sound mentally as his family that was
    lagging behind - I felt anger rising in me at them for their callous handling of a sick person - was trying to
    desperately beckon him to stop as they caught up.

    There's a thin dividing line between sanity and insanity. May the gentleman collect his thoughts and return
     to normalcy at the earliest!


Tailpiece.

A quiet day when I did nothing. God, how can precious time be frittered away like this and the sad fact is that it's becoming all too frequent these days? 

A much belated connect.

A fortnight back, I'd written about a friend of mine who'd called on us during his annual tryst to the temple town. One of the information that he'd handed over, then, was a mutual friend's contact number with a word of caution.

That friend of our's had recently undergone a major surgery on account of intestinal cancer in Bombay and was under the care of the hospital even now. The reserved character that he was had become more aloof, only spoke with a very few and attended his cellphone accordingly. His wife, the sole attendant, screened the incoming calls to reduce his agony. Their only daughter, married in February this year along with her husband, is in the mile-high city of Atlanta, US.

During his heydays, my friend(I shall maintain his personality so for the sake of confidentiality) used to be a compulsive introvert and it was a Herculean effort to draw him out of his shell. I think I can almost recount the number of times that I've seen him laughing without inhibitions. But, all the same, he's a great guy who goes out of his way to help the needy and would fight his way through even if his adversary was miles senior to him, for a worthy cause. Consequently, he'd lost out on the professional front and his gag was, "Look I'm out of the rat race because you see, I wasn't cut out to be one!"

According to hearsay, he'd taken the news of his ailment badly but my friend was insistent that a pep talk from me would lighten him up. I was hesitant and the very fact that it took a fortnight on my part to establish contact showed my hopeless inadequacy in this regard. This evening, I'd chided myself saying that enough was enough and made that call. And boy, I'm glad that I did it. Conversation flowed freely and it was he who'd broached the topic about his illness. He sounded philosophical and attributed its trigger to be our conversation. Our lengthy exchange ended with his words, "Rajeev, I knew that you'd contact me at some point of time. Usually, I make it to the temple town at least once a year and this time, I look forward to being with you".

And it's simply nice to hear that.


Tailpiece.

A weekend that sped past at breakneck speed thanks to the presence of my younger sister and family, who've fetched up from Bangalore on vacation. It's nice catching up with them!  

A close crop!

I've been wanting to visit the hair dresser over the last week but couldn't make it thanks to the numerous work that had come up. Thanks to the habit that has been ingrained over the years, since my school days, if a few strands of hair peeped over the ear lobes or the hair in the nostrils peeped out, it brings about an unease that cannot be described in words! And so it was with me for the past few days!!

And this morning I'd finally found my way to the saloon after having taken up an appointment. Named 'Amigos', its proprietor had set up the hi-tech center that provides a lot of services to its customers - from a simple haircut to a complete body massage with the help of modern equipment and contraptions manned by young boys - after his fairly long stint in one of the gulf countries. He'd proudly taken me around the saloon to explain the facilities that were available - during my first visit - and had recommended that I must avail of the 'complete body massage' facility as he insisted it to be the highlight of his outfit that no other in the field could provide.

The young man who'd embarked on working on my head went about his work in right earnest after giving the preliminary head wash. As he went about his pace, I'd dozed off and by the time I'd snapped out of it, I saw a different your's truly looking back at me from the mirror in front with much of my sparse thatch of hair shortened beyond the usual length. I'd the urge to howl at the protagonist but checked my rising temper as I realised that my dozing off had prevented my providing the necessary directives at the crucial time. But I did tell him that he'd exceeded his brief today especially because of the fact that he'd worked on my hairstyle during my previous visit and therefore, knew as to what I preferred. He mumbled an apology and was he scared that I'd complain to his boss? His looks seemed to suggest that though I hadn't even thought of doing anything of that sort!

As I passed through the reception counter, seeing myself in the full length mirror I realised that I resembled a plucked chicken and couldn't help but smile at the transformation - out of sheer helplessness, perhaps! Or was I having a dig at my new found looks?

I sure did resemble one of those stiff looking guys of Hitler's feared Gestapo of old!!    


Tailpiece.

Quite a few jobs that had piled up over the past few days have been cleared. The Quarterdeck was agog with activity with my younger sister and gang having fetched up this morning and they're gonna be here for the next couple of days!  

On the return leg.

The rains, through the night, had dampened the place. What saddened me was that the roof that was relaid recently, had sprung leaks at three places. The team leader of the work has been instructed to rectify the defects at the earliest. Workmanship and the intricate knowledge that the work requires have been on the decline, sad!

We could kick off on our journey an hour later than I'd planned but I did not try to hasten the process because mom and the others required time and there was no point in making them get up early. Barring a freshening up and breakfast break at our favourite place, the journey was glitch free though there were a couple of massive traffic jams. So, mom's appointment with the eye specialist could take place only by a 5' past 12. The registration, examination, preparation and the final correction by laser were all over by about a half past 1 and we'd decided to have a quick lunch at the immaculate canteen of the hospital - gloved and head geared food handlers, good vegetarian meal and the innovative and unobtrusive waste disposal were the highlights.

And we're back on the road, headed for Guruvayur, before 2. The drive was fine, with the air conditioner at full clip to beat the harsh external heat - what a difference in weather it was towards the north, with no sign of rain! About 20 kms short of our destination, we'd stopped at a roadside tea stall to have the 'one yarder' tea that all of us are fond of. Simply watching the guy - his name's Chandran - making tea was fascinating. He and three of his friends had begun the 'tea stall venture', based on their experiences at work in a star hotel nearby and seem to be doing a good job!

At home by 5 and I could easily go for my evening walk as usual. Rema and Achu were with us and they'd be leaving for Palakkad tomorrow morning while Minni and family will be fetching up around the same time, to be with us for the next two days.


Tailpiece.

A short trip that was loaded with symbolism, when I got the opportunity to meet many people and could also get my mom's eye problem sorted out. The fact, however, was that the laser correction for removing the membrane over her right eye had come about exactly two years after the cataract surgery was carried out on both her eyes!   

At my dad's place.

The day was bright and sunny. I've always wondered as to what emotions my mom goes through when we return to the house that she and dad had carefully nurtured over the years.

Today, it remains closed most of the times with the caretaker looking after its overall maintenance and security. And the most notable thing is that she gets charged and active during the time that she's here!

Have I done something painful for her by shifting her to Guruvayur with us though she keeps reiterating that she's quite happy to be in the new environment?