At Raj Nivas, Thalavoor.

Raj Nivas was thrumming with life as usual. It's a leisurely morning. Lekha'd gone to the temple in the morning, after a long wait for the auto rickshaw! Mom and me were at home and we continuously engaged ourselves with the stream of visitors into our house. It's not difficult to realise that the house under lock and key is something that the people are unhappy about! We assured them that we'd come more often and spend time out here - perhaps for about 10 days, every month.

And today was the great day!

70 years back, on this day, the Travancore Library Association(Thiruvithaamkoor Grandhasala Sangham) was formally inaugurated by Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyer, the then Diwan of Travancore, at a glittering and well attended function at Ambalapuzha. The kingdom of Travancore extended from Kanyakumari, in the south, to N Paravur, in the north - though I must hasten to add that it did not encompass the entire area between the places mentioned as the kingdom of Kochi existed as a separate entity, centred around the present day Thrippunithura, in between. 

The chief organiser was the 36 year old, primary school teacher, PN Panicker. There were about 150 libraries - many functional, a few irregularly functional and yet others, non functional - in the kingdom of Travancore, those days. Invitation letters were sent to all but only 47 were represented at the meeting. The venue was the Sahitya Panchaanan Theater near the PK Memorial Library.

The following were achieved at the meeting:-

    (a) Official registration of the Travancore Library Association. The organisation formed had
          the undermentioned as its executive committee:-
      
              (i) KM Kesavan                               President.
             (ii) PN Panicker                               General Secretary.
            (iii) Vaayansaala Kesava Pillai        Treasurer.

           The working committee had 11 other members. 
    
     (b) A group of six were to co-ordinate with the government regarding assistance, both                            administrative and financial.

Accordingly, around 1730h, the leaders of the local 'Sanmaarga Sandayani Library' - the library started by my paternal grandfather, NK Panicker - had arrived at our place so that we could plant two saplings, that of a mango and a jackfruit, in memory of NK Panicker and PN Panicker. This was followed by the lighting of 70 lamps at the entrance of the library to commemorate the event!


Tailpiece.

(a) Back into history, the Diwan before getting into his car on return, shook hands with PN Panicker and told him to shift to Thiruvananthapuram to continue with his work and the latter accepted the invitation. The rest is history!

(b) For me it was a great honour to inaugurate the event and come to think of it, I was too small a person to be doing so!

PS.
As children, men, women and elders - Kamalamma chechi, all of 79 yrs, was the eldest in the gathering -  lit their lamps from the lamp that I'd lit I realised that I was basking in my grandfather's glory. An accident of birth, remember!?
    

     

Leg 3 - Guruvayur to Thalavoor.

While going to sleep, Lekha and I'd decided not to press on leaving at 6. The day's proceedings had exhausted us and I didn't want to put more pressure on mom and Lekha. The alarm, curiously, played ball to a conspiracy and didn't go off at 0430h! Earlier, I'd got up around 10 past 3, tiptoed to mom's room to see whether she was okay and knocked off to sleep to get up at the appointed hour.

And when I got up later, it was a quarter past 5. The departure was, finally, by a quarter to 8, thoroughly disgusted at not having been able to sight the newspaper boy. But as we hit the highway, the familiar visage of Ramakrishnan was sighted and the day's newspapers were retrieved from him. Breakfast was at our familiar haunt and the journey was uneventful as the Sunday traffic wasn't messy. The church going crowds were visible at many places and it was a pleasant sight as always. The usual choke points were passed by with ease and we'd reached our haunt for lunch, about half an hour in advance!

I was thanking my stars for the journey having gone off peacefully, thus far. The time was a quarter past 3 and then, disaster struck - making my happiness quite short lived. Actually, the bugbear was another state road transport corporation's bus who edged my Chevy to the edge of the road, forcing me to touch hard on the rear view mirror of a parked car, forcing its mirror to fall off. Mine, too, had fallen off and cracked beyond repair. As I went to park my car in a safer position, a guy from the family came in and yanked my car's ignition key accusing me of trying to scoot. However much I tried to explain that such a tendency was not in my blood, they - by this time two more guys known to the family had joined up - would not listen

I, then, asked the owner as to what he desired but the others' were dictating terms - they wanted 4 grand. As I gave the money to the owner, without haggling, the same guys, who're acutely 'militant' just a while before had softened down and wanted to know more about me. That was the time when I said that I wasn't interested in extending my hand of friendship as they'd doubted my integrity, my intentions as one of them held on to my car's keys till the end and I thought that that was very ungentlemanly, as I perceive!

It was a disheartened me who did the remaining part of the journey. We'd called on Lekha's dad and Pidavoor amma enroute before reaching my dad's house. And then, it was a fairly long train of guests who were eager to meet mom!

It's almost five months since we'd come here last!!


Tailpiece.

The briefing for tomorrow's function was long but it gave us the gist of the day's programme.  

Leg 2 - Kochi to Guruvayur via Palakkad.

It was a comparatively late morning from what it was yesterday. The chores were gone through, farewells made and this time, Ramakrishnan's mom just gave us a hard look and that's that! Probably, she was more occupied with her breakfast of oats beaten with fruits! And we left by 9, to look up Sidharth, who'd recently undergone an open heart bypass surgery.

Boy, weren't I glad to meet him? I'd been monitoring his progress from Meera, his wife. Not knowing what to do, we hugged each other tight and I could barely manage to get these words out of my mouth, "Old chap, you're out to put us on tenterhooks, huh?" But it was really great to see him and I think, he too expressed similar sentiments! He, then, went on to explain regarding the run up to his hospitalisation and the surgery, in graphic detail. Every happening just fell into place as I could make it out to be.

We took off for Palakkad by a quarter past 10 and except for about a wait of almost half an hour at the Idapalli junction, the journey was uneventful and smooth. We reached my sister's house by lunch time, had a quick bite of what she'd made for us before trotting off to school in the morning. Mom was excited and she kept narrating her experiences of the past week. I'd my forty winks and by a half past 2, we're off to Guruvayur after slipping the house keys into one of the shoes, neatly arranged on the rack outside her house!

Again, the journey was quiet and we're back at 'The Quarterdeck' by teatime. Meanwhile, I'd the Chevy topped up and the tyre pressure checked before giving her a nice wash in preparation for the early morning get away tomorrow. The evening walk was a godsend when I could relax and do sundry purchases.

Meanwhile, we're informed that things were done up at my dad's house for our stay. The programme for the 14th was explained by the organisers. Well, recalling a 70 year old event in which my grandfather was the prime mover, is really gonna be great! And from what I gather from various sources, the state is getting ready to celebrate the occasion in a big way!!


Tailpiece.

Have told mom and Lekha that I wasn't going to insist on a 6 o'clock get away as I do usually, to ensure that they've rested well, after today's journey. Probably, we'll hit the road by 7!

Leg 1 - Guruvayur to Kochi.

Woke up at 4, a meticulous yet quick run through the chores and we're out of 'The Quarterdeck' by 6 past 6. Breakfast at our usual haunt and by 9, we're at Ernakulam. It was a twad early but we still decided to wait for about 20 minutes to pick up the monthly stock of grocery from the store. A quick dash in an autorickshaw, after parking the Chevy at a safe place - driving through Kochi, these days, will make one go mad thanks to the already narrow roads getting narrower because of the ongoing work of the Kochi Metro - to pick up a few things and we're at my cousin's place, in time, for lunch.

Ramakrishnan's mom was alert and responded to our queries with a twitch of her eyes, a few guttaral sounds and gave us a beautiful smile before she went into another round of sleep. She's batting at 102 and has been reduced to a bag of bones!

The afternoon siesta was comparatively longer, probably due to the exhaustion of the early morning wake up followed by the drive. We're at Lekha's doctor's clinic, half an hour before the appointed hour of 2000h and saw a fairly large crowd waiting patiently, to meet him. Parking was tricky, but the old security man, Jose, turned out to be a sweetheart, in that, he ensured that I got a decent space amid the grassy space, wet with rain and waterlogged at many spots. At the counter, much to our horror, we're told that the 102nd patient was with the doctor and could estimate our rough wait that we'd to go through because Lekha was at serial 165!

Though we knew that everything was under control through the lab results, the expression on Padmanabha Shenoy's face on seeing Lekha, said it all. He was genuinely happy to see her, after five months, with the problem of the non healing ulcer having been sorted out. After a few pleasantries - we couldn't take up his time because there were almost 30 patients, still, waiting to see him and the time was 2130h. With Jose's umbrella, we could defy the rain and get into the car. The car was, in between, parked at a comfortable spot on his prodding!

As I thanked him and slipped a tip into his pocket, I wondered as to whether we'd a cosmic connection from the past, in the friendly manner that he'd received us from the start. And despite his age, he was agile and fit! Without much ado, we drove to my cousin's and over a late supper, could finally have a lengthy conversation with everyone, upsetting their usual routine in the bargain!!


Tailpiece.

Lekha's next appointment with her doctor - 1000h on 08 Dec! It was fixed before we'd left the clinic!!  

What's happening?

Depressing scenes from Syria, showing civilians suffering from chemical warfare, have been beamed by most of the channels. Small children have been worst hit. Sadly, the medical resources aren't adequate enough to meet the rising demands. Meanwhile, the tussle for supremacy is on between Assad's forces, the rebels and the IS - one can't imagine the plight of the people who come within the crossfire.

Meanwhile, the steady stream of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan continue to knock on the doors of Europe. It's an unending, heavy flow in search of peace, prosperity and decent living. But will the citizens of the host nations take to them kindly, knowing fully well that they'll have to share their resources with them?

The European leadership has begun to address the issue by agreeing to take in the refugees in a phased manner. But the details vis-a-vis the actual numbers etc. need to evolve and till such time that's reached, the problem is gonna be live.

        *                                        *                                            *

The ban on eating meat has spread to two more states viz. Rajasthan and J&K. How effective it's gonna be, needs to be seen especially when in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray's MNS have decided to defy the ban. Paradoxical, because BJP seems to have taken a leaf out of their past tactics and they seem to be against it!

Petty politics trying to define as to what the people should eat. Can we hit anything lower than this?

        *                                         *                                            *

The next few weeks are gonna witness yet another round of games played by the political parties in battleground Bihar. It would be interesting to know the outcome! Wish one had the crystal ball though one survey says that Nitish's alliance is gonna come back to power. But can such a contradicting set of partners last long together?


Tailpiece.

Tomorrow's an early day when we head to Ernakulam for Lekha's medical review and the day is action packed!    

To the service station.

I was toying with the idea as to when I should take the Chevy to the service station to fix the rear view mirror that had worked out loose during the trip to Tirur, last week. Actually, the following apprehensions held me back from taking a firm decision over the last few days:-

   (a) We're slated to go to Ernakulam on 10 Sep in the run up to Lekha's medical review. I could
         have it fixed enroute, because the process shouldn't take more than five minutes.
   (b) It's been raining almost continuously and I didn't want the water to seep into the innards of the
         mirror holder, resulting in the electrical system getting to be erratic.
   (c) The tricky maneuver from our lane to the highway has always been a dampener due to the
         vehicles charging at prohibitive speeds and they get to be visible only at the end which leaves
         no room to pull out. This plays at the back of my mind because my neighbour had a bad                      instance when a bike guy had rammed into his car with all the force, a few months back! The
         local police guy was convinced of our demand that either a speed breaker or a convex mirror on
         the opposite wall, could lick the problem but as all such requirements are concerned, the inertia
         continues without remedy.

Finally, I decided to go there this afternoon and had the problem sorted out. I must admit that the fear of the glass falling off still lingers....can't help it, though Manilal, the mechanic guaranteed that it wouldn't! I was back home by tea time. In the process, I could put in fuel and check tyre pressure.

         *                                         *                                           *

Earlier in the day, I'd confirmed about our attendance to a lunch with the veterans this Sunday. The organiser - a school mate of mine was thrilled, because my neighbour had also confirmed about his participation soon after. Something deep within me told me that I might have to change the decision, wonder why? And sure enough, the reason presented itself by evening.

It's the 70th anniversary of the Kerala Library Movement. PN Panicker had organised the first meeting of the 47 rural libraries - calling it the 'Thiruvithaankoor(Travancore) Grandhasala Sangham' - in these days of 1945 with the then Diwan of Travancore, Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyer presiding over the gala event. To commemorate the occasion, there's a meeting that's being organised, this Sunday, at the library close to my dad's house which was set up in the presence of both my grandfathers and as mom says, that had eventually paved the way for her marriage with dad!

The invitation was accepted. I've the unpleasant task of regretting my decision on the Sunday lunch tomorrow morning!


Tailpiece.

It means, that after Lekha's review by her doctor on the 11th, we make a dash for Palakkad early morning on 12th, pick up mom and then, head for dad's house. I shall be behind the wheel for over 500 kms, phew!

    

My observations on the news from here and there.

News, news and more news. Am befuddled by some of the happenings that are being reported/have been reported! My biggest query is that governments that should be concentrating on enacting good laws to administer, are often doing things that are best left alone. Without much ado, therefore, let's go ahead:-

  (a) Meat ban in Bombay.

        Residents of Mira Road and Bhayander of Bombay's northern suburbs will have to go without
        meat for eight days during the Jain fasting period of Paryushan, this month. Interestingly, the
        Jain Swetambaras will fast from 11-18 Sep while the Jain Digambaras will do so from 18-27th.
        And the following are worth remembering:-

               (i) Out of the region's population of 8.5 lakhs, 1.25 lakhs are Jains.
              (ii) BJP was catapulted to power in the Mira Road-Bhayander Corporation based on their
                    promise of banning sale of meat and slaughter of animals during the fasting period.
             (iii) Its partner in power, the Shiv Sena, meanwhile opposes the ban along with the                                     opposition but to no avail.
             (iv) A state government resolution of '07 backs a ban on meat for two days.

        Why should the people's option of eating become a 'tamasha' to score political brownie
        points?

     (b) IS Fighters seize last major Syrian Oilfield.

           Jazal, a medium sized oilfield that holds Syria's main natural gas fields and multi-million
           dollar extraction facilities have fallen to the IS fighters. With this, the last of the Syrian
           government controlled oilfields have fallen to the enemy.

           With the IS gaining control of large swathes of land in Africa, flush with resources, it's
           gonna be a dangerous situation. With the refugees - all able bodied men and women along
           with their children - taking flight to Europe and elsewhere, the region has literally been
           handed over to these cruel set of people, on a platter.

           Wonder what's happening to the aerial assaults by the allied forces against the IS? Meanwhile,
           news about destruction of a Yemeni port by the Saudi-led alliance has hit headlines.

      (c) The Pope's Reforms.

            Pope Francis has reformed the Roman Catholic Church's cumbersome marriage annulment
            procedures in yet another sign of being practical and moving ahead with the times. It was
            through a written document by the Pope, himself, known as Motu Proprio - in Latin,                           meaning, by his own initiative.

            The new procedure follows the Pope's appointment of an 11-member commission of lawyers
            and theologians to propose reform of the process that was set up last September.


Tailpiece.

The Congress has once again come out with its cliched arguments of the PM's inability of bringing in reforms and thereby labeling him a 'hawa baaz', for not having fulfilled his poll promises. But it doesn't realise that the people have been watching the Rahul Gandhi way of non co-operation on the following:-

        (a) The GST Bill.
        (b) The Land Acquisition Bill - the Modi govt has, however, smartly let it lapse after the last
              ordinance.

It's one's fond hope that such disruptive tactics doesn't sound its own death knell, in the long run!

But the Modi government has also not come clean on the OROP issue. It must swiftly take decisive action to reduce differences with the veterans or else will have to, eventually, face its backlash!