Off to Thiruvananthapuram.

The day had begun on a quiet note with me tying up all the loose ends so that mom and Lekha did not have anything to worry about during my two day absence. The trip had become a necessity as I'd to make the customary trip to Chathannoor and Paravoor to oversee the activities out there. I'd set off after lunch but being a Sunday, auto rickshaws were hard to get and so, it was after a wait for a while that I could get onto one.

The buses to Thrissur were a plenty and I clambered on to the first one in the line which was choc-a-bloc with people. I was a standing passenger throughout the entire 25 km drive and was a little clumsy holding on to the railing, twice 'mounting' the guys in front when the driver was magnanimous in the use of the brakes!

The wait at the railway station was a comparatively short one with the Jana Shatabdi arriving just about 5' late. Maman had already boarded the train from Shoranur but the coach that we're reserved in was the last, the 22nd behind the engine! The number of my seat was 1 which was incidentally, the last in the rows, and it was the coach's rear bulkhead that separated me and my co-passengers from the environment!! Cracking a PJ, I'd ended up being the last guy to enter Thiruvananthapuram!!!

The train had chugged into the station about 15' behind schedule and Omanakuttan, along with the vehicle was a welcome sight, as usual. A quick drop at the Foundation to collect the requisite papers for our morning meet with the chief minister was a detour before we headed for maman's home. Conversation and dinner followed. It's yet another day that was nearing its end.

Did I do anything worthwhile for the day? No, not really. Hope I'm able to say something different when I board my return train, the day after tomorrow.


Tailpiece.

The heat's getting to be miserable. I could finish reading the latest 'The Week' magazine, from cover to cover, during the journey as maman and me had to sit separately.     

The news round up, continued.....

1. The Never Ending Yatras!

    Kerala is being subjected to a spate of 'yatras' by every political party as a pre-cursor to the
    forthcoming Assembly elections. What each party expects to derive out of this tamasha is left
    to individual imaginations but what has been clear is that the circus has caused despair to the
    motorists and passengers on the highways and roads because of roadblocks and traffic snarls!
    We'd lost over an hour, recently, on our return trip from Kottarakkara.

    The Congress was the first to take off from the starting blocks with their 'Jana Raksha Yatra'
    that will conclude on 09 Feb. The CPM with its 'Nava Kerala Yatra', the BJP with its 'Vimochana
    Yatra', the CPI with its 'Janakeeya Yatra' and the Muslim League with its 'Kerala Yatra' are
    closely following the grand old party for the finale at Thiruvananthapuram on staggered dates.
   
    Have the Malayalees been impressed? Can't say. But the major parties seem to have plenty
    of resources in their war chest for facing the elections!

2. The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple's back in the news!

    The expert committee, appointed by the Supreme Court, has been compiling the treasures in the
    temple vaults since 2011. The decision to open 'Vault B' was left for a later date because of stiff
    opposition from the temple administrators, the Travancore royal family and quite a few devotees.
    It has been said that suffering of an alarming nature and catastrophe would befall the state if the
    vault were to be opened. The inventoried valuables, thus far, have been divided into the following
    categories:-

         - Valuables, gold utensils and wares for pooja and customary rituals
         - Treasures of monetary value
         - Antiques which could be displayed in a museum and
         - Antique jewels for adorning the temple deity.

    All eyes are, now, on the Supreme Court for its directives!

3. The Loss of Innocent Lives Continue in Syria.

    With the slug fest between the major stake holders continuing in Syria, there doesn't seem to
     be any respite for the common man. Devastation is a daily affair with its attendant loss to lives
     and limbs of innocent civilians while the annihilation of the ISIS - which, incidentally, is the
     stated aim - continues to remain a pipe dream!

     Saudi Arabia has offered to embark on a land battle provided it has other takers too!

     When will the Syrians get their peace? How long does Basher Assad plan to hold on to his
     dwindling power? Doesn't the larger interest of his country come to mind?


Tailpiece.

It's a rather quiet day with me doing nothing worthwhile.

   
        

The news round up.

It's exciting times when many things seem to be happening all together. Keeping track of each one of them is a Herculean task but interesting, all the same. Let's, therefore, have a brief overview of the news that have hit the headlines in recent days.

 (a) The 13th Kerala Assembly begins its 16th and Final Session.

       The budget session of the 13th Kerala Assembly got off to a start this morning with the
       speech by the Governor of Kerala. The achievements of the Oommen Chandy government
       have been highlighted and despite the opposition's clamour for its ouster because of the 'Bar'
       and 'Solar' scams, the government has been able to get many things going insofar as the state's
       development is concerned!

       The Bar and the Solar scams seem to be running out of steam because they continue to throw up
       charges without any concrete proof of impropriety. What I'd been asking from day one is that
       why did Oommen Chandy require the likes of Salim Raj, Jikkumon and Teddy Joppen - all
       shady personalities - in his personal staff? I'm sure that 'the truth will out' ultimately and the
       guilty will be brought to book! And people like Biju Ramesh(Bar owner), Saritha and Biju
       Radhakrishnan(Both of the solar case) are the stars on all the media channels!!

 (b) The Sad spectacle of Official Apathy.

       After the unfortunate incident of the stripping and beating up of a female Tanzanian student, in a
       case of mistaken identity in the city of Bangalore, the authorities' attitude is appalling. The state
       government should have proceeded with the investigations immediately after rounding up the
       culprits and briefed the media in a matured manner rather than throw muck at the foreign
       personnel for their conduct. If they'd been unruly and were found wanting in decent behaviour,
       why was action not initiated at the appropriate time and action to deport them taken, if they're
       guilty? And I can't understand as to why people resort to such unacceptable behaviour because
       what they don't realise is that they've put their brethren, in that country, vulnerable to similar
       behaviour as a measure of 'tit for tat'!

       To Arnab Goswami's question, my answer is simple and direct, "Of course, we're racist! We
       continue to have a weakness for white skin but detest the dark skinned and let's not be in
       denial!"

       And the 'Fair and Lovely' commercial only reiterates this weakness for 'fair' skin of ours!

 (c) Success for the downtrodden!

      Vatsalya Chauhan - a Khagaria welder's son - has bagged a Rs. 1.02 cr per annum job at the IT
      giant, Microsoft. He's a final year computer science student at IIT, Kharagpur and was picked
      up during a campus placement drive in Dec '15. His brother is studying engineering while his
      sister is preparing for the medical entrance examination.

      I congratulate his parents for allowing their children to think big and work hard!


Tailpiece.

The insurance rep has, since, seen my Chevy and has given the go ahead for the repairs under the insurance cover which is definitely gonna ease the pressure on my pocket!
          

My Chevy has been admitted!

I was anxious to hand over my Chevy to the service station to initiate the repairs and had gotten up at 5. Realising that it was too early, I'd gone back to sleep which turned out to be my undoing. When I woke up next, it was beyond a quarter past 6 and I went around my morning chores without wasting time. My walk had to be given the go by. I could kick off for the service station, 25 km from my place, before 10.

Manikandan - who'd left the company about three months back had returned - was assigned to be my 'Customer Adviser' and had smilingly come towards me to take stock of the situation. I couldn't recall his name, then, but was happy to have him, assist me. The formalities were gone through and I'd instructed that the insurance cover be used for making up the damages. So, there goes my 'no claim bonus'. Well. one can't have everything you see!

In the meanwhile, the aggrieved party - consisting of a threesome that had an elderly gentleman, the father of the kid who was behind the wheel at the time of the accident, a middle aged, khadi-clad gentleman who, obviously seemed to have a political hue(Was he there to talk a few tough words to me in case I turned out to be difficult to handle?) and a youngster - had arrived at the premises, at my beckoning. They wanted Rs.6 grand as damages and I'd handed over the cheque without any haggling. They left soon after and I was glad that the episode had become a closed chapter!

Manikandan had dropped me at the bus stop from where I got my return bus. After a few domestic chores like handing over the clothes to the dry cleaners, buying fruits, dropping the credit card cheque at the drop box and collecting the receptacle from the hospital to hand over my mom's urine sample, for tests, tomorrow I was back home for a delayed lunch.

It's only this afternoon that I'd begun to breathe easy as the sight of the badly mauled Chevy brought me the guilt feeling of having brought it upon myself, through my bad driving and my impatience....... all the while, since 31 Jan.


Tailpiece.

Justice KS Paripoornan had passed into the mist of time yesterday. He was 94. He was a great admirer of my grandfather. I remember our visit to his house at New Delhi in the evening of 12 Dec '94 where my grandfather and he had a long chat over various issues with Maman and me being the silent listeners.

RIP sir. My prayers and tears.

From Raj Nivas to The Quarterdeck.

We'd got up at 4, went about our chores and could leave Raj Nivas by a half past 6. The keys were handed over to the caretaker and since I was keen to hit the highway, without any further delay, didn't wait to meet my cousin, Unnichettan, who was coming by for his usual morning sojourn at the tea shop on the main road. And it proved to be costly!

About 45' later, while on the Kayankulam-Punalur road as I was overtaking a tipper lorry, its tail touched my Chevy's rear end making another ghastly gash. By not meeting Unnichettan earlier I was actually keeping my tryst with the tipper, which had to happen! Lekha had observed correctly that I tended to get a bit impatient while doing such maneuvers and in the process, made errors. But something at the back of my mind said that I'd given adequate clearance for my car while overtaking, but the irritated driver(?) had given the final swing of the lorry's rear into my vehicle to 'teach' me a lesson or was it all my imagination?

But the 'teaching of a lesson' happened later on, too, while we're on the Alappuzha-Kochi stretch when an Innova taxi had overtaken my Chevy and slammed the brakes in front of me. I'd asked him, through my rear view mirror as to why he was continuously blaring his horn away when there was no space for overtaking! He was, thus, teaching me to behave!! Another example of road rage, perhaps?

The traffic through Kochi seemed to be going along fine, after we'd paused for a spot of shopping at the canteen and I thanked my stars for the absence of clutter because two 'yatras' - the CPM's Nava Kerala Yatra and the BJP's Vimochana Yatra - were crisscrossing the district today. But my joy was short lived as we hit the road block at Kalamasserry, thanks to the CPM's yatra. And the strange thing that I'd noticed was that it was in total violation of the existing Kerala High Court directives banning street side meetings! Combined with the Metro work, taking place beside it, it was chaos despite a posse of policemen trying to keep the traffic going. We lost more than hour in that madness! I was mainly bothered about mom who'd expressed a desire to release her bladder, earlier.

After two breaks for breakfast and lunch, besides the shopping interlude followed by the traffic snarl, we reached 'The Quarterdeck' before 4, in time for tea.

The evening walk was relaxing and was a necessity. Seeing my Chevy standing at the porch, badly mauled because of my poor driving, made me feel guilty.


Tailpiece.

The youngster, whose car I'd damaged, was asked to collect his Rs. 6 grand from me tomorrow.         

Strictly with the family.

It was a day that started a trifle earlier than usual. We'd set off for Lekha's house by a quarter past 8. The normal school going traffic had gathered momentum but could traverse the 9 km under 20'. Breakfast was on and we joined the crowd without wasting even a minute and in the process, mingled with the relatives. We set off for Kallada to the house where the little one, whose 28th day celebrations were on.

The traffic on the Kollam-Chenkotta highway wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be and our vehicles reached the destination under an hour. Soon after, the simple ceremony was on. Mom slipped our gold bangle onto the right hand of the sleeping child and the little one was named, Pran(Official name, decided by his parents) and Ganesh(Pet name due to the family's undying loyalty to the deity of the Kottarakkara Ganapati kshetram). After the traditional lunch and after waiting for every guest to finish his/her lunch, we'd shaped course to my brother-in-law's house.

Pidavoor amma, all of 88 yrs, was in bad shape because of a bad fever and cough. She was all by herself and would continue to be so till late evening, when her youngest son gets back from work. He's, incidentally, a diehard bachelor in his mid 40s. As we took leave of her with her neighbour by her side, I took in the familiar sight of her with folded hands wishing us a safe journey from my rear view mirror.

A quick snooze and about a half an hour later, Sheela, had come by to finish up the cleanship that she'd begun yesterday. Meanwhile, mom's well wishers kept dropping by in a sort of continuous trickle.

By about a half past 8, Anil had come by with the remainder of the cash as he'd promised yesterday. The deal is finally on!


Tailpiece.

The next time we come here, Raj Nivas will not have any shade bearing trees, immediately around it. The new coconut saplings and the teak trees will take their time to provide respite from the weather.

At Raj Nivas.

It's pretty nippy out here, early in the morning and the fan had to be kept at the minimum speed. I'd gotten up a few minutes later than my usual time. Mom's warm water was got ready on the gas stove, monitored by Lekha. The soiled bedcovers had been soaked in soap water last night itself and they're ready for a scrub. The Chathannoor trip had to be dropped as Maman was not able to join me and his presence was required.

The Chevy was given a wash and then came in the guy who was buying away the old rubber trees of our compound. Tapping of the trees have long since been stopped as it's nomore economical and they were of the '80s vintage! The deal didn't take much time to be reached as I made it clear that I wasn't into haggling. The buyer gave me an advance of Rs. 10 grand with the promise of giving me the remaining 95 grand by 1700h tomorrow.

The sales proceeds will be equally shared between my sisters and me. I was reminded of the careful nurturing of the trees when they're saplings. We used to wish away strong monsoon winds because it could break the plants - the staywires, notwithstsnding! The trees had been an assured input to the family's coffers.

Mom has agreed to my plan to plant coconut trees and teak wood as the next set of crops.

The washing of clothes and finer cleanship was the responsibility of your's truly with a helper to assist while Lekha had gone to the Kottarakkara Ganapati kshetram. And visitors continued to drop by, keeping my mom in a perpetual state of thrill! Meanwhile, Vijayan, the caretaker, had got a team of three to pluck the coconuts and consequently, tender coconuts could be had to one's fill. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

Was it coincidental? I do not know but 85 year old Gopala Panicker - who used to pluck coconuts for us during his heydays, had dropped by seeing activity in the house. He was apprehensive about his age as he firmly believes that it's the usual age when people pass away! Assuring him that he'd many years to go, he was given his usual 'fair' and he clutched my hand for a long while before leaving us.

Just before sunset, Sheela had come to fine tune the cleanship done by yours truly.


Tailpiece.

My cousin, Soman, was the last visitor of the day.