An act of cowardice.

Forty two CRPF personnel were killed at Pulwama, in Jammu and Kashmir by a suicide bomber. The details are as follows:-

     (a) A 78-vehicle CRPF convoy was going from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar, this
          afternoon when the suicide bomber rammed his SUV, packed with explosives into a bus killing
          42 and injuring several others.
     (b) The explosive used in the attack was so strong - a report suggested that 200 kg of explosives
          was packed into the SUV - that the blast was heard 10-12 km away and the CRPF bus was left
          in a mangled heap.
     (c) The number of personnel travelling back to the valley was high as there was no movement on
           the highway for the past 2-3 days due to bad weather. The convoy was carrying 2,547 security
           personnel.
     (d) This is the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in '89.
     (e) Pakistan-based terror outfit, Jaish-e-Muhammed(JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A Humble Appeal.

The Jaish-e-Muhammed has released a video clip of the suicide bomber identified as Adil Ahmad Dar and said that the video was shot before the young man carried out the attack in Lethopura, about 30 km short of Srinagar. 

Kindly do not circulate the photo of the terrorist through the social media, be it through What'sApp or by any other means, because these misguided people are trying to make a martyr out of the idiot! Let none among us fall into their trap!!

The CCS(Cabinet Committee on Security) is meeting tomorrow morning at 0900 hrs where the government will announce its response to the dastardly attack.


Tailpiece.

Had got up on the dot though with a bit of reluctance, gone through our chores and were ready well in time. The heat has been going up steadily and the water table has been correspondingly receding. Six rings of our well have been exposed, as of now.

Lekha, along with Preetha, had gone to the Guruvayur temple for their weekly tryst and had also done purchases from the nearby department store.

A bit of activity!

Had got up with the alarm and gone about our chores. We were ready well in time. Today's Wednesday and the first of the Malayalam month of Kumbham. The requisite 'aarathis' were carried out. The breakfast of 'sweet adas' turned out to be a dampener as certain parts of a few of them weren't cooked uniformly. I suppose errors creep in at times.

Vineesh came in soon after as per my directives given to him yesterday. Lekha and Preetha were dropped at the Mammiyoor Siva kshetram and we hit for the Geeyem Motors at Puzhakkal to sort out our Chevy's problems viz.:-

   (a) The clutch had become hard.
   (b) The car's body required an overall dent work and touch up.
   (c) A noise came, at times, from the front left wheel assembly and
   (d) To check fluid levels.

We returned an hour before lunchtime and I'd by then, begun to pursue restarting Lekha's cellphone as per instructions from Airtel. With a fair amount of juggling it was ascertained that the sim card needed a change and I was resigned to the fact that we'd have to go all the way to Kunnamkulam, about nine km from our house. Thankfully, we were directed to go to the new Airtel store that was opened a couple of months back at the railway level cross towards the eastern entrance. We made a beeline to the place and had a new sim place!

The siesta was, thus, shortened but for a worthwhile cause!


Tailpiece.

What the hell is happening?

Why do institutions like the AMU and the JNU court controversies all the time? Are we hearing about the shenanigans going on in these campuses, on a highlighted note these times, because of the BJP government in power?

Consider these:-

Fourteen students of the Aligarh Muslim University(AMU) have been charged with sedition, among other things, after they allegedly assaulted a TV crew and a few members of the BJP youth wing, last Tuesday. It all started after a few students, belonging to one section, objected to the proposed visit of AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi to the campus. The stories that preceded the FIRs raised would give a fair idea of the happenings:-

    (a) Mukesh Lodhi in his complaint has said that when he reached the AMU circle, his car was
          attacked by AMU students who tried to lynch him and when he'd opposed it, he was fired upon.
          Meanwhile, certain students were being targeted within the campus.
    (b) A reporter from the TV station, who'd gone to the campus for a story, alleged that the AMU
          security officer and students had misbehaved with her and her colleagues and snatched their
          camera.
  

Power outages galore!

Had got up on time, went about our chores and was ready well on time. The maid was back after a gap of two days and so, things had eased out for Lekha. But there was another villain lurking around from morning - frequent power interruptions which restricted many of our activities.

Water was used sparingly because the motor could not be operated, the preparations in the kitchen had restrictions because the grinder mixer could not be put to use!

Could activate Lekha's new ATM card and give it our PIN at the nearby ATM. But the streamlining it along with certain apps didn't work as the bank was having an emergency meeting to sort out certain issues.

Went for the matinee show of the Tamil movie 'Perambu' meaning compassion. A nicely made movie that etches out the contours of a father-daughter relationship where the girl is a special child. Mammootty, as the often puzzled dad and finally coming to grips of the problem has given a subdued, sterling performance. Sadana who plays the daughter matches him in histrionics, frame for frame. The moment the father comes to terms with his daughter's transformation from a teenager to an adult has been very nicely put across! A nice movie that's gonna walk away with many honours in the long run, I'm sure!

The power outages continued all through the evening because of which many of the television programmes had to be skipped but the positive bit was that we got more time to interact. Lekha will be meeting Dr(Mrs)Sodhi tomorrow for her cough and cold tomorrow. The anti-allergic medicines don't seem to have much effect and she has been having it for the last six days!

The power outage towards the end of our day, hastened our decision to hit the sack comparatively early!


Tailpiece.

Lekha's cellphone has gone for a bunt. All of a sudden, this evening, its services were disabled and the instrument has gone dead. A similar situation had developed on my cellphone about two years back and mind you, both of us have post paid Airtel numbers! I'd put across to their executive that they've a tremendous responsibility towards their customers especially when they claim to have the largest chunk of customers rooting for them. Why do such things happen and why don't they accept their responsibility for the piss poor services that they provide? Or is it that the customer provider attains "godly status" after becoming numero uno - or whatever that means - in their field of work. No wonder the Reliance Jio has begun to overtake it and it will realise its follies in the end...albeit a twad too late.

Passed on the problem to a friend of mine who I came to know had left the organisation for greener pastures and yet, has promised to help me. damn sweet of him! 

Adieu Principal sir!

Then Wing Commander KH Jagannatha Rao was our school's Principal from 29 Oct '66 to 06 Dec '71. For guys like me who joined Sainik School, Kazhakootam in Jan '67, he was the Principal all through except for Captain GD Singh who had come by in his place over the last six months of our stay there. Can never forget his smart demeanour, his booming voice and the love he'd for his cadets.

His eldest son - the Raos have three children, Arun, Anand and Revathi -  Arun was in our class and so, we were privy to most of the strategic decisions taken but above all, we'd readily accepted the Raos as our foster parents! Our attachment was mutual and all pervading. I can never forget the flourish with which he used to put down his elegant signature!

Group Captain KH Jagannatha Rao passed into the mist of time this evening, at the ripe old age of 93 yrs, at his residence in Bangalore. Another important link to those halcyon days of our growing up has ceased to exist! 

RIP sir! My salute, tears and prayers for a thorough gentleman and mentor. May God give Arun and all the other family members the strength to tide over their grief.

Tailpiece.

Had got up on the dot, gone about our chores and we were ready well in time. It was the second day of Preetha's absence from work and Lekha had handled the show superbly. There was an all pervading breeze all through the day and hence, the heat during mid-afternoon was tamed to a considerable extent. But there were power outages galore, consequently.

Mithun's aunt(65) - dad's sister - had passed into the mist of time this forenoon. She was single and used to stay at their place all through. She was ailing for a while and the end came by at the hospital near their house at Payyannur. Ammu and Mithun have left Coimbatore by the late night bus to be in time for the funeral tomorrow.  

RIP Mithun's appachi! My tears and prayers.

PS.

1. Sir was fine till a fortnight back when he'd lost his balance and fallen in his sitting room severing the the ball from his left femur. It needed Bipolar Hemiarthroplasty which was carried out successfully and he'd even walked, thereafter, last Thursday onward. However, this Monday, the surgical stress led to gastric ulcers in the stomach  leading to their burst causing a heart attack from which his heart could not recover!

2. He's the latest to have joined the ever increasing list of those whom I pray for every morning.

An MLA's shenanigans.

The Devikulam MLA's Highhandedness.

Young IAS officials facing threats from the Munnar land mafia has become a regular affair now. After Sub Collectors Sreeram Venkitaraman and VR Premkumar, Sub Collector Dr. Renu Raj is facing threats from land encroachers, aided and abetted by S Rajendran, the CPM MLA.

When the officials take serious action against illegal contructions and land encroachment in and around Munnar, the MLA and his partymen oppose the move  and even use abusive language against the officials to tame them into submission. Sample some of the threats:-

   (a) To Sreeram Venkitaraman. "You will be amputated and will have to crawl all your way from
         Munnar".
   (b) To VR Premkumar. The verbal attack was much more severe. He alleged that he'd got his IAS
         by copying in exams. He was a mentally-challenged person and was being controlled by
         someone.
   (c) To Dr. Renu Raj. "She doesn't have brains. Just because she is an IAS, she's trying to act
         smart. She should read about all these issues and understand them. How can a person who
         studied to be a collector act stupid?

Sub Collector Dr. Renu Raj's acts of "perfidy" were:-

   (a) The revenue department had issued a "stop memo" to the construction of a shopping complex
         near the Muthirappuzha River last Thursday. The panchayat ignored it. A revenue team reached
         the site on Friday and tried to stop the construction but the MLA and his goons, along with
         R Karuppuswami, the Panchayat President, blocked the revenue officials and sent them back.
         Meanwhile, the MLA abused the sub collector and its visuals sparked off the controversy.

   (b) Today, she has issued a "stop memo" to the soil mining activity on land owned(?) by a CPM
         leader after it was found that the guy had encroached on PWD land!

Luckily for the sub collector the following factors are supportive:-

    (a) The Revenue Minister is on her side. He's, incidentally, a CPI man and Munnar happenings
          have an inherent CPM-CPI tussle.
    (b) The CPM's district leadership has sought an explanation from the MLA. Is it a face saver
          or a desperate act to buy time?

PS. Nothing heard from MM Mani, the minister as yet!


Tailpiece.

Had got up on the dot and found Lekha sleeping like a log and decided not to disturb her. Had gone about lighting the lamp at the puja room, opened up the windows of the bedroom and the dining hall below as well as opened up the gate. Came back upstairs and watered the potted plants at the balcony. It was then that I'd woken up Lekha, who went about her chores pronto and by then, it was a half past 6. The Njaanapaana and the Harinaama keerthanam were heard on the music system followed by Rangoli.

We were well in time for breakfast which consisted of idiappams and stew. The day had a quietness thanks to it being a Sunday and the consequential reduction in traffic on the main highway.

Ammu and Midhun were at Bangalore while Achu was with his parents, in Palakkad, having arrived last night from Perundurai.

Ammu, by the end of the day, had started our What'sApp group and Rema has christened it as Raj Nivas. We hope not to repeat the mistakes of other groups and it will be a supportive group for all its members as there's no competition(?) amid us!

Another shameful piece of news!

Had got up with the alarm, gone through the chores and were ready in time. Xavier came in after 9  but found that he needed the help of an understudy to go up to the terrace to shut down a valve on the waterline network - I, too, wasn't aware of it till date! - to stop the input into the geyser. They, also, took their time to fix the main switch board with the four screws that I'd insisted upon. My assessment of Xavier and I don't hesitate being brutally frank - far from being professionally competent, it took six visits to my home for him to fix a problematic geyser. Is addicted to liquor and smells of it right in the morning! Many a time I'd noticed him gaze into thin air trying to come to grips with the problem but what exacerbates the problem is that he does not get the bills of the purchases that he makes in the due course of repairs. Opaqueness in his dealings which will, eventually, go against him!

Preetha is not gonna come by for the next two days as the temple near her house is celebrating its annual festival, her son is fetching up from Thalasserry this evening and the entire family will be ganging up at her place this evening. She seemed to be excited about it and as Lekha put it, she was only physically present at 'The Quarterdeck' while her mind was away at her place!

The gentleman who had bought the ten cents of land near our house seems to be going about his plans of building his house meticulously and in right earnest - yesterday, the trees were cut and sent away in lorries as neatly chopped logs and today, the clearing is discernible where the building is gonna come up.


Tailpiece.

Now, what a shame?

The #MeToo movement has shot into prominence in Latin America.

A former Miss Costa Rica beauty queen has filed a complaint against the country's ex-President, Oscar Arias, 78, for sexually assaulting her in '15, adding to a growing number of women lodging accusations against the two-time President, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in negotiating an end to civil wars in Central America.

This was Yazmin Morales' version of the sordid incident when he'd forced himself on her at his San Jose home, after he'd contacted her on social media, "He grabbed me forcibly and then with one of his hands he touched my breasts over my clothes and kissed me against my will. I was in shock I didn't expect anything like this from someone so well known and someone I admired very much".

Anti-nuclear activist, Alexandra Arce was the first woman to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against the President.

Shouldn't the personal conduct of an individual be taken into consideration while he/she is being considered for an award? It's the moot question!

Setting things right!

Had got up around a half past 3 to clear the bladder when I heard the drip of water from the geyser and mind you, it was refitted overhead, only yesterday after repairs. I was damn angry with Xavier, the electrician, for the low quality of his work and consequently, sleep took a long time to return. Lekha had turned back to sleep after hearing the alarm on her cellphone and I deduced - rather stupidly - that it must have gone off at an earlier time that was meant for yesterday!

We'd hurriedly got up at a half past 6, gone through our chores as Rema was to be leaving for Palakkad before 8. We got our act together and both Rema and I went away to the road transport corporation bus stand for her to board the bus for Palakkad. The decision was arrived at earlier as the buses were anticipated to be crowded, around these times, because of school going children.

However, just as we reached the bus stand, Rema realised that she'd left her cellphone at home and so we came back to fetch it. Had then released the autorickshaw and we waited for the next bus - a fast passenger - that fetched up around a few minutes past 8 and my sister had reached her home, two and a half hours later. While standing at the bus stop, the security sentry at Ikka's house had asked me about my long absence from sight and I told him about my illness. He, too, has had medical problems in terms of high sugar and is undergoing medication. He looks weak but is trimmer than before!

Earlier, had called up Xavier to give him a piece of my mind about the shoddy job and he'd come soon after, identified the problem to be the leaking inlet tap and has promised to replace it later in the day. Reji had come by lunchtime, I'd to give a helping hand to remove the machine of the clock which he takes to Kochi for repairs/bringing another to refit into our Grandmother clock - it might take place sometime by the end of next week, as I see it.


Tailpiece.

A nixed noting of an MoD file was brandished by Rahul Gandhi, in a hurriedly called press conference in the evening, to say that it confirmed the involvement of the Prime Minister in the Rafael deal and called him a thief. Had the note been authentic, it should have in all probability be placed in Parliament where the party is seeking a JPC probe! The RM, herself, was on national television later on, pointing out the falsehood - the note written by the RM, towards the end, had been blanked out!

Does Rahul Gandhi's actions mirror the family's fear over the fact that the Enforcement Directorate is closing in on his brother-in-law, Robert Vadra's misdeeds through the interrogation that has been going on for the past three days?