The story behind the festival of 'Lohri'.

The festival of Lohri was celebrated with pomp and show across the length and breadth of the country yesterday. I'm sure that many of you might not be aware of the interesting story behind it, so let's take a peek.

There is a large tract of semi-arid terrain lying between the rivers Chenab and Ravi called the Saandal Bar (It now falls in the districts of Sheikhpura and Faislabad). The people of this area were known to provide the stiffest opposition to the Muslim marauders. They never paid any taxes; rather they openly defied the authorities and indulged in looting the royal caravans and treasures. 'Saandal', a warlord of Bhatti Rajput clan led these tribals.

Prince Jahangir, the heir apparent, fired with zeal to prove his prowess carried out campaigns to consolidate the Mughal authority in the region. He captured and executed Saandal and his son, Farid. Their skins were peeled off and hung at the Delhi gate of the Fort of Lahore to instill a sense of fear among the rebels.

However, the son of Farid, Abdullah or Dullah as he was fondly called, remain unfazed and continued with his defiant activities. Dullah earned notoriety in the eyes of the authorities. He, like Robin Hood, looted wealthy landlords and Imperial officers and distributed the booty among the poor. He came to be regarded as a father figure for the distressed and the oppressed and became a living embodiment of the chivalrous and secular, socio-cultural character of the region.

Dullah was the contemporary of yet another Super Human, Poet Divine, Guru Arjan Dev ji, the fifth Sikh Guru who sacrificed his life at the altar of humanity at Lahore.

It is believed that Dullah had restored the prestige of an innocent girl whose modesty was outraged by a Mughal General. Dullah had adopted this girl as his daughter and arranged her marriage in the Jungles of 'Sandaal Bar'. As there was no priest nearby to chant the Vedic Hymns and solemnise the marriage, Dullah lit a bonfire and composed an impromptu : Sundari Mundariye......The bride and the groom were asked to take 'pheras' of the bonfire as Dullah sang this hilarious song.

The 'hos' are in chorus. And I shall first give the Punjabi version followed by its English translation.

Sunder mundriye ho * Tera kaun vicaharaa ho? * Dullah Bhatti walla ho! * Dullhe di dhee vyayae ho! * Ser shakkar payee ho! * Kudi da saalu paatta ho! * Saalu kaun samete ho? * Chacha gaali dese ho! * Chacha choori kutti ho! * Zamidara lutti ho! * Zamindaar sudhaye ho! *Ginn-ginn bhole aaye ho! * Ek bhola reh gaya! * Sipahee pakad ke lai gaya! * Sipahee mari itt! * Phannve ro te phannve pit! * Sanoo de de lohri te teri jeeve jodi!

Oh, you pretty lass * Who is your protector, you pitiable one? * There's this man called Dullah from village Bhatti! * Dullah's getting her married as his own daughter! * He gave 1 kg sugar! * The girl is wearing a red suit! * But her shawl is torn! * Who will stitch her shaw? * Her uncle will scold her! * The uncle made choori - a Punjabi dish! * The landlords ate it! * Dullah gave the landlords lots more to eat! * Lots of innocent guys came! * One innocent boy got left behind! * The police arrested him! * The policeman hit him with a brick! * Now, you may cry or howl! * Give us our Lohri and may you live long as a couple!

Til (Sesame seeds) and Rorhi (a form of sweet jaggery) are meant to keep the body warm. These two terms Til + Rorhi combined to form Tilrorhi which was eventually corrupted to......Lohri.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by 9. After breakfast, we got into our Sunday best and by a quarter to 11, Abhilash, our sa'arthi had come by and we left for our maid, Suma's house soon after.

After a short wait for the couple to return from the temple, we wished Abhirami - Suma's daughter and Dhinu a very long and happy married life, posed for a few photographs with the couple while Lekha gifted her a pair of studs. It was a quick lunch thereafter and after seeing Suma's cute home, we returned to The Quarterdeck. Met as many of her relatives as was possible during the short period.

It was a nice function!

 

 

A layman's thoughts on the farmers' agitation.

The farmers' agitation has entered day 49 and defies resolution. It's getting amply clear that the actual stake holders have slowly been pushed into irrelevance by a virulent set of hijackers who want to create chaos and anarchy. There seems to be a set of people hell bent on bringing the government down to its knees.

The Supreme Court steps in

The farmers' agitation has been going on for the last 48 days. There has been many rounds of talks between the government and the farmers' organisations and it's more or less clear that a dead end has been reached. The farmers want the immediate repeal of the farm laws while the government has very categorically stated that it's ready to look at amendments to the laws but would not repeal the laws.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court while considering the case filed regarding the Farm laws and the connected agitations had stayed the laws from being made operational and announced the formation of an expert team of four to look into every aspect of the laws and suggest solutions.

The Reactions

The farmers' unions have announced that they would not go for discussions with the Supreme Court as the four members that have been co-opted by it, are known supporters of the farm laws. The Khalistanis - working from day 1 to create anarchy - the nuisance brigade, consisting of Yogendra Yadav and others and the unions of the combined opposition just want this waywardness to continue. They are also preparing for their march, along with tractors, on the Rajpath where the traditional Republic Day Parade is slated to take place on 26 Jan. 

The thing that amazes me

The farmers' agitation is all about those from Punjab and Haryana, who have strong reservations on the new set of laws. The fact that these people, alone, can create such a lot of ruckus halting normal life around New Delhi is amazing. It would be worthwhile to go through the anatomy of this agitation scripted from Punjab and Haryana.

* It all began with the famous Green Revolution, in Punjab, initiated by Linus Pauling in 1967. Punjab, consequently, had improved upon its productivity so much so, that the FCI godowns all over the country started storing excess food grains and it didn't take too long for stories to emanate about the colossal wastage of rotten food grains when people were starving.

* Punjab was given a lot of incentives for its spectacular achievements which did not have a time stipulation.

* And soon a new norm was scripted where designated markets and middlemen ruled the roost. The net result was that the poor farmer did not get adequate value for their produce, he was not allowed to choose the market of his choice and the middlemen thrived without contributing anything meaningful towards the advancement of agriculture in real terms by adopting state-of-the-art-methods and practices to achieve international standards.

It's this state that's gonna change with the implementation of the new set of laws. People like the Badals of Punjab and the Pawars of Maharashtra - just two of the thriving 'agricultural middlemen' - who are quite against the implementation of the laws.

It now needs to be seen as to how the government steps in to implement the recommendations of the Supreme Court.

What I desire.

I would like all the middlemen, the fifth columnists and the anti-India groups to be identified - among this so called group of farmers - and exposed to the people of this country. They've to be tried for treason and punished with nothing short of capital punishment.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a 5' to 10.

Girish and Kiran, two brothers and electricians, were hired liquidate a few long outstanding defects through the policy of repair-by-replacement. They'd carried out the work after their normal work schedule.   

All about KJ Yesudas.

Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (born 10 Jan 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and cinematic songs. Yesudas has recorded more than 50,000 songs in a number of Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Oriya as well as Arabic, English, Latin and Russian during a career spanning more than five decades. He is often referred to as 'Gaanagandharvan' (The celestial singer).

Yesudas has performed in most Indian languages except for Punjabi, Assamese, Konkani and Kashmiri. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.

Yesudas won the National Award for the Best Male Playback Singer for a record eight times, the Filmfare Awards South five times and the State Award for the Best Playback singer forty-three times, given by the governments of Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal. He was awarded the Padma Sri in 1975, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2017 by the Government of India for his contributions towards the arts. He has recorded more than 50,000 songs in a six-decade career. In 2006, he sang 16 film songs on the same day at AVM Studio, Madras. As a result of all these accolades and recognition, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian Music.

KJ Yesudas was born in Kochi, in the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin, in a Latin Catholic Christian family to Augustine Joseph and Elizabeth Joseph. His father, a well known Malayalam classical musician and stage actor, was his first guru(teacher). Yesudas was the eldest of five children and was followed by three younger brothers - Antappan, Mani, Justin and a younger sister, Jayamma.

He started his academic music training at RLV Music Academy, Thrippunithura and completed the Ganabhooshanam course. Later, he studied at the Swathi Thirunal College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram under the tutelage of the Carnatic Music Maestro, KR Kumaraswamy Iyer and Semangudi Srinivasa Iyer but could not complete his studies due to financial constraints. For a brief period, he also studied music under Vechoor Harihara Subramania Iyer, after which he took advanced training from Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar.

In 2011, Yesudas completed his 50 years as a playback singer.

Yesudas is married to Prabha. Their marriage was on 01 Feb 1970. They have three sons viz. Vinod, Vijay and Vishal. Vijay is a musician who won the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Male Playback Singer in 2007, 2012 and 2018. 

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. 

Kurup kochachhan's 'sanchayanam' is slated on the 14th and the 'adiyanthiram' on the 23rd as passed on by Gopu, his eldest son. I've told him that both, Lekha and I'd be attending the ceremony on the 23rd.

A story with a moral.

Once a man was travelling in a boat with his pig.

There was a philosopher along with some passengers in the boat.

The pig had never travelled in a boat before so it was not feeling comfortable.

It was frantically going up and down the boat grunting and not letting anyone sit in peace.

The boatman was troubled by this and was concerned that the boat might sink due to the panic of the disturbed passengers.

If the pig didn't calm down it will certainly drown the boat.

The man was very upset about the situation but could not find a way to calm the pig.

The philosopher watched all this for some time and decided to help.

He said : "If you allow, I can make this pig as quiet as a house cat".

All the passengers on board the boat, immediately agreed.

The philosopher, with the help of two other passengers, picked up the pig and threw it into the river.

The pig desperately started to swim in order to stay afloat. It was dying and struggled for its life.

After sometime, the philosopher dragged the pig back into the boat. The pig quietly went and sat in a corner.

The man and all passengers were surprised witnessing the sudden changed behaviour of the pig.

The man asked the philosopher : "At first it was jumping up and down Now, it is sitting quiet, like a pet cat? Why?"

The Philosopher said, "No one realises the misfortune of another without tasting trouble. So, when I threw this pig into the water, it understood the power of water and the usefulness of the boat".

Similarly, Pigs that are jumping up and down in our country disturbing its peace should be thrown in Somalia, North Korea, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan or China for just six months. Then on returning to India, they will automatically be calm as a pet cat and will just lie quietly in a corner.

This is dedicated to all the Pigs disturbing and abusing India........

Tailpiece.

Got up at our usual time, the chores and was ready by a half past 9.

Ramesh's understudy, Appu, had come by to rectify the defect and he had done it in a jiffy.

 

At Paravoor for the funeral.

Abhilash had dropped by at a quarter past 7. Occasionally there's a tightness beneath my sternum and it's very, very uncomfortable so long as it stays. For a moment, I was seriously thinking of skipping the programme but then realised that my folks would feel very disappointed if I didn't fetch up. So with a bit of trepidation, we kicked off for Paravoor - roughly, about 250 km away southward - by 8 o'clock. The journey was nice on the Kodungalloor stretch as traffic was sparse, being a Sunday.

The drive through on the newly opened Vyttila and Kundannur in the heart of Ernakulam town was nice!

Our first stop was at the HP Petrol bunk at Aroor to reduce water levels. Why can't these guys ensure that clean toilets are provided for its customers? And mind you, the toilet is shared by both men and women! Abhilash avoids it totally saying that Covid spreads fast through them and my kidneys work overtime! We went to Chathu's tea stall next door and had another revelation that he gave only black coffee, without milk on Sundays as he doesn't buy it. But the coffee was damn good and he said that he would be winding it up as he worked only during the forenoon, giving me a toothless smile.

The journey continued uninterrupted till we reached 'thirumukku' and took the final turn to Paravoor. Stopped at Nedungolam and had a quick bite of the fried rice-pickle combination that Lekha had given us for lunch and Abhilash had said that he'd have his once I went into the house. It was a half past 2 and made it a point to meet all my close relations. The body of Kurup kochachhan was taken out of the mobile mortuary for the final rites. Stood by him for a few minutes with folded hands and prayed.

Kurup kochachhan had his admirers, followers and supporters. They had been trickling in since last evening and from early morning today. After my arrival at a half past 2, there were about 150 to 200 onlookers, breaking existing Covid protocols! 

At 3, the body was taken to the backyard and placed on the pyre which was just of the plot where Leela kunjamma was cremated, 9 years back. By a half past 3, the mortal remains were consigned to the flames. Had said my quick farewell to everyone and left for Guruvayur almost immediately. The roads were a little more populated with traffic, being a Sunday evening and most of the crowd was returning to their homes after the weekend. 

The traffic had picked up with the accompaniment of rain which of course, withered away as we sped through the Kodungallor stretch and the drive was very smooth as Abhilash had vouched for. The road was totally empty and we seemed to be the only ones driving at that point of time. We reached 'The Quarterdeck' by 2200 hrs, dispatched Abhilash quickly and I'd a thorough wash.

A quiet dinner of Upma, sugar and banana, with a little bit of yakkitiyak and we were off to bed by about a trifle past 11.

It was a short trip that carried a lot of memories!

Tailpiece.

The scare in the morning had long since dissipated. I'm still disappointed by the cleanliness of toilets in various petrol bunks. Why don't we give the priority that it deserves? We had better, before it harms many.   

Adieu Kurup Kochachha!

KP Sivasankara Kurup, husband of the late Leela Kumari (The second daughter of PN Panicker and Chempakakkutty Amma and my mom, Chandramathykutty Amma's immediately younger sister) passed into the mist of time this evening, around 1930 hrs, at the Thayabji Hospital at Paravoor of Kollam district. Of late, he has been ailing from old age related illness. He was 94.

             *                   *                   *

As I go back in years, I'm trying to focus my thoughts on my first sight of Kurup Kochachhan way back on 22 May 1958 when he got married to my ma'asi, Leela Kunjamma. The marriage party consisting of the PN Panickers, my mom, dad and of course, the bride, maman and me - I must have been about 31/2 years of age, then and all excited about the journey - had left our house, TC 804 at Thycaud soon after dinner in a black Chevrolet(the sloping rear end) car. It was owned by Muthachhan's friend. The destination was the famous Shiva temple at Ettumanoor in Kottayam district.  

The drive was smooth but I remember being woken up around midnight when the Chevy had broken down at Chadayamangalam. It was my first taste of Muthachhan's abundant resources and tremendous reach. He'd dispatched Narayana chettan, his Man Friday, back to Thiruvananthapuram on a KSRTC bus to work out alternate arrangements - those days there were no telephones available as freely as we see today. Before long, we were on the move yet again in a blue and off white Studebaker car and reached our destination, half an hour before the muhurtham!

Kurup Kochachhan was short statured, handsome and sported a thin moustache. He had already acted in a few movies and many plays. His mastery of the English and Malayalam languages was par excellence. He and I became good friends at first sight and everyone was impressed with his tremendous sense of humour. My mom and he got along like a house on fire and the foursome of Dad-Mom and Kurup kochachhan-Leela kunjamma used to go for movies and shopping whenever they were together, when dad was on leave. He loved having a tot with my dad on occasions!

            *                     *                       *

Kurup Kochachhan and Leela kunjamma had stood in, for my parents, by being my guests during the Annual Sports Meets and Speech Days during my days at the Sainik School, Kazhakkoottam. And I used to feel damn homesick after their departure and it took quite a bit of effort on the part of my Matron to get me back to normalcy!

They had visited us during 1994-'95 when I was posted at New Delhi. During their one week's stay with us, they could see most of New Delhi and had also made a trip to Agra to view The Taj. They were also fond of our Doberman, Bruno!

             *                    *                     *

He'd come along with us on our initial Sabarimala treks. I still remember, vividly, his answer to my mom's query as to how the Sabarimala pilgrimage had gone, "Chechi, I trekked uphill viewing Rajeev's feet and found that it was the best way to do it". My mom was thrilled with that answer!

              *                    *                      * 

When Leela kunjamma passed into the mist of time in Oct 2011, he was a broken man. I was always under the impression that he had a good control of his emotions but he showed as to how dependent he was on her and I don't think he ever came to terms with her loss.

He'd come and stayed at our 2C, Panampilli Nagar flat at Kochi for a week, sometime in Jun 2012. I will never forget his meeting with his cousin, Kamalamma Pillai. They talked on and on regarding their younger days at Paravoor and prior to leaving her, he borrowed some money from me and gave it to her as a token of love, which she had received with a lot of emotions and gratitude. 

             *                     *                      *

He had promised to visit us at Guruvayur more often, when he had become a member of the Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Academy in 2013. However, he had visited us only twice during the period. For me it was always a pleasure to sit with him and ruminate on many historical events and our own family happenings.....he was a master story teller.

             *                     *                       *

His greatest show was as Munshi, in the 5-minute clip just before the commencement of the Asianet News, during prime time. I am not saying this because he's my uncle but he was the best and the most impressive of the Munshis, who delivered the punchline towards the end of each episode. Unfortunately, he had to leave it midway, much to his angst, because of some ego hassles of the director, Anil Banerjee. I've explained the ego hassles, at length, in an earlier post of mine and do not want to repeat it here.

RIP Kurup kochachha. My tears and prayers. Here's wishing that God give strength to everyone in the family to tide over your irreplaceable loss.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. It was a quiet day.

Participated in the Aazhchakkoottam on "Poetry and culture" by Dr VP Joy, IAS, Addl Cabinet Secretary, Govt of India from 1615-1730 hrs.  It was a very interesting session! 

Indira kunjamma had passed on the sad news about Kurup kochachhan's passing away, around 1930 hrs.

 

    

The reason why Tata is in every Indian heart.

The untold stories of Sir Ratan Tata. Such stories do give hope to lay citizens about the future of our country.

I was nine years old. We lived in the naval cantonment in Colaba, Bombay. The cantonment had a sprawling golf course by the sea, part of the premises of the United Services Club. It was a common sight to see Mr Tata play golf there. I distinctly remember a fine Sunday morning, when my friends and I were cycling around the vicinity of the golf course. We saw Mr Tata tee off in the distance. A young naval officer stopped us, pointed at Mr Tata and said, "Young men, many a people earn money, very few earn respect".

Fast forward fifteen years, I was a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group. We were advising Tata Motors, an assignment which was made public by Tata Motors. I spent many months in the remotest parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and the North East. I must have met and interacted with over 500 truckers during this time, breaking bread with them, occasionally sharing a drink with them. In one such spirited interaction, I asked an old Sikh trucker (The Sikhs dominate the trucking industry in India)

"Sir, why the staunch loyalty to the Tata brand? There are others like Bharat Benz and Ashok Leyland, who might even give you a hefty discount".

The gentlemen took a few deep breaths. He recalled the forgettable details of one cold November night in 1984 - a night which took away his brother, his home and his only truck. While the personal loss was irreplaceable, his truck, the only means to feed a family of five, was also burnt down. He was broken and contemplated leaving town and returning to Punjab. A few days later, once the dust settled, a Tata Motors employee walked up to him and handed him the keys of a new truck. There were no questions asked. He and many others like him, who lost their trucks in the Sikh riots, their only means to a livelihood, were given a free truck by Tata Motors. And this story never hit the press, was never publicized by Tata Motors, just remained etched in the memories of these truckers. As he narrated this story with moist eyes, he told me that he trusts the Tata brand - it has his lifelong loyalty.

His directions to his Leadership Team was crystal clear. "Gentlemen, what you are building is something India needs. Never compromise on quality, it will take 10 years but you will eventually get there". 

- Abhiraj Bhal

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9.

Lekha, along with Suma, had gone to the ration shop to collect our share for the months of Nov and Dec. After that she had also made a visit to Archanakingini, the daughter of the late Sathiyamma and spent time with her.