Meeting people.

We'd interactions planned with the people of four panchayats of Alappuzha district, basically to outline the steps to be adhered by them towards achieving cent percent e-literacy.

The datum to achieve cent percent literacy, laid down by PN Panicker years ago, was that every individual should be able to write his/her name along with the signature. Likewise, the datum set for acquiring cent percent e-literacy is that every individual should be able to send and receive an e-mail! The steps to be undertaken to achieve this aim were to be outlined to every panchayat of the state and hence our visit to the district.

The interactions at the Haripad, Karuvatta, Ambalapuzha(North) and the Punnapra(North) panchayats were spread through the day and boy, it's an experience of a lifetime! The following factors were visible all through:-

     (a) A sustained enthusiasm to assimilate technology.
     (b) The resoluteness in wanting to achieve the target within a shorter time duration.
     (c) The overwhelming enthusiasm of the women participants.
     (d) The touching show of affection showered upon my maman and me, just because we're related
           to the legendary PN Panicker. In fact, the folks at Ambalapuzha displayed their proprietorial
           affinity towards us because it happens to be Mrs. PN Panicker's birthplace!

The people's expectations are scary!

After the interactions got over, a trifle before sunset, we'd settled down for the night at the government guest house. A light meal at the Indian Coffee House and we're off to see a Malayalam movie but it was on reaching the cinema that we came to know that the one that we'd wanted to see had already been withdrawn. And hence, we did make a hasty retreat back to the confines of our room and call it an early night!


Tailpiece.

Just goes to show that everything need not go the way one desires!
              

A kaleidoscopic day.

The day had begun at 4, as I'd to catch the 6 AM train. Anto had ensured that I was at the railway station on the dot. The train was running on time till three stations before my destination and then got delayed by over an hour and for once, I was happy it was so as I'd lesser time to while away because my assignment for the Foundation was around 1530 h at the Collector's office.

On reaching the destination, the idea about spending my spare time had crystallised. I'd decided to call on an uncle and two aunts, whom I'd not seen for a very long time. Clutching a meagre fruit basket, I'd landed at the huge house around lunch time at the insistence of my senior aunt. My uncle, whose kidneys are weak, has got used to the pouch to remove his urine periodically. And what I felt nice was that at 80, he's peppy about life despite his physical discomfort.

My senior aunt, all of 78 years, was looking forward to the cataract operation on her left eye, a fortnight from now. With her positive outlook towards life, she's braved many a storm like breaking off with her Maharashtrian husband, barely a year into marriage as he was a compulsive wife beater! I remember my grandfather grieving over the issue as he'd given the go ahead for the marriage, as the patriarch. Her only son is the apple of her eye but she's worried because of his precarious medical condition!

The second aunt is, sadly, inflicted with the Parkinson's Syndrome but ambles along. Today, according to her two daughters, she'd been eagerly awaiting my arrival from the time she'd heard about my plans. I was humbled seeing her excitement and was left with a lump in my throat for having done so little for the three of them! All of them have expressed their desire to meet my mom and I've promised them that I'd get her at Neelamperoor during the third week of October on the auspicious beginning of  the Malayalam month of 'Vrushchikam'.

And on the way to the collectorate, my cousin had taken me to Vijayalaksmi chechi who's bed ridden thanks to a paralytic attack. There's a tremendous improvement in her condition and I saw her eyes swell with tears when I kissed her forehead and told her that she looked beautiful. Hope she's able to take care of herself, pretty soon!

The meeting went off like clock work with my maman giving the process of implementation of the programme that would make the district cent percent 'e-literate'. And soon after, we're at Haripad for spending the night.

Tomorrow is gonna be a whirlwind visit to four panchayats, to review the milestones achieved and avoid mid-course correction, where necessary!


Tailpiece.

I'll keep that date with Neelamperoor next month so that my mom and her cousins can interact!

And now Modi, the rockstar!

What a performance it has been by the Indian Prime Minister! The US and seemingly, the whole lot of the Indian Americans are celebrating the visit of an Indian Prime Minister!!

His performance at the Madison Square Garden - a place one usually associated with the likes of Bruce Springstein, Barbara Streisand and others - has been nothing short of spectacular with the maximum visual impact! The most important aspect is that he's spoken from his heart to connect with the masses.

Even in his speech at the General Assembly, while putting the record straight with regard to Pakistan, he'd gone ahead and touched upon all the important aspects that matter in today's world like terrorism, the health hazard brought about by the deadly Ebola virus and the long awaited UN Security Council's overhaul. It was as though, the Indian leader while being aware of his country's strengths and weaknesses, was pitching for the global good on the world arena - the attitude of a true statesman!

My take.

Some of the points that I'm gonna list out are worth thinking about at this juncture, which are:-

    (a) The country, where he's raising a storm, had denied a visa for him for over a decade. He could
          have sulked and refused the invitation.

    (b) So, the argument that it's his nationalism and the genuine interest to do things in his country's
          interest has brought him there seems to be valid.

    (c)  How did his detractors back home manage to pin him down all these years? Did it have
           overseas' patronage as has been always doubted in various quarters?

    (d) For the US, it's business that matters and it makes great sense for that country that here comes
          an Indian leader who says that his country is ready for its investors!



Tailpiece.

(a) We're privileged to be present at a moment of time when momentous things are gonna happen.
(b) His performance at the Central Park, earlier, before an audience of over 60,000 people was again a smash hit!

A wet, busy and a happening Saturday!

Rajeev and Anamika, ten days into their married life, had come calling. Their aim was to visit the Guruvayur temple as many times as possible and in the process, tick off their first social call. A couple with the finest of values, friendly and outgoing nature, who, through their interaction have gotten close to us. My mom was the most active among us in ensuring that the young couple, never even once, felt out of place in the house.

The heavens decided to open in the evening and heavy rains had lashed out, complete with lightning and thunder. It was a sing song session in the evening and one did not realise as to how quickly time had passed. All in all, it was a pleasant day!

             *                                              *                                                      *

At long last, nemesis seems to have caught up with Jayalalitha as she was handed out a four-year jail term along with a fine of Rs.100 crores for being found guilty in the disproportionate assets case, during her first tenure as the chief minister in 1991-'96. Consequently, her party men had gone on a rampage all over Tamilnadu, disrupting normal life.

To add to her woes, the Karnataka High Court is on vacation till 06 Oct on account of Dussehra, which has to grant her bail if she were to apply for one. And sure enough, she's followed many of her political predecessors, in complaining of giddiness soon after, that necessitated her shift into the jail's hospital!

It's a tribute to the country's judiciary that it brings the high and the mighty to book when found guilty, despite the inordinate time delays(This particular case had taken 18 tortuous years) that are usually brought about by the shenanigans of the guilty!

             *                                               *                                                     *

With the Indian media being active in the US, on the sidelines of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly, I wonder as to what impact has it had to shape the public opinion out there in connection with Prime Minister Modi's visit. The Indian and Pakistani lobbies have been working overtime to strike the right chord in which the former, definitely, seems to have quite an edge!

The PM seems to have hit the right note which is an achievement for him in a country, that had denied him a visa all these years on account of the riots that had taken place in Gujarat in 2002, under his watch!


Tailpiece.

I'd visited the chemist this evening after the last episode that I'd talked of. The promptness, coupled with a smile, was heartening!

The cost of happiness........it's damn cheap!

My uncle, Kurup kochachan, has been staying with his eldest son ever since the death of my aunt in Oct '11. He used to shift into his daughter's house at Kayamkulam and to his younger son's house at Kochi from time to time but always felt short of the elusive happiness, that he was in search of. Last week, he'd returned to his house at Paravoor with a male nurse to look after him.

I'd called him up a couple of days back to find out as to how he was doing and as to whether the new arrangement suited him. Firstly, the change was palpable as there was a bubbling enthusiasm in his conversation. He went on about the regular walks that he'd embarked upon, the extra energy that comes from within, just because of the fact that he's around familiar surroundings and ended with the final statement and I quote, "Your aunt is around and is taking care of me. I can feel her".

One might laugh it off as an old man's imagination but I'd not like to downplay the feelings. He's actually enjoying every moment of his and I only wish that the arrangement was arrived at, much earlier! His children would be visiting him, in turns, once every week.

Happiness at such low costs! Great!! And I've initiated a plan for the conglomeration of the entire PN Panicker's clan sometime around mid-October at Paravoor to commemorate the occasion. Perhaps, celebrate Diwali there?

           *                                         *                                             *

There's a problem in communication. And because of it I've made the rounds of the local 'Akshaya Center' - the online hub for all major activities like applying/renewal of passport, driving licence, voters' ID card etc, the list is endless - twice and that too without achieving what I'd wanted! My requirement was to migrate our names into the local voters' list as our voters' identity cards are Kochi-rooted, based on our last residential address.

The girls manning the center don't seem to be getting the gist. They look harried though I'd found on both the occasions that the crowd was manageable. Perhaps, they're used to harsh and persistent queries from impatient customers and a soft spoken approach is dealt with, in a lax manner. Is it a case of decency being mistaken for weakness, which is a typical 'Malayalee' failing?

Lekha has agreed to take on the task next time. Phew!!


Tailpiece.

There's gonna be a flurry of guests for the weekend before I'm off for the Foundation's activities, next week. Never a dull moment, huh!



   

Is the ISIS dwindling?

The alliance of the US, the Saudi Arabia and the UAE had pounded the ISIS strongholds on either side of the border of Syria and Iraq, through numerous air sorties. It's commendable that countries like Jordan have also joined the alliance to fight the curse, that the outfit is all about, despite the enormous danger of backfire from the terrorists upon their countries!

France has since joined in after their tourist was beheaded despite pleas to free him. England is poised to join the coalition in due course.

The inhuman attitude of the terrorist outfit came once again to the fore, when it publicly executed the Iraqi woman lawyer, Samira Salih al-Nuaimi for her Facebook posts that were critical of its destruction of religious sites in Mosul. She was taken away from her home on 17 Sep, tortured relentlessly for five days and executed!

What sort of beasts are they? Stories abound as to how they seize young girls and subject them to the worst forms of sexual assault. Don't these guys have their mothers and sisters and haven't they been groomed to respect women? How've they grown up to be the monsters that they are?

My take.

Will aerial assaults, by themselves, be enough to finish of this deadly band of guys? They'll have no compunction to use the poor, unsuspecting civilians as shields from being identified and targeted and later on use the very same pictures to show as to how innocents had been killed by the allied strikes, to score brownie points with the rest of the world.

Eventually, 'boots will have to be deployed on the ground' - a euphemism for the army columns - to mop up the last of the deadly 'virus' and consolidate the success of the airstrikes. But will the governments, including that of the US, risk it because of its attendant military casualties? And mind you, Obama had come to power on his relentless anti-war criticism against George Bush's deployment of the American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with a promise of pullback of all forces from foreign soil!


Tailpiece.

There is no half baked solution to tackle terrorism that has become rampant in almost every part of the globe. It has to be done collectively to pool the resources for concentrated application relentlessly at the targets to maximise the destruction of evil! 

A proud Indian!

As India's 'Mars Orbiter Mission' successfully reached its climax this morning, I was one among the crores of proud Indians who stood up and savoured the special moment. The country's satellite has been positioned in an elliptical orbit(perigee 420 km and apogee 80,000 km)  around the red planet and that's gonna beam vital information to our scientists which would go a long way in unraveling its mysteries.

I'm not going into the technical details because the media has been focusing on them making the details of the entire mission known to everyone and therefore, shall speak as a layman. Two factors make this success very special for the scientists of the Indian space establishment which are:-

     (a) It's been achieved at a comparatively low cost of around Rs.450 crores.
     (b) It's been achieved at first shot unlike all the other space agencies that had to bear with initial
           failures and glitches. Though the European Space Agency had got it right the first time, it
           must be understood that it's a conglomeration of several countries.

It was the culmination of a ten month long journey by the spacecraft and is a great step towards the future of interplanetary travel. In this exclusive club, India has joined up with the US, Russia and Europe as the sole representative of Asia! The following scientific activities will be performed by the satellite while going around the red planet:-

     (a) Measure the relative abundance of Deuterium and Hydrogen in its upper atmosphere to
          understand the previous presence of water on the planet.

     (b) A Methane sensor will look for the sources of the gas.

     (c) While the colour camera clicks away, a thermal infrared spectrometer will study heat                            emissions, minerals and soil.

Truly a red letter day in the calendar of every Indian! My salutes to the ISRO scientists!!


Tailpiece.

I'd called up to congratulate my friends - a scientist couple closely associated with the project - soon after hearing the great news. They're on cloud nine and profuse in their expression of thanks!