Wonder what the opposition is up to?

Background.

Post demonetisation, there has been an array of reactions, both, for and against it and rightfully so. In a democracy, opinions must be expressed, points of view debated upon, so that the general public is able to glean the truth once the fog has lifted off to a considerable extent! There are going to be difficulties, post demonetisation, because of the following factors:-

   (a) Sudden reduction in the volume of cash in circulation.
   (b) The overnight uselessness of the Rs.1,000/- and 500/- notes.
   (c) The unfamiliarity of the plastic money or online banking to most.
   (d) The parallel economy dictated by the black money that was available till now and
   (e) The willingness to indulge in corruption by exchanging money for favours.

My queries.

Demonetisation, to a great extent, had highlighted most of the factors cited above, if not all! So, it's easy to understand the powerful forces who'll be too glad to see its failure! The shortage of cash at the treasury/banks, especially that service the rural economy should be a source of worry for the central government as it can change public attitude which has, till now, taken a favourable stand towards the whole exercise. The fact that no economist has come strongly against the move, thus far, except for a few - based largely because of their political affiliations - is testimony to the fact that though it's bitter, the medicine has been right! To those talking about shoddy implementation, I've a few queries to ask which are as follows:-

     (a) Adequate notes of the new 1,000/- and 500/- denominations should have been stocked up.
          And let the cat out of the bag? Secrecy was the most important aspect.
     (b) The ATMs should have been modified well before.
          Again let the whole world know that something was afoot.
     (c) The banks of the co-operative sector should have been allowed to handle demonetised
           notes.
           These had always desisted from following the RBI guidelines on banking operations. How,
            then, can they hope to get the clearances? 

The opposition's reactions.

The way Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and Mamta Banerjee have lambasted the demonetisation drive, an impartial observer begins to doubt as to whether they've been the biggest losers because of the drive. Sitaram Yechuri is also not far behind insofar as his utterances go. Let's now do a reality check on the individuals, one by one:-

 (a) Rahul Gandhi.

       The Congress, as well as its vice president, had put their weight behind the following agitations:-

           (i) Wanted proof for the Army's 'surgical strikes' on terror camps on Pakistani territory.
          (ii) Made an issue of an ex-serviceman's death at the agitation point in view of the unacceptable
                implementation of the OROP.
         (iii) Really tried to incite the people standing in long queues in front of the ATM's sympathising
                (?)with their agony.
         (iv) And now blaming the 'surgical strikes' for the hostilities on the Line of Control (By doing
                so, he and his party have accepted the fact that the strikes, indeed, did take place!)

              * Rahul Gandhi, it just goes to show your shallowness and the lack of interest in sorting
                 out the real issues. Wish you'd put a few of your party leaders and men along with the
                 agitators at the Jantar Mantar! And by not letting the Parliament to function, you're
                 effectively stalling the passage of the GST Bill because its timely implementation will
                 not be in your interests, national interest be damned!

   (b) Mamta Banerjee.

         Her actions, ever since the demonetisation, have been the strangest. She seems to be in a
         state of shock as can be made out by her actions:-

            (i) She and a few other party reps had marched to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan to request the
                 President to cancel demonetisation.
           (ii) She reports a threat to life as her Indigo flight was made to hover around the Calcutta
                 airport despite being 'low on fuel'. The delay seemed to be on account of traffic congestion
                 and the airlines has denied that the aircraft was 'dangerously low on fuel'!
          (iii) She claims that the Army was planning a coup to oust her by deploying its personnel on
                 a few toll plazas, as part of an annual exercise, to identify vehicles that it can use during
                 an emergency to transport its men and materials to the forward areas! She'd made the
                 police to issue a statement that it was kept in the dark which was easily demolished by
                 the Army by releasing the relevant correspondence between them.

              * Mamta Banerjee, you've just shown as to how you've lied your way through all this
                 while. How will you expect the people to trust you with greater responsibilities, which is
                 your ambition?

     (c) Arvind Kejriwal.

          The whole of India are now fully aware of your 'shoot and scoot' policy. You've been following
          Mamta Banerjee both by word and by deed. Shame on you. Why don't you take effective steps           on the problems facing Delhi as of now?

              * Arvind Kejriwal, come out with substantial allegations and fight like a man, please!

     (d) Sitaram Yechuri.

           By encouraging inaction upon the Kerala government in acquiring the necessary cash from
           the RBI for the disbursement of the monthly remuneration to the common man, it's being
           made to look stupid while most of the other state governments have been tackling the issue
           in an efficient manner. And by your assertion that the co-operative banks of West Bengal are
           Mamta Banerjee's safe havens for stashing away her black money, aren't you encouraging
           the doubt asked by an average Malayalee regarding your party men's fondness for those
           institutions in Kerala?

                * Sitaram Yechuri, you can't have the cake and eat it too!


Tailpiece.

And wonder what the Shiv Sena is up to? It must realise that it cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. How can such a party continue to be part of the ruling coalition and oppose its policies. The people are watching you, mind it!

  
                  

A family wedding.

Last evening the pre-wedding reception had taken place at a nearby hotel which was a simple yet elegant occasion where Lekha and I'd got the opportunity to meet a lot of relatives and friends. Had the customary photograph with the would-be-couple. It was a superb three hours of being part of a function that was well organised. The girl's brother happens to run an event management outfit at Madras which must be credited with the simple decorations and effective use of lighting.

We'd not gone for the early morning tying of the 'thaali/mangal sutra' at the entrance of the Guruvayur temple. It's common practice for it to take place at the temple followed by the rest of the wedding formalities being completed at the hotel/marriage hall that one has rented for the purpose and that was at play here too.

My mom would have been amused because her marriage had taken place in the purest form - as she used to put it - in that the entire ceremony was performed near the sanctum sanctorum, followed by the high lunch in a hall nearby! Of course, it was eons ago, much before the temple had acquired its present importance and grandeur.

The bride was all of 33 yrs and her parents had fretted quite a bit about her wedding taking its own time to happen. Most of her friends and contemporaries were already married and had become mothers too, which made their agony quite acute. In all fairness, it has to be said that the girl remained cool and she was enjoying her teaching assignment at a school in Ernakulam, when this boy had fetched up from Toronto with the proposal! I must mention the reaction of a young friend of mine when I'd told her this story and I quote, "Uncle, 30 is the new 18. She isn't late at all". Well, that sort of sums up the argument, doesn't it?

The wedding was solemnised around a 10' to 12 in the glittering hall, at the ground floor of the hotel. There were many photographic moments and continuous video coverage. Thankfully, the wedding rituals were carried out on the fairly raised stage and videographer/photographers were stationed below it and therefore, we, in the audience were spared of their backs shrouding the event that usually happens at every wedding. The lunch that followed was traditional and scrumptious, I liked the five varieties of pickle on offer.

Here, in this part of Kerala, the newly married spend their first couple of days at the girl's house and accordingly, they'd fetched up at her house in Thrissur around a half past 3 in the afternoon, which was the auspicious time. They'll move to Ernakulam by Sunday for the reception being hosted at a prominent hotel and thereafter, spend the next few days at the boy's house before flying off for their honeymoon. Lekha and I would be giving that event a skip as we'd be at Payyannur that day to finalise my niece, Ammu's wedding date and venue with the boy's folks!

Heartiest congratulations, Sreevidya and Pradeep. Here's us wishing you a long and happy married life and here's wishing that you get whatever you wish for in the journey of your life together and take care!


Tailpiece.

Sreevidya's maternal grandmother, whose 104th birthday it was on 28 Nov, will see the newly married couple when they fetch up at Kochi.  



  

The questions post-Nagrota.

Terrorists, disguised in police uniforms, barged into an army field regiment camp at Balian Pul, near the HQs of the 16 Corps in Nagrota of Jammu and Kashmir, on 29 Nov. The terrorists had forced their way into the officers' mess - killing an officer and three soldiers - before proceeding to two buildings occupied by officers and their families, creating a hostage-like situation. Thankfully, all 14 people including women and children, were rescued but another officer and two more soldiers died in the operation.

Yet another terrorist attack! The reasons:-

      (a) It was Gen Raheel Sharif's last day in office. He'd to inflict pain upon India because the
            blighter will never get another chance to spew venom in any official capacity in his life!
      (b) Lt Gen Hooda, the northern army commander and my course mate from Foxtrot Squadron
            of the NDA was to hang his uniform the next day.

Was the security around the 166 Field Regiment slack, as people are making it out to be? I can't swallow that angle completely. In this context, I remember a poser from one of the terrorist outfits to the standing armies/security forces and I quote, "How long can you remain on continuous alert? 24 hrs, 48 hrs or even 72 hrs? But a time will come when a chink would appear and we look for that opening to send in our ammunition. Period!" This is the stark fact and no, I ain't justifying any letdown in security on the part of the armed forces because they're fully aware of the alarming consequences of such a situation.

I've also been hearing explanations about how the terror tap was brought under control during the times of the previous regime. One heard about terror attacks rarely, giving a false sense of 'everything being fine on the borders'. But was it so, I wonder? With most of the media being in support of that political dispensation for the simple fact that every media house was owned by the loyalists of the regime, why can't we now look back in retrospect and see that the news was doctored to suit those in power?

I'm also alarmed by the increasing number of apologists of the recent surgical strikes carried out on terror camps in Pakistani territory, by our army. I shudder to hear their argument, "We shouldn't have fingered the issue. Now they'll retaliate in revenge". In other words we should have continued to maintain the status quo and let the Pakis do whatever they wanted as and when they liked. What a preposterous argument? We need to take the Pakistani bluff because it's clear that they're shaken by the strikes and will adopt all sorts of cowardly means to inflict damage upon us and we need to safeguard ourselves.

And maybe, in the process, carry out another surgical strike to inflict further damage to prevent it from doing anything silly!



Tailpiece.

The coconuts were being plucked from the trees in the Warriath compound across and around our house over the last three days, for the first time, after Chettan's passing away. Missed the patriarch's presence, when he used to stand under the shade and make an account of all the fruits, being brought down, on his scrapbook till the buyer came and took away the entire share in a few pick up trucks.

Adieu, NBN sir!

I never thought that I'd ever have to sit down to pen my thoughts on sir's passing away. To me, he was immortal all along.!

Our dear Chemistry teacher, N Balakrishnan Nair(NBN sir) passed into the mist of time early this morning around 4 AM, in his sleep. He was all of 87 yrs.

He was born on 22 Oct 1929. He did his post graduation in Chemistry and worked as a Quality Control Chemist at FACT for two years, as a lecturer in the NSS College, Changanassery for eight years and then, as an Asst Scientific Officer in the Ministry of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs for another three years before he joined the Sainik School, on 14 Feb '62, at its inception when it was housed in the temporary barracks of the Pangode Military Cantonment and guided many generations - I happen to be one among them - as the Head of the Chemistry department, till his retirement on 22 Oct '89. Somewhere, in between, he used to stay near my grandparents' house on the Eswara Vilasom Road in Thiruvananthapuram and during those days, it was a treat to meet him from time to time. He married Ms. Madhavi on 16 Jun '57 who'd passed into the mist of time a couple of years back. He'd settled down at Anuroop, Fort Road, North Paravur soon after retirement. He'd later moved over to Bangalore to stay with his son, Pradeep - also an ex-SSKZM of the '82 batch - along with his wife and younger brother, all of 70 yrs, a widower who'd medical problems.   

It's a real sad day for all of us who're lucky enough to be brought up under his tutelage. He was a true mentor, for whom, teaching was a passion, played no favourites as he worked hard for the betterment of every child and was a thorough gentleman. He was fond of me and used to provide feedback about my performance to my grandfather. I'd him all to myself at the St Antony's church, Madivala at Bangalore on 22 May '11 at a friend's daughter's(Tommie Tharian's daughter, Sonia) wedding. Somewhere in the course of our conversation, I'd thanked him and his contemporaries for all that we were today and his reply had the stamp of NBN wit and I quote, "Just like the newspaper boy delivers the newspapers without fail or the milkman delivers the milk, we, all, had done our duty that was expected of us and did nothing out of the way but your love and affection never fail to overwhelm me!" It was humility at its best!!  As he was being seen off and as is my wont, I'd touched his feet. In return, he'd showered me with kisses. I consider those kisses as much more valuable than the gallantry medal that I possess.

His passion for Chemistry was well known and the fact that quite a majority in our class of '72 had bagged distinction in the subject, during the Higher Secondary Examination bore testimony to that fact coupled with his teaching ability.

He'd nurtured the school's Old Boys' Association(OBA) since inception and is solely responsible for the lustre it has attained today. The relationship between the old boys and NBN sir was an ongoing saga. His childlike excitement while conducting the OB days and the thrill that he used to get while interacting with each one of them, showed his genuineness and love. He'd touched upon every cadet's lives, during his progression in school.

I must touch upon three anecdotes that should bring out more about the multifaceted personality that was 'Balettan', for many.

If my memory serves me right, it was in '68 that 'Chemical balances' found their way into our Chemistry lab and quantitative analysis became a part and parcel of our curriculum. These were the new showpieces and we, cadets viewed them from far - while not doing practicals - with awe and wonder. MC Aboosala, a classmate of ours, one day, did the unthinkable - fiddled with one and to his bad luck, got caught in the act by NBN sir. I can still not forget that sight of sir, shielding his eyes from the sight of Aboosala, asking him to go out of the class and to continue his studies at the then Laccadives Island. Aboosala had to stay out of his class for almost a month for his misdemeanour! Just showed that he could be a hard taskmaster, too, for errant behaviour!

During one of my leave breaks Lekha and I, along with two other classmates and their families, had visited the Nairs at his ancestral house in North Paravoor. While serving us tea, he'd made sure that the amount of tea was same in each of the glasses by holding them high to compare the contents, as one held the test tubes in the practical classes of the Chemistry lab! "I don't want to be partial to anyone by giving differing quantities of tea and so on like that", was his explanation.

The last time I'd the privilege of being with the great man was during the Guruvandanam, hosted in connection with the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Sainik School, Kazhakootam during the 23rd and the 24th of Sep '11. I and Lekha had the privilege of being together with him, most of the time, as we're staying at my friend, Mohanachandran's house. He was very keen to know about Lekha's medical difficulties and told her that he'd pray for her from then on, as he'd accepted her as a favourite daughter!

RIP, NBN sir! I humbly bow in your remembrance and to the host of wonderful memories that you've given me, with my tears and prayers! They don't make them teachers like you anymore. Here's us wishing that Pradeep and his family along with your near and dear ones, have the strength to tide over these stressful times.


Tailpiece.

1. Today is also my birthday as per my star, 'Anizham' on the Malayalam calendar. Greetings and messages kept coming in, through the day. Lekha had gone to the Mammiyoor Siva kshetram for another session of the 'Mrityunjaya homam' and the connected pujas. Between her and her assistant, they'd made a high lunch of sorts with 'parippum pappadavum'. Damn sweet of them. But mom's absence was felt right from the morning because she used to insist on being the first to wish me and I used to go across to her bedroom for her blessings! Till '11, it was mom and dad who used to wish me first wherever I was and from '12, mom had taken over that facet as her sole right!! And here I'm, now, with out their 'raksha kavach'(Protective armour)!!!

2. Sir's remembrance day happens to be my birthday. Is there a cosmic connection?  
  

RIP, 28 Nov '16.

It was a day that died before it had grown up thanks to an unwanted 'Bharat Bandh' from 0600 to 1800 hrs. The opposition sponsored-disruption of our daily life claims to have been successful in upsetting the entire lot of Indians and I'd like to know as to what has been the end-result. I can only term it as "a day of missed opportunities, untold suffering and a total loss of productivity!" And they claim to be patriotic!!

Why doesn't the combined opposition - no, they weren't united - realise that the average Indian is with the Prime Minister in his demonetisation act and have willingly gone through the tough times of the last three weeks of standing in serpentine queues at the banks/ATMs? Otherwise, how does one explain the calm demeanour of the people against the shameless incitement/provoking statements of people like Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sitaram Yechuri, Mamta Banerjee and the likes, urging them to revolt?

The Kerala chief minister's call to exempt the foreign tourists from the ambit of the 'bandh' boils down to two tacit admissions:-

      (a) the bandhs cause disruption all around and
      (b) the average Indian must go through the difficulty because they've the audacity to lend their
            support to something that he and his party do not approve of. This is what 'two timing' is all
            about!

I'd like to touch upon a few incidents that affected the people in a significant manner and had thrown normal life off gear:-

      (a) Schools and offices were closed, so much so, that even the chief minister and his ministers
            did not attend office!
      (b) Banks were open but people couldn't go there because transport wasn't available.
      (c) The road transport corporation's buses were off the roads.
      (d) Kalesh of Pulinkunnu decided to swim across the River Pamba as there was no ferry and
            met with a fatal end. The 32 year old had to get to the mainland for some urgent reason!
      (e) The key of the key room of the state Assembly building was with the staff member, assigned
            with the closing duties, who was untraceable - naturally, a sympathiser of the bandh. The
            rest of the staff, that had fetched up for work, had a long wait before it was opened!

The same sordid stories that are features of any bandh/hartal keep getting churned out after every such tamasha! Only names and places change!!

Why can't political parties decide, once for all, to do away with bandhs and hartals? There are so many ways of registering one's protest without hindering normal life and connected activities.


Tailpiece.

Baby chechi and Shyam had come to Guruvayur yesterday. They wanted to come and meet us but the situation wasn't conducive and hence, they left for Palakkad soon after the bandh, to be in time to attend another programme!
        

And finally, a quiet Sunday.

It was a lazy Sunday with Jojy, Saly and I talking about various things over the morning cuppa. After a quick wash and change followed by a sumptuous breakfast rustled up by Saly, I was off to the Vyttila hub for resuming my onward journey to Guruvayur. For my transportation, I'd used the services of the Uber Taxi Service and young Abin - a graduate, marking his time for a good job with a tremendous passion for driving - had got me to my destination in no time, whatsoever.

And it's this fine service that the regular taxiwallas and the auto rickshawwallas, with the connivance of certain unscrupulous trade union leaders, have been hounding to destroy it, since its introduction! The sad part is that the government has been a silent spectator in this pantomime making the common man believe that they, too, are with the taxi/rickshawwallas - a formidable vote bank, you see!! 

The seating arrangement of the private bus left much to be desired. I mean, it was too crammed because of a non-existent aisle, with the result that the standing passengers almost fell over their sitting counterparts whenever the driver jammed on the brakes which happened every now and then! The young lady, standing on the aisle close to me, fell many a time on to my person and was apologetic about it. Earlier, I'd offered my seat to her but the guy who was occupying the window side seat simply refused to vacate it for the lady and for reasons known to her, she showed a reluctance to sit next to him!

The driver, Sreekumar, a youngster in his early 30s seemed to drive like a man possessed! He negotiated the vehicle through narrow stretches and crowded junctions like a 'Formula one' race car driver! Any passenger with a weak heart would have had a tough time and no, I ain't exaggerating! Eventually, we reached Guruvayur by lunch time. Lekha'd made my favourite vegetable pulao with mixed salad.

The customary walk in the evening was enough to shake my lethargy of the lack of exercises over the previous three days. I'd increased the pace of my walk to a punishing level to refresh myself.

And then, it was down to a quiet dinner of noodles with vegetable garnishing and watching of the Comedy Stars on Asianet as well as the Kapil Sharma show on Sony, on television.



Tailpiece.

The end of another short trip to achieve certain milestones.

An unscheduled halt!

The day had begun, as usual, at 6 o'clock and I'd got ready, packing my stuff. We're off for the Foundation by 9 and at the office, there were a few important letters that Maman had to send. Since the computer expert, Sekhar, had fetched up late around a half past 10, we could leave for Kollam only by 12. Lekha, the office assistant, was accompanying us.

We could reach the office of the Jan Shikshan Sansthan at Paravoor by a half past 1. After a quick briefing, we're off to the government guest house at Kollam, the venue of our meeting and reached there by a half past 2. The director was at hand and had organised lunch for all of us. The meeting began on the dot at 1500 hrs but what I noticed was that a few of the members of the committee had expressed regrets for being unable to attend.

With a silent prayer the meeting was begun and my short speech followed, where the following points were highlighted:-

    (a) Apology, on behalf of my organisation, for not increasing the frequency of the meetings

         because such interactions helped in 'self audit' and to make necessary mid-course corrections. 

    (b) It was exactly a year back that I'd taken over the reins of the organisation from my Maman

          and had purposely taken on the role of a 'hands off chairman' to facilitate the under mentioned:-

               (i) full freedom to the director to take decisions and run the show as per the action plan.

              (ii) the organisation was capable and doing a lot of training programmes for women

                    empowerment and it had been moulded by my illustrious predecessors viz. PN Panicker

                    and N Balagopal.

             (iii) intervene only when things needed my personal attention.

     (c) I was still not able to revive our unit at Chathannoor due to certain local misconception but the

           light was in sight, finally, at the proverbial end of the tunnel. Its revival, I was sure, would

           greatly enhance the image and the output of the JSS.

     (d) While normal training programmes were being imparted, we needed to take on additional

           innovative work because I wasn't satisfied being the head of an organisation, doing ordinary

           things.

     (e) The committee meetings should have full attendance because that indicated the attitude of

           the other organisations' towards mine.

We, then, after discussions wound up by laying down our activities and the targets for the next quarter. Maman dropped me at the railway station so that I could board the Guruvayur Intercity Express, departing at 1840 hrs. My reservation was since confirmed when the chart was prepared but there was a change in my programme. Lekha was unable to return from Palakkad because of a 'lightning hartal' in Thrissur district and she would now return only on Sunday and I decided to stay put at my friend, Jojy Kunchattil's house at Ernakulam(Her going to Palakkad was decided after I'd taken off for Thiruvananthapuram in the wake of her assistant's medical requirements and I did not have the house key). He'd picked me up from the station and it was a lovely evening spent, with him and Saly.

Tailpiece.

An unscheduled halt and another day away from Lekha and 'The Quarterdeck'!