CHILD IS PRECIOUS

FARAKKA BARRAGE, KOLKATA, ABHIJIT BANERJEE

2026-11-11T08:15:31.157+05:30

Kolkata was a river port. In the 18th and 19th century, it grew rich in agricultural exports - jute, cotton, indigo and opium. It was a thriving market for indentured labourers.

Kolkata was, for long moment, the wealthiest city in Asia. It had been India's capital.

The Kolkata port went into a slow decline because,

1. The Trade in the commodities became a less important part of world trade.

2. The rise of industrial substitutes for jute, indigo etc.

3. India stopped selling opium

To make matters worse, there was the gradual silting of the Hooghly river. It was difficult for larger ships to go upriver.

Kolkata, with its jute and cotton industry, had become a transportation hub where railways brought commodities to be put on ships. As the port was not doing well, it declined.

Investment had slowed down because globally there was less and less appetite for smoke-stack industries right inside people's living quarters. Industries and jobs started moving out. The quick influx of refugees after the partition of India had made the city less livable.

Though there were discussions on the necessity for the revival of the city, the planners were looking for the revival of the port. But it could not take off due to pure geography - lower Bengal was as flat as flat can be. There was no force in the water to clear away the silt.

The policy makers pinned their hopes on the Farakka barrage that would divert water from the Padma into the Hooghly to flush out the silt. The Faarakka barrage was universally celebrated. It came with a railway bridge. It brought the mountains and momos of Darjeeling close. But the barrage could not perform what was perceived. The debris of the failed venture remain. Bangladesh still resents the fact that we grabbed "their' water.

Farakka was too far away. And nobody had accounted for the growth in the size of cargo ships.

The Port died.

Abhijit Banerjee, the Nobel laureate, writes in The Times of India of 6th November 2026..

FATHER WRITES TO SON

2026-11-10T20:32:21.033+05:30

Dearest Son,

I am going to my suggestion that you ought to start writing on your travels and on the opening of 20 or more of your organisation's offices.

It's just the beginning.

You can also reminisce on your entry into the organisation and the struggle to survive.

Without passion or emotion.

Your extensive reading has already equipped you with style.

Why I suggest this is because end of the month you'll be completing three months' honeymoon period of your total freedom from the organisation.

You have already done two things.

Taken up the responsibility of overseeing your son's studies.

Taken up looking after your health.

But if you don't go for creative work you'd become jaded, because the grey matter needs nurturing. And consistent refurbishment.

The meaning is you have to challenge yourself to get the best out of you, and you have to keep on refining yourself and your capabilities.

You are brilliant. The brilliance should not be allowed to wither. You have to learn, unlearn and learn.

In the modern times if you have to stay relevant, you have to strive hard to reinvent yourself every moment of your life.

Please wake up and march ahead.

Love

Papa

THE 2016 TODDLER

2026-11-10T15:35:36.006+05:30

THE TWIN FLOWERS STOOD THERE

2026-11-10T15:28:29.990+05:30

WHITE ROSE

2026-11-10T15:10:36.229+05:30

AT SHEIKH ZAYED GRAND MOSQUE ABU DHABI

2026-11-10T15:09:33.362+05:30

AT VIZHINJAM INTERNATIONAL SEA PORT THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

2026-11-10T15:04:35.569+05:30

DRIVEWAY TO PLAMKOOTTATHIL AT KADAMMANITTA

2026-11-10T15:02:36.844+05:30

EVANA'S FREE TIME IN THE SCHOOL

2026-11-10T14:59:34.787+05:30

OPPORTUNITIES MAKE ME - MALAYALA MANORAMA 9TH NOVEMBER 2026

2026-11-10T14:56:08.634+05:30

GYMS ABOUND IN KERALAM - AYUSHMAN BHAVA:!

2026-11-10T14:50:59.200+05:30

GYMS THRIVE EVERYWHERE

ALL TIME VIEWS CROSS FIVE LAKHS

2026-11-10T05:56:50.024+05:30

Grateful to all viewers of the blog

All time views reach 500829 at 05.25 am on 10thNovembe2026

Raced from 450000 on 23rdOctober2026

Position at 5.45 am on 10th November 2026

All Time500829

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BUILDING A HOME WITH LOVE

2026-11-09T09:23:03.549+05:30

Marriage is the culmination of the prayers of two individuals in the search for their partner.

It is the beginning of the most beautiful chapter of their lives.

The wedding is not just a promise between two hearts. It's a covenant with God.

It is the realisation of their dreams they had held close

It is the fulfilment of their aspirations from childhood.

They step into a lifetime of little moments. endless laughter, growing together, when they choose each other and tie the knot,

They are on to building a home with love.

They have a long way ahead.

WHEN ROSES ARE RED

2026-11-08T12:53:11.202+05:30

YOU SMILE WHEN FLOWERS SMILE AT YOU

2026-11-08T12:51:47.018+05:30

POPCORN CELEBRATING DIWALI WITH CHILDREN - THE CHILD IS PUMPED UP

2026-11-07T16:45:50.858+05:30

POPCORN CELEBRATING DIWALI WITH CHILDREN

THE CHILD IS PUMPED UP

EIGHT YEARS AND TWO AND A HALF YEARS

2026-11-07T16:33:27.661+05:30

EIGHT YEARS ANT TWO AND A HALF YEARS

COGENT EXPRESSION

2026-11-07T16:24:44.522+05:30

COGENT EXPRESSION

It was my MA

Like many youngsters, I had been questioning the existence of God.

I had been asking why we needed a God

When I read the SECOND COMING, two verses struck me.

"Things fall apart: the centre cannot hold:

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world"

It made me think of the earth spinning on its axis.

I visualised what would happen if the rotation is abruptly disrupted

I could see everything on the earth flying off like when the vehicle you travel breaks suddenly

Yes, that is the moment I saw God. That is the moment I understood what God does

Well, any institution or organisation will have disruptors.

Trojan horses would always lurk

If the centre cannot hold

If the Trojan horses hold sway

Utter chaos shatters the edifice

Built with sweat and toil

Through days and months and years and centuries

While Lucifer smiles and laughs

God with a single touch

Halts the chaos

And restores order

W B Yeats

The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

PUBLIC VIEWING

2026-11-06T12:29:52.623+05:30

Recently, the member of a Church had passed away.

The authorities of the Church reported the sad demise and alerted its members on the funeral arrangements.

"Body will be brought to the Parish Hall for public viewing and funeral service later."

Since, I felt it awkward, a brief note was submitted to the authority.

"for public viewing"

I have a humble suggestion.

Paying homage or something like that may be better.

Death is cruel. Especially to the bereaved family and close relatives and friends.

One who has gone has gone.

We need to respect the departed.

Viewing is different. Public viewing is still different.

As I said, this is only a suggestion.

Please ignore if it doesn't make sense.

REFLECTIONS

2026-11-06T10:59:12.171+05:30

Reflections

Financial success is important.

Good health is equally important.

Apart from that,

You need peace of mind.

And the freedom to live life on your own terms.

True wealth accrues when you acquire a balance on all the fronts.

FACTORS BEYOND FOOD THAT CAUSE SUGAR SPIKES

2026-11-06T08:09:58.864+05:30

Our blood glucose level naturally rises after meals.

But food isn't the single reason it does.

Other triggers

1. Exercise

Adrenaline released during high intensity exercise signals liver to pump more sugar into blood to give more fuel to muscles. It causes a temporary spike.

2. Dehydration

Less water in the body can concentrate sugar level in blood

3. Poor sleep

Just one short night can reduce how efficiently the body deploys insulin

4. Skipping breakfast

It can lead to an increased glucose response after lunch and dinner

5. Sunburn

Pain, physical stress can push glucose levels up

6. Gum disease

Can worsen blood sugar control. Diabetes also raises gum disease risk

THE JEWISH INDIANS BY DR. ABRAHAM BENHUR

2026-11-05T14:53:32.249+05:30

I came upon THE JEWISH INDIANS by Dr. Abraham Benhur.

Suddenly it dawned the name had been in the limelight at the time of operations or to be precise atrocities against Naxalites or their sympathisers in Kerala around 1975.

I probed whether he was a naxalite.

What surfaced is placed here.

"No, Abraham Benhur was not a Naxalite.

During the 1975 Emergency period in India, he was a young member of the Socialist Party and a research student at the University of Calicut.

Following a Naxalite attack on the Kayanna police station on February 28, 1976, the police arrested Benhur on the false allegation that he was involved in the attack. He was detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and taken to the notorious Kakkayam police camp, where he was subjected to brutal third-degree torture alongside other political prisoners, including the engineering student Rajan who succumbed to the torture.

Benhur himself has explicitly stated in interviews that while political discussions were common in his university hostel, his ideals aligned strictly with socialist thought, and his style and philosophy were never affiliated with the Naxalite movement. Following these events, he went on to become a prominent writer, ethnographer, and environmental activist in Kerala."

THE JEWISH INDIANS

Prof.Sobhindran writes in the preamble, "Learning history appears to be the easier way to understanding oneself. History is memory as well as a reminder".

BALI TEMPLE

2026-11-05T08:03:31.637+05:30

MALAYSIAN ODYSSEY

2026-11-05T08:01:32.650+05:30

EVANA DRAWS THE PICTURE ON THE WALL

2026-11-04T20:49:03.162+05:30

Picture on our wall

Sitting down on the floor

Evana draws it