No man's land?

Purblindness of the elysian eyes

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:58:00 +0000

Why do I feel that the Gods residing in our palatial courts of worship appear to exhibit an element of sanctimony?

KJ Yesudas, India's most versatile singer and Aasthana Gayakan (official singer) of Kerala state, is permitted to visit the Mookambika Temple in Kollur, Thirupathi in Andhra, Attukal in Trivandrum but he is not allowed to bow before the divine figure he reverends most: The Lord Krishna idol at Guruvayoor.

Why? Because apparently its not the Gods who decide whom they will bless in their abodes each day, but a faction of His clergymen who determine who gets to see the Gods. So, who is the boss?

One thing which always perplexes me. Yesudas, though born in Christianity and still practicing the faith, has openly expressed his belief in Lord Krishna, and a desire to revere the idol at Guruvayoor (though recently he opined that he didn't want to enter somewhere he wasn't welcome). The experience he had at Guruvayoor, along with his Guru and mentor Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar still remains a melancholic episode in the history of the divine shrine. Here is what happened years back, something which Yesudas still reminisces with a heavy heart.

The Hindu, April 17, 2007

"During Ekadesi, my guru used to visit Guruvayur, offer pujas and render a concert as an offering. Since I was forced to keep off the confines of the temple, he too decided to stay out and we sang together before the Parthasarathy temple. The Divine Grace of Guruvayurappan can be felt in no small measure here, too, he had said. Though I had said that my guru himself was the embodiment of the Lord, I was really pained, and that sorrow haunts me even now. But for me, my guru could have sung at the temple."

Ironically of all, a savage chunk of the popular devotional Krishna songs are sung by Yesudas, and his voice has no prohibition whatsoever anywhere. Even in sacred temple of Sabarimala, Lord Ayyappa is put to sleep every single night by this song sung by Yesudas.

The issue got a political whip when it was taken up by the commie ministers of Kerala. When Minister G. Sudhakaran opened his holy mouth for Yesudas it immediately became clear that the temple doors would remain closed for the prolific singer. The Minister was taken to the cleaners by the NSS (Nair Services Society) who represent the high-voice in the temple governance. What pissed off the NSS and the likes is the apparent Govt attitude of treating the temples like inexhaustible milking cows. The Govt makes a fortune out of Guruvayoor, Sabarimala et al but has scant regard for the infrastructure and facilities of the shrines. On top of it, the Govt controls the temples via the Devaswam Board, a corrupt seedy misrepresented politico-religious organization, and the NSS accuse the Govt of trying to dictate terms, for political mileage.

The Congress-led governments never wanted to burn their fingers playing with this 'sensitive' issue and when it comes to the commie Govt, who are certified atheists, sparks fly. Nobody wants to get caught in between, Yesudas the last man!

I do think debates in the right way are going to solve this issue. India has given constitutional rights to practice any religion, and so has it promised discrimination in any Govt controlled organizations. So I believe the temples come under that law as well, as they're under a state managed organization.

There is another side to the argument that places like Guruvayoor should be protected from becoming mere places of tourist importance where anyone and everyone can step in and have a stroll around. Maintaining the sancta sanctorum I suppose, but how in the world do they differentiate them now? I mean, a true believer from a lost tourist?

These controversies surrounding the places of worship are nothing new. The Vayalar Ravi punyaaham saga hasn't deserted our memories yet, all because the Congress politician had married a Christian. Long before that Indira Gandhi wasn't allowed into another solace Jagannath Temple in Puri because she was married to a Parsi.

lol, considering the spike in the inter-religious marriages in our society it may be necessary for the temple authorities to make sure all the visitors come with their birth & marriage certificates and a family tree if applicable. Also its only a complete fool that would believe that currently non-Hindus and non-believers doesn't gain entrance to the temple premises in Guruvayoor. I believe as per the current laws there is nothing to prevent our previous Devaswam Minister from visiting the temple. He has locked antlers with many holy folks and pretty much treats all the religious bodies and institutions with thorough contempt. But still someone like Yesudas is banned. Apocalyptic..

Is it God, or is it just the man interpreting the verses?

Some people say its time for a second Guruvayoor Satyagraham, on the lines of the original one 75 years back which opened the doors for backward castes and dalits. Change is a universal law. Mankind, societies and even religions are not insular. Religion doesn't exist in vacuum, it is most closely knit with the social fabric, and exhibiting rigidity to change with the changing society doesn't augur well at all. It will only push people away from the shrines, and arguably away from God. Check history, all faiths have run through turbulent times, reformed themselves over and over and diluted their fundamentalist approaches... Want examples?

Galileo and his heliocentrism brought in severe wrath of the 17th Century Christian priests but now the Church stands corrected and has apologized to the treatment meted out to the great Astrologer.

Islam, by staying on its foundations, have started giving the fairer sex the fair deal. Kuwait has given voting rights to women, and they're even getting behind the steering wheels even in more conservative societies.

Catholic church is at crossroads again on the issue of Homosexuality, depending on how one man, the Pope, thinks what is the better thing based on the changing social circumstances.

Hinduism has come through many a changes. Guruvayoor itself has seen a massive change in practices when it opened doors to the backward classes after that historical Satyagraha in 1935.

Still, Gods appear a good few steps away from man, courtesy our religious bodies. No wonder the no: of people who're convinced that its the homo sapiens that invented God and religion are on the rise; there are far too many imperfections in the way our temples, churches and mosques deal with and propagate the concept of the Creator.

Thankfully enough, there are sparks of brain-storm sessions around. Old liners apart, a section of high priests are already talking about changing the rigid laws to suit both the believers and the customs. Like the war of the religions, the fight between fundamentalists vs liberals appear to carry on...And historically, it has been the latter avant-garde class that've come out victorious, most often than not.

There are two ways to look at it, be you a conservative or a reformist. Please answer this if you're severely aligned to the right of center. Consider myself to be a blue-blood atheist like our minister Sudhakaran. Your rules don't prohibit our entry to the premises, do they? In that case you're holding on to a practice which mocks itself by keeping someone like Yesudas away. In simple, you are pushing an honest and devoted believer away from God. Why act as the only genre of malayalees in the world who can't recognize the godly voice of Yesudas?

For the forward-thinking reformist ostriches who have fully buried their head in the sand, consider this. Yesudas, at 70, is reaching the twilight of an exemplary blessed life. If he exists the world-stage without fulfilling his long-standing wish to visualize the Lord then you're as well responsible for it...

Either way, will you escape His wrath?

Railway Budget 2010-11: Bitter-sweet Kerala

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:46:00 +0000

Thank you Mamataji, two-and-a-half hours of verbal orgasm in the imperious Parliament building...

552 pair of ears live on the stage...Millions listening on the idiot-box, and for updates here on webspace (though Sachin Tendulkar cruelly overshadowed the spotlight on Mamata and her trains by that epic-script at Gwalior). Railway Budget is a matter of huge interest for the infrastructure-development geeks as well as for the common Indian public.

And as usual after the ritual, the cross-examination begins. The coalition partners haaaaaappy and rapturous, the opposition states frowning, the Commie West Bengal Govt caught in political doldrums even as this was almost a jackpot hit for the state, the experts in media analyzing the pros and cons of the Budget. Afterall we all need some job.

For Kerala? It's a mixed bag. Check out the major promises: (I'm not including the whole list of proposals for Kerala. You can access the entire budget speech from the link provided at the end of the passage)

7 new trains

Ernakulam- Mumbai Durando

Ernakulam- Pune Superfast

Trichy- Mangalore Express

Trivandrum- Calicut Jansatabdhi via Kottayam

Trivandrum- Bhopal Bharath Thirth Circuit train

Shornur- Nilambr Passenger

Ernakulam- Kollam MEMU

3 Trains extended

Coimbatore- Calicut Passenger extended to Kannur

Trivandrum- Ernakulam Intercity to Guruvayoor

Kochuveli- Yesvantpur Express to Hubli

New water bottling plant in Trivandrum
Survey for 5 new lines

Punaloor- Trivandrum

Chenganoor- Trivandrum

Madurai- Kottayam

Dindigul- Kumily

Calicut- Angadipuram

Mysore- Thalassery line (approved)

So there! The list is too long is it? May be because it is stuffed with that list of Survey proposals which turn out to be a relaxing 'roam-around and sight-seeing' picnic project for officials. Thank God most of these surveys are not realized, otherwise Kerala would now be having more railway lines than Panchayath roads.

A few proposals for new trains have been made but we were promised a similar list in the last budget as well. Ahmed saar managed to flag-off a few longies but the Durando/ Thurantho/ whatever-you-call-it, promised last year still runs only on paper. Same is the case with trains promised via Nagercoil to Tirunelveli from Trivandrum. Where are they Sir?

Railway Budget is by far the best exercise in India which delivers what it promises, unlike the Union Budget projects, plans and proposals of our Corporations or the ridiculously hollow addresses by the President and Governor in their respective houses. To be fair, Railways most often deliver what they promise, and within a reasonable time frame. There are patches of dead-black soot though.

Kerala CM Mr. Achuthanandan and his Railway in-charge Mr. Vijayakumar are not impressed by Kerala's plate. They are cross at didi that our 'much cherished' Railway Zone has not been granted. A good few high-ranking railway officials from our own state have repeatedly conveyed that an exclusive rail zone is not going to benefit the state much, other than satisfying the misplaced ego of some politicians. We still need more railway lines and also another Division in the state or from our neighbours to constitute the Zone. So we have to set our priorities right, the projects beneficial for the majority of common travelling public should get the chunk of budget allocation.

Only Attukal Radhakrishnan can confirm for sure if all these trains will commence operations before the next rail budget. E. Ahmed deserves an acknowledgment for his efforts; he has done well in the show-off game. Still, the travel woes remain.

After the Venad/ Janasatabdhi leaves Ernakulam at around 1800hrs, there is a 5-6 hour gap before the next one to the state Capital. Hopefully the new Janasatabdhi via Kottayam will solve this issue, we need a train between 1800- 2000hrs when the demand for a South-bound train is still at its peak.

The long standing cry for a better rail connectivity to Bangalore from Malabar/ Trivandrum has yet again been axed down mercilessly. The little blue-birdie says that its the 'Bus lobby', which makes merry in the Malabar- Bangalore route, in which one of our Ministers has a pie as well but shhhh... I didn't tell you this. ;)

Interestingly E. Ahmed has worked for Rail connectivity to 3 Kerala ports viz Azheekkal, Beypore and Thalassery. Something tells me that the Railways missed something big here, or may be its just me. (Survey to the Vizhinjam Harbour line is going on, so I guess it's not an appalling miss)

Malabar may have received a generous hand, especially with the Palakkad Coach Factory receiving final sanction. But the Wagon Factory at Cherthala may well have to wait. Also Ernakulam North has been included in the list threatening to convert it into International Standards. (Trivandrum Central received the red-alert a few years back, still Shankaran is right up there on the Coconut tree).

The MEMU promised between Ernakulam and Kollam is good news but nobody knows for sure how a frequent shuttle service is going to operate on single track between Kayamkulam and Kerala's commercial capital. The doubling works needs to be expedited, if not it will lead to serious delays in the services between Central and South Kerala.

Kochuveli Station woes are sure to continue for another year. The budget has allocated 92 lakhs, probably enough to chop off the grass and clear the shrubs in the enormous wood-lands like area. Something for the NDTV new-age politician to look into seriously.

So an over-all bitter-sweet affair, though nothing much to be too much elated about. Fair-play to E. Ahmed and Mamata for handing over a better token to the state, at least the name Kerala appeared more than once on the Budget speech (unlike when Lalu/Balu/Velu were doing the job). Still its been a dinner without starters or desserts, well that's how I feel. How 'bout you?

Click for Full Railway Budget Speech of Mamata Banerjee.

Kerala Railway map courtesy hampi.in

King Khan and some flop clans

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 11:35:00 +0000

Is there anything more enticing for an actor/producer than the release of his flick run the show in newschannels, tabloids as well as mainstream newspapers, the netspace head over heels about it, even the state legislature discussing publicly about the movie to an extent that the Chief Minister comes down to see the film! A frenetic aura surrounding a movie release as if it was an Olympic Opening Ceremony happening in town. Still, you have butterflies in your stomach on the release Friday, even if you're the SRK... Bollywood's King Khan.

Honest confession: I'm no SRK fanboy. I admired his work when he was the old simple Shah Rukh Khan who gave us Circus, Kabhi haan Kabhi naa or Baazigar but lost his fine skills somewhere on way to becoming the SRK.

But the point of talk here is entirely different.

This spring-storm blowing through the nation in the name of the Khan is not just about this one person, or one city standing upto partisan politics, hate play and hooliganism. There is a larger vistarama frame to the whole turmoil. The My Name Is Khan aftermath has sent out the right message to 'leaders' of the wrong breeds: Everything you do wont be tolerated everytime.

Shiv Sena and its moth-eaten kingpin, who always had a spell over Mumbaikars has been peed on twice in less than a fortnight. Rahul Gandhi made a dumbass out of the Thackerays last week, and now SRK and an enterprising Mumbai have pissed right on his face.

Somebody on Twitter designed a new logo for the old Sena tiger...the once very fearsome Tiger. How very symbolic!

Is this an indication of a maturing society, identifying and isolating the sectarian forces and standing upto them?

Isn't this a proof that denominational dogma doesn't rule the senses of majority and the educated new generation is ready to dump them?

Does this not prove beyond any shadow of doubt that if our rulers are determined to maintain decorum, then it stays put more often than not. Kudos to Maharashtra Govt who made a statement by using the arm of the law to crush down the ruffians.

Not to mention the sublime power of unity among the countrymen to utilize all possible channels; Facebook, Twitter, blogs, you say it, to crack down on the mob-ocracy.

You see, it doesn't matter if MNIK fails to break Box-Office records, no matter if SRK's characteristic over-acting, this time as an Asperger's Syndrome individual (doh!) again fails to impress, no matter if Karan Johar has once again managed to churn out a mediocre dampener, MNIK will go into pages of history as an event which unified the nation against the 'elements'.

The elements which we have to be wary of, who're as lethal as the 'internationally branded' ones from across the LoC.

The same elements which feast on the fear-factor of public, plaguing on our misinformation, illiteracy and poverty to good use to cash-in on their treacherous, hideous and misplaced agenda.

The elements which work to fragment our nation in the name of caste, language, culture and sundries.

The SRK-Sena showdown was seen by many as a guerrilla marketing strategy, but I care less. Afterall who is the loser? Only those who had to be defeated. That's the whole point. Dignified press persona Barkha Dutt, Pranab Roy (NDTV), Rajdeep Sardesai (IBN), Aaj Tak, Star News et al endorsed MNIK as if the movie was their collaborative in-house production released by the Press Council of India.

SRK fans cheering in Mumbai image courtesy The Hindu

Shah Rukh, you've managed to accomplish something unprecedented. You turned the whole mass-media contingent into an advertisement board, the usually sedentary and cold-footed Maharashtra Govt wake up to perform their duty, brought out entire net-gen to campaign ferociously for him (even people who can't stand him), even managed to arouse the watchful and tongue-tied Bollywood co-stars join hands and raise voice for him, instilled confidence in the multiplex-mall owners to be brave enough and reminded for once and all the citizens of the Mumbai megalopolis that the city belongs to them and not to some impious partisan advocates.

Bottomline? Thackrey and his ShivSena bite the dust...Period.

Remember the last time such a widespread public anger and unity was seen? After Mumbai 26/11. Then, it was the 'foreign' terrorists that lost out to Mumbai, this time the home-grown outfits... How ironic!

And ouch... The Khakhiwallas are enjoying their open-air workout in front of cameras! Make sure these whacks are remembered for long! :-)

It seems things have come the whole circle for Senas of all breeds. I mean, for this guy Muthalik and his Sree Rama Sena, the Kannada incarnation of Shiv Sena; only difference that its been a fart without sound. The same cowardly beast who laid hands on hapless women last year. Well, he got something well and truly deserved. lol..

By God, Muthalik is talking about Democracy, and condemning act of 'Goondaism'! GOD! *goosebumps* *goosebumps*... For him Democracy = men assaulting women in public; Goondaism = inkstaining... Next what, Osama Bin Laden preaching peace and harmony?

The message from the public appears clear: A Thackarey or an itch like Muthalik is NOT going to dictate terms to us. India is a democracy and we have full rights to act within the boundaries set by our Constitution, who the heck are you to draw the lines? You have no place in modern society, neither have you any role in building the India of tomorrow.

image courtesy: Shahrukhkhan.fotopic.net, Sonyahallet, The Hindu

The quintessential "mallu"

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:59:00 +0000

"Malayalees are sex-starved or perverts", says Paul Zacharia, noted writer and social activist. Newslink

"The journalists don't look at my face but at my breasts", the reason given by Arundhathi Roy for refusing to attend a press conference in Kerala.

What does the tailpiece read?

Haven't we had enough of this gelling together of the apparently all-too-global nature of the 'malayalees' or rather should I use the term "mallu" when I speak about forbidden impulses and rot behaviour? Some people suddenly seem to grow a tongue encircling their throat when they speak about the 'mallu' sexuality and perversion. Now why is that?

Is it because of the seemingly endemic character of the mallu-men to ogle and drool at women, whichever part of the world they are?

Is it because of the stereotypical paradigm created by the old Malayalam movies, which were too bold and 'un-natural' for the rest of the nation?

Or is it because of these women, perhaps? Especially the one with that thunder thighs who rejuvenated and reinforced the above mentioned mallu prototype.

Or may be it is because of the omnipresent nature of the mallu to investigate what's brewing hot in his neighbour's backyard and bedroom?

Whatever, the search engines display an all too obvious caricature of the quintessential 'mallu', a comfy aperçu for the 'malayalee' or rather for the Keralite. This is what Google exhibits on Page #1 if you look for 'mallu'.

I had a frisk at some similar shortys like 'gujju', 'bhojpuri' etc but the results were pretty much bland... I mean, no spice or steam even when classical contemptible stereotypes are in place about them all. Wanna read this article, from Big Fish magazine? if you feel urged to know more about them stereotypes.

So why just mallu? Because 'sex' sells my mate... The most searched word on the www is 'free porn', 'sex' and the likes. And the mallu-word got an embryonic attachment to the obscenity due to many reasons.

Let me reel-off a personal experience while working in Mangalore a few years back. I shared the apartment with a couple of folks from Orissa and another from Bihar. During a regular weekend booze, the chit-chat on women and sex was initiated and one of the Oriya men had a bizarre doubt. He wanted to know why most Kerala men preferred 'women on top position' while making love. Since we all (the 3-4 mallus in the group) looked bewildered, he rephrased the querry with a rationale that "women are more educated and forward in Kerala, so they like to be on top of men while doing sex." (!!!) Take it, we were not scholars on how people behaved and positioned themselves in copulation but found the reasoning obviously ridiculous. But the Oriya and Bihari fellas were as sure as sun that it was a gospel truth and everyone in their states knew the 'fact'. Ahem!

Ah, since we were all genuine bachelors at the time our opinions had no face value, and we were taken to the cleaners. They just laughed off as if we were arguing that 'sun rises in the North-west'. Not done, our friends were also of the opinion that Malayalee women were too easy to get laid but they refrained from enlightening us with the reason then. We found out why a tad later....Hold on...

"South Indian men are all ugly and skinny and so the Kerala women feel magnetized by the men from the outside". Outside in the sense, not within the four linguistic states... Well, the idea seemingly was pregnant from the movies, especially Tamil films of the times were 'handsomeness' was not a requisite for the heroes. The voluptuous and gorgeous female actresses raving for the dark-skinned, short-statured heroes must've send out the signal to the peanuts of the err....macho men from the North.

True, the local movies at the times prominently featured real-life heroes and never had a 6 feet he-man like Amitabh Bacchan or chocolate heroes like Rajesh Khanna.

Movies are pretty powerful medium and see how it has created a stereotype. And the objectification got naturally displaced to the mallus.

The Malayalam films of the 70s and 80s, which depicted sexuality and womanhood in a palpable and artistic angle did create build the stereotype. But very often these Malayalam movies ended up as soft porn in big cities, like the movie 'Thamburatti' (Princess) a bold mallu movie of the late 70s was released as "Thamburattiyude Aadyarathri" (First night of the Princess) in Mumbai. Even now a good number of the ultramasculine Northies associate Malayalam film world to erotica. Many believe that Kerala produces just 2 kinds of movies: the award category Adoor types and second, the raunchy and ticklish Shakeela types.

The indulgence of the ordinary Kerala women in choosing professions like Nursing, Teaching or other service oriented jobs poured more into the stereotype as they further feathered classical male sexual fantasies. This help build the stereotype and it transferred onto any mallu girl. Wishful thinking... :big grin:

Recalling that argument in Mangalore, almost 6 years after it occurred, it isn't too tough to see how horrendously wrong people could be. There is no magic cure for ignorance, especially for something as sheer as the above, but also left me wondering. F**k matters, is there a rule-of-the-bed that woman should scream only under you, always???

My advice: refer Kamasutra; but even Vatsyayana appear an undergraduate about sexual positions when considering the in-depth research and analysis our Orissa and Bihar dudes have done.

Depiction of sexual positions in Kamasutra

There is one right fact about all stereotypes... They are all wrong.

Saying that, there is one glaring fact and I don't intend to be in a denial mode about that. The way some of our men conduct themselves around, especially outside the state borders, has earned the state some pretty stinking reputation. A joke around Mangalore was that mallu men may go to bed even with a stick wrapped in a salwar. Many a times than not, our own men are too eager to brand a woman as 'easy', or as a 'whore' if she appear social and companion-esque. In cities like Bangalore, the Kerala men goes on with their ogling habits and naturally people feel that we are desperate to stick the dick into any wayside hole.

True, a fair number of Kerala men act like Casanovas and feel and behave like 'kaamadeva'. No excuse from my part, this form of eve-teasing should be chained. Many roadside Romeos firmly believe its a kind of masculinity to drool and ooze at females, even to poke and feel some sensitive parts. Its fun, they think, until their sister or mother gets to the receiving end.

Kerala society, as per Paul Zacharia, suffer from the disease called 'moral policing' while being extremely hypocritical about own selves. The recent Rajmohan Unnithan saga forced his tongue but to any novice observer it would appear that there is a dark sinful cloud over the Kerala social-scapes. Our society is still conservative; too orthodox, rigid and maligned as per people like Zacharia. But my question is: has this trait just evolved exclusively for Kerala, or fine tuned by mallu men?

Zacharia carries on: "I have lived in Delhi, I have lived in Mysore, I have lived in Chennai but I have not seen such starvation anywhere and I have not seen people peeping into another person's affairs, especially the affairs of a man and a woman, at this level anywhere."

Well, isn't it in Tamil Nadu that all kinds of issues broke out on the 'condom issue' which landed Khushbu and the likes in trouble? I find it comical that Zacharia has mentioned New Delhi, where men barging into the ribcage of women, groping incidents and other forms of sexual misconducts are the order of the day. Every other day we hear issues r/t rape and assault in Goa, and even kids are not safe with even a Minister going on to say that Goa is the rape capital of India. How safe is our cosmopolitan douche-bag Mumbai? How many shocking and shameless incidents of mass groping/ public assault on women has occurred in Bihar and its neighbours? I don't see any reason to single out mallu-men when the issue w.r.t disrespect and disregard to the fairer sex seems to be a pan-India problem.

What did a newschannel in Bangalore do in the name of Moral policing? They broke into the house of a prostitute, and exposed her to the whole world. Excerpts, courtesy Bombay Dosti

News9 made a sting operation and found that a service apartment in Bengalooru was being used for prostitution by a Russian lady. The channel team member posing as a prospective customer discovered this fact. After confirming that she was indeed in the business of selling sex, the team returned with a camera. They broke open the apartment and started recording. Apparently she was with a customer. What gives these journalists the right, to violate the rights of a woman, even if she were a sex worker. She was wearing a two piece suit, when they broke open and the channel had the audacity to force her to reveal her body. She was trying to cover her breasts and her face with her hands. Two men pulled open her hands to reveal her body and face on camera. WTF!!!!!

No, Kerala society hasn't degraded that much. Oh God, NO! Wonder why Zacharia failed to notice all these...

We've had Sooryanelli, Vithura, Kilirur and it IS upsetting and excruciating, but as serious social crimes such cases have to be seen in a different perspective. If one society can raise more voice against eve-teasing, molestation and crimes against women then I believe it is Kerala. Except for the Metros, Indian women still live in a shell. The mallu-women may harbour the same orthodox character, is subjected to injustice and may not be socially-liberated like widely believed, but they're far more free and empowered. (I repeat, I'm not talking about the Metros)

Strolling on a deserted street at 12am, having a sip at a pub or wearing micro-mini isn't exactly what I mean by free and empowered women... Kerala has to acquire more cosmopolitan attributes if you wanna see that.

image courtesy The Hindu

But a lack of cosmopolitan culture, proportionately higher no: of wannabe skirt-chasers and playboys imitating the silver-screen chocolate heroes doesn't mean the whole state is a pervert-house. No denying the fact that our social behaviour could be more refined ,but sex-starved and frustrated? Too overboard.

You see why I don't feel intimidated by Ms. Roy but has taken serious offense of Mr. Zacharia?

Image courtesy: DU Beat.com ,Wikipedia, The Hindu

*Comment moderation enabled*

Crickey, the worldz all bigoted

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:36:00 +0000

The recent turmoil and melodrama about the racial abuse and attacks on Indian nationals in Australia is making a lot of unwanted noise. Its all a hoopla state for politicians on both sides with our desi leaders 'enraged' and 'appalled' at the vicious crimes being committed on our citizens abroad. Even the least figure you could imagine, the sinistral and senile Thackarey man launched his prophecy the other day, warning the Oz to tackle the issue or pay the penalty. Yo man, you rock!

Encroaching on the absolute limits of shameless hypocrisy, this last one by Thackarey, by far the most sectarian leader we have ever managed to produce in our country, who has no soul-prick in murdering Indians in the name of language, region and caste. And how he has come out all guns blazing for our countrymen...Makes me swell with pride.

Racism exists everywhere, even in Australia. Yes, even in Australia, but at least a megaton less than that in India. Not forgetting the fact that the Australian continent is yet to catch up with their first cousins, the US/Canada and Europe in negating the race issue. Its been long since Australia officially abolished the infamous White Australia Policy and the old Stolen Generations , which put the nation in very bad light. But mindsets don't change radically and perhaps the per-capita no: of Xenophobic individuals could be marginally higher Down Under. Just guessing...

Incredible as it may seem, Australia is one of the most multi-cultural regions of the world. Put aside Times Square, NYC, you'd come across almost as many ethnicities of the human species on the whereabouts of Opera House, wondering how quickly the country has moved forward to shed its tag. So why hasn't it, yet?

The answer could be multi-prong. This assault- racism arguments have much more to it. Its about the times we live in...

Nobody denies the blunt fact that racism exists in Australia, as it does everywhere. The isle may still be carrying forward a few malicious traits as old British convict land. That could be hard to erode, especially when you talk about Aussie culture and that pot of yogurt, as the joke goes. Many arrogant young minds think its fun to go 'curry bashing' because Indians are easy targets. Australia knows perfectly that its image has been dented outside and will be only too keen to get things patched up.

Talking about Indian community in Australia, they belong to two broad groups, just two groups... Too bloody easy for us to understand as back home we're used to categorizing people on the basis of caste, colour, creed, language, profession, region, sexual orientation and what not. In Australia the Indian contingent consists of the Working class consisting of the professionals in the medical, engineering or IT fields and the Student Community, who gets the short end of the stick now-a-days. It is important to note that this student class doesn't include the children of the professional Indians, who're well integrated and naturalized with the local community.

And these two groups are like chalk and cheese...They seldom mix. In fact most of the former class, nearly 2.5 lakh of them, looks to avoid the above mentioned student group for pretty apparent reasons. Isn't there an obviousness when you see that its predominantly the student community (96,000 in number) who make news for wrong reasons?

Indian Students protest in Melbourne pic courtesy theage.com.au

When squarely pointing a finger at the Aussie authorities it may be prudent to be aware of the other 3 fingers pointing back at ourselves. A small chunk of this student community behaves as if they're in their grand-dad's backyard carrying on with the same ignorant behaviour unacceptable to the community they're living in. Being rude and ignorant towards natives, being loud, filthy and scant disrespect for the culture of the country they're in, these students naturally invite trouble. To add on, many of these student groups live in shanty suburbs, work unsocial hours and end up soft targets for the criminals.

There has been no definite evidence that all the recent attacks down under are racially motivated, though some definitely appear so. Its also crucial to note that many of the perpetrators belonged to other ethnic groups like the Lebanese. Australia is facing a crisis in their coal-mining sector and many people working in those areas are relocating to the cities. Jobless mass-migrants alien to a city is a recipe for trouble. The situation gets ugly when these youngsters rub shoulders with the immigrated folks from the sub-continent who're hardly modest in their attitude.

It's this social problem which need to be addressed immediately, and internally. The focus is now on the evil R-word and it will only help to flare things up, feels many Aussie Indians. Look back at history...

A small group of ignorant Lebanese youth triggered the 2005 Cronulla riots. If the situation gets out of hand then it will be the innocent and decently living people who may have to pay the price for the stupidity of a few lost souls. With more help from the likes of the outspoken Mr. Thackarey and actions like burning the effigy of Kevin Rudd, we're creating a toxiferous potpourri for our own countrymen in Australia.

Has any of those responsible from our country made any open remarks against the inhuman treatment meted out to Indians in the Middle East? Indians, including millions of Keralaites are officially second or third class citizens and are subjected to racial vilification, abuse and injustice in the oil fields, docks and even on streets in UAE, Saudi Arabia and the likes. The Air-India stow-away Habib's tale is a testimony to the sufferings of our countrymen in the Arabian desert. Thousands of desperate man work under scorching sun, shut away in labour-campesque living conditions, their passports frisked away and paid paltry salaries. Modern day slavery, but I don't hear any concerned voices. Not even NRI Minister Vayalar Ravi who was very vocal about Australia.

We have Embassies, we have High Commissions, we have exclusive Ministries and Ministers but they keep their trap shut. We can't rub the Arabs the wrong way because they'll close their doors to us, damn sure. The West is multitude times more civilized, more moderate, more fair. Vayalar Ravi knows the fact only too well.

The knee-jerk reactions in relation to the Australian situation raises more uncomfortable questions. India has the right to raise voice when their citizens are under danger overseas but the way the media reacted has been pretty much depressing. The latest ku-klux-klan cartoon was a sick sick joke and it has done no good for the two nations than sparking more unrest and enemity. The kkk word is considered more offensive in the West than our own Congress Party officially and openly branding Speaker Meira Kumar as a 'Chamar'.

The pompous media who panted with breathlessness 'racism', 'racism' every time a student gets attacked in Oz made matters worse through their unmediated, unprofessional and inaccurate reporting. The one good thing the media managed to do is to force the Aussie authorities come out from their denial mode, and accept the all-too-clear fact that strands of racism still infest their society. But even seasoned observers, bloggers or politicians now look down on Australia as an evil land-of-bigots where everyone with pigmented skin is under serious threat. How we comfortably forget the above mentioned Middle East reality or rather how handsome we look in the mirror.

Shashi Tharoor appears to be the lone person who has taken note of the current. Tharoor praised Australian efforts to end the violence but said he could not say with certainty that Indians were no longer being singled out for assault in Australia. The enigmatic leader identified the problem as that of law and order, " one that Australia is dealing with and needs to deal with internally. But it cannot but affect us when our citizens are reported to be suffering", he said.

"For an Indian mother to hear that her son has been assaulted in Australia, it little matters to her whether he was assaulted because of his race, or because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or because he was the wrong colour or the wrong height, or was carrying an iPod. She doesn't want her son to be assaulted," Tharoor said, appealing to the media-folks on both sides to show restraint while attributing colours and adjectives while reporting such events.

Read Tharoor's full statements here.

Remains to be seen how clearly the Indian and Aussie press folks take his words.

Comment moderation enabled for the post.

One for the cowboys

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:01:00 +0000

I'm a great fan of the wildwest movies, they always capture my imagination: the legendary American railroad, the steam engines, eerie wooden stations, cowboys, horse carriages, guns...its a quivering feeling. And there is one place in our own Kerala which pretty much mimics those wild-west attributes in all aspects: the Kochuveli Satellite Railway Station.

Before I start, let me clarify one thing. It is grossly unfair to compare Kochuveli with the similar small-town railway stations in Kerala like Kayamkulam, Kasargode or Mavelikkara. Kochuveli is a place where at least a dozen trains originate/terminate. In the longrun it will share the spoils with Trivandrum Central (TVC) which is fully saturated and is space constrained. In a nutshell, according to the plan the Kochuveli Satellite Station will be as important as TVC.

Kochuveli Map click to enlarge

Well, that was the hope when the station was inaugurated by the then CM Oomen Chandy in 2005, after Minister O. Rajagopal, the man behind many of the Rail developments in Kerala, proposed the idea for the satellite terminal.

5 years down, and Kochuveli has turned into something like a nightmare for the passengers and authorities alike.

Plans

Oh the plans are so grandiose that your eyes will pop out.

Kochuveli is planned to be the largest railhead in Kerala. Once finished it would consist of 11 platforms and 11 pitlines, almost double the size of the current Trivandrum Central station. Kochuveli also features in the idea of a rail-head along with Nemom and TVC. To add on a 1.5 million sq ft, 9 storied ultra modern station building is also planned.

Here are some excerpts from the press: The Hindu, 25 Dec, 2006

Elevated platforms to avoid congestion, nine-storey station building with waiting hall, big concourse and 11 platforms are the highlights of the master plan worked out for the development of the Kochuveli Railway terminal.

Eleven platforms, 11 pit lines and 11 or 12 stabling lines to cater to the needs of maintenance of the rakes have been proposed. The proposed station building will have a big waiting hall, reservation centre and a host of passenger amenities.

Three platforms would be built at more elevation to cater to incoming trains. Three platforms will be at a lower level to cater to passengers of outgoing trains.

The eight-metre elevated platforms, first of its kind in the State, will help avoid the rush of passengers. The platforms would 10-metre in width and 630-metre long. This would help accommodate 26 bogies and 5,000 passengers.

The existing road from near the `English India Clays' to Kazhakuttom-Inchivila NH 47 bypass would be widened straightened. The Railways will construct a road over bridge later to replace the existing level cross near the `English India Clays' to ensure the smooth flow of vehicular traffic.

The Railways will be able to handle 25 trains from the terminal when it is fully developed at a cost of Rs.80 crore.

K, essentially we're promised something similar to an Airport when this is complete, fingers crossed, but at present this is something very similar to the 1895 outback stations in Arizona.

Present

The pictures tells the whole story, so I'm not taking pain to elaborate more..Here goes the present in full bloom.

Current Station Building and the "green" pathway leading to the station.

Way to Platform #1

Approach Road to the station.

As I said, nothing much to showcase. You'd imagine 5 years is long enough to put up decent services for the paying public but it seems not.

Future

As mentioned, the plans are all in the air. Construction of Platform #2 has commenced in Kochuveli but it wouldn't solve the current travails.

The Railways feel that once a passenger is out of the terminal their responsibility end. The Corporation behaves as if its not their problem that the passengers to/from Kochuveli is all abandoned in the middle of nowhere once they alight from the train. The location of the station is a classical wildwest location; ill-lit, creepy, outbackish and dangerous. I'm not sure about the technicalities, but connecting the current platforms and station to the old station on the Veli side appear a feasible option.

The road connecting the old Kochuveli station (All Saint's College- Veli Road) has good road frontage and is served quite frequently by City bus services to important city points. It baffles me as to why for the past 5 years this was not done in-spite of repeated solicitations by media and the public alike. Currently, passengers including women and children illegaly and precariously negotiate the dozen-odd tracks and stationed wagons to reach the old station on the Veli side to connect to the city.

Old station building facing the Veli Road

The state of the NH Bypass is another factor that creates spillover problems for Kochuveli. The Bypass Road is largely unlit even when the traffic along the road is bursting at its seams. And the Corporation, as ever, is fast asleep.

KSRTC has issues with scheduling their services to Kochuveli given the punctuality of Indian Railways. Earlier this week one Minister had a pragmatic idea about informing the KSRTC when a train reaches Kollam Jn, so that they can be ready with the bus in time.

The hapless passengers arriving at the station in the wee hours of the day or at night have just the autowallahs for their recue, even if they're ruthless when it comes to the greenbucks. No Police outpost or even a Polieman in sight at most times, it's not a place you want your sister or wife to set down. It's incredible that those concerned choose to take a blind eye to the issues raised here. Or are they waiting for the blood to spill and then jump out with shock from under their sheets? That's always been our style.

TRIDA and the Corporation are talking about planned urban development of the Kochuveli area which surely will revolve around the Satellite station. So far nothing concrete has transpired, and the travails of the general public continues with the lack of basic amenities.

New Station building at Kochuveli photo courtesy Sudheesh Nair

Kochuveli provides a golden opportunity to show the world that meticulous town planning is not Greek to us. Apart from the prospects of a large rail head, the terminal could well be developed into a new transportation hub for Trivandrum with an intergrated City Bus Terminal or a satellite terminal for long distance buses. It wouldn't be a bad idea to relocate that Clay factory polluting the environment to the outskirts and the land pooled for the sation development. If ever a Railway Zone is alloted to Kerala, we needn't run frantically in search for a suitable spot. Moreover there is the mesmerising Veli lake and TS Canal frontage for this stretch of land which further opens up more possibilities.

But what we need as of today, is an option for a rookie backpacker or a mother with a child or a North-Indian techie coming to Technopark to reach their den safely without being subjected to tachycardiac experiences.

Cochin backwaters: a photoblog

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:01:00 +0000

Welcome abroad folks, and it is January 01, 2010! The festival season is over and we are all back to real life...and don't tell it s***s, its new year day. I thought I'll just compile a filler-post from a few shots I took from my mobile while in Kerala a couple of months back.

Had a chance to ride the pristine backwaters of Cochin last time I was in Kerala. The experience, needless to say was quite charming. Less talk and more shots, scroll down...

All shots taken from my mobile cam Sony Ericcson K770i.

The Rainbow Bridge which caught the attention of travellers and kicked off the Marine Drive brand. All too familiar for malayalees, the artistic pedestrian bridge has featured on countless movie scenes.

Waterfront apartments standing proudly overlooking the magnificent waters. A single sq. ft land has the value of solid gold in these parts.

This island is all set to change the face of the Queen, once and for all. The Vallarpadom Container Terminal approaching commissioning date.

A couple of tiny islands dotting the backwaters. They appeared to be havens for the birds and a good few of them were following our boat for a good period of time. The man told us they were hunting fishes on our boat trails.

This oil tanker and the associated infra looks like some facility for the Cochin Refineries.

And yo, how I managed to catch this giant in one single frame!

The passage to riches... The reason behind the prosperity of Cochin dating back to pre-independence era. The mouth of the harbour. Vembanad Lake joining the Arabian Sea leaving enough space for the big vessels to come ashore.

New and a more boisterous skyline taking shape on the Marine Drive Extension, new 1.5 km long waterfront stretch reclaimed from the lake during construction of the Goshree Bridges.

A closer look at the elite homes for the lucky whales. Most of these harbour-view apartments have an 8-digit price tag. Interested? ;)

The Bolghatty Island named after the Bolghatty Palace. Now KTDC runs an upmarket resort here on the island, the Bolgatty Island Resort

The folks at KTDC sure got ideas... A unique looking cottage on the island. Our man told the rates could be as much as Rs. 5000/night, not so exorbitant for such a pristine setting.

A couple of older ones on the other side of the island

Boat jetty on the front side of the Palace

There is some activity taking place on Bharat Seema, operating between Cochin and the Lakshadweep Islands. You can travel to Minicoy for as low as Rs.150 a direction or get a cabin for Rs. 390.

Earning a few dollars for the nation.

Aha, Indian Navy Vessels! SALUTE!!

On way back, reaching the docks again. This shot was taken from my brother-in-law's new mobile, the HTC Diamond and see the difference in the picture quality... I should've used it from start, well may be next time. WISHING YOU A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR mates..take care! :-)

Obviously you've noticed the new look No Man's Land?. I loved the old one all right, but thought I'll give you something fresh for the new decade. Just for a change...do share your thoughts on it. Thank you. :-)

Floccinaucinihilipilification

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:10:00 +0000

...that's what I feel about this annual ritual of updating myself and you folks on the progress of the most important or much hyped up infrastructural/ industrial investments in Kerala.

We did it for a start in 2007, (A Happening Year, Dec '07) and got a carbon copy of it in the '08 sum-up.(Turning the void page, Dec '08). To be honest things don't appear any rosy in comparison to 2008, well that's what I feel when I look up at status of our development projects, or rather should I say 'paper tigers'? Let's take a different route this time and see if we could spot some light out of all this soot-black sky. Optimism, for a change...Well, I hope the light, if any, is not from a comet crashing down on us.

Now, the 'big' picture...Excuse the oxymoron.

Vallarpadam Container Terminal: We'll start on a positive note here. The rail-road links are well on way to completion and the terminal construction is on schedule.This one project is all set to rewrite the history of Kerala, and Cochin in particular. The image below is that of the 4.62km long Vallarpadam Rail bridge over Vembanad, which will be longest in India. pic courtesy: www.indiamike.com

LNG Terminal: Potentially a torchbearer for a second industrial revolution of Kerala, (though the first was a meekly affair) the terminal is well u/c.The 2000 Crore project rising up on 100 acres of land in Puthuvypeen is expected to be a shot in the arm for many industrial units in the Aluva belt as well as for new manufacturing industries.

Kerala Expressway: Still appears only on PWD maps, 8 years into fertilization. Labour signs still a bit far than Andromeda Galaxy. But then there is a streak of light on this front: Govt of India has actually proposed an Expressway from South Tamil Nadu via Punalur-Trichur through the less densely populated regions of the state. The bad news is that the land acquisition will be the responsibility of our Kerala rulers. Is this the start of another everlasting pregnancy tale?

Smart City: I observed some movement in the premises at last...The official Opposition Party (have we ever got one?) conducted some drama at the site the other day in the name of 'protest against neglect'. Some people say that there is an ambiguity of role when it comes to the ruling and opposition parties in the Smart City affair. I wonder... Into the 3rd year of laying the foundation stone, the Dubai Sheikhs and the Kerala CM are playing Hide n Seek, making fool of the 3.5 crore Keralaites. The talk is that TECOM is very much like our own KSRTC, having to beg and borrow for even their daily chores as evident by the state of affairs in Malta, the 'other' over-smart city. The grass has grown tall n brown to cover the foundation stone, at least the cattle in the area ought to be allowed to roam the premises.

Technocity: Land acquisition well into year 4. This is one menace we face in Kerala; the pestilential protests and legal complications viz land acquisition and procedures. Nobody knows when the concrete will be poured into the ground but Technocity has remained another one with an elongated gestation period. The good news is that we have nearly 200 acres in hand for Phase I and the paperworks are going on. Will 2010 see the steel rise from the earth? Waiting sweetheart, waiting...

Vizhinjam Container Transhipment Terminal: After raising hopes to sky high level Lanco deserted the project, crashing down to crush the hearts of millions of Keralaites, especially South Keralaites who were gearing up to cash in on the port. The biggest disappointment of the year, if you ask me, but still GoK has been proactive in lifting the spirits up again. Works on road-rail connectivity, water and power facilities and associated infrastructure development are being vigorously planned. From a stock election manifesto, the name 'Vizhinjam' managed to cross oceans and generate investor interest and confidence from the likes of Singapore, Rotterdam et al. But we still have to wait a few more years to see the breakwater courtesy politics, regionalism and chauvinism.

Cyberpark, Calicut: Announced 2 years back. Land acquisition in progress. First envisaged as a 300 acre project, it is now a meekly 70-odd acre affair.And the Govt tells us that this will be a ' hub' as envisaged by the think-tanks of the IT Dept. May be the future plans are big, but doesn't Calicut deserve something better than this when we are speaking about a pivot to develop IT in the whole of Malabar?

Trivandrum Airport Developments: What did I say? The swanky new terminal which was supposed to open this month is still u/c. Now the authorities say that 2010 March is the holy date, third time the opening date is being deferred courtesy lorry strikes, militant trade unionism, red tapes and what not?. The 6 lane approach flyover is also stuck up behind the deadline. Anyway I expect to walk out of T3 this summer, anything else would be a huge disappointment.

image courtesy Sudheesh Nair

Cochin Metro: Status quo. Files flying between Trivandrum and New Delhi, that's all. No decision taken upto date on how the project will be implemented and when. There has been no dearth of statements from the ministers that the project will begin tomorrow, next week, this moment and so on. Cochin-ites are damned to travel on the roads manifold times their capacity.And worst, the planners are too fixated on the glitz and glamour of Metro that other feasible and feeder projects like a BRTS are not even considered seriously.

Railway development: The general rail development is satisfactory compared to previous years. A handful of new trains, upgradation of major stations to International standards, surveys for new lines, all going on with a pro-active minister at the helm. Nevertheless, travel woes of Malabar still continues. The appalling connectivity of Malabar to IT hubs of Bangalore in particular, and also to Chennai and Hyderabad hasn't been addressed as it should have been. Incredibly everyone seems to have forgotten about the MEMU which was announced a few years back.

National Highway Development: After finally deciding to move on with the 'toll' , Kerala has now reached the sticky wicket: the land acquisition. That just means we wont be seeing the works kick start anytime soon.The main highways, NH47 and NH17 are getting more congested by the day. (image courtesy www.virtualkerala.com)

Kannur Airport: eh? Isn't this another project exclusively for the real estate merchants? Some associated road developments are planned which may work in favour of the North Malabar city. This could well be an example of one becoming manure to another. This Airport, if ever materialize, will surely eat into the revenue and figures of Calicut International airport which has shown very impressive growth chart after opening its apron for Int'l flights. So we may well end up with two kids with growth retardation in one house.

Bingo, what do you see? Red or Green? The results are all for you to see but as they say, its history. The new decade can only be better, what you think?

There is the silver-lining when we look back at the noughties though! The words 'investment' and 'business' have started to appear less evil in Kerala. Also the state did make it into many 'preferred investment destinations' list, that's one major positive outcome I see from the past decade.

On a possibly related note, still no shore in sight for Mr. K. Muraleedharan as the decade comes to an end, dad Karunakaranji managed to send Yamaraj and his water buffalo packing yet again, Abdul Nasser Madani and his marriage with the Reds have reached where it was headed: dead-end and Mr. Rajmohan Unnithan learned that this is a round round world, and what goes around comes around.

Whatever, may the new year and the new decade usher in prosperity and happiness to you all, your families, our state and country... HAPPY NEW YEAR folks :-)

image courtesy istockphoto

Accountability, sir

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:28:00 +0000

News from The Hindu, 20 Dec, 2009.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Museum-Nanthancode road was closed to traffic on Saturday evening after a boundary wall of the nearby zoo collapsed under the weight of sodden mud heaped against it. Much of the silt, removed from a pond inside the zoo, flooded the arterial road. A van parked on the road was buried under the mud. Residents in the area found it difficult to reach their homes.

A local resident said the mud removed from the pond was heaped against the decades-old compound wall of the zoo.

The previous day’s rain increased the weight of the silt heap. The Museum authorities had contracted a government agency for cleaning and deepening the pond.

The silt inundated the road. Local residents managed to remove two motorcycles, which were in the path of the heavy silt outflow. The Fire and Rescue Services personnel were engaged in removing the slush to a place inside the zoo compound.

And see all the mess for yourself, credits to the photographers from the respectives sites.

pic courtesy The Hindu

pic courtesy Keralakaumudi

pic coutesy Sujith John

Fortunately enough, nobody was injured in this 'accident'. Incredible, as this could well have ended up as a Page 1 news.

This road, the Museum- Nanthencode Road is a frequent channel to Ministerial residences incluing that of the CM. Such a perilous situation has been allowed to develop putting into jeopardy the lives and property of many innocent citizens. This has disrupted traffic through this main road and incessanntly cut off many a families. And on top of that, this sludge, years of accumulated animal waste pose a serious health hazard to the residents.

Surely someone has acted in a gross irresponsible manner on a job they're paid for. About time such incidents are taken with enough seriousness and someone held responsible for this even though it passed off as a shake-your-head-and-carry-on incident.

I would like to share my experience re a similar occurrence here in the Republic of Eire. There was a makeshift smoker's den attatched to the administrative block of my hospital, which incidentally had the controls and set-up for the gas, oil connections to the kitchen. Nobody noticed the potential danger but it didn't evade the eyes of the Health & Safety Officer during the annual inspection. She immediately locked and sealed the den and severely reprimanded the Safety Representative and two floor managers for this serious oversight. Two of the managers were suspended and charged with unwillful neglect of duty. The smoker's den was moved to a safe distance, detached from the main building.

That Health & safety Officer didn't wait for a carelessly discarded cigarette butt to light up a gas leak and blow up the entire hospital. Sticthed right in time...

Unfortunately back home the word 'accountability' has a less significant meaning. It is something which hasn't yet been embedded into our work culture and ethics. Someone allowed a mountain of mud to be deposited against this old, dilapidated wall creating an opportunity for it to cave in. The contractor or the Govt agency who did the work is direclty in line.

Then cometh the Zoo authorities who failed to plan a way to dispose off the sludge safely, after they had decided to clean up the lake. Afterall it is their territory, there is no handwash.

It also poses a question mark on the system and the way in which civil works are boing done in our state. It shouldn't be the unskilled workers but their supervisors who've to take the blame.

What if the lives were lost? The news would've made it to the front page and on more editions of our media, a few tears dropped, some emotional editorials written, an enquiry is ordered as a hogwash, the incident forgotten and the chores fall back to old ways.

Square One!

The result? Perumon, Kadalundy, Thekkady et al. Safety takes the backseat or the boot in our daily life may be becuase India is 'full of life', 1.17 billion to be exact. We take things for granted, we consider life to be cheap, we still wait until there is enough blood, we won't budge unless it is one of ours who pays the price...

Be it anywhere in the progressed societies, the Zoo authorities, concerned Govt Dept heads, the contractor, the Ministers and even the city Mayor would have been taken to a Court of Law and made to sweat it out. Nobody is/should be allowed to escpae from their responsibilities.

This incident in Trivandrum is a triviality all right, may be nothing to whinge about here. So read,chuckle and move on because it didn't wash a school boy down the drain, but how easily it could've!

Superbrand Kerala

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:01:00 +0000

The folks up there in Park View need some serious pat on the back for the job well done in selling the Superbrand Kerala to the whole world.

Kerala pipped the iconic Taj Mahal, the symbol of the India for billions, to take the spot behind Rajasthan as the country's top dream destinations. The survey, which appeared in the November edition of the Traveler Magazine was conducted by the National Geographic Society's Center for Sustainable Destinations. Of the 133 global locales surveyed, Kerala procured a stupefying 23rd spot while the Taj came 30th. Rajasthan topped among the Indian destinations at rank #19.

Kerala Tourism Dept immediately cashed in on the feat and rolled out their ad campaign in style, and in no time after the NatGeo announcement!

From the famed sun-kissed shores of Kovalam and Varkala, history and enigma of Fort Cochin and the quaint hillside hide-aways of Munnar, the USP of Kerala Tourism has quietly shifted to its best kept secret: the backwaters. Kumarakam, Ashtamudi, Kappil et al have become household names within the country, and also across the oceans.The Traveler recognition is received for the tranquil charm the backwaters of Kerala and the way business is done in the state.

Kerala was a touch late to realize its potential but now the giant is fully awake, agile and kicking ass! The "God's own country" slogan, borrowed with thanks from the Newzealander's, opened the sluice-gates for Tourism revolution in Kerala and now it is a top-drawer Superbrand of India, so illustrious that it has now overtaken the Taj!

http://www.keralatourism.org/ is a trailblazer, in that they manage to market anything and everything in Kerala. Even the monsoon... Edavapathi and Thulavarsham , coupled with Ayurveda, were sold to the rain-fed up and sun-loving souls of Western Europe through some ingenious marketing.. Talk about selling a refrigerator to the Eskimos! Monsoon Tourism has caught the attention of the whole country. This has virtually led to the extension of the tourism season into the turbulent months when things were rather idle.

Monsoon is rejuvenation time, say Tourism Kerala, for they've found a peerless way to trade our rains to the honeymooners! Rain, storm and the familiar bollywood cliche, ah! Who needs a king-size waterbed? Love is in the air, err, the outside air... ;)

Kerala owns some pretty robust trademarks, and the fact of the matter is you needn't sweat out like any marketing executive to sell the brand. Just be honest... Last spring, I had a casual chat with a relative of one of my patients, an Irish-German, who was just back from high up in the Himalayas, after a fortnight of yoga-meditation and chores. She was talking about Ladakh being so distinguished from the common Indian stereotype. Kerala, inevitably sprung up during our chat and I didn't have to fabricate a bit to convince her that my home-state is a place worth visiting.

Didn't National Geographic Channel say something similar a few years back? Well, I just had to repeat it to her. And she is flying in this month to experience the one among the 50 destinations to see before you die :-)

Kerala has managed to market itself better than any other state in India. Even the Incredible India campaign lagged behind the Kerala brand for a while but some buzz marketing techniques gave the spring boots to the Incredible !ndia guys. Kerala still relies on road shows, travel meets and so on, even we're the first state to approach Google for search and banner advertisements. Smart thinkers you got there Kodiyeri, well I'm not talking about your Home Dept.

Still an Incerdible !ndia Campaign will have direct and spill-over benefits for us; afterall Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan and the Taj are the major selling propositions of Incredible India. Kerala remains one of the heavily searched items on the net and the Kerala Tourism website one of the most frequented. I did a Siteanalytics comparison on the 3 most popular tourism websites of India and here is the result.

Click on the image for a bigger graph

Kerala website attracts some robust traffic but still the ground numbers w.r.t. tourist arrivals stay with Rajasthan. May be we can exchange some brownie points with our North Indian counterparts but I feel the geographical advantages surely hand them the initiative. Taking nothing away from the palaces, lakes, forts and heritage of Jaipur, Udaipur or Bikaner but Rajasthan's close proximity to a major Int'l Gateway like New Delhi is a definite advantage. Kerala still depends on the charter carriers for direct air-link. Western tourists would ideally want a direct connection and they tend to avoid long, bothersome transits, especially via Mumbai/ Delhi to reach Kerala. Our direct competitors to the beach tourism, the South East Asian nations have direct air connections to major US/European destinations and this is a major fillip.

A tourist train akin to the Palace on Wheels or the Golden Chariot is sure to provide a major boost to the pan-Kerala expansion of tourism industry. Currently int'l tourism is mostly confined to Travancore-Cochin areas and a luxury tourist train could yield rich dividends for the whole state.

Nature is not the only selling point of Kerala. The authorities are trying hard to tap the multi-billion dollar Health Tourism sector and the coming decade is sure to see this concept taking wings. The Medical Tourism is not just limited to Ayurveda, modern state-of-the-art hospitals like KIMS and Lakeshore Hospital are upgrading themselves to cater to this new generation of consumers.

Initiatives by the Govt to promote home stays and eco-tourism have taken the benefits of the industry further down to masses. Thoughtful planning has made sure that tourism hasn't degraded into a something which threatens our culture and practices. We still could make the 'spirits' rise, without giving an opportunity for the traditional-fanatics to raise their voice.

Now since the traditional avenues are busy enough, the Dept. of Tourism has trod into some very serious territories to make some very serious cash: to turn Kerala into a Cruise Destination. Already the Jewel of the Kerala crown, the Cochin Port is a port-of-call to may Int'l Cruise ships. The Govt has recognized the opportunity this kind of aristocratic tourism could bring to the state. Plans are being chalked out for an International Cruise Terminal cum Public Plaza on Bolghatty Island to cater to the demands of this new and elite breed of tourists. If things go according to plan, then we may well create a desi Miami out of our own Cochin.

Hi-profile events like the Volvo Ocean Race, which had a stopover in Cochin last winter has been another augmentation for the tourism industry. Events like the Kerala Travel Mart, a B2B event organized by the Govt of Kerala has also become a torch-bearer. Cultural festivals like Trichur Pooram, the International Film Festival in Trivandrum which is gaining prominence with every passing year, the Tourism Week celebrations in conjecture with Onam has all been aiding the build of the Kerala Superbrand.

Meanwhile the beaches still remain pristine inspite of severe backlash for this kind of destinations the world over, courtesy the economic downturn. Kovalam, Varkala and co has got some serious competition from the SE Asian countries which have gone a few miles ahead as themed beach destinations. Sadly our Tourism Dept is lacks innovation here, which is slowly killing the beach-based tourism. The glaring lack of facilities at our beach destinations is always a point of fretting for the media, but nothing has changed. The black-tinged sands of Kovalam and the umpteen luxury resorts around it still act as a powerful magnet and still shows off the numbers in the state. But neglecting our renowned locales may turn out to be the act of killing the goose laying the golden eggs.

A full fledged golf-resort is something which we could look into, to remain head-to-head with Thailand and co. While in 2-3 years time, almost all the major hospitality giants will have their properties in Kerala, there are still no signs of such themed resorts surfacing.

Another effort is to promote the MICE tourism (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) in the state which has been performing extremely well. The city of Cochin is a popular center in India for conferences of both National and Int'l varieties. During big events such as the Cardiology Society of India meet, star-rated properties all the way from Alappuza to Trichur is booked out. Such events also provide a major fillip to the retail businesses apart from touching the whole arm of tourism/travel associates like conducted-tour agencies.

GoK has taken measures to spread out the events across the state. The ICCC in Akkulam is going to be a massive venture which will put Trivandrum firmly on the MICE map. Presently, the Rajiv Gandhi Convention Center in Kovalam is the main arena for MICE events in the capital.

The current Govt has taken some quick solid efforts to weave Malabar into this tourism fabric.The Malabar tourism circuit consisting of beaches, backwaters and hill resorts are under contention. Lack of adequate quality hotel keys is one gray area, but with ambitious projects like the Bekkal the planners hope to find a solution to it. Who knows, Malabar may be the emerald waiting to be revealed on our crown, afterall its all a win-win situation.

This is one major feature of all Kerala cities. A beach destination, hill resort, backwater haven or a forest get-away; nothing is more than a short hop from our major cities. You can have the best of all worlds in a whirlwind tour and this is one area where Kerala pips its contenders. The congested and badly laid out urban centers and environmental neglect are some of the downturns here, but that's nothing exclusive to Kerala ;)

But yes, the outstretched hands, robbed childhoods, garbage-dumped avenues, violated environment, all could be an embarrassment for India's showcase state. Similarly, a dishonest autowallah, a rude policeman, an impolite receptionist or a localite with an indecent gaze could do as much or more damage.

Still, Kerala sells! At the end of the day that's what matters more. And our Tourism Dept is cutting no corners when marketing out state, urging us all to keep our doors and hearts open for our distinguished guests! Its Superbrand Kerala!!

2!

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Yes, simple as that! This blog turns 2 today!

What started as an off-time hobby has now developed into a much more serious vocation for me. Strange, but it seems as if I've been on this platform much longer than this. My feeling is right in a sense, I've been an avid blog reader and commenter on many of the blogs I used to follow, like http://www.savekerala.blogspot.com/, http://www.newkerala.blogspot.com/, and http://www.trivandrumrising.blogspot.com/. The above blogs inspired me and convinced me that you need to speak on your own stage to be heard better. True, as a social animal the civic responsibility of getting involved with the issues of society I live in did help to keep the spark lighted, but the real impetus came from somewhere else.

I'll talk about it.

As any novice blogger I wanted my voice to reach as many as possible. Initial help arrived from various social sites and forums. Trivandrum Rising was the first place where No Man's Land? was blog-rolled first, thanks a million to Ajay Prasad. The traffic stats started shifting to higher gears after being listed on Trivandrum Rising and then on blog-queen Silverine's page.

Going through my old posts, one thing struck me. I had put multitude times effort and time into my old blogposts compared to the ones drafted now. But I still doubt if posts like Birth of a new city, Sunrise at Vizhinjam or the CIAL post ever got read by more than a few dozen. Those remain my favorite write-ups, along with my personal jotting about the birth of my bundle of joy! How a small blog has given me a channel to open my heart!

Blogspace has given me many friends, and a few foes as well. I've learned that when you express your thoughts and feelings as honest as it feels in your heart, there could be repercussions. People are different and it is impossible to satisfy everyone in the world, which I never try to. What bothers me was the way some people responded to certain viewpoints by me or the commentators in the blog, by teething personal attacks.
I don't like moderating comments to be honest, but at the same time I don't like my turf a place for dung-slinging, who does?

This is a democratic country and we all are entitled to our opinions, and we all should agree to disagree, but in a gentlemanly manner... in a diplomatic way.

My thanks and gratitude lies with the visitors to my blog, and commentators in particular who has propelled the urge to do more with this. As a proud resident of the city of Trivandrum, I also happily contribute to the development showcase blog Trivandrum Fast Forward by dear friend and co-blogger Nishanth Nair. And Metro-blogging in its own sense is taking wings, so I also keep tabs on Cochin Square and Trivandrum Buzz, the Citizen's blogs for the two premiere cities.

The decision to have my own domain name from the old blogspot address seems to have paid dividends. And so has this custom template which I love, though it has given me and my readers headache at times. Sincere apologies, we'll tame the tantrums of the boy but for the time being allow me to persist with the mellow fellow.

An ounce of fame does help the self-esteem. First the article Cellulloid and behind featuring on Reuters and then the real break of having my blog and pic printed on India's National Newspaper. Heah-ho, highly satisfying and truly rewarding experience, certainly the highlight of my blogging career so far.

image courtesy www.weddingcakes.com

Thanks a ton to all my guests, and keep visiting. For you're the impetus I spoke about earlier and which keeps me going. :)

No India for Indians

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:30:00 +0000

The Union Govt has given in to the regionalistic TRS's (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) stormy tactics for the bisection of Andhra Pradesh to form a new state: Telangana.

Though the leader of TRS Mr. K. Chandrasekhar Rao is acclaimed to have followed the Gandhian method of agitation there was nothing much "Gandhianism" to be seen on the streets, the way his supporters and students rioted on the streets of Hyderabad. The Telangana Resolution will be initiated in the State Assembly, which if successful, will lead to the formation of the 29th State of India, and hopefully also the 8th Union Territory.

Now this Telengana movement did have a long history, but was in the freezer for a long period of time and it was the "keep-on-charming" tactics of the succeeding Central Govts that led to the worsening of the situation and the resultant cave-in.

An even-handed Constitutional process has been transmuted into a turbulent tumult, which in the end leaves a very bad taste in the mouth. There are fears that what had transpired with Telangana may be an archetype for other partisan advocates in India.

Oh, we have more than enough in our country, haven't we? There are subdues demands for new states for Suarashtra (Gujarat), Vidharbha (Maharashtra), Gorkhaland (West Bengal), Bundelkhand (UP & MP) and numerous others, and the Home Ministry has set a very bad example. Lest not we forget the local-extremist outfits like MNS and Shiv Sena who can now tear Mumbai apart, demanding for its special status and then kick out the non-Marathis out of the nation's financial capital.

Oh Chidambaram! You, surely could've done this in a far better way. The country is fragmented yet again, first on the basis of language and now on the basis of slang!!!

Well, tomorrow some crack politician could revolt for Malabar State as it has a dialect of Malayalam different from the rest of Kerala, it is under-developed because of the intrusion of the South, and there may be takers for all this crap. It will never happen in Kerala but it's almost the same case, only that Telangana has some history behind it.

TRS Chief has a headload of rosy dreams for his new state. Of course he owns it now... He and his son, K.T. Rama Rao MLA are head-supremos and demi-Gods for people speaking Telungu, but in a different tone. He argues that the forced marriage with Andhra after Independence is the core reason why Telangana remained backward and that most of the resources from Telangana were used up to develop the other 2 regions of the state, the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. He conveniently forgets that Hyderabad city, the 6000bhp engine of the Andhra Economy is politically within Telangana and is the main reason why the previous 2 Chief Ministers could foster development to a much broader region.

K.T. Rama Rao goes a crucial step forward claiming that "there would be no Telangana without Hyderabad." This has put the city back on a revolving pivot again after it entered the Indian Union under volatile and unique circumstances post-independence.

Hyderabad owes its progress to the former CM Chandrababu Naidu, ironically from Rayalaseema, who propelled the city from an undistinguished Indian town to a throbbing IT destination renowned the world-over. Thousands of crores were pumped into the city to develop its infrastructure and naturally the city took giant strides. It is now the 6th largest city of India, bestowed with the Metro status and home to over 4 million people. Hyderabad's growth came at a price, the dissent of the peasant community in rural Andhra who were unhappy about their drought-affected, dried up farms when their capital city parks & road-dividers grew greener.

The succeeding CM Dr. Y. Rajashekhara Reddy managed to realign this urban-rural balance while funding development, without neglecting Hyderabad. And now Chandrasekhar Rao and TRS is looking forward to milking the city to its limits which was built at the expense of the whole Andhra-ites.

Let me tell you, there wont be one soul outside Telangana happy to let go their Capital, which the whole state gave their sweat and blood to build. This could well be another thorn in the flesh for the Union Govt, bestowing a Union Territory status to the Metropolis is said to be an acceptable option. At least until the divided Andhra builds their new Capital, but that'll burn another 10k crores, minimum.

Good in a way... India needs more planned cities. Perhaps this could be an opportunity to follow the Chinese model and create novel urban centers.

KCR squawks that Telangana and Hyderabad have been spoiled by the "intrusion of Andhra folks" and he would now toil for the development of the whole Telangana region. He talks about irrigation projects, utilizing the Krishna/ Godavari headlands, electrification and associated developments, but is a new state quintessential for all these developments? True, smaller states are better for governance and for pooling investment but being an arid landlocked region how KCR plans to realize his dreams is anybody's guess. Obviously, Hyderabad becomes crucial here.

KSR ends 11 day fast image courtesy The Hindu

But KCR and Telangana is a case study of how a stock politician, a ploy exploiting regional sentiments and a misguided guile-play by the Center could adversely affect the nation. In a sense, politics is diplomacy but something much more sinister than the latter. Congress has been toying with TRS and their leaders and this one has backfired badly. Worryingly, this could be a precedent for similar separatist movements in the future.

I wonder who is now licking their lips, hope its not the Thackareys.

The story of the tormented is the same all throughout the world. Indian Homemaker has something to tell about the most unfortunate human beings of our times. Read about it here.

From Copenhagen to Kerala

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:40:00 +0000

The Copenhagen summit is the best time for us to have a peep-in on this menace which looms over our heads threatening to push the world to anarchy, the Global Warming.

Fact or fiction, science or pseudoscience, Global Warming issue if tackled will well lead to a better world for gen next. It is not possible to close our eyes to the frequent freak weather phenomenons across the sphere, and the balance has been shifting away consistently from the conspiracy theorists.

The pie-chart below augments India's argument that the developed world should dip more into their pockets rather than bullying those crawling their way out of poverty. India holds 18% of the world population and produces just 5% of the world's carbon emissions... not a crime. Its no fable that India would be the hardest hit by climate change and we do have an obligation to Mother Earth. We are among the 'big four' polluters, still the average Indian's carbon footprint is eight times smaller than the average person in Britain. Nevertheless, India has pledged to curb its carbon intensity by 24% by 2020. Fair enough.

I wonder how candid is this on India, especially since this is the time when we need some serious energy to boost up the economical growth and curtail the poverty problems. The US and Europe have gulped down hydrocarbons en masse to build their muscles but there seems to be not many options available for India.

Whatever we do, the Earth would still be 2'C warmer in 2050 or earlier, (much earlier as per recalculations) which puts a question mark over these figures and facts. A 0.6'C rise in temperature over the last century has been accused of the current weather fluctuations across the globe like flash floods, fierce hurricanes, draughts etc. It wouldn't be a nice thought to have a look at the world map where my kids are going to grow, especially these NatGeo and Discovery documentaries are like full blown horror movies when dealing with this topic.

Not surprising at all, Kerala's geographical features mean we will be as badly hit by climate change as anyone. The heavily populated western coastal belt and the continuous cris-crossing waterbodies mean that even a slight increase in sea level could mean disaster for the state. All the 3 major cities are coastal ones, the main thoroughfares- NH47 and NH17 are at sealevel which are all exposed to flooding and related disruptions even in the present.

Kerala Geographical Factfile

This Low Coastal Land (LCL) or areas with <8m elevation from sea level faces a real bleak future. Apart from being heavily populated, this area is a powerhouse driving the Kerala economy viz fisheries, coir and tourism industries. Heavyweight industries of KMML, TTP etc, Ezhimala Naval Academy, Cochin Port, Naval Base, Trivandrum Int'l Airport are some of the major investments in this zone.

The predictions of Global Climate Change impacts on Kerala is not rosy at all, here are some excerpts from the Climate Change Catastrophe: Insulating Kerala by Conclave of Senior Academics and Scientists:(COSAS). Mind you, these are not exhaustive predictions but a mere paradigm.

Severe degradation of wetland ecosystem. Saline intrusion into backwaters, canals and river channels will affect the flora & fauna including the paddy cultivation in Kuttanad.
Increase in mean temperature of the Western coast affecting the tourism potentials.
Severe erosion of beaches in LCL coastline affecting mass migration into midlands and highlands. Civic amenities in cities disrupted or rendered useless.
Long warmer spells and inconsistent wet seasons may spell doom for plantation crops thus affecting agro-biodiversity.

Too novel, do you think so? This is very much different from this cock 'n bull 2012 doomsday or the Planet Nibiru collision. This is one thing where our current state Govt could do nothing phenomenal, apart from a few Green initiatives w.r.t urban planning and design, we have to await the Central Govt drafts on how to go about this 24% emission cuts. But it appears as if the sea will be taking back a quantum measure of what it gifted us...

As one blogger humorously put it, Kerala is doing more than enough to tackle Global Warming, through hartals! 150+ days of standstill/year is more effective than dozens of Earth Hours, don't you agree? :-)

References:

World after 4'C rise in temp: Interactive Map
Sea Level rise: Effect on Kerala doc file
Climate Change Catastrophy: doc file

Speak to me, better :)

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Hi all,

No Man's Land? comments section will be powered by DISQUS from now on.

Nothing big to talk about it here, but I hope the new feature will solve the problems you've been having with my comments section ever since the new template was uploaded.

A good few issues were raised in connection with the Embedded Comments from I had here in No Man's Land? Apart from the inconvenience in logging on, there were instances like the comments vanishing into thin air, not being published in spite of repeated attempts, inability to generate a preview and so on.

I tried a few suggestions from my techie-buddies but nothing seem to work. Even doing away with comment moderation didn't help. Enough is enough, I've decided to try out this specialised comments plug-in. I'm not sure if things will become worse but still let's give the boy a chance... :)

Things may appear a tad complicated and confusing if you're using it first time but I find it miles ahead of what our big-boss Blogger has been providing. Blogger Comments mechanism sucks, almost a joke when compared to Wordpress, and its about time Google listened to their users.

Apart from equiping myself with some serious musclepower of editing and keeping track of the responses I recieve, DISQUS provides you a few notewothy advantages:

Multi log-in options including Twitter and Facebook
Video Enabled
Ability to post direct links easily
Response to individual comments
Comment rating
Flagging troublemakers and much more...

In short, saves a lot of breath for technology greenhorns like me :)

So, keep me informed how the new lad is bahaving. Thanks ever so much...

GOOD DAY! :)

Wanted!

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:16:00 +0000

The Hi-Tech Crime Enquiry Cell of Kerala Police rattled some modest cages the other day when they nabbed a couple of youngsters for allegedly 'defaming' Kerala CPM Secretary Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan.

Ahem!

Apparently, there was an email circulating on internet with the photograph of a palatial house allegedly owned by the Communist maestro. The owner of the house was actually a television serial producer based in the Middle East and the picture found its way to the internet through a popular social networking site.
Some adventurous ill-witted souls thought it would be a good idea to insult the leader by spreading the image with a tag "house of a humble communist leader."

This is what the Police has to say about all these: Expressbuzz Newslink

Curious enough the Police has now arrested two individuals who are at the distal end of a chain. They did not take the photograph, neither did they upload it to the web nor create/edit the slanderous email. All they did was to forward the email they received to a few of their contacts without checking the source or validity of the mail content. According to the Cyber Police this is the heinous crime, serious enough to have their names and photos aired on channels and newspapers, akin to any notorious evildoer.

Well, its a hot trail for the Hi-Tech cops because the plaintiff is none other than Pinarayi Vijayan, the supremo of the party which rules Kerala. The asses moved briskly and we have the 'criminals' in one week flat! It was almost as if the Cyber Cops were acting on a deadline but where are the originators of the scam?

The Hi-Tech Police states that it is a crime according to Article 66 A of the Information Technology Act (Amended in October 2006); screen-shot below:

The law states that propagating "any content which he knows to be false" or in other words any content which we don't know if true could land people in hot water. It is upto the person who forwards the communication, to verify the authenticity of the information he is spreading. Leaves a good few ambiguous patches in this case especially when you read it along with the clause under which one of the accused (denoted "A") has been arrested.

Excerpts from the above newslink

It is reliably learnt that (A) had not added any comments to the email. The police arrested him as he did not respond to a notice sent by the police to his email address. (A) told the police that he had not noticed the mail as it might have landed among Spam Mails.

Laws are formulated for the betterment of the society but why do I feel that there has been a gross injustice in this case? Every law can be interpreted or twisted according to the smartness of your advocate but is it just me who feels that the Hi-Tech cell has turned up a blind alley here? The architects of the hoax are still at large and the Police has exhibited two unfortunate pawns just to satiate their masters.

At this juncture it would be appropriate to look back at the authenticity of many gossips and news broadcast via our channels and print media, which we all quote and disperse through the social network sites. How many cock and bull tales have we swallowed, which arouse from the sheer imaginative power of the journos these media houses employ to propagate their vendetta? I don't remember any journalist reprimanded for deliberate false reporting.

Meanwhile, can owning a decent house tarnish the figure of a Communist leader? Or did Pinarayi think that the house in the frame was too shabby for his liking? Or may be he wanted to put up a strong notice to his adversaries in the cyberworld...

I saw the house at the center of the controversy. It looked like a show house of a newly prosperous gold merchant in Trichur town but it would be curious to see how bigger/smaller Mr.Vijayan's house in Pinarayi will be when compared to it. Whatever, one will have to imagine that it will be rub shoulders with the NRI Producer's Kunnamkulam bungalow, when you think that Pinarayi could afford to send his kids to private professional colleges and to foreign Universities.

It is indeed an offense to abuse, threaten or defame individuals through any media, let alone a head honcho of a party-in-power. Those responsible should be brought to light. And this will also put an end to some of the ongoing wild and woolly practices in cyber-space where things were always taken for granted.

But how 'bout the scope of this defamation law? Pinarayi can publicly address a Roman Catholic Bishop a "wretched creature" and a "liar", and how close does it come to personal abuse? How eloquent has his co-comrade Minister G. Sudhakaran's tongue been when speaking publicly in front of the media? Here is a small sample of what stuff our Devaswom Minister is capable of spewing out.

Where have the laws been in the above cases? And why does it bend when approaching a certain breed of individuals? I thought the law breaks if it bends...

The youngsters who forwarded the email may or may not have had malicious intentions. But thanks to Sir Pinarayi and the doozy Cyber Cell, we the people, are aware of the law, at the cost of two scapegoats who just did the crime of clicking the "Forward" button.

image courtesy www.ndtv.com, yakuto

Trivandrum BRTS

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Perhaps a timely postlude to the introduction of a new class of public transport in Kerala, the classy Volvo 8400 low floor A/C buses conquering the regal roads of Trivandrum! Exclusive pictures and report on Trivandrum Rising blog!

Volvo 8400 on MG Road, Trivandrum image courtesy Keralakaumudi

The Kerala capital has chosen to tick the BRTS option for the Mass Transit of its populace. Well n good! Its an appreciable step forward, and something I believe, every city in India must plan and implement.

So what is a BRTS?

For starters, BRTS or the Bus Rapid Transit System is a cheap, fast, efficient &systematic usage of Buses as a mode of transporting people from one point to another. It differs from the go-as-you-like road-rash set up currently reigning in our cities mimicking the F1 race-course, where all drivers are certified desperadoes. BRTS, in principle, lays out exclusive channels for the buses to ply, thereby segregating it from the regular traffic.

Simple? Not so quick mates, it could well turn out a disaster if you underestimate our citizen's ability to throw rules into the air. Look how the BRTS got screwed left, right & center in Delhi..

And Ahmedabad inaugurated their BRTS experimentation in a big way on August 15th 2009,and initial results indicate that they did their homework better. (Times of India newslink)

First things first, the BRTS as we see in Western nations cannot be implemented here. Forget it.. Look at Dublin and see how the BRTS functions as it should. Exclusive lanes, segregated bus bays, two-laned counter-flow bus-ways... Can our spar youth and the self-applauding biggeties in those swanky new cars resist that empty bus lane when in a choke-a-block situation? I'd bet most of them couldn't.

Dublin BRTS: courtesy wwwdublinblog.ie

But even the author of the above New Delhi article and the media in general fail to see the picture in the long run.. The benefits of something like BRTS in the overall traffic scenario of a city. See the video below to get a clearer picture.

From the examples worldwide, sacrificing a lane or two for exclusive public transport has actually benefited the city in the long run. It was possible to inculcate more disciplined driving and the effectiveness of the system actually helped reduce traffic and improve the quality of life in the city. Trivandrum, hopefully plans to emulate such success stories.

Now can something like BRTS be successful in Indian settings?

Of course it could, provided you as the implementer do your homework well...

In New Delhi there are fines upto Rs.5000 for driving on bus lanes. Well, we have laws in place to check speeding, travel sans helmet & seat belts. And who checks these laws? If the authorities are lax in implementing the adherence to bus-lane laws strictly then I'd bet my house on the failure of this system. Fellow blogger and friend Nishanth Nair was elaborating on the BRTS system in his new city, Brisbane, Australia where the buses follow atom-clock punctuality. The BRTS in Brisbane has underground bus stations, exclusive roads, flyovers, tunnels and special lanes for plying. We as a less affluent nation cannot afford such luxuries, especially for experimenting, but it is a matter of using our resources most effectively.

Perhaps we need to take a leaf out of countries like Brazil where the BRT system is implemented at a fraction of the cost of other MRTS.

The most efficient BRTS system in the world is said to be in Curitiba, Brazil, which is replicated across the South American cities. I dug into the www for more on Brazilian road culture and sadly it is not like us, ie they're more ruly. Take a look at the above pic of Sao Paulo traffic and you can realize how hard is it to replicate such driving pattern in out cities. A huge improvement from the Curitiba system was implemented in the city of Bogota, Columbia, which currently sits as a reference to similar systems around the world. The Bogota BRTS, called TransMilenio has been such a huge hit that even the Mayors of New York, Chicago and the likes visited the Latin American town to get some lessons out of it.

Watch the video, its awe-inspiring! A clinical proof of how such a system could actually rewrite the horoscope of a city, and I hope Trivandrum will walk the same steps... :-)

Trivandrum BRTS has a concerning handicap if you see the above videos. The roads are nowhere as wide as it is in Ahmedabad or Delhi, leave alone Bogota and Dublin. Throw in the haphazard driving and scant disregard for traffic laws (though not as disastrous as Delhi), there must be a serious effort to consider our driving culture before the BRTS is implemented. Otherwise we will have another Delhi on our hands with the public and media conspiring to bring the system down.

We have a handful of examples on our hand where perfectly legitimate and productive projects have been dismantled by the combination of ill-informed citizens, bad press, vested interests and political foul play. BRTS Trivandrum could be a benchmark for the transport revolution in Kerala and we can't afford to mess it up to short-sight and bad planning. In Ahmedabad, a group of politically backed ruffians damaged the BRTS stations and buses just because they had to take a half-kilometer detour because the road in their locality became one way for the BRTS route! Such incidents must be dealt with iron fists and the sections of society including private buses, autowallas and taxi unions must be taken into confidence before the flagging off of the first bus.

So how about the plans for Trivandrum?

Trivandrum plans to use its 150 buses from JNNURM on 3 corridors. Presently a bus takes 20 min to traverse the 7km East Fort- Ulloor section, and at peak time it could be 45 min. Also keep a tab open for the ubiquitous marches, dharna, shakthi prakadanam and all sorts of jokes in front of that Secretariat, so its actually anyone's guess when you'll be able to reach your destination in Trivandrum on a given day.

In Phase I, the authorities plan to implement the BRTS system on the 29km long Kazhakkuttam (Technopark)- Ulloor- Karamana- Balaramapuram stretch, all along the existing NH 47. They plan to have exclusive flyovers for the BRTS on some reeches but not the whole length will have exclusive bus lanes for a start. Interestingly, only 10 km of the whole length have at least a 4 lane width. Karamana- Balaramapuram and Ulloor-Kazhakkuttam stretches are still modest 2 lane roads, that's about 2/3 of the proposed stretch.

Trivandrum BRTS Phase I: The 29km corridor is planned all along the NH 47 marked in blue, the red line is where the roads have 4/6 lane width.

A system like BRTS will be successful only if the other traffic are clinically segregated. So one would normally assume that the BRTS will be implemented on these stretches only after the roads have been adequately widened which immediately puts a big question mark on the time frame of the project. As for Kerala, land acquisition = court cases = stay orders = indefinite delay in projects. Those concerned say that not the whole stretch of the BRTS will have exclusive lanes, that means routine traffic and the buses will share the road width on approx 15km of the proposed system.

Another issue could well be the parking as businesses along the highly commercialized avenues would mind more than a bit when the street parking is sacrificed for bus lanes. Parking plazas, expanding the by-lanes for parking and similar options may well be explored to sort this out. We don't want more lobbies to work against the system, do we?

The Sreekaryam-Ulloor stretch of the NH 47 has become a nightmare, traversing that 3km was a pain in the backside even on my scooter, with a Delhi-like traffic, so how 'bout these supermodel buses? Flyovers are the plan here, say the authorities,but not all the 2-lane stretches will have the flyovers.

Pattom- Kesavadasapuram Road

It is not clear which stretches would be taken up for the next phases of the project but it all depends on how well Phase I works out. Fingers crossed on that, but it needs a big mindset change for our motorists not to get intimidated by the big aanavandi zipping along when they're stuck at deadlocks. Remember, this ego played a good part in messing up the Delhi BRTS.

It would also be a good idea to bring in some brand image to Trivandrum's Bus system. At present things are not so appealing. There are at least half a dozen varieties of KSRTC buses plying on the city streets, from that Yellow ones to the Green coloured so-called Fasts; there are some White coloured buses as well. Its all confusing when you see the Private buses with indifferent inconsistent colour codes. It is a chance to bring in some professionalism to the BRTS by constituting an independent transport body for the city, call it Trivandrum Urban Rapid Transit or whatever you like. Have a uniform colour code for the buses, modernize and synchronize the ticket issuing. Make things more appealing for the public, sell the WOW factor!

We should not be short sighted when it comes to visualizing the growth of the city as well, something which we have never done. Let the authorities plan and develop our roads with BRTS in mind and not leave us scratching our heads looking at the one-and-a-half lane dual carriageways we got as a result of a hind-sighted road development programmes.

The Volvos lined up in Trivandrum pic courtesy Keralakaumudi

The BRTS should also be planned so as to evolve all along the city corridors and in future, may be as a feeder service if the city feels the necessity for a bigger and better transit system like the Metro. Not in the immediate future but still something to keep in mind when we plan for tomorrow.

This could also be a unique opportunity to find some fund to construct a decent City Bus Terminal on that sprawling space owned by the Corporation on Attakulangara Bypass. Currently that dilapidated and long bus shelter adjoining the Fort is called City Bus Stand. Now for a capital city of the #1 state of the fastest growing economy in the world, is it enough?

Perhaps this could be a showcase for the new face of Trivandrum to the outer world, a BRTS sure is fashionable!

References:

#1. BRTS: A cost effective Mass Transit Technology pdf file
#2. TransMilenio, Bogota, Columbia: A Facebook video
#3. Ahmedabad BRTS: Skyscrapercity Citizen's forum
#4. Delhi BRTS Wikipedia
#5. Trans Milenio, Bogota, Columbia: Wikipedia

Kerala unsensored

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Home is where my heart is, and that home is Kerala! The evergreen landscape, the effervescent waterbodies, the light blue skies, sun, lungi-clad men, gold shops, apartments, Beverages Corporation counters and queue, KSRTC buses, traffic, communism... There is always an element of interest, and a cliché.

I don't see myself choosing Singapore or Seychelles over my homeplace for a long vacation anytime in the next few years. Anything more than 2 weeks and I'll be walking out of Arrivals in TIA.

Lemme just fill in with some all-too-familiar random shots from my mob-cam during my short-hops during this vacation; one whole month in October, too short.. how time flies, particularly if you want it static. Can Mr.Hawkins and his time-travel theory help? Or rather the time-machine?

Now to the show...

Pretty curious observation in Trivandrum this time. I saw this 'hump' signboard on several places mostly erected AFTER the hump. The law says (so do common-sense) that a traffic signboard should appear at a certain distance before the point.Whatever, here at General Hospital Jn you will see the signboard only after going over the hump.

And a comedy of errors. The Statue Road has been a one-way street for decades, and still is (See the NO ENTRY sign). But the hump signboard is facing the wrong way and that too after the hump if you're from this side!

A political presentation by BSP (yes, Mayavathi's elephant party) going on a busy road in Alappuzha. As usual a few jobless men wasting their time listening to it.

It was a pleasure travelling through this newly built surface on the Alappuzha- Changanassery road, possibly the most scenic major road in Kerala. But such a wide state highway had no lane markings, no lights, no reflectors, no signboards, no nothing. That's some responsibility by the authorities given that this road has deep navigable water-bodies on either side for most stretches.

The Venice of the East turning into a sewage farm. When K.C. Venugopal was the Tourism Minister he ushered in a fresh breath of life to these canals in Alappuzha with parks, landscaped gardens and amenities.

It seems we are back to square one. Cleaning work done for namesake, all the water-weeds deposited on either shores. Who is to blame?

This one from Alappuzha Beach, monument to the wealthy proud tradition of the now dying town. But the sea-bridge is dangerously corroded and unstable now but has anyone thought about dismantling the structure on the beach? Or are we waiting for it to crumble down on some innocent kid's head?

"Flagposts, advertisements, posters not allowed by order", says the warning on the road-divider. What Order, asks the politicos... Flagposts of INC galore...A scene from Alleppey Town.

The city which never finishes construction. The roads in Trivandrum still mimic lunar surface. This is Pattom- Kowdiar road. Japan (JBIC Water Supply Project) ploughed through the center, laid water-pipes and left the scene, now the Capital road developers have invaded the two sides. Sigh.. But I shouldn't be complaining, these are sure signs of improvement in basic infra and these small difficulties will usher in a better tomorrow.

Something which gladdens my heart, the new Airport Terminal in Trivandrum will open in 3 months time, says who? Looks good doesn't it, don't mind the green-topped canal in the foreground... Hopefully I'll be using it next time I come home.

And look who are best pals, holding hands for a 'noble cause'. The 500km human chain (manushyachangala) had this cheese moment but where are we with the ASEAN? Ah who knows, another historical blunder from the fossil party... Image Courtesy Keralaflashnews

Nothing surprising for the common malayalee, all these are way of life for us. Excuse the photo quality of the shots, it's all taken with my humble mobile phone camera(except the last one) at the spur of the moment. Thanks for visiting my site & good day to you all!

"Quotable" mis-quotes

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:01:00 +0000

A few ~~days~~ ~~weeks~~ ~~months~~ years back my blogger ami Spark, a.k.a Mathew committed the big mistake of passing on a tag he received to me.. My broadband is very slow, honestly, it was such a big tag that it took more than an year to reach me. If you don't believe me read this one, about a Pigeon being faster than broadband in South Africa... Well?

So it's not that I'm being lazy, blame it on Eircom. ;) The tag was to jot down 5 of my favorite quotes from the various books I’ve read. TROUBLE! The last time I remember holding a book was during my school/ PDC days when I used to gulp down anything and everything which crossed my path. Not anymore... So with the permission of Sparkie, let me take the liberty of quoting some infamous sayings which should be etched in golden letters here in blogosphere. Ok man?

#1 Mulayam Singh Yadav in his Election Manifesto for Samajvadi Party (UP) in 2009. Newslink

The party is against English medium education and the use of computers and will work to ensure that they are curbed if a government is formed with its support. The use of computers in offices is creating unemployment problems. Our party feels that if work can be done by a person using hands there is no need to deploy machines.

I thought the Communist Party was the only archaic institution in the world holding on to Stone-age ideas and ideologies. I'm shattered to find that we have more such duds here in our country. Mulayam on one side and Mayavati on the other side, God save UP!

#2 Kerala CM Sakhavu V.S. Achuthanandan and his solution for tackling the floods in Trivandrum City.

People in the city should tolerate the floods like everyone in other parts of Kerala. Rain is nature's gift, we have to accept it with both hands. If water comes in, then assess the situation and then get out of its way. If its flooded then find ways to drain it out. (laughing as he speaks)

You surprised by this comment? I'm not, to be frank. Our CM is capable of even worse jokes and statements, this is just a simple sample.

#3 The gathi kitta pretham and national nomad Mr. K.Muraleedharan's begging at Congress High Command's feet validates the shamelessness, spinelessness and thick-skin of our political leaders.

I would not create any more trouble and would remain a “disciplined person”. I'm ready to wait for any length of time for my return. The ground rule in the Congress is clear that anyone who accepts Sonia Gandhi as his or her leader can be part of the party. Karunakaran had to wait for five months to return to the Congress. So I am prepared to wait any length of time. I'm just requesting for a Rs.3 membership. Congress has taken back people who've abused the party much more than I did.

I remember an incident in Trivandrum Zoo where some witty lad carved out K. Karunakaran's name on the Rhinoceros cage as a testimony to the pachydermic character of the former Kerala CM who felt no prick in blasting blatant lies and turning his own opinions on its head in a matter of moments. Murali has proved without a shadow of doubt that he is indeed the worthy blood of the great leader. Rhinos beware!

#4 AICC Media Cell Secretary Tom Vadakkan and his interpretation of Twitter in the recent Twittergate Controversy. Mr.Vadakkan was speaking on Times Now ridiculing Dr. Tharoor and his statements on Twitter.

Let me tell you something: I did a little research after you phoned me, to find out what is the basic cause for this tweet business. Some of the survey reports that I received was Tweet is a very lonely man, and he needs counselling.

This statement was the turning point in the Tharoor Twittergate. The Congress think-tanks probably stunned by this gibberish by Mr.Vadakkan quickly jumped in to seal the issue before Uncle Tom turned up with more research papers.

#5. This guy, Pastor K.A. Abraham of Divine Deliverance Prayer Center thought it would be a good joke to interpret the Indian National Flag in his own way in front of scores of kids listening to him.

India's National flag; saffron at the top, green at bottom and white at the center. Saffron indicates bravery and sacrifice, meaning those who have the power to fight, assault and stab you. Green on the other hand stands for the verdant, fertile landscape of India, ie it belongs to people who possess money and wealth. (giggling) But the white at the center is us!! Not finished, the Ashoka Chakra, the Icon of Power is in the White. God didn't yield it to the Saffrons nor to the Greens. Also 'Ashokam' means 'devoid of sorrow', ie you have to come to White to attain freedom from sorrow, even if you are a Green or a Saffron.

PS: This video is not intended to hurt any religion, belief or individuals.

I thought twice about posting this here but then I feel this video is a case-study of how a stupid mouth and an unwise brain can conjure to become injurious to health. Isn't there a line you shouldn't cross while preaching?

Righton, this concludes the tag. *sigh*, and I leave the tough job of picking the best to you folks. I chose to go with the SP Manifesto but the simple truth is that when it comes to grading Indian politicians and their idiocy the job gets tough.

Shankhumugham

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:36:00 +0000

A visit to Kerala's capital city is never complete without its most magnetizing showcase: the Shankhumugham Beach.

Shankhumugham, meaning the face of the conch is one among the many famed beaches of Kerala. I have senile yet stainless reminiscences of my early visits to Shankhumugham as a kid, rearing to tear away from the firm grip of my mother, out into the ravishing blue waves frothing up on kissing the golden brown sands. Evenings in Shankhumugham were the most enjoyable days of my childhood because it almost always had the Bombay sweet and the Cone Icecreams as toppings! And a wind-up dinner out in one of those hotels opposite Secretariat once we were back to the city.

Sunset @ Shankhumugham image courtesy Vividplus

My love affair with the place continued into my adolescence with many memorable afternoons with peer groups, bunking the classes. The fondness for the place only increased when I left Trivandrum for greener pastures to build my career. The off-trips to my hometown always featured a re-grouping with the old pals who were still at Trivandrum. The only difference being that now we reach Shankhumugham after dusk-fall, when usually that's the time we used to leave the place as a kids.

Aha, the smile still comes to me when I recollect the anxious eyes of my mother shouting after me when I told her I'm going to Shankhumugham to see the 'Tsunami' after the fateful day in 2004. I remember the then CM Oomen Chandy's warning on TV that there was chance of another Tsunami and we couldn't resist the adrenaline rush to see it! Good ol' foolish days, or the pseudo-bravery, or was it the over-confidence that it would surely be a false alarm, me and my amigos reached Shankhumugham in a flash.

The Tsunami never came, as evident from my this autobiography you're reading. I mean, I'm still here...

It would be interesting for you to comprehend that as a Trivandrumite I visited Kovalam only 3-4 times, the first time as a college student!! I suspect the bikini-clad Caucasian figures on the famed beach must've made my family chiefs think twice about taking their kids to Kovalam. Whatever, I don't yearn for the Eve's Beach except for the royale seafood and those magnifique femmes...Shankhumugham has always been my first choice...and will remain so.

An evening in Shankhumugham image courtesy Saifudeen

And I'm back to my favourite beach in the world, this time a bit in the other shoes... as a husband and as a father holding my bundle of joy close to my heart. My little lady is too too too young for me to be concerned about the waves but I understand why my mother always used to be uneasy about taking us kids to the beach, the rapturous delight the place triggers in the kids. The shores always let loose the exaltation in you, and mothers naturally are concerned. The evening still bears the permanent feel of a fair-ground, teeming with life. Parents with extra-watchful eyes on the jubilant kids, teenagers engaged in ball-games, artists, photographers, tourists, vendors, sons-of-the-sea fighting with the waves, sweethearts in their own world amidst the crowd...

Honestly, over 2 decades of clock-tickings haven't robbed the shores off any charm. The water may be a tad brownish and the place may have become more crowded, parking fees may have tripled and quadrupled but the charisma that made Shankhumugham, Shankhumugham still remain... A 200m walkway has been built and a few hi-mast lights installed, rest all remain unchanged. The star-fish restaurant, the Mermaid, the hillock giving the perfect view of the take-off of the metal birds, those stone marvels... all still the same!

Mermaid @ Shankhumugham image courtesy fstop mathai

Surely, would the word 'nostalgia' have the same meaning if we were in a perpetual world?

But some changes could've been productive...For the likes of the Traffic Park which still remains dilapidated, the historical pond is not yet preserved and the palace is still rusty...

But it is promised that things are deemed to change now. The authorities have drawn up some whacky ideas for a complete overhaul of the place.. And they tell me the structure rising up next to the playground is a Police Station! Yes, a Police Station bang inside a Beach Park.. wtf, who approved this???

What next? A morgue with a view perhaps?

Sculpture in the beach park image courtesy fstop mathai

So there! Trivandrum may have some very famous beaches but none so enticing as the Shankumugham, if you ask me. May be the airport and the closeness to the city have helped the brand-image but no, there is something more to the place. I'll come here again, inshah allah, some good things should never come to an end.

From a novice boyyie and to an acting-the-smart youth to a family man, the place still teaches me new lessons. I held my daughter in my arms, bending down for her two tender feet to touch the earth at one of its most beautiful points. I was just getting the feel of a grown up man swelling with happiness and pride, but there, mummy is giving out about the wind being too cold for the baby... "No amma, she's all covered up", I argue, but I've to recede. I still don't call the shots everytime.. ;)

The breeze, the horizon, the sands, birds, the people, the ever-enduring sea and the feeling of being home... Shankhumugham never ceases to exhilarate.

Here is my fav beach in a nutshell, courtesy Tom Thomas from Vanity Moments.

Ironically this trip gave me something to forget. I lost my mobile phone with all its photos in the Arabian Sea while playing catch-me-if-you-can with the waves. Too bad, the photo-collage I planned with this post will remain a dream :(

In the news

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:08:00 +0000

The first step to get noticed is to get mentioned. And that's exactly what's happened today.

After 23 months, 65 published posts and two dozen unpublished/rejected drafts www.scorpiogenius.com managed to make itself printed on India's national newspaper.

The Hindu, Metro Plus, Trivandrum, 22/10/2009

Such blogs, however, are notoriously difficult to write and considered quite boring by many netizens. Not to mention they have to be as accurate as possible. Anish Sahadevan, a male nurse who blogs as ‘scorpiogenius,’ opines that blogs still speak a hypophonic tone in India, unlike in the United States where they are parallel to mainstream media and as powerful and influential as the traditional press. “Most development blogs appear a tad dull for the majority. A small example is in my blog itself. According to my Google Analytics the most read articles on my blog are the three posts I wrote about films and movie stars! It takes considerable time and effort to draft posts like the Vizhinjam project but it still hasn’t got half the clicks the article on Mohanlal got. Still there is a surge in the interest generated by development blogs and forums, a sure sign of a change in the attitude of the populace.” he says.

Featuring on The Hindu, even if it was on a regional supplement is a great shot in the arm for a simple human being like me, a wild-card entrant to the social blogosphere. This is a sure encouragement to go the extra mile when drafting new posts, oh but surely I don't possess any delusions of grandiosity. More commitment to blogging? Yes, the last thing now you want is to go down like a lead balloon after getting first hand evidence that blogs and social forums could actually make a difference (in a big way at least in the future).

Now isn't this what I've always been hoping for?

Proud and delighted to find myself amidst fellow bloggers from different corners of the world but possessing a common factor, Trivandrum. To Nikhil Narayanan (Bangalore), Brahmaprakash Narayanan (USA), Nishanth Nair (Australia) and the one-and-only Ajay Prasad, with special thanks to Nita Satyendran, Sub-Editor, The Hindu, Trivandrum.

Trivandrum, please

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:33:00 +0000

How many of you have an idea about how Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram a.k.a Trivandrum is being abused the world over? You can shrug, you can frown, you can whinge, you can rofl, or you can do a bit of all these but just go through my experience about the 'international' abuse of my hometown taking place every single day, every single minute on every single continent in the sphere.

image courtesy Rajith Mohan

The tale started with my receiving of my IATA flight ticket where it was printed that I'm travelling from Dublin to Thiruvananthapu... Yes, to Thiruvananthapu, ending in a 'pu' as in Pappu. I think there was also a hyphen (-) after the 'pu', possibly to indicate that the name extends furthur into the outer space.

The name grew a tad more to 'Thiruvananthapura' on my printed ticket I received through e-mail. Not so bad, 'pura' more or less deploys the same meaning. But something tells me that I'm missing something again.

After landing on the swanky new Terminal in Abu Dhabi I started scanning the information screens to locate my Gate for the Trivandrum flight. And here goes! Gate 11 for the 2245 flight to Thiruvananthapu... Again! Anyway the boarding pass was not so irritating as they chose the easier method, AUH to TRV. Simple enough. No torture there.

The real ill-treatment occured in the air when the First Officer was briefing about the flight details. The apparently Eastern European gentleman had no idea where he was flying and was consistently addressing Trivandrum in as many ways as he liked. During the flight the Captain took over and it was even more hilarious, the suave lady carried on announcing that they had now initiated descent into Trivandrapuram! Classical Anglo-mallu name for my city and the first time I'm coming across this.

Whatever, I dont intend to ridicule her. She knew what she was saying better than the lad beside her who was absolutely in the middle of the Pacific. Still both would fail the Std I fill-in-the-blank test for "Capital of Kerala" question.

I don't know who is to blame here but lets for easy-sake blame it on the Karunakaran Govt who decided to do away with the anglicized names for Kerala locales. A sudden upsurge of patriotism I believe, but is the Govt recognizing the way the world is screwing our place-names? At least the Brits saved the slaughter of my hometown for half-a-century from these travel personnel and tourists.

Leave the foreigners, our own Northie countrymen have their own ways when dealing with Trivandrum. I've seen it spelled Trivendrum many many times and pronounced Thrivendhrum. So those who have a compulsive habit of making mistakes will find a way to commit them, either way.

I fail to see the sense of purpose behind such a move especially because mostly it is the Govt Departments and establishments that name the place as they fancy. I bet you still can find Trivandrum being typed on GoK official documents. Technopark likes to go with Trivandrum, even on their official website. In TIA or Trivandrum Int'l Airport you can easily find both names inside and outside the Terminal. The Indian Railways too indulge in this name-hop. They have huge boards screaming Thiruvananthapuram Central while their LCD Display TVs welcome you to Trivandrum. Many trains also carry the Trivandrum (and sometimes Trivendrum)tags on coaches in an as-when-comfortable basis.

I'm one among the many millions of Keralaites who think Trivandrum is much more suited for the recognition of our city on a global platform. It may appear childish and trivial, but these small things do count. Even our MP Dr. Shashi Tharoor thinks so, look at the snapshot of his Tweet a few months back. Personally I don't gel with Ananthapuri, but Dr. Tharoor's idea is right on track. We don't want to see our city screwed left, right, center and on the air by every passing Dick, do we?

I did a bit of research about the longest placenames in the world and voila! Look whoz appearing! Our own Thiruvananthapuram, right up there among the 13 elite places in the world with a hyper-extended nameboard! You happy, or?

Check out this Wikipedia link if you don't believe me.

Still T-h-i-r-u-v-a-n-a-n-t-h-a-p-u-r-a-m stands pretty when compared to some of the tongue-freezing Polish place names I came acorss. How about Krzeczkowo Szepielaki? A village in Ostrow Mazowiecki district in Poland! You think it's the worst? Then try Szczedrohoszcze and Zienowszczyzna.

But thank heavens my home is not in Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, the official record holder for such interminable names. Hold on, the name above is actually a shorter version for the original name
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatah!

Well oh well, lets go home now...

Good things begin at home :)

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:39:00 +0000

The Govt of Kerala passed a bill the other day advocating severe measures against individuals and institutions found guilty of littering the environment. There are some pretty hefty fines, if you throw your bag of nappies, condoms and beer cans to the nearby municipal road, nearby canal or into the drain. Here is a snapshot of the article if you wanna enlighten yourself. Courtesy Keralakaumudi.

click for bigger fonts

Ok, appreciable move Gov! I'm waiting for the bill to become the law. And when it becomes the law, lest we not let this go the way of the numerous "laws" we have around us just for the namesake of it. Laws that are around just to encourage the public to break them...The Helmet and seat-belt rule, smoking in public places, ban on plastics to name a few.

Civic sense is not something which can be taught or practiced overnight. Kerala holds an august image as being one of the cleanest states in India, if not the cleanest. We take pride in our well maintained homes and apartments, our cities are still spotless (!) when in Indian perspective, we're given proper toilet training and not the field/railway track training, our city skylines are the prettiest in India and even the shanties we brand as slums are by far the best among the worst. Do you disagree?

Cochin Marine Drive skyline Courtesy Niyasworld

The above image of the longest and prettiest skyline in Kerala, the Marine Drive waterfront in Cochin speaks about itself. Well maintained exteriors, no pillow covers, towels or undies hung up to dry in the balconies, and in fact most apartments and housing estates do have rules in place which helps to keep up the aesthetics of the complex.

Still, we're still stuck in the lower primary levels when it comes to acceptable standards of environmental hygiene & civic obedience. I learned a few lessons myself when I migrated outside the comfort zones of my country for the first time, the major crash course being on civic sense and law-abiding. I learned to use the litter bin for even the bubble gum, not to spit around as if the whole world is a wash-basin , to queue up to alight the public bus, to drive on the correct lane at the right speed, to brake whenever I see the amber turn on instead of the age-old habit of accelerating harder...

Not that I'm whinging about our practices back in Kerala.. I still wear 'mundu' at home and not Bermuda, I'm still comfortable eating with my hand and I still speak Malayalam and not the Ranjini Haridas 'maliyalum'.. Just in case some of you think, "oh, this guy is acting the 'sayippu' when he shook hands with a few white men..", its not that way! ;)

The curious thing is that it all came naturally to me because I was trained precisely so as a kid... I remember how my lower primary school teachers taught us to walk only on the footpath, to form the queue while getting into the school bus, not to spit on the road and sidewalks, proper disposal of the lunch-box remains, hand and body hygiene and what not? So where did I, as an individual, lose all those finer qualities? Now, I'm looking for someone to blame when mostly the fingers are all pointed towards myself.

To be honest, in India we practice bits and pieces. I've been reprimanded by a cop in Mangalore for crossing the road when the pedestrian signal was red, I patiently waited in the long queue to get into the BEST bus in Mumbai, I was part of the group which was fined in Mysore Zoo for plastic littering. All valuable education, but transgressed as soon as I landed back in aamchi Trivandrum! I've seen efforts by Bangalore Police to train drivers in lane driving in 2004 but the story was nonetheless the same when I went there last year. So the lesson to be learned is that we as human beings get naturally conditioned by the environment we live in. Simple as that.

Formulating the law is the easiest part, implementing it is the hardest. Kerala authorities learned it the hard way when the 100% sensible helmet rule was brought down to its knees and then driven to the gullies by the 100% literate Kerala society with the help of the demi-God media. It is anybody's guess where this new law will end up. It is unclear who is going to implement this law when the local self Govts apparently have enough on their plate now to look out for more garbage. The silver lining is that we already have the resources and help at hand to ascertain the abiding of this law, through Kudumbasree.

Kudumbashree is perhaps the illustrious example of how proper planning can bring about wonder changes to the society. In addition to the social empowerment and upliftment of women and initiating consistent income to the weaker households, it has opened up a channel to solve our most discerning problem: protecting our environment through solid waste management. (Please click the link to see how these women service our cities to keep them clean)

This is how this unique initiative by the State Poverty Eradication Mission may change the way Keralaites see their surroundings.

The Hindu, Sept 7, 2009

Once the Kudumbasree takes over the collection, each house will be given a report card for marking the nature of waste. Segregated and non-segregated waste disposals from the households will be marked in the card. Houses that do not give the waste to the waste handlers will also be identified. With the waste disposals of the households profiled, the ones that dump waste on the roads could be easily identified. The Kudumbasree units are being brought into the picture to ensure that waste is never dumped on the roads.A monthly fee of Rs. 50 each will be collected from each house.

So here is our model! Once the scope of their work is expanded from residential areas to managing the waste from commercial enterprises, a huge chunk of the litter menace in our ponds, canals and roads could be cordoned off. Ask the Corporation of Trivandrum who under-estimated the residents of their city. The Corporation barricaded the Amayizhanjan Canal with wire meshes to prevent dumping of waste into it. So what did the citizens do? They filled up the garbage in polythene bags and flung it over the 10-feet high wire barricade, right into the canal! Well, with Kudumbasree the authorities feel they could now shortlist such smart offenders.

And their modus operandi will solve another headache our agencies had w.r.t waste treatment: segregation of waste. This may open up avenues for the facilitation off recycling and reuse of materials, thereby taking a step closer to the Green initiatives which are gaining momentum.

I wish them good luck! And applause to whoever is behind the virgin initiative.

A much more proactive measure have to come from the local Govts in this matter. Charging & fining the defaulting residents and establishments is a first step towards aligning the practices of residents towards decency, but it should be after the proper support measures are in place. It wouldn't be too impractical or difficult to put up litter bins on public places (like the one in the right pic) with the support of commercial establishments. With more Kudumbasree Units on the job, the processing and disposal of the waste won't be a big issue.

On the same lines, it would be prudent if the local authorities assume a firm stand against the defacing of our highways and cities by these banners, arches and ads. Sure they are avenues of revenue for the Panchayats & Municipalities but at what cost? Most of the time the political flags freely adorn the roundabouts, traffic islands and road dividers without any consent from any local body. A true eyesore in any sense for such a tourism-savvy place, but anyone bothered?

About lane driving and matters related to the road sense, its one tough job to crack the routine. The Highway Police did manage to make the motorists obey the "do not cross the yellow line" law sometime back by using the tough hands of the law, perhaps the next thing to do is to crack down on speeding. Forcing lane driving could be a joke for the simple reason that there are no lanes markings on many of our roads.

So the simple fact is that as Keralites we are not so bad as the rest of our country, but we still have a lot of scope for improvement. When our bad practices start draining our pockets we will be forced to put a chain to it. This is a lifestyle no one would be complaining about adopting from the West, or even the East. Guess why they say 'Singapore is a Fine City' , read this one from blogger Ajay Prasad and find out...

Speaking about hygiene and filth and citizens with civic sense, I learned that the West could be well as bad. Have a glance at the pix below; the one below is Downtown Los Angeles...

and these 'gentlemen' are making themselves known in Melbourne, Australia. May be under the influence but still, I don't envy the behaviour or the surroundings, would you?

Earthquake in Trivandrum, lonely man Twitter & more wtf

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:26:00 +0000

Consider this a compulsive sequel to the September 17 post on the Tharoor tweet controversy.

I hate to do this again, but the whole nation is on a debate left, right and center about a casual joke of Dr. Shashi Tharoor. I don't intend an autopsy on the ongoing fiddle-faddle but I can't help registering the utterly ridiculous deluge of gibberish from our self-proclaimed common-man's representatives.

Tharoor himself has acknowledged the political incorrectness of his pun and accepted the momentary lack of acumen to give his antagonists a potent weapon to hit him back. And he has said "sorry"!

But some people just don't want to let go.. Especially the ones who are green eyed at the high-speed elevator Dr. Tharoor took to reach the ranks, his closeness with the High-Command, his remarkable ability to hog the spotlight oh him and who're dazed by his flair, finesse and rising popularity among the country's youth.

So what do they do? Roll out a teething attack all in the name of a 71-word joke! Make no mistake here, its Congress leading the official attack on Tharoor, with BJP and the lefties yet to catch up.

First of all our Hindi media dudes committed the first purposeful misdeed of translating a perfectly tolerable slang into Hindi, which immediately erased the humour element and turned it into blasphemy! Instantly lands Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan, claiming to a Congress spokesperson, who clamours over the 'insensitive' nature of that tweet.

Congress elements are claiming that they are forced to speak out on this Twitter issue because the National Media has made a mountain out this mole. True in a sense; but how did the party handle this, especially at a crucial point when Assembly Elections are approaching? Every Tom, Dick and Harry has voiced their alarm at the insult delivered to common travelling public, and even Kerala ex-CM Oomen Chandy voices his displeasure saying that public figures should be compassionate. After Jayanthi Natarajan it was the turn of Rajasthan CM and senior Congressman Ashok Gehlot to make matters worse by this public condemnation.

This, you must not forget, is when Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh has brushed aside this matter in the proper way, that this was a joke from Dr. Tharoor and nothing to ponder on.

Times of India columnist Mr. Jug Suraiya has depicted this in a facetious yet factual manner. Our traditional mail, the India Post is termed snail-mail. So can all the people who put a letter into our post-box called snails? And that the business class travellers are called "fat rats" as opposed to "cattle class", so now which one would you mind?

Shashi Tharoor has become the icon of hope for the citizens of Trivandrum as well as the whole nation. He has already acknowledged the situation and voiced that his priority would be the 400 million citizens of India living on just 1.25$ and less per day. In a short span of 3 months he has already started the ground work of strengthening the foundations for a sustained growth, viz the Rai Foundation scholarships for girls from lower economic strata and many more.

Sukumar Azhikode, an acclaimed critic and orator ridiculed the voters of Trivandrum as being "blind" and "foolish" for electing someone like Tharoor to New Delhi. In a stark paradox, IBN Live found out that the blind and foolish Trivandrumites could actually see the lighter side of the tweet which all the politicians failed to note. Perhaps the 3.4 magnitude earthquake which struck the city yesterday evening could help shake off some clog from the brains of these holier than thou souls craving for Tharoor's blood.

Now, take this Mr. Azhikode!

Trivandrum says LOL!

Click here if the video-link on top is not working.

A massive boo-hoo arrived from another Congressman and Waynad MP Mr. M.A. Shanavas who openly remarked on IndiaVision that Twitter, Email and all are Western concepts and we as Indians should discard them!! No comments on that, but it received more than enough clatter from Congress MP Mr. Sudhakaran, interestingly another rare politician who tweets regularly.

The best joke of all came from Mr. Tom Vadakkan, so-called AICC Media Secreatry . And by god, just listen to the great invention he has made about Twitter. He apparently did a research about Twitter when Times Now contacted him and this is what he 'found out' about the micro-blogging site. Hold on to your knickers pals... This one takes the cake!

Did you notice the shock that blogger Amit Varma (the guy in glasses beside Tom uncle) got listening live to the 'lonely man' stuff? Oh, its priceless! Watch 00:14 in the video..

Click for Full video of Times Now interview. Watch it, its worth it!

I did a bit of research myself about Mr. Vadkkan's interpretation of Twitter and its relation with loneliness, and sorry mates; I've come out blank. Perhaps this is the most plausible explanation I could think of: Twitter is meant for people who are very lonely and depressed and who doesn't have anything worthy to do. And according to Tom Vadakkan they need psychological counselling. Did you hear that Jack Dorsey?

Now isn't this an instance you truly want to scream STFU!! ?

Tailpiece: Think about it, this guy Vadakkan was under serious consideration as a contestant from Trichur for the recent Lok Sabha elections! Breathe a sigh of relief my old Trichur folks, that you're saved from colossal embarrassment of calling this dude your MP. God bless Trichur!

Between cattle and the holy cows

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:09:00 +0000

Oh no, my favourite politician has found himself in hot waters again!

Shashi Tharoor is turning out to be the darling of Indian press. Be cautious! When you become the toast of the media you naturally find yourself staring at a big ugly canon because our mediafolks have never a good word to say about anybody or anything, unless you are a bollywood superstar. And the Trivandrum MP has had a fairly rough induction into his new career as an Indian Parliamentarian, pretty rough.

Dr.Tharoor's trackrecord in India exhibits one clear prominent feature. His ability to rake up controversies. It started the very day his name was announced as the contestant to New Delhi from Trivandrum. From the burning of his effigy by his own partymates to the National anthem controversy, he emerged all flags flying, amidst personal attacks pertaining to his American Connection, Israel soft-corner, literary works, Canadian wife and affluent lifestyle, one accusation outdoing the next in absurdity and stupidity.

His life as an MP and Minister kick started with questions raised about his 'strange' hobby of Tweeting. This came from people who didn't know if Twitter was an animal or a bird. Tharoor's clarification was nodded to by everybody. The mooncalf journo who tried acting the smartass had his ass kicked and the matter was laid to rest. Then came the tiff with the losers at Trivandrum DCC and also a poke- poke back with the NSS. Nevertheless Tharoor won Round One 21-0.

The recent Five Star Hotel issue (or rather should I call it the non-issue?) brought the man again back in frame. It all began with a laughable Austerity Drive by the Congress head honchos by gimmicks like travelling in the Economy Class on flights, cutting down needless expenditures and so on. Laughable, because crores are spent on managing these palatial ministerial bunglows at the taxpayer's expense and Highway Minister Kamal Nath was on a glob-trot for no reason with accomodation in Five-Diamond rated Hotels..I don't know on whose bright head this austerity bulb flashed first but I can tell you where this is headed. Are all our politicians going to travel in the Economy Class forever? Haaaaaah, I'd bet my house on them moving on to the posh upper zones in a hurry, by citing security reasons and whatever crap they could think of. But Tharoor lost a few personal points in this political ploy when he was asked to vacate the Hotel suite where he was staying by paying from his own pocket!

The waves of this Hotel nonsense were just retaliating when the next one has crashed down on all of us, this time with the effect of a Tsunami! And this one seems bad enough, with Tharoor's trendy aide, Twitter, letting him down this time.

It all started when Tharror responded to a friendly light-sided tweet from Mr.Kanchan Gupta, Associate Editor of the Pioneer. His tweet was as follows: (Sept 14, 11:27am)

@ShashiTharoor Tell us Minister, next time you travel to Kerala, will it be cattle class?

Tharoor, as whimsical as he is responded in a so-so manner.

@ Kanchan Gupta, absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!

And Kanchan Gupta followed it up with the safe-journey wish. (note the emoction) (Sept 15, 10:11pm)

@ Shashi Tharoor, Have a nice journey. And since there is no austerity out there, have fun.. :)

Now, I first heard about this issue when a friend of mine pinged me about this in Gtalk. He asked me if I had heard what Dr. Tharoor had just said. On briefing me, I just asked "What! Did he really say something like that!?" My initial stress was on the 'holy cow' part of it becuase it, in all probability, was meant to aim the Congress think tanks and it wouldn't be digested well.

The indigestion would be for a few good reasons. First it would be interpreted as a poke at the "Austerity campaign" undertaken by his party bosses. Secondly the humour element in a harmless off-topic conversation between two individuals would be dissociated when the Press and public interpret his words. Lastly and most obviously, English is not the first, or even the second language of a mammoth chunk of our countrymen and Tharoor's colloquial Oxford English usage won't be taken in the exact sense a Scottish teenager would've seen it.

That's exactly what happened here. Lost in translation, lost in context...

In all fairness to Tharoor, Cattle Class is an accepted and widely frequented synonym for Economy Class travel. Tharoor used it as a run-of-the-mill response, remember, but this is where the words and phrases find new and out of context meanings when in translation.

Remind you of something? The now infamous 'dog remarks' by Kerala CM Comrade Achutanandan. Same settings, same ploy, same error.. Now if Achumama was wrong there, Tharoor is wrong here. You take out the 'if' from the previous sentence, it still holds its fact, sadly.

What I understand from this is that you needn't be wrong to be deemed wrong. The omnipresent television folks are ready to spring upon anything, and under the present Indian circumstances the media verdict is kinda interpreted as the people's opinion. Doesn't matter if you're right or wrong, what the media vomits and excretes are sacred offerings... Our billion-strong population can very well be taken for a ride, like the ongoing China-India war! I don't know whats going on there, do you?

A high profile personality like Shashi Tharoor is always under the microscope. It is news if he says something, its news even if he doesn't say anything. So when he rather speak, he may well weigh his words before letting it out. His tweets are for me, you and the whole world to see. So as a man of high honour it may well be prudent if Dr. Tharoor pays a little more attention to his words and deeds. Sadly, humour sense and common sense is not something very common in our set-up, as he has learned the hard way.

I hope senses prevail among the leaders and Tharoor not be reprimanded for being witty. He is a league ahead of some of the mainstream leaders we got up there and perhaps that's his main fault: being ahead of the curve. And as for Dr. Tharoor, he may better learn this lesson well, and quick!

Update 18/09/2009 0330 hrs IST
-----------------------------------------------
What began in Twitter hopefully will end in Twitter. Shashi Tharoor has expressed his regret and apologies for the inattentive(!) and insensitive(?) use of jargons. From Twitter:

learned belatedly of fuss over my tweet replying to journo's query whether i wld travel to Kerala in "cattle class". His phrase which i rptd

it's a silly expression but means no disrespect to economy travellers, only to airlines for herding us in like cattle. Many have misunderstd

i'm told it sounds worse in Malayalam, esp out of context. To those hurt by the belief that my repeating the phrase showed contempt: sorry

i now realize i shldnt assume people will appreciate humour. &u shouldn't give those who wld wilfully distort yr words an opportnty to do so

And as an explanation to his "holy cow" usage, Tharoor replies to the querry of a fellow tweeter.

@dilnawazpasha holy cows are NOT individuals but sacrosanct issues or principles that no one dares challenge. Wish critics wld look it up

So Dr. Tharoor, hope the ones crying for your blood will be satiated by this. And appreciate the courage shown to accept the tactical or political error you've commited. You said it, ours is not a funny country and we have to live with it.

Suggested reads on the same issue.

Its a joke, you stupid cretins!
Congress's sense of humour is pathetic
Austerity 09: Random thoughts
A Cattle-class country?

Angels or Demons?

noreply@blogger.com (scorpiogenius) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:46:00 +0000

There is a group of people in Kerala who are on a direct competition with the attimari labourers, govt employees and private bus owners to break the record for the maximum number of strikes conducted in one calender year: the doctors!

There is another strike going on in the Medical College in Trivandrum, the umpteenth one this year, this time the reason being the Govt decision to ban private practice. All the departments are under freeze, and the patients left at the mercy of the bystanders and the nurses, but who cares?

Doctors belong to the upper strata of the society. They, being the watchdog of life, are given utmost respect, enjoy crémé social status and privileges. They are semi-Gods earning probably a fortune, especially the senior docs who earn 7-digit quids through salaries, perks, private practice and commission from prescriptions and scans.Yet some are not satisfied.

Having a flashback at the recent events with the doctors in spotlight (for the wrong reasons) exhibits the alarming consistency at which our medics abuse the respect and status showered upon them. Leave aside the ubiquitous lightening strikes, there have been rather unfortunate happenings like a senior doctor walking out from accompanying the President, the needless, silly and ridiculous tiff with the nursing staff in the Medical College (which saw them stooping to new low with distribution of propaganda leaflets to patients and relatives!! ). Have the docs of Kerala lost their self-respect?

Make no mistake about it, the life of a doc, especially early on in their career, is no rose-bed. They are given the most rigorous training in the four-and-a-half years and then starts the real torture. A medical college like Trivandrum, which has 1500 beds and 4000 patients are literally run by house-surgeons and post-graduate students. The interns do the dog-work for a paltry 4-digit stipend, sometimes 24 hours on the trot. A medical/surgical ward which accommodates 65 beds and has 165 patients at a time, is run by a couple of house-surgeons, 1 post-graduate student, and a couple of nurses. During night shift, this figure halves!! Many a times, the lives of these 165 patients rest in the hands of the lone nurse. Worse, there is no specific definition about the scope of work for each health care professional.

Don't ask what will happen if two or three patients, God forbid, get heart attacks simultaneously..

Read it together with the pressure of their studies and career, discontented and mostly-ignorant (pardon that word) patients and relatives, chronic lack of adequate medications, equipment and support, there are some very good reasons for them getting frustrated.

Medical College Trivandrum Entrance

Saying that, that is no reason for the men-of-honour to abuse their power and show off their union strength leaving the patients at God's mercy. The Govt spends over 20Lakhs of tax-payers' money to educate a single doctor from our Medical Colleges, and the docs have some serious social commitment. It seems they need to be reminded about this one fact they seem to forget.

Doctors in Kerala refuse to go out to see their patients at home, and the system and work-culture turning them even more arrogant. Ethics is not a word that many of our holy-men would like to hear. ESMA and laws like that are jokes for them because they, like any other common Kerala labourer, understand the power of labour union. How on earth could someone in this profession behave like a common coolie worker, after-all education is a virtue which brings about change in behaviour. There was even an incident a few years back where a group of resident doctors beat up an acutely ill patient on a hospital bed! Unimaginable! That was the lowest I thought, but no..

It's becoming increasingly clear that there is a use of muscle power to get things in their favour. Part of the blame lies with the Govt which keeps our hospitals function at the most basic levels. In the event of a mass casualty the health care workers are under enormous pressure and this often breaks out as face offs with the patients and the accompanists. There have been numerous instances where physical attacks have been carried out against the doctors and this in turn resulting in a lightening strike.

The Govt in turn has chosen to keep mum on the issue instead of promptly dealing with it in a cause-factor method. Promises are made, the Police will charge a few and the issue is covered in tissue paper. It happens again, eventually. Control of relatives in our hospital settings is one major step, especially in the casualties. Hospitals must formulate a policy of zero tolerance to those who abuse their staff and should show the public that deterrents will be prosecuted. Beef up security and control in our hospital settings, for the total protection of the staff, the patients and their relatives. So that's a firm hand on one horn of the bull.

Developing our hospital infra is no easy job. Health sector is one area where Kerala is far too ahead of their counterparts in India, but we're still caught wanting at needy times. Whatever money is pumped into the system doesn't show up anywhere. CT Scanners and associated equipments bought for the Govt. Hospitals break down 'mysteriously' the next day, or surely within a week. Lack of life-saving medications and the pressure for private purchase leads to the displaced anger of the relatives towards the doctors and other health staff. So again, who is the primary culprit here?

Professionalism is another word our Public Health System could add to its dictionary. On top of the thousand-odd students and thousands of patients, the senior doctors are burdened with the additional responsibility of administration, which drains off their mental energy completely. Its about time there is a serious revamp to our administrative set up, and the doctors allowed to do what they're supposed to do. Those MBA and MHA graduates are smart blokes on the frame, believe me!

Our social structure and environment has surely structured the way the doctors view the world outside their glasshouse. The huge difference in the work-culture and practice in a Medical College or a Private Hospital from that seen in the autonomous institution of Sree Chthra Thirunal Institute of Medical Science and Technology must be a leaf we could borrow. SCTIMST and the Regional Cancer Center host an exemplary structure, starting from a Medical Social Worker and rising to the panel doctors to review their patients. The security and safety are admirable, the hospital is clean, neat and healthy, the staff paid good salaries (unlike in the Private Hospitals) and the working environment is far better, though I'm not claiming it to be a heaven ;). But a far cry from our local set up where there is just one boss dictating terms.

Sree Chitra Institute in Trivandrum pic courtesy Satyalal

Though our Private Hospitals are good at cleanliness and support structures, there is much to be desired by the way it handles the staff. Apart from the senior doctors, the other health care professionals including the junior doctors, staff nurses and the paramedical staff are paid paltry amounts which is in gross violation with the minimum pay laws in place. Its not a secret that people work full-time for even Rs. 500/month, and how would you expect these ground-level workers not to be professionally dissatisfied, frustrated and act out? The laws in place are mere scarecrows and there is a serious lack of regulations.

Is this what we call a healthy working environment? NO, any place where the abuse of staff occurs is never a healthy work environment. You're sure to see trouble and a degradation in the quality of work.

Lack of team work is another worrying phenomenon which plagues our health system. There are far too many levels, mirroring our social strata. The doctors are in one cozy level and then comes the ground level employees. The Nurses, for the amount of selfless toil they do are always at the receiving end of the stick from all parts of their spectrum. Long shifts, unsocial working hours, short breaks, lack of holidays, miserly pay packages, unruly working environment...tell me why any educated soul should tolerate this? It is a thankless job being a nurse in Kerala, ask me, and no wonder the new graduates from our state want to run away to the West where they get respect, honour and a lifestyle which is a class apart. Same tale goes with the professionals in the Pharmacy and other Paramedical professions, but one good thing is that they're not directly involved in patient care.

Lack of flexibility and accountability adds to the deterioration of our health system.The status-quo has remained because of the rigid attitudes of the groups with vested interests. Negative media scrutiny and bad press doesn't help as well.

The Govt must make up their mind to use the iron handle in dealing with such illicit and unethical union activities at the expense of the safety of the patients. About time the medics have a serious retrospection on their tactics to bring things under their control through such unfair means.

So all's not rosy in our health sector as it may appear from outside. The treatment must begin from the highest level, and with all due respect to the doctors of our state, there must be a change the way some of you do things. After-all this is not a job every Tom, Dick and Harry could do, and when it comes to people of the highest caliber like thee, we mortals expect a bit more compassion.

Compassion? Did I say something obscene? :P