'Oridathoru Puzhayundu': Dear Director, Just Grin And Bear This

Environmentalism has always been a hot subject for debate in Kerala; but only a microscopic minority are that serious when it comes to real action. Scathing attacks on the perils caused to nature in the name of industrialization and development is nothing new in the media, and an average Keralite is used to such blabbering(the left is right, and the right is wrong) on TV and other media including films. I have seen the turbaned, bearded former CPM supremo admonishing the state government on various matters including environmental protection sipping Pepsi cola, and that too at a press conference, and when a junior press person hesitatingly hinted about it, he was gestured to sit down. But it is not politics that I am writing here; so nothing more about it.

What prompted me write this is a film “ Oridathoru Puzhayundu” by a debutant director, Kalavoor Ravikumar. One of my close friends, Venu has done a lead role in the film, which harps on the urgency to protect environment from more devastation. The director has attempted to convey a message, but seems to have failed miserably to deliver home the point; may be his inexperience acted as a barrier to communicate well. The first impression I got was that he's got a finger in every pie, because he tried to do something just off the top of his head.

The level headed wife ( well done by Meera Jasmin's sister Jeni), and her husband ( my friend Venu did this role) who has got rock in his heads ( his wife's view point) is a nauseating cliché in Malayalam films and could have been avoided. Some scenes testify the influence of 'Kazhcha,' a popular film by Blessi (Don't think someone will get a lump in their throat seeing such scenes). Venu has performed well, except his facial expressions in the last scene. (please don't say to watch my mouth).

The talented little girl who played the role of Sumangala seems to be comfortable with the nuances of the art, and other children too did their best. As a novice, Kalavoor Ravikumar is well within his right to expect viewers build a fire under him. So, dear young director, just grin and bear it..

Post Monsoon Spiritual Jamborees

Monsoons having subsided, and there will be only a very brief stint of evening thunder showers due to the retreating winds in October-November, it's great time for spiritual gatherings and jamborees in Kerala. Whoever named Kerala 'God's own country' may not be aware of the fact that during certain months, so many Gods get spruced up across the state.

I wonder if a small state like ours could accommodate so many such divine Personnel(Blasphemy??). I am not speaking of temple festivals, which have an active participation of the general masses, and are more or less based on customs and conventions of the locality. In temples too, rapid commercialization is going on, and the aggressive ad campaigns initiated by some temple authorities vouch for the fact.

Our urban elite needs something more sophisticated, something more urbane, and the new trend is discourses on the Geetha, for 7 -10 days. Like a coffee club party, some people gather, and decide to do something to disseminate the message of the Geetha, and the rest progresses as usual, like any other fund raising program anywhere in the state. These very people, who by temperament never need to be near the message of the Geetha, look upon the opportunity as a forum for socializing.

One Chartered Accountant( he is the de-facto head of anything spiritual in my home town; someone there to question his birth right?), a couple of retired technocrats, a score of middle level technicians, and several bank, insurance, and government clerks (some even flaunt as officers – poor guys!!1), and some advocates (most of them have nothing to do at bar) make a wonderful recipe of a 'spiritual pot pouri committee.' I had witnessed one such group making a request to self introduce, when the real message of the Geetha is to realize self! Without realizing self, how can we introduce ourselves is never a question that disturbs such groups.

Call Rahul; Save India

Fascism or family rule? It may look an absurd question when put directly. What has fascism got to do with family rule, and when neither of the two possibilities are looming over Indian polity currently, you may tend to ignore such a question. But if you appraise the current political developments in Delhi over the India-U.S nuclear deal with a nose for something more than the usual, you could feel that things are being led to such a situation that soon our electorate will have to decide that a very special family is better than fascism! An average citizen may be still ambiguous if such an option would ever come before him, because in a multiple party polity, a handful of self-styled leaders rule the roost in all post-election arrangements. They state numerous reasons for it, and finally set conventions like outside support, jumbo cabinets, and many more.

For almost one month now, to be more exactly, ever since Manmohan Singh, our beloved Prime Minister, but a feeble person lashed out against the left for opposing the nuclear deal, there has been talk that the left would withdraw support to the minority Congress government at the center anytime. It was the first time our Prime Minister has been speaking like a person in authority, and the message was, if the left knew 'how to bite,' let them do it. May be it was a new found ally in Mayavathi's Bahujan Samaj Party, dissidence in the BJP, and the general mood ( don't know how far opinion polls can be relied on) across the country in favor of a Congress led government that permitted Manmohan Singh (Words are put into his mouth) to open up. Then came Ram Sethu controversy, first in the Congress itself, and later carried forward by the Tamil Nadu veteran Karunanidhi very colorfully. It's now elated mood in the BJP, and the congress too is not showing signs of reconciliation as the left might have expected. The latest development is, Sonia too has come openly against the left for its stand against the Nuclear deal, and has even described the left as 'elements opposing India's progress.' Now that the left seems to be in the defensive can be read from Bardhan's words that the Congress is 'imposing an election!'

So Sonia's congress bought time remaining at the helm of the affairs, to re-organize her party, to pop up her son to key positions, and find new allies across the fronts - all at the cost of the left who told people that fascism was the major threat, and congress is better. They made people forget those 2 years of emergency rule by a power craving lady, bearing the legacy of a great family, when everything about civil rights were suspended, and none of the left could do anything to prevent it. If India has anything of a taste of fascism, it was emergency, and that too for protecting a family rule. 'Call Indira; Save India,' and 'India is Indira' reverberated across the country then, and as dead persons cannot rise up from their graves, a reasonable as well as the most effective logic would be to 'call Rahul, and save India.'

Morons' Own Country!!

As expected, Tamil Nadu won what they had been fighting for! The unilateral decision of the Ministry of Railways to divide Palakkad division and create a new railway division with Salem as its Headquarters had evoked a lot of criticism from all Kerala leaders and sympathizers irrespective of their political affiliation. When the Prime Minister himself assured that there will no formal announcement until some sort of bilateral agreement is reached between the two states on the jurisdiction of the new devision, there was a strong feeling that Kerala's concerns would be considered without prejudice.

Twenty nine members of Parliament, all supporters of the Centre were hoodwinked at the discussion table presided by the Railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav himself – thanks to the fervent Tamil regionalism, and their tantrums plus the minority centre's leaning towards them! Consenting to add a few kilometers of meter guage in Pollachi area to Palakkad, an amicable settlement was easily reached, and Kerala leaders are happy as if they had fought and won something. A happy deneumet, in fact

Interestingly, it was not the PMK, a regional party with a militant fervor, but the CPI, who is a major constituent of the ruling left front in Kerala, who took an adamant stand not to concede any other area other than Pollachi to pacify Kerala! A galaxy of leaders representing almost all parties led the Tamil side, while our two central ministers decided to stay away, most probably at the behest of their leader(and extra constitutional power center as well)!


What has become evident is that regional politics can do much in a multi party conglomeration like the UPA, who is at the helm of affairs at the centre now. 'Our state; right or wrong' is the attitude of all states except Kerala where people are made to believe that shouting for the human rights of extremist Islamists( Doesn't mean Indian Muslims) is more important that fighting for our own rights. The polity in Kerala is reduced to something for morons only!

Is there any need to bear the yoke of national politics when such cheatings repeat? Is regionalism so much a bete noire in real- world politics when so many favors go to sates where national parties are only junior allies to regional party giants? It's time for introspection, and action.

Writing Again

It's been over 3 months since i have written something here. There were so many things to write on, but the problem was work discipline, something that i lack very much unfortunately. Anyhow, i have decided to come back, and start airing my views and comments on topics, and incidents that i feel important.

I cannot say iam coming back with a bang; but i will try to be more puntctual - at least one or two posts in a week. I can cite numerous reasons for staying away for so long; but had i been really serious about spending at least half an hour for writing something here, this long break could never have happened. But what happened has happened, and there is no point lamenting on lost time. So readers(if there are anyone serious), please bear with my laziness.

Experementing Spirituality

Association with spiritual people is supposed to be a great thing by many. It may be true if you are lucky enough to see spiritually elevated persons and keep company. True spiritual masters are species facing the threat of extinction. You'll see a lot of people claiming to be ascetics, yogis, and sanyasis, but close examination would prove that they're nothing but fake. Some seven years back, some of my friends introduced me to a lady who was supposed to be in an elevated state. She was somewhat in her middle age, and appeared not to take care of any external activities. Her half closed eyes always seemed to be in a blissful state. Initially, i never saw her speak! When she needed to communicated something about philosophical queries, she did it through gestures. When i first met her, a saffron clad young disciple was attending to her. “I am her sevaka (servant), nothing more; my sadhana (spiritual exercise is serving her”, he used to say. Later it turned out that this woman was pretending not to talk and experiencing bliss, and her disciple had criminal antecedents.

Unfortunately we don't have meters to check the spiritual authenticity of people. Had there been some hall marking for real saints, things would have been much easier. From my experience, here is one thing you can put to test. Check yourself if you feel your mind is calm and still near a person. If you feel it, that is one indicator of that person's genuine. Still, there is no way to ascertain at first sight how far a person has progressed spiritually. Our mind always tends to deceive us by jumping in to conclusions which may not be true always.

A true master would be always loving, free from material attachments. I have experienced peace and protection of love in front of a saintly person. It was only after meeting that person that i had to review many of my preconceived notions about spiritual people.

God's Own Country

Kerala state minister for co-operatives and temples is a controversial figure ever since he assumed his new position. Whenever he opens his mouth, a new controversy starts! As a staunch materialist and communist, he'll never believe that it's his fate. Take the recent 'Yesudas's right to enter Guruvayur Temple issue'. Sudhakaran was very earnest to write to the temple authorities to permit Yesudas pray inside the temple. But that letter has sparked another controversy. Now the debate is over the right of Thantris' (Head Priests) to surpass government orders.

Iam not a CPM sympathizer; yet i feel there is substance in what the minister is saying. As a social science student, i fear if the controversy will be pushed to the limits of questioning the relevance of Indian Constitution. Government rules are framed according to the Constitution of this country, whereas Thantris and temple rules are based on religious customs and conventions. Another interesting fact is that the term 'belief' is something hired from semitic religions which really has no roots in Indian culture. The core of Indian religious philosophy can be condensed to somewhat like this: 'You can believe or not believe, because all beliefs are blind. Strive to experience truth; once you experience truth there is nothing to be believed.' There is nothing like believers in Hinduism. Another interesting fact is that Thantra Sastra has its roots in non Vedic streams like Charvaka, Sankhya, and Yoga principles, which don't accept the existence of God!

The discussion Mahathma Gandhi made with Indanthuruthu Nampoodiri, the chief priest of Vaikom temple, for pressing the demand of 'Vaikom satryagrahis' is history. The Nampoodiri is said to have stated that 'Karmic Reaction' made people take birth as lower caste people, and that they have no right to enter the temple roads! Another 12 years, and the temple entry proclamation was issued in Travancore by late Sri Chitira Thirunal( at the behest of Sir C.P Ramaswami Iyer). Indanthuruthu Nampoodiri's ancestral house is now the Disrict Committee Office of CPM Toddy Workers Union; another karmic reaction indeed!