Akkara kazhchakal

Have you watched the episodes of Akkara Kazhchakal in the youtube?  If not yet, click the link: Akkara kazhchakal

This is really interesting. The hollowness of all that we are upto is aptly depicted in these sequels. It is so close to our lives.

Recently, one Eight Years old boy along with his parents occuppied his apartment in our Housing complex in Chennai. His parents were in USA. The boy, though not born in US, and  hence not a US citizen, had been studying there. Within the span of a few years, he forgot his mother tongue, that is Telugu. Now he speaks and understands only English. He speaks only English in American accent. So difficult to make out anything unless we look at his lip movement. Though I could not make out much from his talkings whenever I got a chance to talk to this boy, from whatever I could understand, the English he speaks is simply horrible. For a moment, an uncomfortable thought just passed through my mind. My friends's kids in USA too must be speaking this language - a language that heaavily depends on "you know".

It looks people there follow no grammer and every word has been modified to sound so awkward. I have never seen some words like gonna and  wanna in any dictionary. In addition to this, there are so many slangs in common use. I only hope, the kids of my beloved friends in US can speak Malayalam. I hope, they are aware that their mother tongue is Malayalam and it is important to be proud of it. Also, I am sure they speak English with all its beauty, not influenced by the rudderless language the locals use.  

Now the boy is the company of the Indian kids. His american accent will soon disappear, even without his knowledge, and a new accent dawn in his tongue. I can't say which will be the new style. It depends on how his teachers and the friends around him speak. 

If he is going to study in Tamil Nadu, he will learn Tanglish, in Keralam he will learn Manglish and if in Bihar he may speak  an altogether different English. Look, there is no Inglish in our country. There there hundreds of dialects and in commensurate with this, we have hundrends of forms English. Still, our English is much better than these heavily accented English of USA and UK. At least, you know, let us believe so.

Appooppanthaadi - 45

This time, I had extensive rides on the metro rail in Beijing. Beijing's mass rapid rail system is called The Subway. It has 15 lines that covers the entire length and breadth of Beijing. We can reach almost all major places of interst by Subway. Tian' anmen square, Forbidden City, Acrobatic Show, Kung fu show, The Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium, The Summer Palace and umpteen number of  other places are touched by the under ground, omnipresent Subway.

 The fare for a one way ride is just 2 yuans. In a way, with just 2 yuans one can travel the entire length and breadth in one direction by changing lines at different stations. As long as we are not coming out of the station, we can go on travelling.  The most convenient way to travel to anywhere in Beijing city is to go underground. It is very cheap also.

Beijing Subway is very easy to use. It is so simple. The route maps and the station at which line change is possible are all marked everywhere. Directions are marked so clearly that even a first time traveler will find it so easy to go places. One has to just follow the directions. Every journey in Beijing can be by the subway. We can easily avoid hustles and bustles of the road traffic. Be on board a jerk-less journey.  The only constraint is that it is difficult to travel by the Subway if we have some luggage as it is  too crowded all the time.

At peak hours, it resembled a Mumbai suburban line. One day, at my destination, I have been ejected out of the train by the alighting commuters, just like they do in our own loved Mumbai Sub Urban trains!  De ja vu indeed. Only difference was that there was no nauseating smell of pan masala and gutka here. The stations, where line change is available, the crowd swells manifold making even walking along the walkways so difficult.

Surprisingly, most of the people prefer to use the mechanised elevators to go up and down the different levels inside the stations instead of using the stair cases. Perhaps just one in hundred uses the stair cases in the stations. 






The Chinese who are known to be so conscious about physical fitness use every opportunity to avail facilities like escalators  and lifts to climb heights wherever these facilities are available. Another funny thing I noticed is that, people, after entering a lift, immediately press the 'close' button before even pushing the floor number button. They show too much of impatience here. This is not an isolated incident but a regular practice here.

This scene was grabbed as the train was
reaching
 its final destination

Despite all these crammed metro journeys, young women travel in their mini skirts or even shorter outfits. It seems no one troubles them taking advantage of the situation inside the trains. No probing hands or prying eyes on the thighs. Those who have girl friends or boy friends hug each other, cajole, caress or just touch on different parts of the body in proportionate to the 'intensity' of love they have. Those who have no lovers to tag on, were seen simply immersed in their third generation mobile phones. 

Every girl and boy has the latest model of the smart phones. They, either standing or sitting, never take their eyes and minds off these gadgets. They are lost in these third generation gizmos. Many of these gadgets ought to be unbelievably resembling clones of the reputed brands. As the destination reaches, they just eject themselves off the train as if everything is programmed. It is hard to see a person who sport a basic humble mobile phone. Of course I have one. I feel so slighted to brandish it in public now a days.

There does not appear to be any Male - Female conflict here. Girls walk and work just like boys. Women drive city buses and taxis just as men do. No infringement on anyone's rights. No one tries to over smart or prove themselves superior to the other. Everything is a kind of struggle for existence. Instead of thinking about who is above the other, they work together to make their life easier.That is the spirit of life and the Chinese understand it well.  Thank god, He had not yet sent his henchmen - the bigoted, sick minded religious leaders- to China to restric the Chinese women in the stone age itself...

The other side -2 : Presidential Elections

Have a look at the cartoon on the right. This is what the Indian President is all about! Still, the election creats a lot of interest, as if, the entire destiny of India hinges on the president. This is nothing but a media celebration. It makes no difference whoever comes to this post. The chair is much smaller than that of the party president's!

Having harped on this subject just take a look at the method of electing the President of India.

" India's Electoral College that will vote for a new president July 19 is made up of 4,896 members - 776 members of parliament and 4,120 members of the state assemblies. Between them they have 10,97,012 votes and the winning candidate needs at least 50 per cent of these.

How do numbers stack up?

• The ruling United Progressive Alliance, in its present form, has 450,555 votes or 41.07 per cent of the total. Of this, the Congress alone has 331,855 votes, or 30.3 per cent of the total.
• The allies - among them the Trinamool Congress and the DMK - have 11.04 per cent of the vote.
• The Samajwadi Party, which supports the government from outside, has 6.34 per cent of the vote.
• The Trinamool Congress has 4.40 per cent of the vote.
• If the Trinamool and the Samajwadi Party vote with the government, this will give it 47.41 per cent of the ballots - a shortfall of a mere 2.59 per cent.
• Should these two parties not vote with the government, it will be short by 13.33 per cent.
• The National Democratic Alliance has 27.7 per cent of the votes, of which the Bharatiya Janata Party has 21.2 per cent.
• The Left has 4.7 per cent of the vote.
• Among the other parties, the BSP has 3.98 per cent of the votes and the AIADMK 3.3 per cent.
• In the "others" category are 10.1 per cent of the votes.

To calculate the number of voters each legislator represents, the total population of the state is divided by the number of legislatures and then divided by 1,000.

For example, each member of Uttar Pradesh assembly represents 208 voters, while a member from Sikkim represents seven voters.

The value of vote of each MP is uniform at 708."

What is the difference the incumbent president made to our desitiny? There were only controversy surrounding the president. This president was also personally picked by the party president, supported by a Maharashtra based political party to uphold "marata manoos". I am not sure if the leader of that party is satisfied with the performance of this Marata Lady. What difference she made to the "Marata Manoos" needs an in-dept debate. 


In earlier days, the party president used to instruct one of her/his "servants" to go sit in the 'gaddi'. Now that there is no clear majority for the party, this does not work so easily. The "servant" has to stand for an election, though by and large a farce, to ascend to the gaddi.

Meanwhile, another presidential election is hotting up in another part of the world. To elect the President of USA.   The president is all powerful in USA and he is the one who drives the nation to right or wrong direction. Of course there is a parliament to keep a tab on the President. American president is elected by through an Electroal college that was elected by the citizens of the country.

Mitt Romney is the republican candidate and Barak Obama got the second chance to try for the second chance.As the real fight is raging there, we are so steeped in discussions and speculations over a fake election!!

Appooppanthaadi -44

Bullet Trains are running lengths and breadth of China. While looking from the window of our Beijing apartment, I could see the fast trains wizzing past at amazing speeds. As usual, I have no much work to do here in this third stint in China but to watch the places, people, and incidents! 



It is summer here. The maximum temperature in Beijing goes upto 30 degree celcius. Though the locals find it too hot, for the ones like me who come from the tropical climate, find it very comfortable. It is quiet comfortable sitting in the room without even a fan or an airconditioner. Right from the sofa set in which I am sitting, the elevated track of the railway is visible.

The Chinese high speed trains are named CRH, ie China Rail Highspeed. They can run at speed as high as 250KM per hour. A train from Beijing to Shanghai takes just 4 hours. Around 1000 kilometers is covered in this time. Cost of journey from Beijing to Shanghai by train on a second class coach is 550 Yuans and that on a first class is 920 Yuans. 



The trains are fully airconditioned and a pantry car is an integral part of the train. Intersetingly, no vendors walk along the walkways shouting vada, chaya and cooldrinks. It is really a pleasant journey by the highspeed trains, perhaps, more comfortable than an air travel.

The sprawling Shanghai Hongchau railway station is well maintained. Like in airports, every train has an entrance gate. The gate is opened only a few minutes before the arrival of the train so that passengers can enter the platform and wait for the train. While entering to the platform through the gate, we pass our ticket through an automated door. The door opens once the ticket is validated. No loitering around on the platforms and no entry for the people accompanying the passengers. No TTE in a black coat roams around on the trains because the ticket is checked at the gate itself (another source of curruption is curbed thus!!).

Till the gates are opened, passengers can comfortably sit in the vast waiting area. It has very attractive seating arrangements, food courts and television display units. The crowd behaves well and no beggars are seen roaming around. This makes the wait there very easy.

Interior of the trains are elegantly made. Good cushioned seats and enough leg space ensures our journey so pleasant. There are dispay units on eather side of the coach that gives information of the approaching station and the speed at which the train is running. Another interesting thing is that the toilets are not opened to the rails. All types of discharges in the toilets are stored and disposed of at appropriate spots. This is the system I saw in Europe too. 

Why is Indian Railways still let the human discharges fall in the open places including at railway stations? Many times, if anyone happens to be below a rail bridge in India while a train passes by, there is every chance that he/she is bathed in human excreta. So obnoxious indeed. 


Now, sitting at an office room at a chinese manufacturer's place around 100KM away from Shanghai, I can hear a roaring sound once in every few minutes. The High Speed trains are dashing off the place to its destinations, carrying development to different parts of China

The other side -1 : Egypt's struggle for democracy

This picture was shown in one of the earlier posts too. Repeating it here is essential. Hope many of the readers have already seen this horrifying picture

Click the below link to read more about this picture

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/21/us-egypt-protests-women-idUSTRE7BK1BX20111221

 She is lying there -half naked- because she demanded democracy in her country. After the revolution at Tahrir Square in Egypt's capital that threw away the  rule of Hosni Mobarak, the power was transferred to the Army. The understanding was that Army holds the power till elections are conducted and democacy takes over Egypt.

Now that the first phase of elections are over and the result throws a hazy picture that is not encouraging for a smooth journey towards democracy, Egypth's fate is still hanging fire. Meanwhile, let me make a passing reference to the way this lady is being treated. Hundreds of men and women came out of the streets of Egypts to throw out Hosni Mubarak. The reason is not only that he was autocratic but the larger reason was that he made peace with Israel. 



Though Egypt remained by and large a secular nation under the aegis of The Dictator, common man on the street, like any other part of the world, who surrendered his/her brain to the bigotic religious leaders were always angry with Israel. They never like Egypt making friends with Israel. I have first hand experience about how the people in that region nurture hatred against Israel. In Syria, whenever I tried to talk about Israle, people used to respond with a lot of anger. They used to virtually shiver when I tried to heckle them using Israel.

Gullible minds can always be misguided. They can be turned into a human bombs so easily. We can only pray that the forthcoming government at Cairo, after the results of elections are out, is a secular democratic government that will go overboard to spread peace and harmony in the middle east in particular and world as a whole.

The point I wanted to emphasise is that people all over the world, who reel under the heavy hands of the dictators, always fight for freedom. They are always willing to lay down their lives for democracy. An army general or a king or a few leaders of a single political party can never replace a democratic form of governent. Anna and his team may encourage people to be anti politicians and in turn anti democratic. But, the first man to go to jail if democarcy is gone will be Anna because, dictators never like "crusaders" of any kind

The Steamy memories

Steam has already started emenating from the cylinder, heralding the readiness of the "wheat puttu". This time we tried puttu with wheat powder instead of rice powder. It was raining cat and dogs outside. The ambience was nothing different from a monsoon day in the month of Karkidakom . 

The smell, the steam carried had already floored me. The wheat flouor was home made and it did carry the natural flavour. I was slowly melting. Melting into the sweet memories of yesteryears. No stopping. Even the slightest provocation like the smell of puttu, takes me over to those innocent days we happily spent like butterfles.

Kamalakshi's chayakkada had everything that needed for a rustic tea shop. The woodden almarah with glass doors always had Vadas, Idlis, Dosa and of course puttu. Shelf life of the items displayed there need not be disclosed. No one wanted to know that. Manorama, Kerala Kaumudi and Desabhimani dailies were always present on the benches of the tea shop. 

The wooden benches always had customers. Sipping a glassfull of tea - some times kattanchaya, the black tea- or crushing a full length of puttu and mixing it with a banana by the visiting down to earth customers was a daily routine there. Not only the smoke from the kitchen but the beedi smoke too filled the entire ambience. As a practice, high tempered political discussions accompanied the act of taking food. Everyone had his own views on every happenings in the world. Every newspaper had its own politacal colours to paint in its columns

Wheat Puttu from Kamalakshi's chayakkada was a very tasty item. Though we were not allowed to take food from this chayakkada, that was located just a few meters from our home, we surely had a taste of it at times. Whenever, I get an opportunity to eat "wheat puttu" the nostalgia takes me to that unassuming Kamalakshi's  chayakkada in my village. This tea shop had her adjoining little house, where she along with her husband and five children lived. Now the chayakkada no longer exists in its place, but the house, reminding of an interesting humble past stands there unattended by anyone.

Kamalakshi's wheat puttu was very tasty. For me, wheat puttu always hooks me up to that old lady. But, come "Karkidaka vaavu" - the new moon day in the month of Malayalam calender Karkidakam. This is the day when the living souls pay their respects to the dead ones. Memories of the ancestors were renewed on this occassion, at least symbolically, through different kinds of rituals. One among them is the feast offered to the dead ones in the night.

Our excitement starts on the fisrt day of the month itself. This is the month we read Ramayanam in our home. So, for us, it was a month of happenings. This is the month our grandpa takes the centre stage.Normally he keeps low profile, leaving everything to our beloved Grandma.  He sits quietly in his room, listening to our Ramayanam recital and corrects whereever we go wrong.Though we could not read in the rhythm in which the Holy Text is to be read, we could surely read it with less mistakes. Ramayanam is read in front of a nilavilakku - the traditional lamp. This lamp gave more light than the incandecent lamp invented by Edison.

Pankiyamma, the elderly woman who lived opposite our house could read it with good rhythm. We could hear her voice sitting from our house. Sadly, now, that house is in a deserted condition. It is almost gone. Memories of the blissful past cries for "moksha" there. Some one listening? No way, all needs only Gandhi. All are on the run.

Pankiyamma's three out of four children were our cronies. We always enjoyed the loud noise coming out from their home every day while Vinod and Cinimol fought. Minikumari was my classmate till secondary school. Now, we hardly meet each other. We have no time to sit up and reminisce those exhilerating memories. Memories do not fetch e-class sedans, high end mobiles, air-conditioners, elegant furniture, club memberships, world tours. They simply weave a web of illusions around us. 

Back to the Karkidakavavu. On this day our grandpa takes the lead in offering food to the dead ones. Preparations start in the morning itself. Meenakshiyamma under the stewardship of grandma starts making rice powder. No machine is used. From the husked rice grains to the powder, every process is manually done by Meenakshiyamma. The puttu made of this powder is the one our ancestors "devored" for long. No doubt, they were all very happy through out the year.

 By evening, rice powder is fried and is ready for the final process. As the cycliderical magic is slowly being unvailed, the tasty "kadalakkarry" (channa masala) will be getting ready in another stove. Grandma makes this using black grams. Coconut with coriander and other masala items are fried in a little bit of coconut oil and then ground to paste. Along with this, small pieces of coconut, fried in ghee were also added. The Kadalkary is ready.It was really a big task to keep the temptations under control till grandpa finished the rituals. 

Another Karkidakom is round the corner. I hardly get a chance to be a part of all these rituals now a days, as I will be roaming around in some part of the world. The relics from the past still follow me. I have no life without these memories. May the simple smell of puttu floor me, the tiny thumpappoo make me so nostalgic, the notice of the Jayan movie pump adrenalin to my veins. I enjoy every bit of it