Divide & Rule

England!!! Here we come!!

Not long ago, The British East India Company followed a rule. A rule that killed the essence of our Country. Today, our new age politicians have embraced their British counterparts' thought process.

Divide & Rule.

Telengana's creation is now just a Parliament Session away. With haste, the central government and their allies in business have voted for creation of India's 29th State with much fanfare. I wonder what Shri Vallabhai Patel must have felt were he alive today. The so called Iron Man of India ensured that the warring factions were united and a mess that our Princely states were, were united and become one.

The current day politicians, with no regard to the hardwork done by our great leaders, have started the reverse process already. Under the garb of ease of governance, the government has opened a Pandora's box that is bound to have abysmal effect. All this will enable is more looting of our Natural resources and a pacification of the egos of a powerful few.

Already the country is gearing up for protests to form 9 more states.. including Mayawati Quad-furcation of Uttar pradesh, Bodoland, vidharba, saurashtra, gorkhaland, kongunadu et al.

If this goes on, wonder what we will call our nation? United States of India?? Ah.. that should sound appetizing to the politicians as they rush to the USofA for anything and everything. Maybe, they are looking to beat US of A for the number of states.

God Save Us!

United States of India, anybody?

Delhi Belly

The huge, stinking and filthy underbelly of India has come to the fore with the highly deplorable gang rape in Delhi. Has India become so very insensitive? Is there any culture left in us? Our society, which boasts of a rich cultural heritage that runs millenia behind, has become one of the most crime filled societies of late. Gang rapes, Honour killing, incest, tempermental firing at trivial things, road rage, accidents, murders, kidnapping. Not a single day passes without Indians learning about all of the above incidents.

What has happened to bring about this drastic change in the conduct of our society? We cannot even call ourselves as civilized anymore. Socio-economic drift could be one of the major reasons. Rajnikant says in his movie Sivaji,"Rich get richer and poor get poorer" and it cannot be far from truth. There is indeed

a vast difference in the social status of people. While it has been proven time and again that rich and the connected can get away with any heinous crime, people will invariably get influenced to try and breach the boundary of civilized society.

Lack of determination in implementing any penalty is our bane. It is infact becoming a daily activity to learn about an eve-teasing incident or rape and gang rape. We are slowing losing the grip on our youngsters. When they should be taught about chivilary, moral and ethics, they get to learn about backstabbing, grabbing attention through tittilation, playing politics and indulging in public display of indecent exposure in the name of liberalization. If this is liberalization and freedom of expression, I pity the generation that idolizes this.

A decade ago, when FTV was banned in India, there was a huge furore in the Parliament admonishing the audaciousness of the Government. In retrospect, the scaling down of that stance has definitely influenced more bolder shows, that are in stark contrast to our indian thought process. How else can one describe the onslaught of shows like Roadies, Splitsvilla, BiggBoss etc which openly encourage participants to indulge in mouthing profanities, backstab, play dirty politics and expose as much as they can?

You know what, the inflow of TV shows is also a Foreign Direct Investment. An investment of western thinking in the tender minds of children. If you think harder, this FDI has not even been discussed or noticed by the intellectuals. If the civic society or other flag bearers of social causes have to protest, it is against such uncouth sitcoms that are gradually degrading the morality of our next generation.If a non-linear FDI on media can create such a devastating implact on our society,I shudder to think of what would actually happen if FDI is allowed in India.

As a gentleman rightly said, 300 years ago 1 MNC came to India, the East India Company, which lorded over us and here we are, on the cusp of inviting hundreds of MNCs to bring in their products, along with their work culture.

Lost are those wonderful moments when our parents used to come back home at 6 or 6:30 in the evening, bring along a small parcel of cup cakes or other regional snacks, which were freshly prepared and consumed with a day or two.

Gone are those days when we used to have sufficient time in between Rangoli, Chitrahaar, Ek se badkar ek and Surabhi. There was quality entertainment for the entire family. Sitcoms reflected the society and we had serials like Mahabaratha and Ramayana that hailed our rich cultural heritage. When these epcis were screened, the streets were empty. Invariably, the crime rate at that point in time had also dipped.

Lost are those wonderful times spent with the family, talking about the day's happenings. In short, we have literally lost a wonderful era where there was genuine love and affection among family members and a respect for others.

The Delhi incident has evoked extreme reactions from our elected members. If they are genuine, it has to be appreciated. But if it is only to grab the headlines, this incident is nothing but a piece of news item.Unless there is a radical and immediate change in our approach, anarchy will set in.

Intolerance, insensitivity and insecurity are ruling over our senses.

Teaching has to change. Parental care has to increase. Grandmothers and grandfathers should propogate the goodness and cultural richness of our country and its heritage. Moral values and moral science classes need to be part of our curriculum. Prosperity cannot be gauged by the material richness alone, it is in the action and thought of an individual. A filthy mind can only lead to misery. Unwanted TV shows that do not gel with our culture and heritage must be shown to door. Unless the top people think about it with a long term perspective, we will lose our generation next.

We need to act and act immediately.

My first Sax Performance!!!

My first performance with a co-saxophonist Prashant GV and Amiya Suresh on Piano @ Sams School of Music High Scorer's Concert 2012 held at St.Pius X Church, Kumarapuram, Trivandrum.

Thiru Anantha Puram

Trivandrum has evolved from the word Thiru-Anantha-puram, which quite literally explains the posture that Lord Vishu lies on his serpent bed. By far, this has been my longest stay in my hometown.  Having always visited Trivandrum during vacation, I used to frequent the spots favoured by tourists.

 

This year, we decided to visit the around the city and the capture the places in a difference way.Have put together this collection:

Santhigiri Ashram

 

The Santhigiri Ashram is around 16 kms from our house on the MC Road.A picturesque and serene place, it is a must visit for people wanting to have a peaceful day. The highlight of the Ashram is the Lotus shaped sanctum sanctorum which contains the moral remains of the Ashram's founder.

 

 This is Varkala - Papanasam/Sivagiri. Considered as equivalent of Kasi, it has an amazing beach and a temple few metres from the shore.This shot above is of a stream that was running a few feet from the actual beach. The setting sun threw a good reflection and made a good shot :) Varkala is one of the most preferred tourist spots in Kerala. A 100km round trip on a sunday evening made this a trip to remember.


The Evergreen Shankumukham: For a change, this shot of Shankumkham is from the beach towards the road. Everytime we feel bored, we head to this beach. As kids we used to visit this beach primarily to ride cycle in the city's only Traffic park. If I remember right, a hour long rental of cycle used to cost Rs.2. You could say that this is the place that taught us to ride properly.. oh and the awesome cutlets we used to get!! Swapna should know this :) :) :)

 

How can one leave out KOVALAM!! Awesome place, ain't it? So here we go.. a collection of photos. We visited the Vizhinjam Lighthouse too this time when Vijay and Swapna came down this year.

 

 

Meenmutti and Ponmudi concludes the list of places we could travel to. Ponmudi is a hill station 57 km from our house. It is a hillstation with nothing on top other than the peak! No houses, no commercial establishments, nothing! Just Pristine greenery on all four sides. For the weary travellers there is on Kerala Tourism Development Corporation's cottages available for stay. Heard they are very pricey and hence even the foreign tourists prefer to take a taxi ride from trivandrum and returnt the same night. This was my first ever drive to a hill station and thankfully, had only 22 hairpin bends. 22!! with a full load on board and Avanthika with us too, I was a bit tensed. Thankfully, the scenery and the traffic-less road made it a drive to remember.

 

Meenmutti waterfall is 18 km downhill from Ponmudi. Once of the most well maintained public spaces I have ever seen. THere is even a deposit to be paid for all the plastic bottles we take inside the location. On return, if we have all the bottles intact, the deposit is returned, else there is a fine for littering too! In a nutshell, this is an awesome awesome place to visit! Abhilash, I think we ought to start our road trip from ponmudi. lets plan.     

 

Enroute Meenmutti, on our car, Christened The Road Runner :

 

 

Atop Ponmudi :

 

 

Mist covering the hilltop:

 

 

So, pack your bags, come home, we can drive to all this places again!

Petrol Petrol Everywhere

Mayawati has been trumped, Mumbai Indians have been thumped but what takes the cake is the sucker punch delivered with brutality on us.A hike of close to Rs.8 after adding the taxes, octri etc on petrol is the final blow. Not a big believer in the Jasmine revolution, now I think that is the only way to fight the most corrupted government that has ever ruled India.

Every city in the country now needs a Tahrir Square. The land of milk and honey has been done and dusted, it is just a land of scams and scamsters now. Bloody hell the audacity of this dimwit, nimcompoop government!! Presenting the already overloaded people with a price rise on the 3rd anniversary of its second term. I was among the lot who rejoiced when UPA came back to power. The promise was huge but the stats just prove that every single act the government has passed has come a cropper not to add the CWG, Coal, and the mother of all scams - 2G has all come under this rule.

Enough of the debates on News channels. Looks more like a choroegraphed WWE matches.I think for the first time the Hartal in my hometown is justified and God willing I will support it to the fullest.

Out with your pens brothers. Change is the need of the hour. ROLL BACK THE PETROL PRICE. STRIP THE MPs and PMs off their Salary.CONFISCATE THE BLACK MONEY ABROAD. MMS sir.. this is when we need you. Break your shackles for once please!! I still hold you and the team that framed the liberalization policy responsible for kindling the greed among the political class. Pls do something!!

An anguished, disheartened and a totally helpless Indian.