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Malapuram, Nov 5
The journey from illiteracy to literacy!
Malapuram marks its place as a rich cultural and political heritage district in Kerala. The district which stands proudly with the largest Muslim population in Kerala has been in the news many times before, whether it’s the national movements like Khilafat or Moplah Rebellion. These days this district is again making news, but this time it’s an admirable feat achieved by one of the villages in Malappuram.
‘Nilambur Gram Panchayat’ has come up as a role model for lakhs of other villages in Kerala for becoming the first village to achieve the milestone of total primary education in the country. This laudable achievement came with nine months of dedicated and constant efforts by the Gram Panchayat.
The man behind this visionary accomplishment was the Sarpanch (village head), ‘Aryadan Shoukat’ who felt the need for some dynamic change in the education system of the village. According to him it was illiteracy which was hindering the growth and was pushing people towards backwardness and poverty.
One of the surveys carried out to know the actual status of education in the village highlighted the poor condition of education with 1500 villagers either illiterate or educated below 4th standard. The survey highlighted the dark but real side of the village which pointed out that the prevailing education system need a severe clean up.
In order to overcome this serious issue the Gram Panchayat started ‘Jyotirgamaya’ scheme which eyed to achieve full primary education for the village with the support of Kerala State Literacy Mission. In this process the facilitators were appointed and handbooks were prepared depending upon the syllabus of the State Literacy Mission. In first phase of this literacy mission workshops were launched to educate people the benefits of education.
During this mission it was also learnt that about 80% of the villagers were suffering from eye defects which was also hindering the growth. To solve this issue eye camps were conducted to make sure people face no problem while learning. In order to make this education program more successful and productive different techniques were used including cultural programmes and study tours in order to motivate the learners.
After all the hard work for nine months finally internal and external evaluations conducted by the state literacy mission and Calicut University judged the level of education and the results were satisfactory. Nilambur Gram Panchayat brought laurels to the district at last when the State Governor RL Bhatia declared the village to have achieved the total primary education status, making the dream come true for the sarpanch.
Kerala has many unique characters in its vast abode many of which are widely reflected in its society. You can find lots of peculiarities here, from its lifestyle to traditions all these features makes Kerala one of the impressive states in India. And one of the facets of this incredible land is its food culture.
This gourmet’s paradise flaunts a wide choice of cuisines, from traditional Keralian delights to exotic seafood’s. The land of spices blends a unique aroma and taste to its countless preparations tantalising your taste buds. With so much tourist influx this God’s Own Country has designed itself in a way that every guest does have lots of options to look for.
But when the matter of talk is about Kerala food how can one leave behind the series of restaurants, tea shops and local thattu kada(mobile restaurants) dotted along the busy lanes and rough terrains of the villages. These food zones or eateries are some of the most hot spots for any foodie. Here you can get a whole lot of stuffs to relish on starting from crispy dosa’s to full course traditional Kerala meal served in banana leaf.
But hey, you may find these places a bit unusual than the other restaurants and food zones you might have been before. Don’t get amazed on seeing the waiter telling you your menu for the time, well before you could even place your order which you have planned to munch on. Well, when you are in Kerala you do need to check out the time before designing your scrumptious menu. Because Kerala restaurants are very punctual about time, so you cannot order a dosa at the time of lunch, or tea at the time of dinner. Here you have to dish out your order as per the schedule of the restaurant.
So next time before slipping into these eateries do check the time twice ahead you place your lip smacking order.
Buses are one of the most key transport modes in almost every city in India. These buses have become the lifeline of daily commuters who are largely dependent on these city buses to travel from one place to another on a routine basis. But when we talk about this so called bus culture in the southern most state of Kerala then the story gets more cramped.
Kerala buses are the most often zipping machines which run amok on almost all streets in the state honking every now and then. This mode of transport is serving the city goers from a long time, but the other side of the story is far more scary and horrible. Well, if you have ever been into these buses then you might have experienced the nerve wrecking feel. These buses run so fast in all busy and narrow lanes as if a racing action is going on.
Putting the passenger’s life at stake these city buses rush on like a fire brigade or ambulance, as if they have to make it through the record books. What more? These buses on usual days can be seen jam-packed with passengers, many even holding on to the doors of the bus, not even bothered about their lives. You can hear the sound of a bell after every five minutes signalling a stop. The conductor keeps on pulling the string tied to the bell which is fixed near the driver’s cabin. So if the bell rings for one time it means a halt and two times points to move on.
After the gruelling session of travelling through such challenges you somehow luckily make it to your desired destination and that too safe and sound. Well this is just a peek to the daily extreme bus journeys most of the working population of God’s Own Country make to reach their work station or destination.
Some things to remember during your Bus Journey:
- If you travel daily on these city buses at a specific time, do try to board the same bus daily. As you can avail a nominal cut on your bus fare. But this is applicable only in private buses.
- Do try to reach the door of the bus a minute before your stop comes, this could help you to alight the bus easily.
- Don’t try to pull the bell on your own, ask the conductor if you want to get down at a particular place.
- Don’t sit in the seats allotted to ladies, as you may have to vacate your seat when female passengers board the bus.
- Its better to tender exact change to the conductor, sometimes they may say that they will give you the balance before your stop. But you have to remind them while disembarking the bus.
- Women should avoid travelling in bus during night hours, as you may come across many male travellers under the influence of alcohol.
If we ask one whether bus came first or the bus-stop then if may be a tricky thing to answer. But if we ask whether these so called bus-stops are really proving to be worthy for the bus goers then the answer may be definitely no. If we look around we can find daily a wide section of commuters using the city transport as one of the major modes of transportation. So then why do these bus stops remain less crowded most of the time and why do women feel a bit unsafe in its shelter.
The question has raised several eyebrows in the social corridors and the reason for this was the harsh fact that these bus stops have been a centre of mischievous acts. Even in this culturally strong state of Kerala, where traditions and customs are the pillars of the society such public nuisance is a real apathy for the state.
If we move out to the real life and will take some pain to know the practical fact behind this issue we can find what all a women or a girl has to bear if she dares to stand in these bus stops. Let us take the example of Leena a college girl who daily travels in the over crowded private buses of the state. She is travelling in bus since her school days and now it has become a vital part of her life. But she still has fresh memories of the day she faced the nuisance of a group of rough guys. It all started by mere whistling, but soon took a wild shape and ended in verbal abuse. This is not the only case with a girl, it has happened to many such girls or women who do come across to these teasing incidents every day. But only few take a step forward to resist this uncivilised behaviour or voices against these indecent acts.
It is disheartening to know such thing still takes place in the age of women empowerment where women have over powered men in almost all departments. But we need to understand that our mother, wife, sister and daughter can be one among the above mentioned facing this wrath of these untamed youth for whom such things are just a moment of fun and nothing more than that. So if one needs to change this social evil existing in our so called ‘culture enriched Kerala’ we all have to draw at least some yard stick for our own self and should make sure that no such acts shall malign our age old traditions and cultural values.
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July 11
Men and Moustache has been associated with each other since ages, and when the talk is about our Kerala men then one can’t imagine these men without their whiskers. But it seems that these Kerala men are shedding their age old manly symbol for a funkier look.
Gopalkrishnan Pillai, 55 an accountant in a private bank and a father of two sons, tells how youth of Kerala are slowly distancing themselves from the ethnic look and are embracing the clean cut shave. ‘Gopal’ takes a trip down the memory lane and fondly remembers his teenage days and how he was proud of his moustache. It was his identity which he still restores with pride.
If we turn back the pages, we would find that every single man was proud of their whiskers, but time has changed so has the ideology of our generation-next. Now moustache on men has become an outdated trend. And even if you will find few with the ‘Mishas’ (moustache) they might be keeping that due to some parental pressure to follow this ethnic Kerala style.
Suraj, 20 a young college boy with a dude look and a fire in his belly believes that one has to move with the time and for him looks matters the most. He with his spike cut and clean shaven look feels more confident and comfortable to stand out with his pals in society. His parents though are not in favour of his so called funky look, but that never bothers this young lad, who defines this to be a generation gap.
All this mixed views point out that the youth of this God’s Own Country is steadily moving at a rocket speed and are aping every new trend out in the global scenario.
Kochi, July 9
You all might have atleast for once travelled in trains, and if your journey is to the heavenly abode Kerala then the trip becomes more interesting and exciting for sure. It is said that you can find Cockroaches, mosquitoes and mallus anywhere and every where, and I think its true.
Where ever they are, but they visit to their motherland at-least once a year or two, they may travel to their native place with a pair of suitcase and bags, but watch out while they return; they have a new member in their luggage. Neatly tied and sealed this smart cardboard box has been one of the most travel essentials of these Kerala born travellers, when they bid adieu to their mother land with a promise to come back again next year.
Well if you all are quizzing what’s in that cardboard box then, the list is long friends. The box has all the flavours of their hometown, from jack fruit, mangoes, bananas, coconuts and lots more typical Kerala stuffs. Well this treasured cardboard box connects them to Kerala every time they relish the things this box carried for them.
So next time you people make a visit to Kerala don’t get amazed finding this cardboard box with every two travellers.
Kochi, June 18
Ramesh a farmer looks up daily to the dark clouds hovering over his fields in the hope that they will pour quite heavily today, but for his surprise his dreams gets washed away daily. He say’s if rain does not occurs in the couple of weeks, then he may have to look for some other source for water to irrigate this fields. Its almost seventeen days after the monsoon has set in over Kerala, but the rain gods seems not yet pleased with the ‘God’s own country’.
The state is still desperately waiting for the normal rain which has been the important factor for the seasonal crops and also the main source for the power generation in Kerala. If we look back, we can find that last year by this time rains were on its full, but like previous year this time rain gods does not seems so pleased with this tourist paradise (Kerala).
So far the state has experienced a scantly rainfall which is well below the normal rains in the state. The major concern apart from water for irrigating the seasonal crops is the big factor, power generation. If we put across all the reservoirs together, the capacity of the water as of now is sufficient to generate only 666.83 million units of power. The current level of water is still not adequate to overcome the demand for power for the state.
The State Electricity Department has started half-an-hour power cuts for the state. To so how reduce the daily demand of power and conserve some units of power to make sure if rains continuous in the same way then the electricity department could handle the situation well.
With such a poor start of the monsoon, apart from the meteorological department even the people of Kerala are a bit surprised. Though monsoon had broken all records this year, first with an unexpected pre-monsoon in rest part of India, leaving Kerala behind with a substantially late monsoon. But still people and met departments are hoping for a normal monsoon in the state this year too.
Kochi, June 17
The Red Ribbon Express will make its appearance at Thiruvanathapuram on June 28, spreading the awareness about HIV/AIDS. The train which is touring the country creating awareness about the causes and preventions for HIV/AIDS will be in the State for 12 days.
During its halt in the state it will make its appearance in few other places giving people the opportunity to known more about this dreadful disease of HIV/AIDS. It also educates how to prevent one with this dreadful disease. In connection to this the Kerala zone of Nehru Yuva Kendra will be organising a media workshop on June 20.
Kochi, June 14
Friday generally comes with lot of excitement and entertainment for the city movie buffs, but this time it was quite a big occasion. The much awaited Tamil movie of superstar Kamal Hassan, ‘Dasavathram’ was finally released after a long legal battle. This much hyped movie of Kamal Hassan is said to be the costliest Indian movie till date, made on a whopping budget of Rs.1.3 billion.
The scene at the city theatres were massive with huge turnouts of movie lovers waiting desperately for getting into the cinema halls and have a glimpse of their favourite star. Kamal Hassan known for his experimental roles has yet again tried something unusual and of his class by playing ten scintillating avatars in the flick.
The city theatres were running jam pack with whopping movie buffs trying their level best to somehow get the ticket. It was known that the screening of the movie was done in massive way with screening in more than 80 theatres in the state.
Dasavatharam directed by K.S.Ravikumar stars, has been made from a Vaishnav priest to President George Bush, this ambitious project of Kamal Hassan made him to write the story, screenplay and also to construct the dialogues. But the most noted effort is the actor himself donning the ten different roles, which are the pillars of the movie.
Apart from Kamal Hassan, the movie stars Mallika Sherawat, Asin in different roles adding new flavour to the movie. Bollywood composer-turned-actor Himesh Reshammiya has scored the music for the film, his first ever music for a Tamil production. The craze for the movie is such that movie lovers are standing for hours to get the tickets to watch out this much touted movie after Rajinikant starer Sivaji.
Kochi, June 12
If you have a penchant for driving and are planning to make the most of the monsoon season then geared up for a smooth drive to the sparkling hill station, Munnar. Now driving to Munnar will never be an uphill task for you, thanks for the well maintained roads which drive to Munnar from Kochi. This driver’s delight route is a bliss of nature, full of natural sceneries and pleasant sights.
The drive through the ghat road heading towards Munnar from Kochi is a great way to move out of the fast lane of town into a serene place without any sound or air pollution. Driving downhill will be a great experience for you with roads cutting through the canopy provided by trees and shrubs on either side.
The twisty road climbing up the hill station is smooth till your nears the town, when you could encounter few potholes and patches. Meanwhile you could enjoy a picturesque and smooth drive to nearby attractions of the high-ranges of Pothamedu, Eravikulam National Park and other nearby locations.
With such an easy going the hill station has caught the attention of many city goers, who are flocking to this splendid town resting in the lap of nature for their weekends or short breaks. The good condition of roads has made driving to Munnar a real fun experience and moreover a relaxing trip for many. So folks if you are planning out for a weekend break then Munnar is all set to embrace you with its charm.
