101 measures

In 2005, when Massimo and Alessandra came visiting, I went with them around the City just to show them Thrissur. That is when I discovered that there is a desavilakku in പാറമേക്കാവ്  അമ്പലം  and that Aranattukara church festival, Sankaramkulangara festival and the festival in the Lourde church all are celebrated on the same day - 1st & 2 nd January. Yesterday, I wanted to go to all those places again, but ended up just visiting Paaramekkavu temple only. There was beautiful melam and there was these 101 measures of Frutis, Vegetables and Cereals. The Temple was decorated very nicely with flowers and lights. I just had to stop there and enjoy the music and the atmosphere. Some photos from the evening:

THREE CHEERS TO THE NEW YEAR AND TO IJK

The award for the best drinking community goes to... If you thought it is Chalakudy, you are wrong. Irinjalakuda bagged the award for the New Year sales this year beating Chalakudy. (Irinjalakuda wins the Record). ചാലക്കുടിയുടെ പേരില്‍ കുടിയുണ്ടയിട്ടെന്താ കാര്യം? കൊണ്ടുപോയില്ലേ  കുട കുടി?

My poor fellow drinkers from Chalakkudy were cheated of their coveted position which they have been zealously  drinking for a long time now and that too to poor cousins Irinjalakuda!!! Irinjala Kudam might be a better name :) (Irinjalakuda, known previously for the likes of poor Kootal Manikya devan, Unnayi Warrier, Mampuzha Kumaran, Sachchidanandan, Aanad, Jayachandran, M.C Joseph and the not so Innocent man has a better aura now).

Actually, had it not been for a few people calling for a hartal in Chalakkudy on the previous day, it would not have been possible to de-throne Chalakkudy (I am sure that Mani will think of something before next Christmas). I strongly doubt a foreign hand and an international conspiracy behind this hartal. Just look at the reason for calling the hartal: Two fellow drinkers meet at the local outlet, bought their respective quota of rum and decided to enjoy the drinks together sitting on a culvert in Koratty. Since they were already on a few drinks, it did not matter that one was ex-swastika, the other Sickle and hammer. Well, one of them was accused of the murder of the other's brother before too. However, in the true spirit of camaraderie of the drinking community, they forgot the water (or the water polluted with endosulphan - how can any ബുദ്ധിജീവി from malluland write a blog and not mention Endosulphan even once?) that flew below the culvert and started enjoying their drinks in peace and love. Unfortunately, one of them had one too many and started talking about the murder. Now, everything is fair in drinking and war. The other walked to the broiler shop nearby, very courteously borrowed a knife usually used to cut the chicken throats in a halal way and very respectfully sent the other man to join the person he was accused of sending upwards before. The man then went down to the nearby paddy field and was praying for world peace  in the serenity of the chemically treated paddy fields when the KP - (കള്ളപ്പന്നി എന്ന് വിവരദോഷികള്‍ പറയും, കമ്മുനിസ്റ്റ്‌ പോലിസ്/ കോടിയേരി പോലിസ്  എന്നിങ്ങനെ  വേറെ ചിലരും ) Keralapolice broke the peace and arrested him. Friends,could this ever happen in any other place but in God(own)'s own country??? There goes the cup of Chalo kudy dry and IJK cup overflowed.

Well, the Kerala model is actually unique. We have heard about it since many years now. However, the story needs a little updating and they should invite Dr. Issac and not Lal(l)u Prasad to Harvard. After all, what did Lalu do other than make a chief minister cook rotis for him or feed a few cows made of paper? Railways? Well, even Didi did more with the wheels than him! She even tried to do a white paper on Lalu's cooking (I mean of the cooking of the books of the Railways)

On the other hand, Kerala is not only the home of the first democratically elected (all stories about an African Nation doing it first is CIA propaganda) Communist Government (what if they don't believe in democracy and the Indian Constitution?), it is the only democratically elected (left) Government in the whole world which brews money to pay interest to IMF and World bank!!! Yes, it is true. Only the Government is allowed to sell IMFL in Kerala (Of course the stories that most of the bars sell home made brews are lies spread by party enemies and മാധ്യമ സിണ്ടികെട്റ്റ് . In fact P.K Gurudasan - never heard about him? He is the Excise Minister in Kerala. He actually believes that his actions speak for him- has never booked a single spurious liquor case against any bar owner in his full 5 year term but destroyed all the barons who were brewing unhealthy liquor in forests using modern technology like കലം,  കുടം, തേരട്ട etc... and allowed the bar owners to sell only the healthy brews) and its liquor sales ministry is the biggest tax payer in Kerala! Out of 13,194 crores (2008-9) collected as direct taxes, 3,164 crores was from liquor sales (2008-9, whereas 2009-10 it stands at 4,260 crores)! Compare this with the tax collected from gold which stood at a dismal 170 crores (it must be the biggest joke ever - Dr. Issac, you should write a thesis with your US partner on this)! and luxuary tax of 100 crores! Can you blame Dr. Issac in paying a bonus of Rs50,000 to each of the employees of the Beverages Corporation? What if the Kerala state is paying only Rs120/ month as pension for Old people / Widows / Various retired workers pension etc... ??(Details of Social Security Pensions by Kerala Government)

Now, you will ask what is the connection between interest payment to world bank and the tax collected from the poor unorganized drinkers of our poor state? Well, I understand that we, poor Keralites have taken loans (Loans for Externally Aided Projects by Kerala State) nearly equaling to the same amount supposed to have been scammed by the Dravida Raja's and from where can Dr. Issac pay the interest? By selling പരിപ്പ് വട  and കട്ടന്‍  കാപ്പി  in KTDC hotels??? By conducting ബകറ്റ് പിരിവ് ? അവനാരാ മോന്‍? ബുദ്ധി  രാക്ഷസനല്ലേ ? Instead of opening too many low paying arrack shops, the Gov has allowed  granting liquor selling licences to anyone constructing even a one room hotel with 3 star rating anywhere in Kerala - No anti-field filling law applied. Of course, how can we develop the tourism industry without 3 star hotels? How can സായ്‌വ് survive without our Rum???

In fact the only development I have noticed during my quarterly visits to home are 1) New 3 star hotels even on the country sides (Here we are at par with the coffee shops in Holland. There you cannot get coffee on a Sunday morning, but you can buy grass. Similarly, you cannot get coffee here, but can get plenty of rum, Kerla's favorite IMFL!) 2) New churches and temples and mosques - tall concrete edifices to the Gods! {(In fact, I had to break writing this notes because 4 persons came visiting in a new Maruti Alto, asking me to sponsor a part of a temple being constructed for the poor homelss god of Vadakkoodans! They went out quite angry as I had to tell them very frankly that what they are doing is not social good, but social evil - I don't think any Vadakkoodan will attend my funeral now! Not a bad idea:)}3) Professional colleges, 4) Flats and 5) new Jerusalem's, Muringoor's and other ധ്യാനകേന്ദ്രങ്ങള്‍ and new swamis and avtars in every corner!

Mallus are fast becoming a decadent society: Escape to booze or ഭക്തി , obsession with Professional degrees - every one want their son or daughter to be a Doctor, if not, an Engineer (sorry, first place should go to reality show star) and send them to ox-fad!! 

I think I lost my way.... കാട് കയറിപ്പോയി അല്ലെ? മതിയാക്കാം. 

News of the Day: സ്മാര്‍ട്ട് സിറ്റി സി ഇ ഓ കേരളത്തില്‍ കള്ള് കുടിച്ചു കിടക്കുകയാണെന്ന് അച്ചുതാനന്ദന്‍ ! പിന്നെന്തിനാ അച്ച്ച്ചുംമാമേ ഈ ബാറുകള്‍ എല്ലാം കോടിയേരി ടൂറിസ്റ്റുകള്‍ ക്കായി  പണിതത്? 

News (Source TOI): Kerala witnessed a surge in liquor sales on New Year's eve with a record business of Indian Made Foreign Liquor worth over Rs 32 crore, in spite of a recent campaign by several organisations to curb alcohol consumption in the state. 

Sales on December 31, 2010 was Rs four crore more than that of 2009, Beverage Corporation sources said. 

For December, IMFL of Rs 597 crore was sold in the state. It was Rs 490 crore in December 2009. 

The figures available were the sales through the 338 outlets of the Kerala State Bevarages Corporation, the main wholesale and retail dealer of IMFL in the state, they said. 

Out of IMFL sale, 65 per cent sale was different brands of Rum followed by Brandy 30 per cent and premium brand liquors five per cent, the sources said. (Note - by AK: It is clear that the rich drinks Scotch, not IMFL. It is the poor unorganized sector of the lower income group drinkers that helps the Government by drinking >6,000 crores worth IMFL and helps them to collect the >3,000 crore tax  each year! AND< these are only the official figures. Considering that at a conservative estimate of 2 times the sales for the seconds liquor, the figures are mind boggling - may be even more that the lootery!!!)

Irinjalakudda in Thrissur district topped in yesterday's sale of IMFL with a business of Rs 17.64 lakh followed by Ponnani 16.95 lakh and Thiroor 16.72 lakh. 

News (Source Economic Times): Elsewhere in the state, there were queues at the roughly 350 outlets of the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (KSBC) on Saturday to pick up the first bottles of the new fiscal. April 1 was a dry day being the first day of the month, and Good Friday added another dry day. The first day of the new fiscal clocked sales worth Rs 23.66 crore, far higher than the average day’s consumption in 2009-10. 

KSBC’s turnover for 2009-10 was Rs 5,539 crore, its highest-ever, and a 20% increase over the Rs 4,631 crore that the corporation grossed in 2008-09. The biggest beneficiary of the record sale was the state government, with KSBC’s contribution to the exchequer by way of sales tax, excise, licence fees, surcharge and other levies going up from Rs 3,621 crore in 208-09 to Rs 4,260 crore in 2009-10. 

KSBC managing director N Shanker Reddy says the higher turnover had a straight-forward correlation with the higher consumption pattern. “Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) sales went up from 171 lakh cases in 2008-09 to 188 lakh cases in 2009-10, while beer sales went up more sharply from 71 lakh cases to 85 lakh cases in the same period”, says he. 

Liquor consumption has for long been growing in the state, but the last five years have shown a dramatic rise in consumption. Gross liquor sales in the state have increased 110% in the past five years.

It is funny that the name of KSBC which sells the liquor and KCBC which opposes the sale of liquor (Kerala Catholic Bishops Council) rhymes with each other :)  ഇടയ ലേഖനം 

Read the special report from BBC mentioned by KCBC at the following link:

Kerala's love affair with alcohol

Cheers!

1-1-11

That is the perfect ending for a year that is becoming a little too long and the beginning of a new Year full of Hope. I was not well, but not to disappoint Usha, we went to Ramada in Cochin to witness the birth of another New Year. Well, it is getting a little tiring after 51 of those :(

We went at a leisurely pace via Irinjalakuda, Aloor etc... to revisit some of the old memories on the new year eve.

The event at Ramada was called Fahrenheit 2011^o C at Ramada Cochin - a retro of the 80's and the anchor was Ujjainee Rao. It was not a large event, but a special one. After a previous trial with Le Meridien, where the crowd was too much, I preferred a smaller event.

Nikhil was off to Goa with his friends and with my latest digital camera, so I have to take my Nikon 35 mm camera (yes, it does exist) and so most of my pictures are in the good old negatives.

A small crowd, excellent food, selection of drinks, music from the 80's (I am a disco dancer, remember?) and some good dancers from Russia, things were getting into the tempo when the rain started! It started to drizzle and then it poured in torrents! A perfect ending for a year that probably over stayed (read 2G spectrum, Neera Radia, Common (for some people, that is) WEALTH Games) et al....

Well, not to waste all that hype, the booze and the presence of some gorgeous Товарищ (Tawarish - സഖാക്കള്‍) some mallu and some Punjabi youth started to dance in the rain. A few brave waiters started serving free drinks to the rain worshipers!!

Well, at midnight, the rain calmed down and even I could venture out to take some photos / video.After the rains, it was indeed a fresh beginning to the New Year. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdANc60O7gI)


However, after all that unabashed display of luxury, I found that things have not changed for the common man (RK) / aam aadmi (The darling of all politicians, especially, not so political politician of our times, the cat voiced Manmahan Singhji and Soniaji). പുതുവത്സരാസംസകള്‍

1.1.11: MG Road, Cochin

  

Beneath the fallen leaves

If I have to list one passion, one emotion, one addiction I had in my early years, that will be my mad addiction to the smell of the virgin pages of a new book. I was so attracted by that smell that I am almost always the first one to reach school during the mid summer vacation days when they start distributing the new text books for the next year and then I will go through each page of the books days before the classes actually begin.

My brothers were much older than me. This meant that when I was in upper primary school, they were already in college and active in the local social networks. They were organizers in the local library. Very often during the mid summer vacation, they will got to Trichur to buy the year's books utilizing the grant and bring the new books back home. Wow! So many virgin books! They used to bind the books before those are actually issued to the members through the library and it took them a couple of weeks to get all those books bound. That was a feast for me. I will try to read through as many books as possible within those two weeks that my eyes will become read and I often end up getting beaten up by my mother.

I was from a small village and it was not so usual for children of my age to be glued to a book. All the children in the neighborhood went out playing "കിളിമാസ്" or went out with the cows to the filed and then play football in the field. My beloved father was behind my reading craze. My father spent most part of his life in Ceylon and returned home only in the mid fifties. He was the only congress man in our village and the only one reading Mathrubhumi news paper, considered to be a congress paper at that time. I remember Mohammad സായ്‌വ് used to come all the way from Karuvannur 3 km away to bring the news paper and weekly to our home. Every Friday morning, I used to get up early and wait for his arrival at the road around 06.30. Because, I want to beat my brothers in getting and reading the Mathrubhumi weekly first! I read Jhansi Rani, Aarogyanikethan, നിറം പിടിപ്പിച്ച നുണകള്‍, കുഞ്ഞിക്കൂനന്‍ etc... breathlessly each week.   Since then I was always so much attracted by stories, especially long novels with historical background. 

Later i started sneaking out of my house on Sunday afternoons when my aprents are taking a nap to go to അപ്പുവേട്ടന്റെ ചായക്കട to read Janayugam and later Kalakaumudi. I used to read anything and everything that I can lay my hands on. If it is a muttah Varkey, the pages will be turned very fast. If it is a Pottekkat or Mukundan or MT, the pages will turn more slowly. In those days M N Satyarthi was a very familiar name and I read a lot of Bengali novels translated by him.

It all changed during my 10th. I was caught reading on the eve of my Annual exam. I was reading Golden finger by Ian Fleming in Malayalam, a Bond novel. My father hauled me in front of Head Master. Actually he was my HM during my UP days and now I am in High School and our Head Mistress was different. However, Aravindan master was known as Head Master in our village and my father knew that he was the only person to whom I will listen. To the dismay of my father, HM congratulated me for my reading habits. But he gave me one advice: Try reading in English. You have better works in English and you will improve your language. Looking back, if I have to point out one single event that changed my life, it was that advise from my dear ഹെഡ് മാഷ്‌ that influenced my life the maximum. Because, today, more than my technical knowledge, more than my negotiating skills or even more than my skills in contractual matters or even more than my persuasive skills, it is my writing skills in English that helps me in my professional life!!!

It is about 4 am in the morning. I got up at 2 am to see off Kuttu going to Goa to celebrate new Year with his friends and I could not sleep any further. I laid awake in the bed. Thoughts wandered off to the past. It is amazing how things that happened many decades ago comes back to you so vividly at such times. I could see my father, always kind, always ready to lend a helping hand to the needy, almost never angry, almost never seen shouting at any one, always reasonable and loving. I could see me trying to emulate him. Except that I never have the patience he had. I get irritated when I see inefficiency, wastage of time, energy or even food, I cannot comprehend how people can spend hours and hours talking nothings, or watching serials / reality shows. Well, may it was because we did not have TV or phone at that time that I didn't see that side of my father!!

Another image that came to my mind was that of Radhamani teacher. When I reached the big high school in the city (if you can call Irinjalakuda a city in those days or even now), walking 3.5 km each day, I was the second smallest child in the class. (Johny was smaller than me!!!!). I was practically lost. That is until Radhamani teacher came in the first class to introduce herself as our class teacher and English and science teacher. She was very fair in colour with curly hair. She asked each one in the class to say one simple English sentence. I was the only one who could do that and in spite of my size, she made me the class leader! I adored her from then on and I was always first in English and science. The next best thing to happen in my life after the advise of head master, was getting Radhamani teacher as my teacher and the affection she had for me.

I was never really punished in school or at home. If any one did beat me up ever it was my mother. My father adored me and I could do no wrong for him. I was the pet of my teachers, at least until the 10th. In10th, we were in the first week and one day our maths teacher did not turn up. A fat new teacher came to stand in for him. My friends told me that it was Abbas sir. The next period, Radhamani teacher came and asked me who substituted the absent maths teacher. I told her it was Abbas sir. Her face became red with anger. She asked me to extend my hand and there goes the stick up and down 3 or 4 times. I started crying, not because of the pain, but because it was Radhamoni teacher and because I did not know what I did wrong. She went on to take the class with the same angry face. After a few minutes, she could not hold it any more. She came to me and asked me in a soft voice. Do you know why I beat you? I said no. She understood that I am telling her the truth and she told me that the name of the teacher was actually Aravindakshamenon and Abbas was his nick name given by students because he was fat like the then movie artist Abbas!! I saw the pain in her eyes and started crying again!

After many years, the principal in Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Shobha teacher, where my son was studying told me the same thing: "Very often, many students excel in their studies for the teacher who teach them. She went on to tell me, we are here not to teach just the bright students, they dont really need our help. We are here to help those students who are not so bright or have many other talents than what is being taught in our system. I will consider myself successful, if I can make the poorest student in my school get good marks". How true. Nikhil when he was 6 and studying in KV Moscow wanted only to study maths, day in day out, only maths. His teacher, Malti from Orissa, even with the barrier of language, made such an impression in him that he only wanted to learn the subject being taught by her! Unfortunately, we do not have such dedicated loving teachers any more or not enough.

Well, it is almost 6 am now. Back to bed and try to catch some sleep. I am glad that after such a long time, due to the fever and forced bed rest, I could complete the 100th blog today, though it is more like an autobiography :)

Year of reunions... and the search goes on...

We were in Moscow during 1993-1995. I arrived in Moscow in the middle of September. I was coming from Das Island where the summer temperature was a cool 50 degrees, Celsius! Usha and Nikhil arrived on 3rd of October, exactly when Boris Yeltzin started firing on his on Parliament with tanks - not blanks, but live artillery. The flight was early in the morning and I arrived in our flat in Yugozapadnaya around 08.00 AM. Soon after the phone started ringing. It was Daniele, our Site Manager.  He told me to switch on the TV and stay home with the doors fully secured. I switched on the TV and tuned to CNN. Well, to my horror, they were telecasting live the assault on Russian Parliament by Russian armed forces! Anil told us later that he was standing in the 11th floor of a building next to Ostenkino (Russian TV Tower) and some bullets landed there.

Any way, that was not the subject this note. The first 3 months were hell for us in Moscow except for the joy of seeing our first snow because no one spoke English, but only Russian. We had to survive with the elementary sign languages or go to the Austrian Store where the only vegetable that is produced in Russia was sold at $14 / kg!

Then, through Vivek Naik, we met the principal of the Kendriya Vidyalaya and through him, some Mallu teachers. One of them was kind enough to direct us to Patrick Lumumba University or friendship university (where third world future leaders like Arafat, Carlos the Jack etc... were trained by Russia) barely 2 km from our residence. There we met Anil and Bhuvana and then few others.

There was a general famine in Russia. In Moscow, they tried to hide it, but the normal Russian subsidized stores have very little supplies. A professor was getting the equivalent of 80-90 USD a month! 

Slowly, our apartment became the meeting place and most of the mallu students came to visit us during the weekends. Working for a Western Company in the oil sector we were well looked after and could afford to buy a couple of bottles of prime whisky and lots of chicken. Almost every weekend Usha becomes a culinary expert and most mallu students used to join us for an evening to relax. There were some exceptions because while most were students (Medical / Engineering/PG), some were teachers in KV and some business men too.

Majidka from Kazargod was working with UAE Embassy. Mohandas was doing some business. Laxman was in the pharmaceutical business. Jose in trading. I dont remember all the names, but there was Radhakrishnan from Alleppy, Geetha from Kottayam, Kavitha from Calicut, Ismail, Anil Vincent, Anil Tharyan and there was Anil, Bhuvana and Arun. Since we have left Moscow and moved to Italy, I met Majidka once in Geneva, Switzerland. Met Kurup sir from KV once in Thrissur. After that we lost touch with everyone except Arun Nair.

Later once were travelling from Thrissur to Trivandrum, some one shouted at us in the middle of busy Alleppy town. It was Anil. What a coincidence! We went to his home and met Bhuvana, now his wife and hid daughter, Bharti or Tabu.

Once again, time went by and we lost hope of finding any of them.

Last August when I was home for Onam holidays, I stopped by to meet James in his shop at Chevvoor. There was this gentleman whom James introduced and who was from Calicut. Just taking a chance, I asked him if he knew someone named Kavitha in Calicut and told him that she is a doctor and an actress. As luck would have it, his nephew was working in the same hospital as Kavitha and we discovered one of our missing links.

And then, a few weeks back, I got a mail from another Kavita, this time from London. She asked me, uncle are you the same Ajith uncle, pappa of Nikhil we knew in Moscow? And a second mail, yes, I saw your pictures, you are the same. What a jubilation! Kavita, who was at that time studying in KV Moscow, daughter of Laxman and Anitha, found me through Orkut. We got connected to another of our missing links. Laxman is still in Moscow and they were in Kerala in the last week. We tried to meet, but there were only two days and we could not make it. But now we know where they are and will be in touch.

Now, we continue our search for the other friends missing since 1995...

However, we could reconnect with at least 4 of them this year - a very good year.Hope to catch the others also soon... 

For me, Usha and Nikhil, Russia was a beautiful dream. We had a good time there with our mallu friends and we did not face any problems. In fact, the Russians were very friendly unlike described by some others and I even spend one month of my vacation touring Russia and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was all made possible by our student friends from Kerala. Without their help, we could have had a hard time. I dont know if we ever thanked them for their company, their help, above all, their friendship.

Nikhil, me and Usha 12 Feb 2010

Dear friends, if any of you happened to read this, please accept our gratitude and get in touch by writing a comment or leaving your mail id.  We love you!

As we were in Moscow!

Kavitha, Usha, Geetha, Bhuvana with Kuttu

Anitha, Kavitha Mrs. Kurup

Bhuvana and Anil then

Radhakrishnan with us

Anil Vincent, Jose, Anil Tharyan, Radha, Geetha Bhuvana, Kavitha, Anil & Arun

Anil and Bhuvana on wedding day

Geetha and her sister

Kuttu then

Kuttu now

Usha and me with Mjidikka in Genova

Anil Vincent, Jose, Anil Tharyan, Radha

Majidikka and Ismail

Nikhil's birthday when Sitish came to Moscow, Kurup sir on the right

Little Kavitha with Laxman and his brother

Usha and Nkhil returning from Moscow

Kurup sir and daughters

Arun and Jose with Sithish and a friend of Jose

Majidikka, Jose Anil, Radha

Anil Tharyan, Ismail and Jose

Party time!

VIDYA - Giving back to society - A Wonderful Initiative

We all talk about giving something back to the society. Well, here is a group of NRK's who has set an exemplary and path breaking example. More than a thousand nonresident Keralites have donated a part of their earnings to create one of the finest private Engineering colleges in Kerala. Well, what is new in it? Education is the biggest business in Kerala, isn't it? Well, the difference is that this engineering college is run by a charitable trust formed by the NRK's without taking any profit from it and the money collected is purely donations, non-refundable, no profit sharing, in effect, nothing in return but the satisfaction of being part of the Vidya family and for having the satisfaction of doing something good. Having done something good, yes, a good proportion of the students studying here are studying without paying any fees and under the scholarship of the Vidya Charitable Trust. In the past 5 years around 400 deserving students have been given scholarships from the trust.

Vidya also provides free entrance coaching to many deserving students in Thrissur and Alleppy currently and has plans to extend the scheme to all of Kerala.

Vidya is now planning a second professional college in the same style in Kollam and has also applied for the proposed NRI university.

All these has been made possible by the humble contributions of around 1,000 Non-resident Keralites and by the selfless service of the many executive committee members over the last 10 years.

I consider myself privileged to be a part of Vidya family though being away in various countries, I was never able to participate or contribute physically.

Now that I am in Abu Dhabi, I was able to participate in a few meetings, family get togethers and prayer meetings. I am slowly waking up to the collective good this group is doing and the change we are bringing about. I wish I had more time and opportunity to participate. I am not trying to eulogize Vidya because I am a part of it, but I am slowly realizing the profound moral and social positive energy it is spreading silently.

Let me dedicate the New Year 2011 to the >1,000 trustees of Vidya for this silent revolution being brought  about in most important aspect of our society - education. You are truly following the in the footsteps of Sri Narayana Guru who said "വിദ്യ കൊണ്ട് സംപന്നരാകുവിന്‍"  (Progress through education). To be honest, this is the only organization I have seen so far which is following the principles of Sree Narayana Guru inside or outside of Kerala and spreads the true meaning of his teachings. I must confess that I do not consider Guru as a god as many tend to do, but consider him as one of the best teachers and visionaries our country has ever produced. In fact, Vidya is spreading the message in a way that was not possible even for the cash rich organizations like SNDP / SNBP in Kerala. My friend from Italy, Daniele Marchionini once visited Guru temple in Koorkenchery, and after getting the translation of some of his teachings exclaimed, "Ajith, why this great man's teachings are not given enough publicity? This extra ordinary man with such great vision stated so many wonderful principles in such a simple language which took hundreds of pages for his peers to express"!!!

Here is to the grand Vidya family and wishing that the torch, spreading education and empowering the society by education continue its valiant march forward ever more strongly in 2011.

Wishing all members of Vidya family a Wonderful New Year ahead...

http://vidyaacademy.ac.in/

http://www.vidyaict.com/
Finally a suggestion: Not an original idea. Once my friend Babubhai Thakker, a Gandhian and Philanthropist (during a conversation about Vidya) told me: You should never give away anything free. When you give a scholarship to a child (which Babubhai does regularly), take an oath from him that when he is successful in his life, he should sponsor at least two deserving children for the same course!  I believe that is a commitment we should also take because the number of deserving children are so many and what we can do directly is so little!!!

We are waiting for you, dear Lorenzo

2005 December 31: Massimo and Alessandra flew in from Intra - Italy to spend their New year with us and to spend two weeks to study the people and life style of Kerala. Me and Dr. Abraham went to receive them in the airport and took them to Whyte Fort in Cochin. That evening we went to a temple in Thripoonithara where the fireworks was with a thousand "Kathina". We spent the new year eve in Le Meridien in Cochin where some film stars like Indrajith & Poornima and former Indiann Cricket team with Azharuddeen, Kapil Dev etc.. were present. The next day we participated in the engagement of Smitha and Vijay and then took them to Trichur. We participated in many Christian and Hindu festivals as it was the festival season. The next two weeks, they stayed in some unusual places with local people, eating local food, even trying the legendary 5.5m long saree.

I met them once later in 2006 when I visited Italy. They were completing the purchase of a new (very old) home in Intra and was planning to make it their home.

I got a mail from Massimo on 10th January 2008. "Yesterday at 8.00 a.m. was born Lorenzo.
We are very happy that Lorenzo just born have many friend as you in the word.
Thank you.
Massimo."

The next message I got about him was from Daniele who called me on 2nd December 2008 to say that  on 28th November, Massimo left us suddenly. It was a silent Heart attack.

Alessandra, alone with Lorenzo, less than a year old and with new home to pay for, battled courageously.

When we talked last time, Aless told me that one day she will come back to Kerala with Lorenzo to show him the places where Massimo and Aless went together.

We are waiting for you, dear Lorenzo. May the New Year bring you happiness and strength...

This New Year I dedicate to the memory of Massimo and to the future of Lorenzo.

 http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithvadakoot/InFondMemoryOfMassimo#