Stefano Nardi was my first boss abroad when I started working in the middle east for the first time. It was 1991, Das Island, Abu Dhabi and the company was Snam Progetti. The relationship grew over the years and Nardi's became our family friends. I have been inviting them to visit Kerala since then and finally in 2004, they came to visit us. Stefano, Antonella and Alice. We spent 15 days touring Kerala during Onam 2004.
We spent thiruvonam in Thrissur, then moved to Munnar, Thekkady, Kumarakam, Alleppy, Marari and Cochin. The most memorable of our stay was in Lake palace in Thekkady. Lake palace is a unique wild life hotel, in the middle of a forest within the periyar wild life sanctuary. It is protected by a deep channel all around from wild animals. Stefano has brought his brand of single malt whiskey and we sat around in the lawn of Lake palace sipping it till late on the first evening. We could hear the noises of wild animals across the water and during the day, can see them grazing a few hundred meters away. We also had our dinner in the lawn and we (Stefano, Antonella, me and Usha) retired to the room around 11 PM. Nikhil and Alice were still talking about nothing when we retired. Some time later we heard running feet, pounding on the door and Nikhil burst into our room. He closed the room and bolted it. We heard some noises outside. When Nikhil calmed down, he told us that he fell asleep in the easy chair in the lawn and woke up feeling something sniffing his feet. It was a wild boar and he ran for his life! Next day the staff explained that sometimes, the wild boar fall into the channel separating the forest and the hotel and very rarely, one of them escapes into the hotel side in its effort to somehow get out of the channel. Lake palace is run by KTDC, but is one of the finest and most unique properties I have ever visited after travelling around the world quite a bit. We became very friendly with the manager, Balakrishnan and the staff. Balakrishnan still remains a good family friend. They also arranged a 4 hour trekking through Periyaar wild life forest where we could see various animals and even a Hornbill or Vezhambal, the national bird of Kerala. Any one who visits Kerala, must stay at least one night in Lake Palace. Without that their journey to Kerala will be incomplete.
I captured this flower in the Periyar valley. It used to be abundant on our fence around our tharavadu. Usually, this flowers during Onam season. Once in Brazil, I found that the seeds of this flower was being sold for USD15 per piece. When I returned to Kerala, I searched around and could not find it any more. I did find it in some places later, but has disappeared from my village - like the joy of Onam. (Sneha asked me the name of the flower. Well, it is known as Lily Gloriosa and it is the national flower of Zimbabwe and State flower of Tamil Nadu. It is called Kithonni, Mendoni, Mettoni, Menthonni (മേന്തോന്നി) etc... in Kerala and Kandhal ( காந்தள்) in Tamil while in Italy they call it Superba del Malabar!!)
Well, today is Thiruvonam. Onam has lost its charm and significance in today's world (well, at least I feel so). Onam was a festival of harvest, but there is so little farming today that it is no more a festival of harvest. Life was minimal in those days and therefore the wait for Onam to have a sumptuous sadya and new clothes and celebrations was so much that Onam was the highest point of any one's life each year. All relatives used to come to the Tharavadu for the Onam from distant places and share the joy of being together and sharing. Today, it is almost Onam every day for a majority of Malayalees, no more harvesting seasons, no more waiting for the new clothes and no Onam kali. What is left is the abundant supply of seconds liquor from the new three star bars (they call it hotels) opened in even villages and the abundant supply of cheap liquor from the Government through beverages corporation. And yes, we also buy flowers from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka worth around 100 crores for Onam and buy a lot of clothes, TVs, cars etc... Onam has become synonymous with traffic blocks, large crowds in shopping centers, in front of flower stalls and yes, large ques in front of Beverages corporation outlets. I also saw some bodies scattered around the most infamous bars in the city! No more visiting relatives in the village, no more greeting cards, but e-mails, tweets, scraps... By the way, the best email greeting I got was from a friend in Mumbai, a Mumbaikar, Ashok Joshi! Despite all that, I come back to Kerala every year for Onam, looking for that lost past, hoping against hope to see the Onam Kali, pakita kali, kummattikali and the rest. Always knowing that I won't see it. But, one cannot stop hoping, right? Hail Mallus and Mallu Onam!View Blog
On the 8th of January 2010, Osawa san (May his soul rest in peace) invited me for dinner.
He has been asking me for several days to join him for dinner to celebrate my joining the team since I arrived in Yokohama in December 09. However, I was engaged on other occasions and could not join him. On 8th we went to a Japanese pub near the sakuragicho station, not far from JGC’s office in Queens tower. There was me, Osawa san, Subbu san, Katsuoka san and Kuramasu san. The interiors were made in such a way that one can sit in the traditional Japanese way or in the western way. See picture below. See the way the floor is sunk so that you can either sit on the tatami mats in Japanese style or in western style at the same table.
Menu card was as shown below. We went for the traditional Japanese Sake and Sashimi. It was my first real taste of Sashimi and Sake
I was a little apprehensive of the raw fish. To my surprise, there was no smell and the raw fish tasted something like the meat of a young coconut.
In the next table, the guests were cooking their own dish while gulping down Sake.
Our Japanese friends attacked the Sake and Sashimi with full vigor while I and Subbu kept a steady but slow pace.
We had a great time that night. However, two of them are not with us anymore. Osawa san and Kuramasu san lost their lives in a tragic accident in Abu Dhabi on 11th August 2010.
A girl seeking alms at a busy New Delhi Traffic signal
Couple of news items caught my eye in the past week.
One was a front page news in Mathrubhumi: PDP working chairman Poonthura Siraj demanded to the Chief Minister of Kerala that a team of Specialist Government doctors be sent to the home of PDP Chairman Abdul Nasser Maudanito examine his fever because "he cannot go to a government hospital as there was a non-bailable arrest warrant issued by a court in Bangalooru against him". I do not want to comment on it, but could not help laughing!
The second news item was also in Mathrubhumi, but in the inside page. The news said there are around 15 street children in front of Kannur railway station and they were seen scavenging chicken waste dumped in a waste bin there by someone. They were boiling and eating it and fighting over it. All this when a campaign on awareness on child labour etc... was being conducted just opposite them and the organizers were delivering speeches and distributing leaflets! That is Kerala! We pride ourselves being the most developed people of India and fight media wars over the most trivial things. But, no one does anything, but talk!
The left Government or any other Governments in Kerala collects tax and then uses is in populist gimmicks aimed at votes rather than investing in the development of the people. Kerala is the state where if you have an association for the millionaires and see the politicians properly, you may be able to win pension for all millionaires!!!
It is unimaginable and unfathomable that people has to live on the streets and on the waste produced by others when we have political parties with airconditioned head quarters, or run TV channels or run Theme Parks and spends millions for organizing huge rallies and spend million on advertising their "Leaders" photos?
How much money the Governments spend on ad campaigns to highlight their "achievements" and inaugurations?
How much will it cost to ensure that no one goes without food or a place to sleep or have something to wear? I am sure that it will cost less than what the government spends to pay the numerous corporation heads it has appointed, or the amount it spends on advertisement or the money it pays to the highly paid advocates to appear for its own party leaders in corruption cases in the High Court and Supreme court!!!
Or from the millions of rupees it earns every year from selling liquor to its people (Probably the only democratic Government which makes profit by making its own people addicts!!!!)!
Government should not be selling alcohol or making chicken 65 for tourists. It should provide governance, policies, ensure that its people are not hungry! Sell off all the companies being run by the Government like the beverages corporation and other numerous corporations, made only to make some party leaders its chairman and step out of businesses like running hotels. Leave the business to businessmen and do your job - Governance! Use the money earned from the sales to ensure that no one in Kerala goes without food, shelter and clothes. IT IS DOABLE!
Look at this from a wider perspective:
Why did I put these seemingly unconnected news bits together here? They are connected. Not only, the first seemingly innocuous news item is the disease that brings about the suffering of the children scavenging chicken waste and fighting over it. It is political callousness that revolves around the well being of a few so called leaders that brings about this decay in our society. They are supposed to be public servants and not served by the public as it is now!!! They vow to serve the public, but then demands to be served by Public!!!
This disease is stopping us from making any progress after 63 years post independence! Compared to the self serving leaders of today, probably we were better off being ruled by the British!!! At least, I believe, that they would not have stolen from the aid for the Tsunami victims or the cyclone victims or sold away the ration for the poor.
Not only, this is what gives raise to the Maoists finding support from the villagers and tribals. Who can blame supporting Maoists when you find that the leaders that you elect are the very ones who steal the land, the food, the money that was supposed to be yours? Obviously, the Naxalites used the situation in the past and today the Maoists exploit that anger. It is true that violence often spins out of control of the idealists and violence then becomes the goal instead of being the means. BUT, THE ROOT CAUSE IS THE INJUSTICE, THE DENIAL OF BASIC RIGHTS AND THE CORRUPTION. Take away the injustice, the poverty and give everyone the right to a life with minimum basic necessities and dignity and the violence will fade away.
Leaders, Governments, stop running businesses and concentrate on your job - of serving the people. Stop stealing from the poor. Stop corruption. Change the political system to make politics a well paid job so that politicians need not steal from the poor and subvert the goals by taking bribes. Make the tax system easier so that people take pride in paying tax and not pay bribe to the officers. Exit the businesses and corporations that were established to favour politicians and use the money for welfare and development.
Someone once said that it is difficult to understand why there was no revolutions in India even under such suffering. After 63 years, probably the Patience is running out.
We were returning from the cremation of Divakarettan and decided to drop in at the shop of James on the way. James was talking to a customer. During small talk, we were introduced to his customer, Sreedharan Nair, who is in the business of glass and particle boards. He said he has a base in Calicut. Just as a chance, I asked him whether he knows a Dr. Kavitha Jose in Calicut, probably working in Baby Memorial Hospital. Immediately, he picked up his phone and called a nephew working in the same hospital and voila, we got the number of Kavitha! Kavitha and we were close friends during our stay in Moscow and she was specially close to our Kuttu, around 4 then. Kavitha chechi and kuttu were inseparable and her Twix was so much eagerly awaited. We left Moscow and went to Milan. We lost contact. We have been searching for her ever since and we got the number today. We called her in the evening and had a long chat. She is now married to Dr. Roshan Bijli and a proud mother of triplets! (See Grihalakshmi July 2010 edition). Finally we have found another page from our history. Now we are still looking out for Geetha, Majeed, Anil Tharyan, Anil Vincent, Ismail, Radhakrishnan, Laxman, Anitha and others who used to get together in our flat in Jugozapadnaya, Moscow, every weekend.
Kavitha in the green Blosue with Usha, Geetha and Bhuvana in our flat in Moscow 1994
മറയുന്ന നിഷ്കളങ്കത: ദിവാകരേട്ടന് എന്റെ ആരുമായിരുന്നില്ല. ഒരു സുഹൃത്തിന്റെ ഭാര്യയുടെ അച്ചന്. പക്ഷെ, കുറച്ചു കാലത്തേ പരിച്ചയതിനുള്ളില്, അദ്ദേഹം ഞങ്ങളുടെ വളരെ അടുത്ത സുഹൃത്തായി മാറി. ഇന്നലെ അദ്ദേഹം ഓര്മയായി മാറി. വളരെ നിഷ്കളങ്കനായ ഒരു സാധാരണ മനുഷിഅനയിരുന്നു അദ്ദേഹം. സ്നേഹിക്കാന് മാത്രം അറിയാവുന്ന ഒരാള്. മാഞ്ഞു പോകുന്ന നാടന് നിഷ്കളങ്കതയുടെ മുഖം. ഇന്നലെ ഒരു അപകടത്തിന്റെ നടുക്കത്തില് നിന്ന് ഇന്ന് നാട്ടിലെത്തിയപ്പോള് നേരെ അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ സംസ്കരച്ച്ചടങ്ങില് പങ്കെടുക്കാന് പോകേണ്ടിവന്നു. ദിവാകരേട്ടന്, ഞങ്ങള് എന്ന്നും താങ്കളെ ഓര്മിക്കും, സ്നേഹത്തോടെ.
It is really a sad day for the project, but especially for me. I had established a very good relation with Kuramasu san and Osawa san and they considered me one of their group and had been very close to me.
Osawa san took me out many times during my stay in Yokohama and always insisted on paying the bill himself. He used to say (jokingly), I am retired, I married away both my girls, JGC pay me a lot of money. So I am a rich man and I pay the bill.
Kuramasu san also had a special affection for me and has been available to me any time even though he is very senior and Deputy Site Manager of JV.
It is such a huge loss.
My heart goes out to their families...
I pray for their souls and cry in my heart...
Kuramasu san and Osawa san sharing a joke on 20 Jan 2010 when we had a party in Yokohama
Kuramasu san during the monthly meeting on 14th July 2010
Osawa san and me infront of Tokyo Tower - New Year 2010
I got the link from linked in. Check out the undying optimism of a dying man at http://www.patricktheoptimist.org/ How can I be pessimistic? Ajith 8th August 2010
I was feeling sleepy after lunch. Thought I would check the picture files in my portable hard disk to pass time. I found these pictures that were taken during the goat cutting ceremony in Q8 Aromatics Project.
Giovanni Sale and Ahmad Habib
Giovanni Sale, Ahmad Habib and the sacrifical lamb!
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