As everyone says, life is flowing...and the sad part is that it doesn seem to have an ocean to meet... its flowing aimlessly...not even shaping round stones in the way... a lot of things come to mind.. and its cluttered..been thinking about taking a break from this aimless flow and settle down for sometime to rejuvenate and to instill concrete aims to flow...God willing, within a few months i will try again to consolidate the thought process...
Rain
Its monsoon time.. and the rain is nowhere...waiting for the rain to drench myself...may be to wash away something which i'm still not sure of...it showers in the night.. when i'm sleeping...i hear the sounds in the back of my mind... it forms a background score for my vague dreams.....and in the morning, its all gone... just like the dream..
life in ernakulam
since the flow is not free, i went out in search of work...
and i got one in ernakulam....to talk to school children about robots...
and i stayed with my high school mates... people who'v studied with me for 10 whole years.. we still dont know much about each other..but the relation has always been warm...we spent nights reminiscing those times in school..our shaping years.. i was sad because we were living in periphery...we were like the dry leaves flowing in a stream...dead and flowing in the current....not knowing the depths...but as everyone does..we still cherish those days...and some of them just want to stick back to the old times..
then we shifted to a dingy room in the middle of cemetries...muti storied graves sorrounded us.. so we started our life along with a lot of dead dreams...and we lived in a room which do not have much oxygen...it reminded of impending dangers... it showed how vulnerable we were.. the civiisation is counting its days... only some of them are keeping the count...rest are already dead....their minds...i mean
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Kashmir is burning.
Zaffar was sad yesterday. He is my classmate and he is from Kashmir. The events that are happening in his home town are not pleasant. The town is under a curfew. Atleast 5 people have lost their lives in the police firing at the protest march to Lal Chowk, the centre of the town. Zaffar is not very political. He is a sort of happy go lucky guy. When people asks him whether he want independence or want to secede from India or join Pakistan, he used to answer that if people wanted freedom, he'd also support it. He was not much agog about the opression and occupation.
We were both reading from the library when he suggested we have a cup of tea from the canteen. we sat with our cuppas on the verandah. he said that he had got a call from home. and then he started talking and me listening. his brother had called to inform him that a deaf and dumb person in his neighborhood got brutally beaten up by the force since he didn move out of the street at the announcement of curfew.
Then he started talking about the history of the Kashmir problem. He blamed Sheikh Abdulla and his family for all the ruins that had come upon the Kashmimris. Sheikh was never a champion of democracy and had again and again rigged election results to clinch on to the power.
Then he started talking about the amarnath land issue, which is now the burning issue in the valleys.
The Gulam Nabi Azad Govt decided to transfer 100acres of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. Amarnath is a famous hindu pilgrimage centre. The cave was discovered by a Kashmiri muslim nomad and since then thousands of hindu pilgrims have been visiting the place. one third of the annual profit was given to the family of the muslim nomad who found the cave. The Govt. decided to stop that also.
Initially the govt. claim was that the land id being transfered on a temperory basis, but the document said otherwise. The samiti was free to construct and lay tunnels and drainages if need arises. One asks whether the samiti will construct anything for just the pilgrimage period of 2 months? The Kashmiris were being hosts to thousands of pilgrims every year and not a single case of communal tension had registered during these years. Now the politics behind the sudden decision of the Govt. to transfer the land to the board is dubious. Kashmiri land was always occupied since independence. Nehru had promised a referendum regarding the independence long back and it is still to happen. 671 batallions of army and reserved police are stationed in the valley. There is, on an average, one Indian 'security' person per 10 Kashmiris.(Imagine how terrifying it would be for the people) Each battalion require some 150acres of land for themselves. So that much of land was forcefully grabbed them already. The military acquired orchards, fields, schools et al for their operations. The ethics record of the army in Kashmir was never good. The atrocities and brutalities that they have unleashed are uncountable. Kashmiris were always living under the guns of occupation forces. The latest issue of land transfer was bound to invite resistance from the already occupied people. Morover they have never cried for the blocking down of Amarnath yathra
Once the protest started, the army stepped in and started firing against virtually unarmed-except for the stones- masses. That is when NN Vohra took charge as the governor of the state. He decided to make the land transfer null and void. This sparked off furious protests from the Hindu dominated areas of Jammu. Hindu Fundamentalist forces took the issue into their hand and gave it a dangerous religious overtone. People took to the streets and destroyed schools, ransacked government offices and et al. The softer attitude from the army was appalling.
Meanwhile an economic blockade on the Kashmiris were already in place. The Jammu-Srinagar Highway, the only road which connects Kashmir to India, was blocked by the samiti protesters. Being the harvest season, tonnes of fruits were packed and ready to be transprted. But the blockade meant that any truck going through that road will have to face attacks from the protesteers in Jammu. Till today worth fruits crores of rupees are getting rotten due to the blockade.
The mainstream media portrayal of Kashmir as pro-pakistan was scoffed at by Mirwais Latif, a leader from Kashmir. He said the use of pro-pak and pro lashkar slogans are just means of their protest against the indian state and its army. They are aware of the political developments in Pakistan and they dont want to give themselves away to a highly unstable and corrupted state apparatus of Pakistan. Even pakistan seemed to have lost its interest in Kashmir and its problems. Even pro-pakistan people blame the pakistan media for the lack of interest in covering the current issue
The cry for azadi(freedom) is growing day by day, that too in a never before way. Thousands of people are joining the protest marches. They are unarmed, which makes it difficult for the army to "manage" the situation as they had done before. The people now thinks even if India is prospering, even if the independence means going backward in time, even if they couldn manage to support infrastructure, even if they are heading to darkness, they would still prefer independence rather than the integration with India. Why are still clinging on to Kashmir. All independent referundums strongly declares their will to be free. We all thought we're living in a democracy. How foolish we were.
We were both reading from the library when he suggested we have a cup of tea from the canteen. we sat with our cuppas on the verandah. he said that he had got a call from home. and then he started talking and me listening. his brother had called to inform him that a deaf and dumb person in his neighborhood got brutally beaten up by the force since he didn move out of the street at the announcement of curfew.
Then he started talking about the history of the Kashmir problem. He blamed Sheikh Abdulla and his family for all the ruins that had come upon the Kashmimris. Sheikh was never a champion of democracy and had again and again rigged election results to clinch on to the power.
Then he started talking about the amarnath land issue, which is now the burning issue in the valleys.
The Gulam Nabi Azad Govt decided to transfer 100acres of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. Amarnath is a famous hindu pilgrimage centre. The cave was discovered by a Kashmiri muslim nomad and since then thousands of hindu pilgrims have been visiting the place. one third of the annual profit was given to the family of the muslim nomad who found the cave. The Govt. decided to stop that also.
Initially the govt. claim was that the land id being transfered on a temperory basis, but the document said otherwise. The samiti was free to construct and lay tunnels and drainages if need arises. One asks whether the samiti will construct anything for just the pilgrimage period of 2 months? The Kashmiris were being hosts to thousands of pilgrims every year and not a single case of communal tension had registered during these years. Now the politics behind the sudden decision of the Govt. to transfer the land to the board is dubious. Kashmiri land was always occupied since independence. Nehru had promised a referendum regarding the independence long back and it is still to happen. 671 batallions of army and reserved police are stationed in the valley. There is, on an average, one Indian 'security' person per 10 Kashmiris.(Imagine how terrifying it would be for the people) Each battalion require some 150acres of land for themselves. So that much of land was forcefully grabbed them already. The military acquired orchards, fields, schools et al for their operations. The ethics record of the army in Kashmir was never good. The atrocities and brutalities that they have unleashed are uncountable. Kashmiris were always living under the guns of occupation forces. The latest issue of land transfer was bound to invite resistance from the already occupied people. Morover they have never cried for the blocking down of Amarnath yathra
Once the protest started, the army stepped in and started firing against virtually unarmed-except for the stones- masses. That is when NN Vohra took charge as the governor of the state. He decided to make the land transfer null and void. This sparked off furious protests from the Hindu dominated areas of Jammu. Hindu Fundamentalist forces took the issue into their hand and gave it a dangerous religious overtone. People took to the streets and destroyed schools, ransacked government offices and et al. The softer attitude from the army was appalling.
Meanwhile an economic blockade on the Kashmiris were already in place. The Jammu-Srinagar Highway, the only road which connects Kashmir to India, was blocked by the samiti protesters. Being the harvest season, tonnes of fruits were packed and ready to be transprted. But the blockade meant that any truck going through that road will have to face attacks from the protesteers in Jammu. Till today worth fruits crores of rupees are getting rotten due to the blockade.
The mainstream media portrayal of Kashmir as pro-pakistan was scoffed at by Mirwais Latif, a leader from Kashmir. He said the use of pro-pak and pro lashkar slogans are just means of their protest against the indian state and its army. They are aware of the political developments in Pakistan and they dont want to give themselves away to a highly unstable and corrupted state apparatus of Pakistan. Even pakistan seemed to have lost its interest in Kashmir and its problems. Even pro-pakistan people blame the pakistan media for the lack of interest in covering the current issue
The cry for azadi(freedom) is growing day by day, that too in a never before way. Thousands of people are joining the protest marches. They are unarmed, which makes it difficult for the army to "manage" the situation as they had done before. The people now thinks even if India is prospering, even if the independence means going backward in time, even if they couldn manage to support infrastructure, even if they are heading to darkness, they would still prefer independence rather than the integration with India. Why are still clinging on to Kashmir. All independent referundums strongly declares their will to be free. We all thought we're living in a democracy. How foolish we were.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
A rendezvous with another food security expert
Ironies never seem to cease!Last day I met this guy from one of the country's best universities. He has just completed his Mphil in development economics. And yeah, he did his bit of research in food security along with a well known "intellectual" from the same university. I met him from a restaurant in the campus. We both were waiting to get a seat in the busy place. So we had a small chat before getting seats at the same table. I asked him what he was doing, and he said: “food security”. By the time his order was served. It was a plate of noodles and a chicken hot garlic sauce; a bit too much for a guy of that size- he had this lean and hungry look!- I was hoping for an offer from him. I had some logical reason for my hopes. He had six pieces of spicy chicken and we were already on a talking terms. But I had to be satisfied with my fried rice! And that was not all. Once he was half way through the noodles, he took the menu card again and ordered chicken fried rice!! First I thought he might be taking food to one of his friends. But his plan was to have it for himself once he’s done with the noodles! And the guy was being quite articulate and authentic about the falling consumption rates. As someone pointed out, the word ‘irony’ has lost its power and appeal already.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The Irony of food security
How more ironic can it get? The G8 summit happening in Japan was touted as the global leaders meet to analyze and find solutions for the declining food security, especially in third world country. And what happens after the day long meetings, seminars and blah blahs.. naturally the who's who of the world were famished.. and then.. an exuberant 8 course dinner with 19 dishes, cooked by 25 chefs..!! Now that is some big time contribution to the food security issue.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Malayalam Font
If anyone is having a problem in reading the posts written in malayalam, a link to download the unicode font is provided on the left pane of the blog window. Save it in ur windows/fonts folder and restart the browser.
Peace
Peace
പുക
ശ്വാസകോശം പുകയാല് നിറഞ്ഞു
ഒരു റീകൊയില് നടന്നപ്പോള് എഴുപത് ശതമാനം
പുക ഒരു സ്ട്രീമായി പുറത്തേക്ക് വന്നു
കാറ്റിന്റെ ഗതിക്കൊപ്പം അത് വളഞ്ഞു
ഇടത്തേക്ക് നീങ്ങി, അന്തരീക്ഷത്തില് ലയിച്ചു
മുപ്പത് ശതമാനം പുക ധമനികള് വഴി ശരീരമാകെ
ഓടി നടക്കുന്നു- ഇന്നും
ഒരു റീകൊയില് നടന്നപ്പോള് എഴുപത് ശതമാനം
പുക ഒരു സ്ട്രീമായി പുറത്തേക്ക് വന്നു
കാറ്റിന്റെ ഗതിക്കൊപ്പം അത് വളഞ്ഞു
ഇടത്തേക്ക് നീങ്ങി, അന്തരീക്ഷത്തില് ലയിച്ചു
മുപ്പത് ശതമാനം പുക ധമനികള് വഴി ശരീരമാകെ
ഓടി നടക്കുന്നു- ഇന്നും
Friday, May 02, 2008
Manufacturing Consent
राजा बोला रात हैं
मंत्री बोला रात हैं
सब बोला रात हैं
ये सुबह सुबह की बात हैं।
free translation
the king said it's night and dark
the minister said it's night and dark
everyone said it's night and dark
when the sun was high and bright
source: indian people's theatre association(ipta) graffitti board
http://iptamumbai.org/
मंत्री बोला रात हैं
सब बोला रात हैं
ये सुबह सुबह की बात हैं।
free translation
the king said it's night and dark
the minister said it's night and dark
everyone said it's night and dark
when the sun was high and bright
source: indian people's theatre association(ipta) graffitti board
http://iptamumbai.org/
Monday, March 31, 2008
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