The OWL

It was a hot summer day of May; I was on my 4th round of bath. Climate was so horrible that even 2 times bath will not give relief from the heat. It was then I heard the sound of an owl outside the window. It took me back to my childhood days.

Owl was considered to be a bad omen that none will allow the poor creature to sit somewhere peacefully. It was believed that the owl would bring diseases to the children. People do all sorts of funny things if this poor guy finds a place somewhere near their house. I still wonder what those activities of putting salt into burning oven and heating the knife has to do with the owl.

I remember my granny and aunty amma walking round the house with burning Olibanum, their lips moving in prayers. But the owl never moved from its place nor stopped crying. Anyways, these beliefs influence the life style of village people. For me, they are our privileges. I love to be bound to these beliefs.

Now, we are grown up. I remember granny doing it till Joel’s days (My cousin, 11 yr old). 4 yr old sania is the youngest of us. But I don’t see granny roaming round with burning Olibanum. Either she stopped it due to her old age or owl reduced in numbers due to many reasons.

Can you believe that people are still using this bridge?? On the way to Maliankara

World Habitat day of Oct 2009

I was going through the newspapers on 5 Oct 2009 in which 2 articles caught my special attention. One was the first column news in Hindu that published the picture of a lady mourning on seeing her submerged house in Garlapdu village near Hydrabad during the heavy rains. Other, was an ad published in the Manorama daily of same day, by Apple A Day Properties on their new offer, exchange of house. "Exchange your old house with Apple A Day's newly built flat or villas". Why this article caught my attention was, both of them published on the same World habitat day".

This day too went unnoticed. No one was aware of this day it seems, other than the creative minds in Apple A Day. Both the articles disturbed me a lot. First one for the poor lady's fate and the other one for the new trends in consumer behavior. We are adopting a use and throw culture. Owning a flat in Kerala's industrial capital is a dream for most of the urban population(i don't want to be in that category ;). The boom that happened in the real estate, made the job easy. Along with the real estate, land mafia too developed.

We are exploiting. Exploiting the land, rivers, forests... and the dreams of the middle class too. Fortune is yet to come to the bottom level.

Lets come back to the flood affected Andra and Karanataka.Its been more than 2 months, since the flood. Everyone have forgotten this. (Now the hot topic in Andra is the Telengana and Governer Tiwari and in Karanataka, the illegal mining contract.). Whom to blame? The nature? the govt? or the common man?? The majority who produce the food for the privileged minority, live in starvation. The hands which build houses and palaces, hardly enjoy the safety of a shelter. With the govt stepping back from the agriculture, education and public sector makes the things worse. But, definitely I appreciate the NREGA initiative by the Govt. Its a blessing for thousands under the poverty line.

Girl, How safe you are??

Got to know this incident from one of my classmates. Let her name be Rita. Rita’s friend is doing her B.Ed in one of the colleges in the suburbs of Thrisur. One morning the girl was walking towards the college from the bus stop. The road was deserted, and it was then, she noticed 2 middle aged men, in their late 40’s approaching her. They grabbed her hand and tried to pull her into the car. She shouted. But none was there to save her. The man in the car was telling her, “ Let’s go somewhere else today”. Somehow the girl made an escape and later launched a complaint. The story ends there.

Today, I was planning to meet my friend in Thriprayar. It was this story which came to my mind, when I told mom that I would travel alone. And finally the trip got cancelled. Now I have to wait for another month to meet her. It is not the place that matter. I am not saying so and so place is not safe for girls. Rather, I feel, the so called “God’s own country” is not safe for girls. The increasing numbers of crime rates against girls prove this fact.

I don’t think yesteryears were better. But with media, playing a big role, and the accessibility to legal aids, the number of reported cases has increased. Unfortunately they are either buried under the financial and political influence of the convicted or forgotten due to the long procedures in the court.

We need a change. A change in attitude, a change in thoughts a change in our beliefs. A change that should start from the very first school, that is your home, and not from value based education. A change in media, that symbolize women as mere commodity to endorse goods like condoms, deodorants etc...

Hope to see the change soon.

Jesus :The Bus

Just like many others who travel in the Ernakulam- Gosree- Maliankara-Kodungallur route, we too use all abusive words with the name Jesus. Being a Christian, I feel its disturbing and embarrassing to hear these abusive words as an adjective to Jesus. Fortunately or unfortunately name Jesus here represents a Private bus that ply in this route. These Jesus guys are famous for rash driving, speeding, and for abusing the passengers, especially students, who travel with concession tickets.
I am planning to request them to have the bus name changed. I think the motor vehicles department should add few more clauses to MV act regarding nomenclature of private buses. They should not name their buses, after the great personalities, like Jesus, Gurudevan and all…
Why to curse those great people for someone else cause!!!!