Sunday, 13 August 2017

The Hammer, the Sickle & the Trident.

If someone asks me that what is the distance from God's own country to  the Godforsaken country, I would promptly answer that it is the width of the river of blood of 969 people hacked to death since 1946 in Kerala over political issues

Kerala had always been a politically sensitive state thanks to high levels of literacy, a diverse population of varying religions and ideologies. We have kids who adore Che Guvera and Veer Savarkar, literature that praises Saddam and Stalin, educational institutions sworn to political parties and hordes of men ready to die for their cause. Kerala is a unique mix where you find intellectual’s turns to goons and the goons are often Phd holders. Yes we are a real nut case as Swami Vivekananda once observed.


Kannur, a northern district of Kerala first made its appearance in the annuals of history as the bastion of Pazhyi Raja, the chieftain who waged a guerrilla war against the British rule. Kannur has a history of martial prowess and is still glorified with display of Theyyam, training in kalaripayittu and occasionally fatal violence. The early struggles in the history of district was between the goons of the landlords and first generation communists. After the fall of feudalism, the struggle shifted to beedi (country cigarette) factories where the cooperative factories run by the communist trade unions clashed with the workers of private companies. Many of these private workers were immigrants from the neighboring state of Karnataka where right wing Jana Sangh, a precursor of the BJP was strong. The state of emergency in 1975 fueled both communist as well as the Sangh growth in Kerala as both of them worked actively but independently against it. The upper cast Hindu gravitated towards the RSS fold while the middle level Ezhavas flocked to the communist side. With the conclusion emergency, both the groups had established fortified (figure of speech) villages and shakas (basic unit of RSS functionaries) where arms, ammunition and men to wield them were plenty.


Kannur is home to several stalwarts of the communist party including AK Goplan, EK Nayanar and Pinarayi Vijayan. Meanwhile the serene Payyambalam beach in Kannur is the final resting place of many leaders of the state and all of this made the district the de facto Mecca of Indian Communists. The growth of right wing RSS whose ideologies are polar opposite to the commies was initially an irritation, then a menace and recently a threat for the CPI(M). Aggressive campaigning and increase in number of shakas with the dominance of Sangh affiliated parties elsewhere in India resulted the increase in electoral capital of BJP in the state.


Let us ask a nonpolitical, everyman in Kerala a question.

“Who did you vote for and why?”

“The congress, because there will be less violence”



People prefer a party notorious of corruption, nepotism and scandals over viable alternatives. Why?

Records show that of the 96 political killings recorded in Kannur since January 1995, 42 were victims affiliated to the BJP-RSS and 40 were from the CPI(M). Yes there is violence from other parties in the state too but a tit for tat coffin count is often seen between the game of deaths played by the Communist and their Sangh rivals. One group wants to consolidate their power while the other attempts to wrench it away. In the recent election trends, it was seen that the opposition UDF headed by the Congress is on a decline while the LDF throned by CPI(M) holds hegemony against an rapidly rising BJP which leads the NDA. The generous support offered by the central government and out of state players gives fuel for the BJP to push its agenda in the state and have succeeded in placing themselves in a firm position. They managed to win a seat at the state assemble after 60 years and came up close second in several places and also in the local elections at the state capital BJP emerged as the primary opposition. 

The CPI(M) though the strongest party in the state began to feel the heat at their heels and initated counter measures to check this growth of BJP. The right wing on the other hand pushed hard to make space for their roots to run deep and once the unstoppable force met the immovable wall, violence erupted.

It is said that in politics, power is supreme and there is no limit for the measures one could take to grab that power. Killings and revenge killings forms the ultimate atrocity perpetuated by political parties to achieve this goal. Kerala is not the first place in the world to witness political murders and will definitely not be the last yet what is most disturbing is that this fatal wastage of human lives is happening in the most developed, literate and en-lighted society in India.

In war, it is always the pawns that get slaughtered en mass while the dukes and kings live in relative comfort. In this new age political battle the losers are almost always the foot soldiers of the respective parties who hail from low income, socially backward and often broken families while the leaders and their families lives in safety and comfort. In few occasions, attacks have happened on leaders too but they are statically few. The people who perpetuates violence too are of the same back ground and in many events the murderer in a crime becomes the victim in the next and the cycle goes on.  These political vendettas once endemic to Kannur district now have sprouted to many including the capital district of Trivandrum.

The legal proceedings of such crimes often get entangled in red tape and drags into decades while the mob would have had their justice long before. The new case will then begin its tedious crawling through the slush of judiciary. It is just not enough to condemn when a violent act takes place and a wife becomes a widow or a son an orphan but definite steps must be taken to curb this cancer of political violence.


I for one recommend a dedicated task force selected from the state and central police force with both investigative and law and order divisions to act against political violence; under the control of the election commission. The election commission is a preferred head for this purpose as they are free from the interference of both state and central governments and also a division of court exclusively for political crimes. These measures will take much man power and will to achieve but keeping in mind that every life lost is a world collapsed, we the people inclusive of Commies, Sanghies and you Congies can build a better, safer tomorrow for us and our children.

Psss..... All images are random ones collected through a google search, the statistics are all adopted from various news articles including Indian Express, The Hindu and Times of India.

Psss 2... Commie - Communists; Sangi - RSS/BJP worker, Congi - Congress worker.


Pssss 3.... In retaliation to the North Indian media paining Kerala as a killing field (I am looking at you Republic & co) Malayalees have pulled up the statics which shows our murder and violence rate is very less compared to elsewhere in the country. Though I am glad to hear it, those small numbers in the list are lives ended, families shattered and dreams turned to ashes. With our level of social development, nothing but a new age Utopia must flourish here. 

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

Asura - Tale of the Vanquished : Review

One of the early memories of my child hood is reading Amar Chitra Katha. An illustrated comics which tells the stories of valor and righteousness and victory of good over evil. The makers of this comics found that Indian mythology is more profitable to market that various flying strong men who wear undies over pants in India. We read tales from Mahabharatha and Ravana, fashioned bows and arrows after our hero Ram & Arjun and shot them at imaginary Ravana or at our friends and siblings. The blockbuster TV shows of the 90's too were the stories of these two epics and all our festivals were in honor of these mythical heroes or if I may, the Gods. We did not even spare a moment to empathize with Duryodhanan who wanted to rule the land after his father or with Bali, who was sniped when battling his brother. We did hate Ravanan and his ferocious Asura followers without considering his insult when his assaulted and bleeding sister came wailing to the court. We loved the tall, fair, horse riding, soft speaking, hard hitting Devas and their chieftains. 


I consider these epics as excellent literature works that showed the rich imagination and forethought of the respective authors. To talk about a flying machine when you are busy hitting each other with a femur is an achievement by itself. Sometime down the lane someone took these books too seriously , incorporated religion and provided it with a Godly aura. Many interpretations of these epics exists but most of them are too much philosophical jargon which a mortal like me can't fathom.  Then came Anand Neelakandan's Asura - Tale of the vanquished.  

I had seen this book many time at stores, both online and on shelves and felt curious how can one justify arguably the most evil literary villain ever? The one who went on a rampage through all three worlds,  who shamelessly abducted another mans wife, have done atrocities against the pious and the godly men and even sent his son Indrajith to attack and sack the abode of Gods. Well Anand Neelakandan just humanizes Ravanan in the book. He speaks of Ravanan as a man who through hardships and effort rises to be the king of Lanka and launches a military campaign to subdue his quarrelsome neighbors. Ravana is painted as a man of many skills and even more faults. In my favourate, passage of the book, Mahabali, an exile Asura king tutoring Ravanan the need to forgo all his emotions, despair, prejudices and fears to conquer himself to be above human nature and be the greatest Emperor the world have seen and be the face that reflects all but shows nothing. Ravanan promptly replies that it is those emotions which makes a man and he would gladly live and die as a true man rather than hide behind an indifferent veil. He would proudly display all ten of those emotions which his mentor advised him to shun earning him the name Dashamukha.

The narration of the book is done from Ravanan's perspective and from that of Bhadra, a lowly foot soldier. I found Bhadra's character to be more compelling than Ravanans. In every other sword and sandal book I have read, foot soldiers just drink, rape, kill and be killed. But in this one, we see the life of a soldier and how the actions of high and mighty affect the peasants. We witness what drive the cowardly man to be a soldier, his family life and the turmoil he faces. Bhadra is a devoted follower of Ravanan but hates him with equal fervor throughout the book. The life of these two characters are intertwined and make the book a complex yet thoroughly entertaing one. Anand Neelaknadan has taken the epic, rotated it 180 and made a blockbuster out of it. He does capitalises on dormant Dravida (South Indian) emotions to sell the book and to strike a chord with his aimed readers. The book may be a bit uncomfortable to two group of people, one the ultra conservative Hindus and two the general population who doesn't belong to the Dravida family. If you could keep aside your prejudice and read the book with an open mind, you will agree with me as Anand Neelakandan is in par or a cut above Amish & co.

"Ravana sees himself as the epitome of a complete human being; So, Rama may be seen as God but Ravana is the more complete man" - This is the one line that hooked me into the novel and I am glad that I read it.

Wednesday, 26 July 2017

Biting the Bullet

That sound; that damn sound. That's how it begins for most of us.

Motorcycling in India is broadly classified into two. The boys who ride plastics and men who ride the Bullet. This image was cultivated carefully by the Royal Enfield Company fanning masculinity as an equivalent of a huge monster that wakes up the neighborhood when it comes roaring in. Our superstars who rode it into battle the villains and the legend of how the Indian army ordered a batch of Bullets to patrol the Himalayan ridges eventually gave the bike a status of manhood.  


A typical bullet tripper

Then came the age of Indian trippers. Not the weed rolling, pot smoking type but the kind of leather clad guys who tie up huge bags, a couple of petrol cans and ride to the far corners of the country in seek of something. They invariably choose members of the RE stable, primary due to their seating comfort, high torque in low gears and most importantly because it looked cool. People frown at you if you ride into Spithi valley in a Splendor but on a Bullet you are one of the tribe. Bullet clubs popped up and soon the roads were choked with bullets. And the kind of moronsTM who swap a well-researched and built part of the bike like the silencer with the kind that deafens a rock because that makes you look hip.

No one popularized Bullet than Lalettan
A relative of mine, who lives nearby had a Bullet when I was in school. I used to wake up in the morning listening to his attempt to start the machine. Upon starting its roar used to give me goose bumps and when I ride my bicycle I used to imagine I was upon that magnificent machine. I tried my best to convince my dad to buy one but he progressed from Bajaj Chetak to Honda Activa to TVS Victor and then onward to four wheels.  Unlike me he was a practical man! My first chance to get my hands on a RE came in 2009 when I cleared my dental graduation. My parents have offered to buy me a bike and they were sure I would opt for a Bullet.

Real life cops with their ride
 Surprise! I went and bought a Yamaha FZ. I gave my reasons as it was economical, better engine, and less cost but the truth was that I was scared of riding the bullet. The guys I saw at that time riding the bullets were either policemen or the kind of people the policemen chases or occasionally chases the policemen. I being neither of them did not want that kind of albatross around my neck, hence a humble Yamaha.



Stuff the Army daredevils do with their Bullets
Couple years down the lane RE revamped their models, introduced the new efficient, economical and better constructed UCE engines. They boasted of the build quality of that of the Japanese plastics, the royalty of British heritage and as an icing on the cake RE was taken over by an Indian company. I am too much of a patriot and had grown some balls by that time so need to buy one ASAP. I began the war for a Bullet at home but my parents simply ignored me stating that I had my chance and I blew it, now if I want a Bullet make my own money and buy it. Well if I had my own money, why should I ask them? Indian parents logic!

The kind of shit I hates
It took me another 5 years to buy my dream bike. In 2016, I had saved enough money in between paying the education loans for a Bullet. As I always wanted I bought a silver Electra and fell in love with her at first sight. I call her 'The Spirit' and my wife suspects that she is more of a mistress than a motorcycle for me.  I give her regular baths, dusts her almost daily, services her on date and of recent my toddler son shows the equal or even increased vigor than me toward her. The service amounts are atrocious, the maintenance costly and the risk of stalling pretty high still every morning rain or shine, I take my time to caress her engine to start, enjoys my commutes to work and look forward during my job to ride her back. I know I am in love!

My Beauty
One year have passed, most of her rubber tubes have been replaced for failures of them means that I will be trapped on the road with an immovable behemoth. Yesterday I noticed the paint flaking off from the battery covers and rust creeping in under a few nuts and bolts. It’s just those wrinkles you get when you grow old, but on the bike all you need is to buy a new part and swap it. There as good as new. Whenever she refuses to start on a particularly cold morning, I just remember of the good time we had climbing up the misty hills of Idukky or burning the tarmac under a hot Tamil sun. I never swear at her but gently coax her to sputter and let her heart roar out her love to me. 

For another commute, for another adventure.

Stages of my life. Teenager to Colleger to a Bulleteer.


The Dead Tree Collection

A tree that stood for years, weathered the seasons, provided shade for may a scorched traveler, provided home to our winged friends and finally axed down in the shade of our greed. Sometimes we fell a tree to make our roads wider, some for better manicure of the land, some to support our aching backs and lazy butts but a few fortunate trees do not die when the axe falls upon it but be born again. Every book we read is the afterlife of a tree. I like to believe that its the soul of the tree that provides us with the warmth of emotions we feel when we read a great book. In honor of all those great beings who sacrificed their lives so that we could travel great distances, meet exciting individuals, participate in ethereal gatherings, I will call my new blog deadtreecollection.blogspot.in

I am an old school reader. I prefer to read hard copies of books instead of the E format. I am not against kindle, computers or my mobile and will read form any of those if the occasion presses me, but in my preference, the physical book always triumphs. I know that more I read the book, more trees need to be felled, yet I cannot think of shifting to E books yet because I love collecting and exhibiting the books I have read. Maybe one day my son may take up reading as a passion and be happy that Daddy have made a formidable library for him.

In the last year I have read around 40 books among which I had listed 30 or so in my goodreads.com account. I went through my old library car and found that I have read an average of around 40-45 books every year since my 8th standard in 1998. So it can be safely assumed that my total non academic literature journey have crossed the 700th milestone in the last year.  I have occasionally reviewed a few of the books in my facebook page and in my other blog finalloaf.blogspot.in but recently I have been thinking of making a blog exclusive for book reviews. I also plan to widen the scope of this blog into reviewing movies and series based on books in the future. 

In the beginning, I will be doing most of the reviews myself but is planning to include some avid readers to widen the reach of this blog as the reading community themselves will be benefited along with upcoming authors to whom this will act as a  publicity medium and a constructive criticism site. 

I request all my readers to support this blog just as you have supported my previous blog :)



Edit: I have decided to merge my two blogs for the sake of convenience into one. So all the posts in this blog have been shifted to the  original blog acynictalks.blogspot.in which I hope will be updated as much as my schedule permits. I like this title a bit too much so will not be deleting this and maybe use this for some other purpose later on.

Wednesday, 19 July 2017

Fallacy of the Fourth Estate.

The world of politics is governed and run by the cooperation of the three estates of power. The legislature frames the laws of the land, the executive makes sure they are followed and the judiciary looks into grievances. All three of them acts alone, in cooperation and in occasion as antagonists to each other. They are vested with limited power and with an ability to act as a check to each other if the need arises. Then we have the fourth estate, the news media or the press.

Traditionally the fourth estate included all means of mass communication including but not limited to visual, literature, radio, computer aided news distribution etc. Even though not formally recognized as a part of the political order, the fourth estate holds much influence over the society and in occasions determine  the direction of the general thinking as a whole. With the advent of social media, a part of the fourth estate including blogging, Facebook, Twitter feeds etc have been further moved to the fifth estate which is still very much linked with the mainstream media as the public generally considers them one and the same. In my narrative, when I mention media it will be the mainstream including print, visual or auditory. It can also include the online editions of the mainstream newspapers, but not the ones run by a group or an individual from his bedroom; those will be called as social media.

 Story No 1

In 1994, an eminent rocket scientist was named in a spy scandal. It was said that he along with a colleague leaked sensitive data to a couple of ladies from Maldives who in turn passed on the information to our arch rival's guard dog the ISI. The scandal rocked the state of Kerala and captured the imagination the people. There were stories of sex and spy, of Russian and US involvements, sabotage and so forth. The scientist in the eye of the storm was the one who lead the team pioneering on the works of cryogenic rocket engine which as I understand uses liquid fuel for flight. These liquid fuel engines are necessary for longer duration of flights with heavy loads while the solid propeller ones headed by the great APJ Abdul Kalam found its principal application in our military arsenal. In that time only the superpowers had such a technology and ISRO was on route to develop it. Then the spy scandal happened, the scientist was arrested, allegedly tortured, humiliated and the entire work went down the drain. The scandal eventually snowballed to the the resignation of the then chief minister K Karunakaran.


By 1996, the CBI team came to the conclusion that there was no evidence of any malicious activity by the above said scientist and in 1998 the court quashed all cased on him. The technology he helped to develop powered our satellites to the Moon and then to the Mars and very soon will help the first Indian to reach space in an India made rocket. The poor man was insulted, isolated and shunned by the society. He lost the prime of his life for the crime he did not commit.

 Story No 2



On the fine morning of May 20th this year Kerala woke up with the story of how a brave young girl, a law student defended herself and her honor against a self styled Godman who tried to rape her. The general conscience of the story says that the Swami who was the spiritual guide of the girls family misused his position of power and influence to sexually exploit the girl since her teens. He hid behind his aura of spirituality while he drained the family of their finances. Finally on the faithful day the swami ordered the girl to his room and in the darkness tried to assault her. She with defiance grabbed hold of the fruit knife and swing at his mid region and chopped off his manhood. Not completely but 90%. I am not making this up, I have read the same words in a news paper. She then rushed out, ran to a senior lady police officer who was her neighbor and called up the police helpline. They rushed pronto, put the swami under arrest and rushed him to the hospital where they sewed up his injured part. They media space exploded. There were screaming news headlines, shattering break news, flashing scrolls. The TV set was set alight with the vocal bombardment of the four column debate thing, feminist, men-nist and all their ilk screamed for the swamis blood. The collective of Kerala from the Chief Minister to the crook in unison congratulated the girl and vowed swift and apt punishment to the attacker. The media frenzy galvanized the population of not just the state but of the nation, it was glorious.


On 16th June, a news article much smaller in pomp and fond appeared in the third, fourth or the middle pages of few of the local dailies. The girl it seems have made a big 'U' turn. She have given in writing that none of the charges accused on the swami was true and he was as his attire projects, a saint. I don't know if money, threat or pure repentance have made this possible but it was a news worthy change. Yet there was no channel debates, no screaming headlines or breaking news and definitely no voice from the hordes which brayed for blood of the accused. To expect an apology for the tarnishing of the name will be too much even for the swami to expect but does he not deserve the decency from our media to telecast/print this development as they have done the first?

 Story No 3



February 20 of this year was celebrated as never before by the media with a headline of 'Popular actress kidnapped, molested and photographed'. It was the development of a story that would keep the TRP among the stars and be a cash cow for a long time. First came the manhunt for the prime accused and his henchmen and once he was apprehended came the speculation of the director of this operations. Since the day the identity of the actress was known, there was suggestions of the name of one of the most popular actor in Malayalam who might be the hidden hand. The initial frenzy continued almost until the case of the swami and the girl with the knife came up which then took up the mediasphere. But this story could not just simply die, for it was perfect. It had sex, popular names, a thick plot of conspiracy and lots of money to be made.

What is a swami and some unknown girl when compared to this?


Probably not what was offered at the jail.
Upuma & Banana
The case developed over the months, a letter of questionable integrity was found implicating the actor and the police which was recently been rubbed to the dirt over a few issues badly needed a morale boost. The actor was arrested, and once again the carrion crows descended into our living rooms.  We were privy to what the actor had for breakfast (it was uppuma and banana if you were wondering) which he didn't eat; his alleged role for almost all the crimes which happened in Kerala that may have the vaguest connection to movie industry. We even had people coming up claiming of their inside knowledge of the despicable acts the actor and his cronies perpetuated. All these were brought to us live, dead and decayed by the warriors in the TV set and the papers. The story continue to develop as I write this.


Meanwhile the nurses who went on hunger strike on the streets for minimum wages neither received the wages nor a spot in the media carnival for it was full of other sensational stuff.


I don't know if either the scientist, the swami or the actor is guilty. But in a land were the law rules, the scientist who has been absolved of all charges by the court must be treated in all means as innocent, though that will not alter the horrible timeline he suffered. The swami and the actor are still in the processing stage and their fate will be determined by the various courts of the law in due time as it must be in a civilized society. Our legislature have framed rules against the crimes they have or have not committed, the executive have caught them up and is in the process of collecting evidence against them and finally when the time comes the judiciary will assess the evidences, ponder over the arguments for and against and deem them guilty or not and punish them as seemed fit.


The Fourth Estate have absolutely no role in the process other than to inform the people of the developments. They are not the judge, jury or the executioner. The trial by media on every days debate hour is nothing but a lynching.

Like the crows that covers the carcass that floats down the river, we have a bunch of 'unprincipled showmen masquerading as journalists'. I don't mind the feeding of the crows but they disturb my peace and pollute my surroundings. They from being a nuisance have now developed into a kangaroo court of sorts.


A name that must have been said along with the ex president is now a name connected with a traitorous scandal, a person who may be in truth an actual spiritual person is a molesting monster and an actor who have entertained us for the last two decades a criminal who must be hanged, drawn and quartered.


A bunch of OB vans. Representative image
Not always the police is to be blamed for wrong arrests, falsification or evidence or so but almost always the quest for sensationalist news and mindless race to out do the other OB van results in breaking the cardinal law by which man need to be governed.

Pssssss......

1) During the ISRO spy case, the visual media was not developed as it is today. My memories are vague of how the public reaction was but on inquiring to the elders they say the papers and periodicals were full on in lynch mode.


2) I have selected these three cases to cite as they have captured our imagination like no other. I know there are thousands of other cases, but I had to limit to three.

Monday, 19 June 2017

Birth of a God

I know that three months is too long of a break from anything. You could call it my writers block or bloggers block, if I may. In my defense blogging was not just the only thing that got blocked. I haven’t cycled, jogged, worked out or even gone for a bullet trip in the last 3-4 months. A depressing period my dear reader, but not everything is down. I am sure the blood pressure and glucose levels are pretty high and the numbers on the weighing scale evidently is.  

A lot of things have happened in the last three month that warrants a monologue from my part, including the curious incident of a Swami, a girl and a knife in the nighttime; metro and the art of gatecrashing; of beef, fishes and men; when cricket hurts and heals; the soap opera of middle east and so on. The collective weight of breaking news over the channels threatens the picturetube of my ancient TV set while it gives me ample fodder to ramble in my blog. Among all these events the one I need to talk about today is the birth of a God.

Yes of course, even a God need to be born at some point or the other. It could be in a sheep pen, a palace or a desert based on various canonical evidences yet I choose to believe Sir Terry Pratchett’s theory on the birth of Gods which he explains in his book Small Gods. Let me explain his theory in my words.

"Lo! I am born."

Just like that.

Everything in existence has the potential in them/it to be a god. All you need is someone to believe and worship. The tree in the corner of the field where a kid found his lost toy can give birth to a god if the kid thanks the tree in gratitude. The god grows in strength as the kid’s devotion to the tree increases. One fine day en-route to his school with his three friends the kid stops by the tree and prays for the absence of one particular teacher. For this good cause his friends join and by some miracle  chance luck for the kids and the tree god and ill luck for the teacher, she came down with a stomach bug and had to take the day off. 


An Old tree, just for a feel
Our tree God now has four devotees which soon extrapolated to the entire class, the school, some parents and eventually the village. The small god of the tree is now a major player of the villages’ spiritual club. The tiny wisp that was born out of the kid’s gratitude and active imagination now sports a body that is benevolent to the students, source of wisdom to the teachers, intimidating to the guilty and presiding to the whole village.

A few weeks back someone told me that the Mother & Child statue at SAT hospital in Trivandrum is the new diety on the block. SAT hospital is a premier gynecology, neo-natology, children’s hospital in Kerala under the government where most of us including myself and my son took our first breath and wailed our first cry. My earliest memory of this statue must be when my parents took me or my sister for our vaccination and whenever I see an image of this statue I form a mental picture of beaming mothers and screaming children. But there was no divine intervention or presence back in the day. It was just a work of art like the mermaid at Shankummukam beach or the Celestial nymph (Yakshi) at Malampuzha dam, just rocks and concrete with zero holy flesh.


Mother & Child at SAT Hospital campus, Trivandrum
How did this art work by Mr Aryanad Rajendran who sculptured it to spread the message of mothers love, the need of breast feeding transform itself to a small god? It is a sculpture that shows a mother breast feeding her baby; with her kind face tilted down in peace. She is neither doing the traditional blessing gesture nor she has a halo around her head, neither does the baby have one. There are no temples, churches or mosques in the immediate vicinity to impart some divinity, yet she is now a minor god. How did it happen?


Mary at JannaDeep Vidhyapeed, Pune
From the evangelical perspective, image of a mother cradling a newborn baby had been a symbol that launched crusades and build monuments. Billions around the world pray to this image every day or at least every week. Yes the attires do not match with the traditional ones but remember we do have saree clad Mary with baby Jesus all over the coastal belt in south India. It was a simple adaptation by our missionary friends to find easy acceptance among the native population. Maybe our Mother & Baby at SAT stroked a chord with a desperate but devote Christian family who had their young daughter in a difficult labor. They offered few candles and some silent prayers while the doctors and staff at the hospital successfully delivered the child saving the girls life. Sweets were soon distributed to the staff; thanks and the breath of life to the cement statue. A holy gossip at the next prayer meeting increased the reach of the new god, her devotes grew in number as more and more candles lighted on her altar and more and more babies were born happy and healthy.


Krishna & Yeshoda
Hinduism always believed in divinity of mothers & motherhood and we often address our Lady Gods as Amma (mother). It would be much easier for a rural father to find solace in a familiar image in a strange city so close to the hospital. He is scared for the safety of his child and grandchild and wants to stay near the hospital yet he wants to run to the nearby temple to offer his prayer and seek blessings on their behalf. In this very predicament, he finds a larger than life sculpture that reflects what he wishes for his daughter. Devotion fills his heart, offerings stars raining. The doctors perform their regular miracle in the labor room, the child gasps for his first breath and the god rises in the mind of yet another family.

I am unable and unwilling to explain this divino-genesis from the other religions perspective as my knowledge about them is insufficient and I dont want to risk it.

Yakshi watching over Malalpuzha dam in Palakkad
This country is peppered with millions of gods small and great, native and foreign and a new one to the club do not really matter in both human and spectral world. But it does matter for a desperate family as that sculpture provided solace for them in the time of great peril and what harm can it do? After all the patient life is in the hands of the good doctors let the bystanders peace be in the hands of a small god.

Mermaid sculpture at Shankumukham beach
Maybe one day fisherfolk will offer the mermaid statue prayers for safety at sea and the Yakshi at Malampuzha becomes the patron goddess of dams, but until that day, Mother & Child is our new god.


Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Kannaki - Wife, Fury & Goddess, Story of Attukalamma.

In a land of myths and legends, the story of Kannki and her Silappatikaram is not just a celebrated story but the tale that gave birth to a Goddess who undoubtedly commands the devotion of more women than any other spiritual being.  

The story begins with the lady Kannaki and her husband Kovalan, merchants by profession having a bit of marital rift as Kovalan was enamored by Madhavi, a dancer. Kovalan ruined himself financially over the dancer and penniless he returned to Kannaki, who received him without any issues. The duo decided to relocate for a fresh  start and went to  the city of Madhuri ruled by the Pandyan king Nedunjelian I.

 Kannaki gave one half of her last precious possession, an anklet to Kovalan to sell so that he can have some capital to start a business. Unfortunately at the same time someone stole an anklet belonging to the queen of the city and a search for the thief was undertaken.  At the market a search party came upon Kovalan who was in the process of bargaining a fair price for his wife's anklet. The grunts overzealous and hopeful for some reward seized Kovalan, confiscated the anklet and dragged him to the court. The king who must have been pestered to hell by the queen in poor judgement commanded to relieve Kovalan off his head. 

Kannaki & Silapathikaram from Tamil literature
The news of Kovalans arrest reached Kannagi and she ran into the court with her other half of the anklet and screamed her cause at the king. This anklet was decorated with rubies while the queens missing ones were of pearls. The king knew that he screwed up and had fatal cardiac event and in the caos that followed some one (possibly Kannaki) knocked over lamps over the drapes and a blaze engulfed the palace. Kannaki in an act of valor and savageness tore off and threw her breast at the city cursing it to burn for the injustice it had done to her husband. The fire gutted a huge portion of the city with the palace and the barraks in ashes. There was huge loss of life and property and finally the patron Goddess of the city Meenakshi requested Kannaki to withdraw her curse. Anger abated at the suffering she caused, she withdrew her curse and that act gifted her salvation and a stature of Goddess. 

She left the smoking city and traveled towards Kerala taking the form of a small girl. At a place called Attukal in Trivandrum she requested an elderly man to help her cross the river Killi and later that night she appeared in his dream to build her a shrine at the nearby sacred grove, which with reverence he did. Kannaki traveled northwards and finally settled at the village of Kodungallor. The shrine the old man build at Attukal grew over the years to what is now the temple of Attukalamma and the shrine build to her at Kodungallor grew to become Kodungallor Devi temple. The legend says that Kannaki comes to Atuukal once every year on the day the Pongala festival to bless her devotes gathered there.

Kannaki is regarded as the Goddess of prosperity, wealth and feminine power and worshiped by millions of devotes with much reverence.  The Pongala festival celebrated with women building a hearth in which they prepare the payasam (a boiled mix of rice, jaggery, ghee, grated coconut and spices) near the temple, at their house or sometimes the closest they could reach the city of Trivandrum. 

Bird's eye view of the Temple and devotees at Pongala


To understand the implication of this statement you must know that the city of Trivandrum have a population of ten million and in 2016, it was estimated that 4.5 million lady devotees build up hearth at temple premise, on the roads of the city and all available spaces to offer the Pongala to their Goddess. The entire of the city turns into a hallowed ground complete with prayers, offerings and the presence of mystic energies can be felt surging through. The entire population of the city is immersed in the ritual with volunteers providing food, water, refreshments and medical aid. The city officials forget their lethargy and work round the clock to ensure smooth and safe conduct of the festival. 

The true devotees of Goddess
Once the rituals are finished and river of devotees flows out of the city, what remains is the heaps of trash they leave behind which includes bricks, ash, tinder, flowers, disposable plates and glasses etc. The true wonder of the day begins with the emergence of blue clad corporation clean up crew. I often think that their devotion to restore the city to the level of neatness that was before the ritual eclipse that shown by the devotees themselves. Within a couple of hours, you will find no trace of four million hearth, their owners or the trash they generated.

 Cleanliness is not next to Godliness; it is Godliness.

Rush after Pongala
For the people of Trivandrum, Attukal Pongala is not just a yearly celebration of a temple or an occasion to project their city and show their devotion but something much more. As world today is repulsed with violence against women; some speak for her protection while some for her empowerment, but in this city resides a lady who burned down a king, his entourage and his palace for the injustice they did to her.

Here we celebrate the unique feminine strength, capable of consuming a city and also willing to forgive it, here we celebrate the most empowered woman who walked this earth.