A festival in my village…

Last Thursday, December 10th was the annual festival of the Lord Ayyappa Temple in our village. This is an ongoing function for the past 35-40 years. The peculiarity of this temple is that the Ayyappan deity is in the form of the Lord riding on a tiger… as the folklore goes. This is quite a unique temple in the whole of Kerala for none has this kind of Ayyappan form.

I had to go to work that day and returned earlier than usual to attend this festival. As I came home the procession with caparisoned elephants had started. It was a grand spectacle with three elephants decorated with the traditional headgear and with people on the top with the complete assembles as you can see in the much grander Thrissur Pooram. There was a complete Keralite orchestra called the panchavadyam and accompanied by frequent bursts of fireworks.

This ultimately ended in the temple with women and girls leading the caparisoned elephants to the sanctum sanctorum with the orchestra in full blast… this was a great spectacle to watch and there was a great sense of reverence to the local guardian of thoughts and the beacon to lead them to the next year without any hassles and praying for a bountiful crop.

The air was quite electrifying and the entire village assembled around the temple, with a lot of hawkers selling their wares and women dressed up for the occasion. There was a small makeshift temple built entirely with the layers of the banana tree and tender leaves of coconut trees. It was an amazing piece of art amplified by electrical lights…but all these shows of grandeur soon ended as most of the people had left and with a great deal of programs still pending.

The Thayambaga or percussion with the traditional Keralite drums and cymbals started after a break of half an hour, the sad part was the entire orchestra was for just three people… a drunk, a deaf and me. Still the performers did a great job and I enjoyed the masterful percussion show. Normally this program last for more than an hour, but they stopped within 30 minutes. The reason is there was hardly anyone to encourage them for more. I could see the disappointment in their eyes and kind of defiance that can be seen in seasoned performers. That defiance conveyed the art form would die if they get only such a meager support and enthusiasm. I actually felt sad and could not help reflect then and there that TV, mobile phones and the modern crass consumerism has made a slow and steady back door entry into our village. Most of villagers had left by then and back to their TVs and mobiles within the comforts of their homes. Later on there was a drama performed in a makeshift stage and I came to know there were hardly 10 people watching the theatre performance. I was not able to stay longer because of my poor night vision and was apprehensive of how I would manage in a huge crowd, but that was not the case to be.

I really feel that if this trend continues many local festivals and art forms will disappear and we can listen to the sick sounds created in a mobile phone or orchestrated reality shows in future. But again what can be done to reverse this… if you ask me that question, I really cannot come out with a concrete answer and I think you reading this would feel quite helpless if you are a person to care about preserving the traditional arts and culture.

Life in the God’s Own Country.

It has been a longtime since I posted anything on this space… Some technical issues…

A lot of water has flown down the bridge… but it hasn’t made any difference in my life… except that I got myself a new comp and a new mobile (my first)

After leaving Chennai I have had a great deal of disappointments and was not able to settle and get to the rhythm of life here in Kerala, but gone are the days of loneliness, desperation and the feeling of being miserable. I think the weather and the nature plays a vital role in one’s well being. It was like hot, humid, polluted and filthy all around in Chennai, the moment I came back to Kerala and my village I felt I was in paradise… No doubt that Kerala is the God’s Own Country. I don’t know how crossing the border at Walayar the whole scenery changes. I keep wondering how such a transformation happens in a matter of ten kilometers into Kerala. It is not that I am complaining about the lack of civic sense in other parts of India, but Kerala stands apart in cleanliness and sense of hygiene that prevails.

Actually the Environment Minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh rightly commented that if there was a ‘Nobel Prize for Filth,’ India would get it and I am in full agreement to this statement, the statement could have been modified a little… okay, I know he not the Minister of Kerala. Anyways, that was a true comment come out of a seasoned politician and I am in awe of this guy to actually defy the holy cows in India. I think the media and the govt. of India should come up with some real hard measures to instill a sense of cleanliness and hygiene in this country… I know it is a hard task to achieve, but I feel strongly that we as the proud citizens of this timeless country should take up some drastic steps to clean this country of the filth and dirt for posterity sake at least. Or else more of the Boyles around the world would keep on continuing to exploit the underbelly of this great land.

And a serious thought has to be given to how Kerala and its people are able to keep their surroundings clean; and try to understand why it is recognized as one of the best place to visit in one’s lifetime.

To comment on the state of politics it better said when we say nothing about it.

Anyway, this post of mine has brought me back to where I like be the most and doing the the job I like the most...writing...

Cosmic Dancer - Nataraja

 

Started a new blog dedicated to Lord Nataraja and the url is http://sasthaprakash.wordpress.com 

 

"Because You love the Burning -ground, I have made a Burning-ground of my heart - That You, Dark One, hunter of the Burning-ground, May dance Your eternal dance."

The Election Fever (or the Great Indian Comedy)

 

I wanted to write more about the books that influenced my life, but all the fun happening around has deviated me.

The Elections are back to India. And I am enjoying all the fun in all the fronts, left, right, centre and in between. From the seasoned politicians to the newcomers (with hardly their moustaches grown) And the so called educating the Indian masses by certain media houses.

It is for sure I am not going to exercise my franchise. But the entire tamasha played out by the politicians is worth every second spent on reading and analysing the drama.

Let us take the UPA front, United Puppets Alliance, led by the puppeteer Sonia Gandhi. Sonia loves to be in the background and orchestra the entire proceedings and the entire Grand Old Party or the Grand Old Lady (Modi’s parlance) dances to her tunes or rather her finger movements. Then followed by her prodigal children who have not a clue of what they are saying or doing. Their entire agenda is to discredit all other parties and act as the sole saviours of the Indian democracy and the sovereign, socialist, SECULAR setup of the Indian Constitution. Why is this? To maintain their dynastic right to rule this country. They are the bane of this country, I would rather vote for a lawyer or a social worker or a retired govt. servant or a retired cop or a retired army man than vote for these jokers who think that it is their birth right to rule this country. The election manifesto is not new to the country, it has been tried and repeatedly trashed out in the southern states. They claim to have done everything possible to contain terrorism and their contention is that they handled the Mumbai Terror Attack in most appropriate manner and the NDA had failed miserably in Kandhar incident.

The Kandhar incident happened outside the country and that is in Afghanistan. Does any country has the guts to go into a different country and wage a battle in their soil in such short notice? The NDA did the right thing of releasing a few dreaded terrorists and get the plane and the travellers safe. What was the entire cost of this operation, one passenger who tried some bravado in the plane. Yes, there is a point of contention that the released terrorists have later on created havoc. But at that situation the govt. at the centre has done the appropriate thing.

Can you relate this to the Mumbai incident? The Mumbai terror attack was a very well coordinated strike and there was not at a single stage the perpetrators were in the mood to negotiate. So the commando operation was required with enormous cost of human lives. There is no valid reason for the UPA to take credit for thwarting the terrorists. In fact it was a big loss to humanity at large. The number of high flying individuals in business, media, the armed forces, the police dept., the innocent tourists died in this outrageous, audacious and senseless terror attack. This is not a point of argument and the present govt. must be ashamed that this incident should have never happened and what measures did the security apparatus in the nation to vision and anticipate this kind of situation. It is a blot on the govt. at that point.

Next is the appeasement of the so called minority community. The Congress has repeatedly shown their dual treatment over time. They seize every opportunity to keep minority communities MINOR and creating a stance that the entire community is given a raw deal in all walks of their lives. This is the biggest divisive strategy repeatedly used by the Congress and I don’t understand why people cannot see through their ploy.

Then comes the BJP, who are projecting themselves as a young party and with a lot of ideology. My take on them is give up the Hindutva agenda and the Ayodhya issue and try to project their capabilities in unifying the nation with clear and concrete steps to eradicate poverty and other issues plaguing the nation from the days of its birth.

Then the assorted jokers trying to start a third front. Very opportunistic approach made of a rag tag of parties based on caste, regionalism and language. Their agenda is to take the country to the prehistoric times with abolishing English education and the use of computers.

Then comes the Mayawathis, Jayalalitthas, the Mamata Bannerjees, and the others. Whose only qualification is exploitation of the minor minorities and shrewd power play. I don’t know if Mayawathi ever knows what the middle class of this country thinks of her and her brash, crude and uncouth ways. I don’t know if Mamata  Bannerjee ever knows how the people feel how she scuttled the ambitious small car project, and she proved herself that she is against development and not the CPM who were in the past responsible for these kind of stalling tactics.

Then comes the Left parties who think this country should be run by another country! (Read the last vestige of communism CHINA) Bunch of ideology driven veterans.

Then comes the assortment of Independent Candidates, whose only qualifications are they have done well in their chosen professions and do not have a clue of how this country has to be run.

Then comes the biggest driver of fears, opinions and pre poll, exit poll and post poll analysts, the English MEDIA. Their sustained effort to create confusions in the mind of  middle class, educated voters. They love to start the fire and stand back to enjoy the heat of the moment. Jokers and pseudo intellectuals who think the only prerequisite for a leader is English speaking, young and suave attitudes. If that is the case why the editor cannot himself enter the fray. It is basically motivated to increase the sales, rankings, advertisement revenues.

But my question is, is winning the election and ruling the country for the next five years paramount than the condition of the people of the nation? The basic agenda here is win the election hook or crook and enjoy the powers bestowed after this farce of democracy. My belief in democracy is sorely tested because of this very opportune, brash and crass run for power. The common man always comes a distant third or fifth in their agenda and we trust them to rule the country for the next five years.

I haven’t seen a major shift in easing of the issues faced by country year after year, election after election, alliance after alliance. Has the poverty situation eased or the slums in the cities cleared or developed to something more humane? Has the quality of education, health, transport or power shortages eased? Has the cost of living come down? Has the farmers given a better deal? Has the armed forces personal give their decent dues and the quality of their lives improved? Has the anti-terror measures and security issues improved? Has anything done to the improvement of exports of manufactured goods or farm produce or marine products? Nothing has improved to the standards of the west or half of their standards.

I think country as a whole should boycott this farce called election and it is the now the turn of the people to give politicians the boot.

I know these are all just a wishful thinking of me. But I would like to see what would happen if the entire nation stands against this election.