Kerala in crossroads

                              Some top priorities for the progress of Kerala

Kerala is a small state of India which has many advantages and limitations in developing it with the fast growing demand on the various sectors.

The high density of population,limited vacant land for infrastructure development,want of labourers in the skilled and unskilled groups,large number of educated youths waiting for lucrative whitecollar jobs,shortage of agricultural land etc  are some challenging tasks to be handled carefully.

The availability of large number of educated and well informed people with vast experience in several fields,the presence of a long stretch of lakes and rivers along the length and breadth of the state,presence of several places of rare natural beauty both in the coastal and hilly parts of the state,easy accessibility across the state by land and sea ,the absence of extreme climates etc are some rare advantages for Kerala.

By reckoning these contradictory factors a suitable action plan should be framed ,discussed by expers without any prejudices and then implemented.There should be no room for politics ,communal factors or personal interests.

In my humble opinion the top priority  should be given to the transport sector.The existing road transport system is quite inadequate to handle the movement of people and goods across the state especially when ours is a consumer state.We depend on many other states for almost all the items consumed by us.Rice,oil,sugar,vegetables,fruits,flowers,cement,steel,sanitary items,electronic and electrical goods,automobile components,cosmetics,textiles,paper,machinery goods,sanitary items,most cereals ,and grains,etc .Hundreds of trucks and wagons carry these goods from other parts of India towards our tiny state.

lnland water transport

In most cases this movement of goods can be done along the sea and lakes and rivers.This will lead to saving of costs as water transportation is the cheapest.The use of containers will help to move goods even during rainy seasons without any damage .Also the atmospheric  pollution can be minimized.Traffic blocks can be minimized and road traffic wiil be made much faster.People who work abroad will not miss their flights and lose their jobs in the workplaces abroad.I have heard of several such incidents.Youth can attend interviews on time,and employees can reach their work places punctually.Tourists need not curse the road blocks and can complete their itinary as scheduled.This will make them visit our beautiful land again and persuade their friends also to visit Kerala.Thus tourism will get a strong boost thus multiplying our foreign exchange revenues.Many people can find good employment through this sector.

North-South Express Highway

My next priority is on the highway development.Though we may not be able to widen all the roads in Kerala,there has to be a highway which connects the extreme north and extreme south covering the minimum distance.From these highways people can travel to neighbouring towns or villages  by other roads.The highway should have a width of 100 metres .No construction should be allowed  within a distance of 75 meters from the centre of the road.People don’t use these highways for shopping, but for fast and safe driving.For shopping they will goto the nearest towns.No hoardings should be permitted along these highways.A suitable alignment should be fixed by experts and in no way should it be modified. If the government is sincere about this, people will contribute liberally towards a dedicated fund set up for its implementation.In a state where political parties are raising crores through bucket collections  for conducting their conventions along our highways preventing the very donors of these funds from having a hazardless journey,there willnot be any difficulty in funding this project partly.Long term loans from international funding agencies should be sought for this urgent project.The work should be implemented by companies with proven track record.

Tourism

The development of the expresshighway and inland water transport wii ,by itself lead to a heavy inflow of both domestic and foreign tourists to our state.The government should give licenses to agencies to work as tourism promoters.A list of such promoters should be displayed in the state tourism promotion head office and also in the district offices.This will ensure that the tourists are provided good stay and journey facilities.The district offices can register homestays and hostels who are willing to provide facilities to the visiting dignitaries.Such firms should have trained personnel in their service.The required training should be given by the tourism dept. which should establish a training school for this.If these basic facilities are provided,Kerala will be the most sought after state in India by tourists.The greenary,huge trees of various type and running rivers are not combined in any other place we have visited.We have to cash in on that strength.

Telecommunication facilities

Already we are very much advanced in this field.Tourists should be properly informed about the people in the various places whom they should contact in case of any difficulties including threats from antisocial elements.In case  such complaints are received drastic remedial action should  be taken. A group of police officers can be given additional charge for hearing and solving such complaints .There are many graduates and post graduates and even technical graduates in our police force.Their services could be utilized for this noble cause.They should be given mobile phones and the number for calling them should be available in the district tourism offices.

Information Technology

Here also we are in a much advanced position.But the government should act as a catalyst in the development of the IT field.As far as possible,the new IT hubs should come up in places with low population densities.The IT companies can establish their firms with a low capital so that they can spend more in providind better facilities to their clients.The employees also can live in comfort.With the North-South highway and good interior roads travel will pause no problem for them.The village economy will get a boost also.

But the moot point is,will our politicians who all claim as champions of the people’s right,allow this to happen?They can give any number of excuses for jeopardizing the common man’s lifeby protests,hartals,bandhs road blocks etc but their basic responsibility is for providing a cleaner,safer and happy life to the people who vote them to power.

The concept of shared autos

The concept of shared auto-asolution for Kochi city’s traffic problems

                           Chennai city is witnessing a silent revolution in the public transport field after the commencement of service by shared autos along the numerous feeder routes in the city.Besides providing a much cheaper public transport means,it reduces the traffic density along the main roads during peak hours.They are much cheaper than autorikshaws and stick to certain fixed routes which are displayed in the cab.

At present there are about 5300 shared autos in Chennai city which are used by about 30 lakhs of commuters every day.As these vehicles travel through the feeder routes,the journey distance and time are saved considerably.

While we were in Chennai  during the last rainy season (November ) I  travelled from Pady to Greensroad  ( 14 Km )by shared autoby paying just Rs 20.My friend who travelled by a hired auto had to pay Rs 170 for the same distance.

   It is high time that  we permit shared autos to operate in Kochi city also at the earliest so that the traffic problems facing the  fast growing city is solved to some extent

The shared autos can cover a vast area in the city including Ernakulam,Vytilla,Thrippunitthura,Maradu,

Kakkanadu,Edappally,Thrikkakkara,Panampillynagar,Gandhinagar,Kathrukadavu.Kaloor etc The feeder roads in these areas provide a good harvest for such vehicles which saves much time of the commuters here without their need to walk upto the bus stops.

      Please share this with your FB friends and others.Let us make this dream a reality.

  

Some cynical definitions

                                                           Some cynical definitions

School                        A place where papa pays and son plays.

Life Insurance            A contract that keeps you poor all your life so that you can die rich.

Nurse                           A person who wakes you up to give you sleeping pills.

Marriage                     It’s an agreement in which a man loses his bachelor’s degree and a woman gains her master’s.

Tears                            The hydraulic force by which masculine will power is defeated by feminine waterpower.

Lecture                         An art of  transferring information from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the students  without passing   through the minds  of either.

Conference                  The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present.

Compromise               The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.

Father                           A banker provided by nature.

Boss                               Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.

Politician                       One who shakes your hand before elections and your confidence after that.

Doctor                            A person who kills your ills by pills and kills you by bills.

Classic                             Books which  people praise but donot read.

Office                              A place where you can relax after your strennuos  homelife.

യേശു വിമോചന നായകനെന്ന് വി എസ്

യേശു വിമോചന നായകനെന്ന് വി എസ്

Old wine in a new bottle

                                                          Old wine in a new bottle

Sri Pinarayi Vijayan’s acceptance of Jesus Christ as a crusader against the malpractices in the society and the comparison of the church and the CPM is not  a new episode.It is only a replay of the drama they had  enacted with Dr Poulose Mar Poulose,the then Chaldian Bishop in Thrissur.He was portrayed as the real fighter for the suffering and oppressed  classes through his theory of Liberation Theology.They presented him as the representative of the Christians in hundreds of meetings so as to ensure the support of a t least a section of the churchgoers.But that did’nt take roots.They also caught hold of Sri Lonappan Nambadan to cash in on his humourous talks.Though he could unseat a ministry and become an MLA ,minister and  MP ,the community did not move with him.  What his predecessors could not do is being tried again by the present party secretary.

                                            A similar series of attempts were made by the late EMS to capture the Muslim votes through the formation of the Malappuram district and the Calicut  University.The CPM Malappuram meeting in recent years was also aimed at wooing the Muslims.Their allying with the INL and PDP was also not a principled one but only aimed at some immediate gains.

                                                                     This is really poor management of the party affairs.A party has to grow in strength through it’s undiluted policies and programmes.Credibility of the leaders is the supreme factor that dicides thesupport it gets from the masses.Different yardsticks for the partymen and others in matters of corruption or moral conduct will land the party into trouble.This will keep the corrupt and immoral leaders strongly attached to the party  as they can carry on with the misdeeds  without any fear of a punishment.But the public who are not blind or without senses are closely watching you.It is they who really dicide the future of the party.

           It is high time that the CPM does a rethinking of the present predicament faced by the party and takes genuine  and proper remedial action so that the people don’t lose their fath in the party.Otherwise any number of Central committee or PB or available PB shows will be of no help to the party. 

As you saw,so you reap

                                                                As you saw,so you reap

     Hari was  a youth of average intelligence,but of a very hardworking nature.He was liked by most of his teachers.After schooling he joined the predegree coursein the local college.After 2 years hejoined the BSc Chemistry course in the same college. The college was just 500 metres from his house.

                                           The principal of the college was a priest who was very strict and gigantic in appearance.He was feared not only by the students but even by many teachers.But Hari’s father was a PWD surveyor who even from his forties was an intimate friend of the principal.The principal used to have his walk on all days in the evenings,and on many days he used to spend sometime to talk to Hari’s father about the construction activities in the college campus.Without expecting any remuneration he used to do the service to the college.Hari’s father ,Swami (he was known  among  the local public by this name )had a lodge in his compound which was let out to the students of the same college.The principal himself used to advise many students to live in Swami’s lodge as he knew that Swami was also a strict disciplinarian and used to monitor the activities of the residents.The students who also knew about the friendship between the principal (Achan )and the lodge owner did’nt dare to make much trouble.There was a talk among the students that if a  student  is expelled from Swami’s lodge he will be expelled from the college also.

         Hari was a member of the college NCC throughout his 5 year career in the college.Though this was not liked by the Chemistry professor ,as Hari was a sincere student he did not raise strong objection.He felt that Chemistry students have laboratory work which may extend much beyond the regular college hours and enrolment in NCC will be hindrance to their study of the subject.However Hari continued with both ,and passed the BSc degree with a 1^st class.

                                Swami had 11 children (6 sons and 5 daughters )and Hari was his 6^th child.None of his elders could complete a degree course due to various reasons.Though Hari’s elder sisters were bright in studies they could not be sent to a womens college 20 miles away from their village.They got married and settled as housewives.

    Swami was quite jubilant at the news of Hari’s getting a 1^st class BSC degree.Many of his local friends who had no friendship with the principal could send their children to the same college and they all came out as graduates and post graduates.He,with all strong influence on the principal could not have that comfort.The result brought much relief to him.

       Hari got several opportunities during the degree study itself for jobs which he could get on the basis of his SSLC and Predegree marks .He had written 2 or 3 tests also so as to secure his future.Hari was called for an interview in LIC at Coimbatore on the basis of one of the written tests .The interview was fixed for the last day of Hari’s BSc final examinations.The youth was in a dilemma.But Swami boldly told his son to complete the exams.and get a degree.He could try for jobs after a degree.This bold stand of his father was a turning point in his life.After the exams Hari went to Coimbatore and met the LIC board members but he was not given another chance for the interview.

         Swami told Hari that he should try for MSc in any college where he could secure an admission.Though  it was quite possible with a decent 1^st class mark he had managed to get ,financial condition of the family was not that much sound as to meet the college and hostel expenses.He applied to several colleges and was selected in2 colleges.

 One day the principal sent word to Hari’s father to urgently meet him in the college.Swami went to the college.Achan was having a slow walk around the college buildings.On seeing Swami he told that they may have a chance to rejoice.The University may sanction MSc chemistry course to Achan’scollege that year itself.He asked Swami to prepare the sketch for the classrooms ,laboratories,staffrooms etc forthwith.The same day evening Swami got these ready and gave it to Achan.Achan,meanwhile was a syndicate member also and commanded respects from all because of his special qualities.The report was submitted to the university and the PG course was sanctioned with immediate effect.Achan asked Swami to be present in the college on the visit of the sanctioning committee for any clarifications.

             The head of the committee was an eminent Chemistry professor .During the visit itself Achan introduced Hari’s father to the professor as his BEST FRIEND.Achan also told him that one of the six seats is reserved for Hari.But he told Swami to keep this information a secret till the admissions are over.

               The news about the new course led to several dramas.The management (Bishop )had a list of 6 aspirants with him.But the principal told him also that Swami has helped the college for several  years without expecting any reward.So one seat should be given to Hari.This was approved.The other 5 were from the Bishop’s list.

                 Meanwhile the Chemistry professor  of the college had his  neighbour  friend as the chief cashier in a reputed bank in the town.His son also was Hari’s classmate for BSc and was in the NCC also.The professor strongly pleaded for his admission .But the principal had some bad impression about him from the college hostel where the student lived for sometime.Achan said a firm NO to the professor’s candidate.

                   This led to an inherent antipathy towards Hari.He grilled  Hari on several occasions during  his PG studies, He even asked Hari to leave the PG course and go for some jobs  as many of the local friends had done.He cited the example of FACT where many Chemistry graduates were appointed..But Hari politely told him that it was a long felt desire of  his parents to  have  a PG degree  by one of their children.This was not liked by the professor who had his own subtle reasons.But Hari was not involved in that.

                     Fortunately for Hari another professor was deputed to the college for the first 2 years to be in charge of the MSc classes.The new professor was quite impartial and affectionate to his students.After 2 years the results were declared and the batch performed well.There were 4 male students and 2 lady students.As it was the starting of the Predegree courses in colleges ( 1966 )many vacancies  existed in all colleges.Both the lady members were asked to join the nearby women’s college.The professor asked the 3 male members to come to the college from June 1^st itself.Hari also met the professor in his cabin,but was asked to find for a job in some other college or industries.

        Meanwhile Achan had asked Hari’s father to ask his son to report for duty in the college from June 1^st itself.Accordingly Hari joined the Dept on 1^st of June 1966.The new PG professor had returned after his 2 year tenure.It was a testing period for the youngster.He used to work with dedication and even during holidays.But on many occasions the head used to torture Hari for flimsy reasons.Twice or thrice he submitted his resignation to the principal.But Achan patted the youth and assured him that he will take care of everything,As long as he was in the office Hari will have no threat to his job.The stuggle continued for 2 years.

      In April 1968 there was some difference of opinion between the management and Achan.He was asked to retire by March end.He moved over to a n orphanage nearby and lived there for sometime.The new principal who took over was also a priest .But he was a close friend of the Chemistry professor.On April 14^th 1968 (Vishu day ) Hari got his  relieving order from the new principal.

       Swami was very much upset over this .Hari was sad but not desperate .He just wanted to get another decent job.As courtsy demands Hari met the professor and enquired the reason.He was arrogant and even declined to give a conduct certificate .He asked Hari to get the certificates from those who are ready to help him.In fact Hari had outstanding conduct certificates both from Achan and the PG professor.

      Soon Hari joined another college away from his homevillage.Whenever he visited the home town he used to see the professor along the road.Though Hari used to wish him (as his teacher )the professor would turn away his face and walk with a grim face.After some years his wife died and Hari phoned him up and consoled him.But he seemed to be indifferent.

     After nearly 20 years Hari was at the Thrissur KSRTC stand.Surprisingly Hari saw the old professor ( 70 years then )carrying a big gunnybag with the help of another boy.He was on his way to his hometown from his daughter’s house in Thrissur.He was moving to the toilet in the bus station.Hari went to him and got his programme.Soon a FP bus destined to his home town reached the stand .It was heavily crowded,but fortunately for him one seat near the driver was vacant.Without a second thought Hari lifted the gunny bag on his shoulders and placed it on the vacant seat.He also requested a near sitter to reserve the seat for the professor.By that time the professor had returned .Hari told him about the seat and luggage.

     I t was an unforgettable moment for Hari in his life .Tears came out of the professor’s eyes. He asked who lifted the luggage.Hari told that he did it with the help of his son.The professor placed both his palms over the son’s head and blessed him.He also told Hari that he never expected such a deed from Hari.Hari told him that he has no hatred but only respects for his teacher.

    After that the professor was a close friend of Hari.On several occasions he visited his professor with his family members.The professor later made a visit to Hari’s house in his workplace.During this friendship Hari suggested to the professor about having a mobile set (by the professor ).he also listed it’s advantages.The professor readily agreed to by one and told that the first call from his new handset will be to Hari.He kept true to his promise and made the 1^st call to Hari.Now he says that  Hari is one of his dearest friends.

  This is  a real story.Hari is me ,Swami is my father,Achan is Late Monsgnr.Joseph Kureethadam,professor is Prof.PK Mani,College is St Thomas college,Pala,PG Professor is Prof K Velappan Nair (TVM ),my new workplacewas Sree Sankara College ,Kalady,my younger son Sriram was with me at Thrissur stand.I feel  Prof . Mani 's blessings have helped me a lot.

Declaration of holidays

The govt of Kerala has declared a holiday to mourn the death of Kerala governor Sri MOH Farooq.I feel that people are celebrating such holidays which are meant to show respects to the departed leaders.Therefore on such occassions no holidays should be pronounced.Instead ,as we do on 30th January (matyrs'day )there has to be a silent prayer for the departed soul and condolece meetings in offices with which the late person was closely associated.
               This practice will avoid the waste of public money and will help the functioning of offices without any hindrance.In fact the holidays shold be restricted to August 15,and October 2.Employees can be given 20 or 25 casual leave which will benefit them more.The present system leads to the demand for more holidays from several communal and regional groups .Government offices should work on 6days a week .During communal festivals people can get services from the offices which is precisely theobject.