It's My Birthday but No wishes please

Dear All,
All of you I am sure are receiving birthday notifications duly from the family site. My birthday is falling on 22nd March. I can't come to terms with aging since I passed 40. So I request not to remind me of this day by sending birthday wishes.
Regards,
Nebu.

As long as I get a birthday treat I promise not to trouble you by
reminding how old you've become....
Sunil

ha...ha... that's what I offer my sisters. Don't wish me I'll give you a treat!
Nebu.

Dear Nebu

Tks for the msg. So... I’m getting a treat?!!! Right now I’m in Ooty/Kotagiri will be back by Thursday reaching before ur Happy Birthday

Love Roschedathy

Dear Nebu,

Just couldn’t resist replying to your mail, which is a good thing in itself, just wanted to say that age is just a number, and it is all in your head!

Fond regards, Rema chechy.

Hi Nebu Chettan,

This is not in any way a Birthday wish (sorry! I mentioned the word) but a blessing.

The least I can do for a cousin who has helped us connect, reconnect and stay connected through the heritage website.

Cheers.
Sindhu

IRISH BLESSINGS

---

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Hi Nebu,

Missed it this year but will continue to wish you if my ageing memory is up to it despite your request ! My sister Vimala says that every birthday her one satisfaction is that I will always be older than her no matter what ! Maybe that could be a consolation. BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Rani chechy

haa.....haa... Thanks any way Rani chechi. Really get concerned when I look in the mirror and see my mustache turning Grey and depressed when the PYTs call me uncle. God in 9 years I'll be 60 and most likely a grandfather.
Bye...
Nebu.

Hi Nebu,

Many Happy Returns of the Day. Let the Lord shower you with his Blessings. Have good Day. You look great. Welcome to 50's group. Have a great day.
All the Best.
Reena,Suresh,Sandeep & Kiran

Dear Nebu
You are truly ageless and your ready wit keeps you even more so.
Here's wishing you many happy returns in advance.
Cheers
Jochan

My dear Nebu,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MANY HAPPY RETURNS.
I am sending the greetings in spite of your request not to. I have been planning to write to you in detail for some time but am yet to do that.
Anyway, all the best. God Bless.
Affectionately,
Pappachan.

Corynespora attacks my Rubber trees

Every year the rubber trees shed their leaves to regenerate between the end of December and mid February. During regeneration it is common for the tender leaves and shoots to be affected by a disease known as Powdery Mildew caused by Oidium heveae Stien subjecting it to gnarling. To prevent the attack of Oidium, dusting of sulphur during refoliation period commencing from bud break is done at fortnightly interval.



Healthy Foliage (click on the picture to enlarge)

Generally sulphur is dusted in the tapping mature areas only because the incidence of leaf fall is more in tapping trees of age 7 years and above. This year, as a precaution I also dusted my 6 year old 2004 replanted area which is to be opened for tapping in 2011. After about 10 days of the second round my supervisor called me to say that there was abnormal drying of leaves. I assumed it to be due to the extreme hot weather conditions. Since I stay close to the Rubber Research Institute of India I dropped into their Pathology department and explained the symptoms. They too regarded it has drought induced drying.



Corynespora affected foliage (click on the picture to enlarge)

A week later when I visited the estate I was taken aback by the intensity of the leaf fall and figured that the patches followed a distinct path, that through which the duster was carried. I reckoned that it must be due to excess sulphur dusting on the immature young trees. I collected some sample leaves and took it to RRII. Unfortunately the Dy. Director was out of station and so had to leave the specimen there and come off. Promptly the next day I got a call from the Dy. Director who asked me to explain the occurrence. Both of us initially concluded that due to the young age of the trees and excessive use of sulphur it could be chemical toxicity and that there was nothing much to do about it. But he offered to visit the estate if I insisted. I asked him to make a visit and offered transportation.

Affected shoots

The next day morning we reached the estate which is 60 kms from Kottyam on NH220 towards Kumily. After taking a good look he identified it to be the leaf disease known as Corynespora Cassiicola or Leaf spot. I had heard of the disease before and was under the impression that it affects only the nursery plants. With 3 generations and 75 years of experience in rubber planting it was the first time that the disease was seen in any of our estates. So it came as a rude shock. It is also worthwhile to note that so far it is the first reporting of the disease from the Meenachil – Kanjirappally belt, the heartland of rubber growing tract of Kerala.

Affected leaves

Corynespora leaf disease formerly affected only the plants in the nursery. But now it has started attacking the mature trees as well. A few years ago Corynespora appeared in South Canara in Karnataka and now it has started appearing in many places in Kerala. The terrible nature of the disease can be gauged from the fact that the entire rubber area in Ceylon which was planted with RRIC 103 which was highly susceptible to Corynespora was cut and removed because of this disease. And it is a nightmare that our own RRII 105 is similarly susceptible!

Conditions for Development

Extended periods of rainfall and warm temperatures favor disease development. The fungus survives in crop debris or on weeds and other crops. It has a very wide host range. Spores are moved by wind and rain splash.

Control
Now I have to keep watch for the leafs to regenerate and as soon as they are tender green spray Copper Oxy Chloride mixed in rubber spray oil. And hope for the best. Since it has been identified positively, during subsequent years too I have to be careful and give an additional COC spray during regeneration of leaves after defoliation apart from the usual prophylactic spraying done before the onset of the monsoon rains.

Terrible day
To make matters worse, I lost my car keys while walking through the affected areas of the estate and couldn’t find it . A taxi was summoned from the nearby town Mundakayam . The taxi brought us back to Kottayam and after leaving the Dy. Director at RRII, I returned in the same taxi to the estate with the spare key to bring the car back home.

For more information on corynespora disease in rubber trees go to :- http://clinic.rubberboard.org.in/images/Researcharticles.pdf

Middle Wife Story

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself,but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back. When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show- and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday.' 'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.' She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement. 'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.) ' My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign
on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.) 'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands mimicking water flowing away. It was too much!) 'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe. They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom's play-center, (placenta) so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there.'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat.

I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another ' Middle Wife' comes along.

The above story is reproduced from a forwarded mail. - Author unknown

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M.K.Jinachandran of Kalpetta

Recently I was invited to a wedding at Sulthan batheri in Wynad district of Kerala State. Sulthan batheri is the vernacular version of Sulthan’s Battery. Sulthan referred to here is none other than the Tippu Sultan of Mysore. It can be safely assumed that the Sultan camped at this place with his army during his march to annex Kerala.

While returning I dropped in at Vijaya Mahal to visit my friend M.J. Vijaya Padman. Padman is the first cousin brother of M.P.Veerendra Kumar Ex Member of Parliament from Kozhikode and Managing Director of the Malayalam daily ‘Mathruboomi’. Padman is also a director of the same. Padman’s father M.K. Jinachandran was a member of the 2nd Lok Sabha – the lower house of the Indian parliament and a regional whip of the congress party in Parliment during 1961-62 and was also an executive committee member of the congress party during 1961-62.

I am reproducing below a few photos of the period in which Shri M. K. Jinachandran and others can be seen along with the then Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. (click on the photos to enlarge)

Members of the second Lok Sabha

M.K. Jinachandran standing directly behind Pandit Nehru

Congress Executive Committee Members 1961-62
Congress Parlimentary regional Whips 1961-62

Privatise stage carriage operations.

The Kerala private bus operators went on a strike demanding an increase in fares. It must be assumed that the government silently supported the strike because increased fares will also be beneficial to the state transport corporation too, which is hopelessly in debt and a white elephant. To hoodwink the public the government threatened the bus operators that Essential Services Maintenance Act would be invoked. But the bluff by both the parties was called off due to the intervention of the Kerala High court which decried that any fare increase will have to be with its concurrence.

My suggestion for this recurrent issue would be as follows:-

Instead of invoking ESMA the government should completely withdraw from the road transport sector and leave it to the private operators. The present practice of granting permits, routes, timings and fixing fares should be done away with totally.

Let any willing investor acquire buses and ply on any route at any time and charge the fare he likes as long as he does not compel the passenger to travel in his bus. The consequent competition will take care of the fares, routes and timings. We have the outstanding example of the telecommunication sector before us for falling tariff rates and better services.

The present KSRTC should be made a limited company and allowed to sink or float by competing with the private player’s like the BSNL with their advantage they have in existing infrastructure and prime property throughout the state.

Wishing for low fares and better services is like wishing to eat the cake and trying to keep it. The socialistic mindset of the government as well as the governed has to change for comprehensive development.

WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND
A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.