Looks can be Deceptive.

Not too long ago I was driving through Ernakulam searching for a particular domestic appliances service centre. The service personal was giving me instructions on my mobile phone how to locate the place. Out of the blue a traffic constable waved me down for using mobile phone while driving.

Caught red-handed and with no explanation to offer, he directed me to pay the fine. Cursing my fate I asked for the inspector so that I would pay up and get on with it. Over hearing the expletives used while cursing myself, probably he thought I was a bird of the same feather.

As I was crossing the road to go to the traffic inspector to pay the fine the constable came after me and asked where I work. Reluctant to say that I am a planter which the uninitiated do not comprehend, I smiled at him and kept mum. He asked me whether I was from the department, meaning the police. I still kept quiet with the same smile on my face. Now he grew more doubtful and kept stalking me for an answer. Finally I half nodded with fear of getting caught for impersonation.

By this time I had reached the traffic Inspector who was busy collecting fine from another person. As soon as I gave the half nod the constable said, Sir, you should have said so before, and asked me to carry on without paying the fine.

People have mistaken me for police, armed forces etc; looks can be deceptive nevertheless save your skin at the best of times too.

Hectic Christmas Holidays

Never had a more hectic Christmas holidays. Believe it or not, it was like this, 25th 1st Holy Communion at Thodupuzha, 26th Baptism at Ernakulam, 27th Wedding at Ernakulam and house warming Dinner at Mundakayam, 28th Kudumbayogam (family get together) at Palai and Bachelors party Dinner at Mundakayam, 29th wedding at Kanjirappally, 30th Betrothal at Palai, not yet over.

Still to go, 31st wedding at Kanjirappally, 1st Wedding of a 22 year old male MBBS student (obviously with his batch mate) at Palai, 2nd School reopening and fees payment, 3rd Wedding at Palai, 4th the only rest day, 5th betrothal at Palai, 6th wedding lunch at Ekm, Tea another wedding at Aleppey followed with a grand finale dinner of the same wedding at Aleppey.

Can you beat that, probably can be done only by planters for who else has the time.

“Gegeneophis Mahadeiensis”

More than a couple of times “Gegeneophis Mahadeiensis” the newly named legless amphibian was sighted moving through our front lawn, mainly during the rainy season. We ignored thinking it to be a retarded snake or an overgrown earthworm. Looks like I lost a golden opportunity to name it after our locality or even me.

GOD

God is depicted resembling us for humans to easily relate to the otherwise unfathomable. That does not mean in any sense that the Supreme Being has any likeness to us. If God was to think and behave like us and was waiting to take vengeance on us, God ceases to be God. So by all means criticise God, for the omnipresent may not even realise it.

Marriage

Marriage is an inevitable event in a woman’s / man's life, the one which they say happens in heaven, so does thunder and lightning. It is a licensed live-in agreement, which is like a magic circle, those who are outside it wants to get in and those who are inside it wants to get out. It is a complete license to do what boys always wanted to do without anyone asking what the hell you are doing. Sex is the price woman has to pay for marriage and marriage is the price men have to pay for sex. Marriage is the only war where you get to sleep with the enemy.

Mullaperiyar a Disaster waiting to happen?

1st November 2007, having crossed 136 feet, water has started flowing through the spillways of the Mullaperiyar dam; Idukki dam which is downstream though almost full should be able to hold this overflow under normal circumstances. The massive Idukki dam might even be able to contain all of the waters of the Mullaperiyar reservoir in case of a mishap during summer when the storage in both the dams will be low but it is out of the question if any disaster happens during the monsoons at a point when both the dams are near their full storage capacity.
God forbid, if unfortunately the more than a century old Mullaperiyar dam where to give way at this juncture when the Idukki dam is brimming, it is unlikely that the rushing waters can be contained even if all the shutters of the Cheruthoni dam were to be opened to the maximum; the deluge is likely to knock down the shutters and in a worst case scenario tear down the dam itself leading to a catastrophe of gigantic proportions all the way downstream.
The Mullaperiyar dam structure seen above the water level does appear to be able to withstand for another century, but it is not the case with what is visible of the foundation when the water recedes. If all is well with the foundation of the dam the Tamilnadu Government would not have objected to the naval team sent by Kerala to inspect it last year. The foundation at the reservoir face of the Mullaperiyar dam should be inspected immediately and do whatever is best for its safety.
When the life of any construction let alone a dam cannot be more than a couple of centuries at the most, the Mullaperiyar agreement between the erstwhile states of Travancore and Madras for a period of 999 years evokes suspicion.

Dinner @ Jothynivas

Long before IT, BT and BPO became household names and Bangalore city towards Madiwala ended at the diary circle, I was doing my final year BSc at the then males only Christ College and was the treasurer of the students union. Every year during the 2nd week of February the college conducted a three day carnival called Spring Festival in which colleges from and around Bangalore as well as some from Madras participated.
We came to know that the hostelites of our sister college Jothinivas were not being given permission to attend the evening session citing lack of transportation facilities and security concerns. The transportation problem was solved by arranging with the KSRTC to run a few busses from the college after the programme ended, agreeing to their condition that the last bus would leave the college at 8.00.This was conveyed to the hostel warden of Jothynivas and permission for the hostelites obtained. Mother Mary of Jothynivas was particular that I would be personally responsible for the safe return of all her inmates which was readily agreed and off went the Spring Festival to a colourful start.
Every thing went according to plans for the first two days but on the last day by the time the western music competition ended and the prize distribution was over it was well past 11.00 and the pre arranged KSRTC busses had already left. The Jothynivas girls were left stranded (in 1980 the stretch from Christ College to Jothynivas was a deserted patch with hardly any building). As Mother Mary had entrusted the safe return of her wards to me, chivalrously I volunteered to escort them to the hostel and we started walking the one km. stretch with no dearth for guys accompanying the group. On reaching the hostel the girls went straight to the dinning hall for they hadn’t had their dinner I went in to personally apologise to Mother Mary for the late arrival. I was about to return to the guys who were waiting at the gate when one of the girls told Mother Mary that I too hadn’t had dinner. The ever courteous Mother invited me to join the girls and the unbelievable happened- dinner at Jothynivas hostel at midnight 12 O’clock, probably the one and only guy in the annals of a girl’s hostel to have had such an opportunity!!

Fast Forward to 2003:-

When my son was in the tenth standard, one day we were summoned by the school principal to counsel us about him bullying his juniors, making them do errands and punishing them for refusing to comply with his orders. We agreed with the principal to take any punitive action that she considered fit. As he was bullying the boys in the junior boy’s dorm he was made to stay in the girl’s dorm for a week!!!.

If the father had midnight dinner at a womens hostel the son improved on it by staying in the girls dorm.