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Thursday, May 28, 2015

Breakfast Tales

The Breakfast tales
 One day Morning I just  some time for a quickie breakfast as I had some work in Ripas hospital a little away from my house
 Rajahs was a well known Indian restaurant and it was close to Ripas
So I went there
but it  seemed closed so I strolled to the nearby lucky restaurant a Chinese one
I settled down for a cup of latte coffe which I liked and said no to the Dim sung cart and its delicacies
But the coffee brought was as dark as midnight ...
no Milk

well dont think they knew what was that !
I patiently explained to the very hospitable pair of waitresses who were really sincere in making the bespectacled mildly obese indian thats me have a hearty breakfast   that all I wanted was a good cuppa coffee with milk and sugar and not anything else
what with my south indian genes used to kumbakonam degree coffee which to some of you not knowing the lingo is the finest filter coffee made out of freshly ground and roasted coffee seeds and lathered with fine pure cows milk and sweetened by just the right pinch of white sugar
The Kumbakonam degree coffee would any day beat the Starbucks flat for its price and taste
 ( my opinion others may differ )
these days Kumbakonam coffee outlets are a craze in Tamilnadu highways ,one can settled down to sip into a blazingly hot coffee in a copper tumbler and one could cool it down and froth it by repeatedly puring it into a bigger vessel given alongwith
so as I dreamt of that i found nothing of the sort happened here
She went in and brought a jumbo cup of darker coffee with a thimble of ice cold milk
I patiently asked her for another cup poured 3/4of the turbid brew in front of me into another cup and poured the ice cold milk and drank the less than lukewarm concotion and paid my bill with a smile


I stepped down and walked into an open Rajahs and tucked into 2 steamed idlis and one vada with one cup of good coffee and felt very happy

Tasek Merimbun

Brunei Darussalam is a small country in the  big island of Borneo in  South China sea ,
tropical in landscape and equatorial in climate  .
it is a green nation .
the country is highly evolved in maintenance of ecological balance  and serves as a right example of how to preserve our greenery to others .
Huge swathes of undisturbed forests and national parks dot the nation with smaller towns and the cities ,the buildings are mostly tile roofed and melds well with the landscape ,
there is order and cleanliness and people are civic minded and disciplined .
It is rightly called the Abode of Peace
The major city  in Brunei is BandarSeri Begawan the capital
It has regions of shopping malls residential areas and offices interspersed with green belts ,even in the capital city there are hilly trekking areas like the Shah Bander and Tasek Lama ,there are well built gardens like the botanical gardens and the waterfront area which are tourists delights .
The other major town is Kuala Belait and Serria the oil towns of Brunei .
There are also national parks like Ulu Ulu reserve about which I had blogged earlier .

Muarah is a harbour town and a point of departure to Labuan in Malaysia and also to Kota Kinabalu by boats 
Tungku beach ,Jerudong beach and  and other beaches are also well maintained and safe .
I wanted to go to Tasik Merimbun about 70 Km from where I stayed and did last sunday
 Around 3pm I went there with my friend Dr James and his family .
It was cloudy and it was pouring by the time we reached the nearest town Tutong about 30 km away .
we were not very sure of the way and got a bit lost in Tutong where we had to turn left .
for information One needs to turn left after the first signal about 5  km away when a board showing Tanjong maya is seen 
One needs to follow this road till one reaches Lamunin about 13km 
We were told from Lamunin one could do a 1.5 km trek to reach a lovely waterfall which we did not attempt as we were not very sure of the way .
We turned right again in Lamunin and then went towards Tasek Merumbin another 10 to 12km away .the roads are good and signboards are clear too .
There are small shops on the way which can function as live GPS with very friendly people around too .








Tasek Merumbin has a butterfly park and trekking tracks ,there is a lovely lake with a rickety bridge leading to a s shaped island ,
we did not attempt to cross the bridge as it was looking very fragile and the lake itself was said to have crocodiles in it ,
there were a couple of boats parked but no one was around ,
fishing is also a great sport there as we did see a few youngsters with a fishing rod returning back without any catch but .










The place was scenic and quiet and is ana excellent place for a day picnic for families as one could return back quickly too 

















Wednesday, May 27, 2015

ONV Kurup song

Today is the birthday of reknowned malayalam poet Sri ONV Kurup
Among his many sweet film songs  I like this as one of the best
this is a humble attempt to translate this song as a tribute to this great artiste


you tube link below

https://youtu.be/WetR5SlPTnc


Vaadil Pazhuthiloden munnil kunkumam
Vaari vitharum thrisanhya polle
Adhilomen idanazhiyil nin kala madhuramam kaalocha polle
madhuramam kaalocha polle


like the dusk that spreads vermillon powder through the  door slit at me
 the sweet sound of your footsteps heard in my corridor
the sweet sound of your footsteps

Hridayathin thanthriyil aaro viral thodum
mridhulamam niswanam polle
illakali jalakanam ittu veezhum polle
uyiril amrutham thelichapolle
tharala vilolam nin kalocha kettu njaan
ariyathe kori tharichu poyi
ariyathe kori tharichu poyi

like someones  finger strumming on the strings of my heart
like a drop of water falling  on a leaf
like my soul getting  sprinkled by the nectar of love
i heard your footsteps
and
lost myself without knowing to escstasy
lost myself without knowing to esctasy

vaadhil .....


Himabindhu mughapadam chartiya poovinne
madhukaram nugarate uzharum pole
ariya nin kalocha cholliya manthratin
porulariyathe njaan ninnu
nizhalugal kala mezhuthunoren munnil
mattoru sandhyayayi nee vannu
mattoru sandhayayi nee vannu

like a honey bee stranded in a flower in the snow
i was absorbed by the magic of your footsteps
and like the shadows drawing patterns
you came to me as another dusk
you came to me as another dusk

https://youtu.be/WetR5SlPTnc

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The Search ...book review

I just finished reading this excellent novel by Maureen Myant
The times of the second world war is one of the dark chapters of human history when men maimed fellow men ,when love was a discount and mindless inhumanities were committed on  fellow humans because they differed in beliefs race philosophies and political thoughts .
when the human race denigrated to lesser than animal thoughts where cruelty sadism and violence took a front seat it was the times when decency civility and mercy were at loss and people were decimated to the likes of cattle .
The story of a young boy in Czechoslovakia born in the turbulent second world war times when the German mindless automatons led by their satanic leader the greatest evil born amongst humans a non decript artist short in stature and mind could make men mindless robots to abide to  his perverted will
This ten year old boy sees his father shot dead while he hides high in a tree and his mother and two sisters bundled into different trucks to different concentration camps
how this tiny soul faces the odds gets imprisoned escapes joins the partisans and does acts that an adult would squinge at never losing his humanity and his goal of reuniting his family
on the other side it shows that there are decent German families who in spite of the danger harbors poor souls who were spirited away from their homes and hearths to murder and mayhem
the meeting of the boy to one such family who go through a personal disaster of losing their only son a German soldier who deserts his army in order to avoid the mindless violence which he is forced upon and finally dies
at the end the coming together of the family seems to be an anticlimax as the boy meets a wizened old lady whom he hardly recognizes as his mother  with whom he returns with his little sister while aching for his new found German home to  thread back a life .
Brilliantly written novel
how lucky we are  

Friday, May 15, 2015

The Pride of the Pendikars

The river Saraswati was one of the great rivers of India, though many call it a myth sure evidence is being unearthed today that it was and it still does exist.
 During the Vedic times thousands of years back along the banks of this great river lived a group of Brahmans called Gowda Saraswat Brahmins 
they were  so called because they lived along the banks of the Saraswati river or because they followed their saint sage Saraswat. With time Saraswati river dried up or disappeared into the bowels of the earth and the Gowda Sarsawats migrated to the west coast some went up to Punjab some to Kashmir some to to Dwaraka in Gujarat but those who went to the west coast reached Gomantak today's Goa and settled there as a vibrant community not limited to priesthood but into enterprise and trade, Exodus started during Aladin Khiljis rule in 1294 and later in 1506 during Portuguese reign due to religious persecution. 
They migrated down the west coast some settling in south kanara some going by boat to Cochin and even down south up to Trivandrum, 
wherever they went and settled down they adapted to the place but at same time preserved their individuality in their customs and traditions their skills and vibrancy contributed to the region and soon they became dominant players in the region.


I give this introduction of GSB before I write about Dr Ramesh Shenoy of Cochin a radiologist by profession, a multitasker by skills to give an idea of his antecedent history no wonder he is doing what he is!


Born in 1963 to Sri. Sreenivasa Shenoy and Smt. Priyamvadha of the GSB community in Cochin the family was well  known as the Pendikars. 
Pendi (Konkani) or pindi (Malayalam) is the waste bit left after pressing out oil from an oil cake and as the family was initially involved in oil business they came to be called as the Pendikars, 
The business was started by Sri. Yogya shenoy  son of Sri. Janardana Shenoy Sr at Broadway Ernakulam in a site taken on lease from TD temple, 
Sri Janardana shenoy had migrated from Vypeen a nearby island to Ernakulam in the 17th century .
 The family still holds religious icons and heirlooms for the past two centuries in great reverence .
The Sankarasserri madom is the ancestral house or Tharavadu of the family in the Chitoor Road. 
His grandfather, father and his paternal uncle were all Ernakulam Thirumala Devaswom temple Adikharis

yearsin Over the years St Alberts School in Ernakulam has produced many worthies of the city it was here that Ramesh too did his school studies. He went on to do his MBBS and later Diploma in Medical radiology from Kasturba medical college
 Manipal  Karnataka

A radiologist is trained to look at screens and decipher and is a vital part of diagnostics in Modern Medicine,but Ramesh did not stop looking at his computer monitors when he was doing an Ultrasonagram & Xray , the computer attracted Ramesh like a magnet and he used to twiddle with it even in the days of the proverbial floppies which many youngsters wouldn't even have seen leave alone to have worked with them but to Ramesh the 1.2 MB plastic covered floppies were an irresistible attraction, he learned by experimenting with them.

Ramesh was also an ace organiser quietly doing his work in the background and never eager to be in the limelight but his talents were noticed by keen observers like the ace Nephrologist of the city
 Dr Georgy K Ninan who was a pioneer in Renal transplants in Kerala Dr Georgy requested Ramesh to take up the post of general secretary of SORT Cochin (Society for Organ Retrieval and Transplantation). In 2002  SORT was a fledgling organisation in 2002 with a meagre bank balance of Rs 1000. Ramesh ran helter and skelter he produced greeting cards for the New Year with SORT messages and by selling them slowly increased the balance.

By 2004 the first transplants had begun and then there was no looking back for SORT with its committed committee members and Ramesh putting his weight into the nitty gritty of running an organisations all this for a good cause which he believed in, of course Ramesh never hesitated a second before he pledged his organs to be donated after death as an example for others.


















Ramesh is also actively involved in Stem cell donation group in Kerala. Being an Executive member of the Indian Medical Association Cochin since 2001. He was an organizing committee member of the I M A State conference in 2010 & I M A state office bearer since 2014. He was Qualified Private Medical Practitioners Association (QPMPA) Journal Secretary cum Treasurer for over two years. Also was part of the Care and Share organization (USA) Kerala Chapter.

He was also active in the Radiology association (IRIA) being an executive member of the IRIA Kochi Chapter since 2009, was organizing committee member of IRIA State conference in 2012 held at Cochin and recently in 2015 was Treasurer at the IRIA National conference held at Cochin

Ramesh had also played a big part in making the Cochin I.M.A a pioneer in using  newer technologies. He initially started using emails for event announcements later starting an I M A Yahoo group. Colorful brochures gave way to newsletters sent  by email later by using SMS/Whatsapp.
Once social sites started becoming popular he started Facebook and Whatsapp IMA groups
He also made I M A software Applications using  Team App software, any member could download this from the web and it has a lot of I M A links, details of past present and future events, archives of newsletters  and photo gallery .
Ramesh went on to make websites for I M A Cochin and later I M A state branch, SORT,Cochin Clinical Society etc

He introduced public health awareness by SMS associating with Telecom Company. The IMA drug bank was looking for a suitable place to be in and Ramesh with the help of his community and the GSS Sanghamam found a place in central Ernakulam with air conditioned comfort. He created websites for several other social organisations too  and one for his own Pendikar family
Ramesh was instrumental in forming Pendikar Kudumba sangamam and a family tree was created with exhaustive inputs,
I asked Ramesh how he went about doing this the hard way said he, I visited each and every member possible to collect details which I then painstakingly added to the tree  and the site
Which led to family meets over the years

A family meet which got rare media reports a meet where more than 200 members attended! Tracing their lineage back to the 17th century!!

Ramesh family ventures too are into several branches helping the public in many ways .
Also an executive member of Gowda Saraswatha Seva Sangham for last 12 years. 







Ramesh is also part of R.S. Shenoy  school of hockey and is chairman of all health activity





He works as a freelance Radiologist in several hospitals in Cochin and divides his busy schedule with great finesse

Ramesh is happily married to Pathologist Dr  Shankari R Shenoy and has one son Vishwas studying for plus two. Ramesh goes about quietly continuing his profession and at same time contributing to his colleagues his family and the society at large. Once an I M A President described him as a silent killer who though in the back ground does the real work, this silent killer is sure a pride for the Pendikars

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