Ponmudi

A day in the hills with no dead lines

Ponmudi is just 60 km from Trivandrum .

It cannot be called a hill station but it is 1000 mts ASL and had the summer palace of the maharajah of Travancore though it definitely lacks the trappings of a hill station with colonial buildings ,residential schools ,and hordes of tourists descending on its slopes in summer .

Of course tourists were never much encouraged here .

It just had the kerala tourist development cottages more for the travelling Govt officials and of late no one is allowed to reach the top as there were some landslides recently so it was risky .

There are some space and defence installations i think so too .

As I was in Trivandrum i thought will just hop on a day visit .

I took the 8 am KSRTC bus a small one as it was needed to climb the 22 hair pin bends but that was reached after more than 2.5 hours .

I had a good window seat and three chattering engineering college girls going up on an assignment made small talk to me so time flew fast .

Once hair pins started it became cooler more cloudier with drizzly rain .

Once we reached top I walked into the KTDC restaurant had an omelette and a cup of tea .

I then just walked aimlessly along the mountain road .

There was a small rivulet with crystal clear water from hills
Not a soul in sight i just had the cool breeze ,a pale sun ,and the cloudy hills for company .

Chirpy birds ,rustle of winds ,my footsteps , leaves falling were the BGM .

It was solitude at its best

A tango with nature

Peaceful

I was in a trance

Suddenly I wondered what if a lonely elephant or a wandering elephant confronted me !😰
This made me turn back.
Soon I was back in the restaurant tucking in a fried rice !🤣
By 3 pm i was back in the bus with the chattering teens for company 😆
By 5 pm i wasback to swelter land😣

Padmanabhaswamy temple

The Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram is today known all over India after they found out that its the richest temple in the world .
Its underground store chambers named alphabetically contains priceless treasures in gold precious stones jewels crowns swords precious coins in heaps and artifacts from history ,
some of the chambers are yet to be opened with the temple authorities and royal family not happy about opening up those rooms with unknown treasures as against temple tradition .



 The royal family is well lknown for its sincerity humility and honesty has been hurt when rumors spread some of the treasures have been pilfered by them over the years .

For those who call themselves as Padmanabhabha dasas or servants of lord padmanabha and dust their feet when coming out of the temple symbolically showing that even carrying dust from the temple was an offence such rumors are wounding indeed .
The temple has been mentioned in many of the epics ,there is a mention of how Balarama worshiped in this temple,records of mentions from 300 Bc to 500 Ad exists
Though officially it was Vilvamangalaswamy a holy man hailing from north Kerala near kasargod in the 16 th century used to pray in Ananthan temple there which is the moolasthaanam ,a young lad used to come to the temple and play mischievous pranks on the holy man and one day angry he shouted at the child who disappeared and the saint knew there was something divine in the child keeps wandering in search of him ,after a long time he reaches the southern tip of Kerala and hears an old lady mentioning Ananthan kaadu or forest he goes there and finds the lad who promptly turns into a tree which falls turning into an idol of Vishnu in his resplendent pose of ananthasayanam on serpent but the statue is more than 11 km in length and so the saint requests the lord to shorten himself so he can construct a temple which the lords dose , but still long enough for a person to see only parts of the lying idol like the head ,trunk and the foot in three separate parts ,
A temple was built and later the Thriuvananthapuram rajahs patronize it with the ettu veetu nairs who are chieftains

It was mathanda pilla maharaja who curbed the ettu veetu pillamars and makes the temple kula thaiva of the royal family and presents the kingdom to the lord ruling it on his behalf as padmanabha daasas .

During these times there were several small internecine battles and the victory treasures were stored in the temple ,there was trade from foreign shores like the Roman empire ,Arabs Dutch Portugese etc and so many coins jewels were also stored ,

The invasion of Tipu sultan in north and central Kerala made the local rajahs seek mercy to the travancore royal family requesting them to hold their treasures in the temple .

These could be the reason for the immense riches .
As there is a court case going on a receiver has been appointed since 2012 with many controversies form his part of interfering with the temple rules and rituals ,for eg there has been pressure to open up still unopened chambers to find out what they contain but the royal family and temple priests feel the ritualistic part of the temple powers should not be tread upon
Meanwhile the security has been increased and the number of tourists have shot up the roof .
Social media comments like using the money for the poor has naturally brought replies of the money being the property of the devotees and the traditions should be upheld ,though accounting of the treasures can be done and it secured it should not be removed from the temple and it should be preserved as it was for centuries

Ee Maa Yu

After a long time I saw a good Malayalam movie in the theater .
Ee Maa Yau a film on death,
no not morbid but a tragic satire .
Eeso mariam Yauseppe is whispered in the ears of the dead body as a habit amongst the coastal christian community in kerala the title is an abbreviation of this .

Vaavachan mistiri is an old man with a daughter and a son who is married ,vaavachan is a loving father but has long bouts of absence from home and also has a second wife and son nearby .
He comes home after a long time and when he gets down in the bus stop one local ridicules him about a love affair of his unmarried daughter and he hits that man and goes home ,

He never talks to his daughter about this as he loves his family but is disturbed ,he and his son get drunk that evening and he tells his son how he gave his father the best funeral in that coastal village of chellanam off Ernakulam ,the slang of the coastal village and the dashing waves ,the wind rustling the coconut fronds and the eerie dusk is well portrayed by the camera with the larger than life music looming behind , foretelling of tragedies ahead .

While the duck Vaavachan brought home is being cooked by the women of the house the son promises his father that he will one day give his father a funeral which will surpass what his father gave to his ! and then when the son sneaks for a smoke the old man happily drunk just falls down and dies and in the fall injures his forehead and has some bleeding ,there is lot of fuss and in minutes the neighbors arrive they all know the old man is dead and gone .

Here is when the close friend of Eashy the son enacted by Chemban
vinod arrives
He is Ayyappan a panchayat member and a good Samaritan of the village .
To me Vinayakan who took up this role and had proved himself as a good actor surpassed all in this film with his superb acting .

Eashy tells his friend what he promised his dad and Ayyappan knows Eashy has no money to keep up the promise so they pawn Eashys wife's only necklace and Eashy buys a costly coffin spending half the money though Ayyappan tries to dissuade his foolish friend the best .

They also send word to the local parish priest who by now had heard there was something suspicous of the old mans death as he had some bleeding from forehead ,the priest who loves reading detective novels sees shadows in the plot and calls up the local circle insector and with his authorirty asks him to look into this ,
Meanwhile the night drags on like in any death house with the crowd trickling down by dawn the current going off and an angry Ayyappan forcing the line man to repair it in the heavy rains .
The priest comes down and insists that the body has to be seen by the doctor in the morning as he smells something wrong and just certifying by a nurse wouldn't be enough .
This angers Eashy the son who is frustrated at all the blocks for his dear dads funeral he hits the priest in anger who swears he wouldn't allow the burial in the church cemetery by any chance .
Morning comes and the father is put into the new coffin which promptly gives way and the body falls prompting confusion and clamor then the big pandal collapses in the rain all foreboding signs .
Finally ayyapan brings the police inspector to clear the air and the doctor also says the old man died naturally and rest was rubbish but since the priest was unwilling for a burial in cemetery Eashy goes wild and starts digging a grave in the house compound like a mad man and no one could stop him finally he does that .
The last scene is shown wherein the dead father in white along with a couple more who died that night stand on the grey dark dawn looking to a big boat full of lights and hooded figures to go into the nether world
All about a death but taken well by Director lijo jose pilliserry

Doctors of valliyil

Doctors of Valliyil family

My cousin Dr Rajalakshmi probably was one of the earlier doctors in our Vallyil family .( my mothers ancestral family in Parappanangadi is a well known old family in the place )
There were two aunts
Dr Thangamani ,Dr Bhargavi ,all lady doctors
Dr Rajeev is my cousin a senior psychiatrist  in UK now.
Dr Vidya is a dental surgeon in Bangalore my niece .
Daughter of my cousin Vanajachechi I heard is a medical doctor too .
Major Vikraman or Kutettan is a renkowned vertinary surgeon .

Hope I  havnt missed anyone else .

Dr Rajalakshmi describes her professional tenure in her words below
"It will be a long script if I start writing my experience in service
I had my toughest time in kondotti. _
my first posting.
I managed to escape from there after a year only to land up in more trouble being posted in mobile FP unit
Well 2 years of travelling all over Calicut district and getting 2_3 awards ended that .

Later I got posted to GH .

3 yrs later they shifted me to Manantavadi in wayanad dt  where I refused to join.

I had a tough time to get a decent place near Calicut because my amma was alone in Parappanangadi .

Finally I opted for ESI and remained in Calicut till 1976 .

After marriage I shifted to Bombay Where my hubby  Chandrasekhar was working with TVS.

Then  onwards it was the role of a GP in Bombay, Jalandhar ,Delhi , and chennai.

After 5 years I was in cancer institute .

 I shifted to TVS organisation as a consultant till I shifted to Coimbatore  in 2010.

Iam not working now.

So I can tell u this much
that I am a jack of all trades but master of none !

Somehow going for PG didn't t work out.
So that's that."

Dear chechi ..you have had a fruitful career helping so many in so many places .
A PG is nothing compared to your noble work
We Drs in valliyil family stand inspired by you as an example .

You are not only jack of all trades
 but also master of one and all

Brunei to Chicago

Brunei to Chicago ...A Transatlantic journey

In december 2017.

My first visit to USA i chose airlines of my nation and never regretted that 

Brunei via kuala lumpur to Delhi was sort of routine to me having travelled to india like this often 

The KL lounge gave some respite for the  long wait but the food was hopeless .

My worry was in Delhi as transit time was just  around 4 hrs 

i had to clear immigration collect baggage go to departures check in and again go through immigration security to get to the gate in time .

 so i had put a word to my co brother Pramodh who was a senior VP of an airline and known for his contacts in the  field .

As i came down to immigration i was met with a suited young man with a placard for me .

I was whisked away like a senior RAW officer my bag towed by a man friday quickly through customs security departure check in and to gate phew great job !

 The Air India Boeing 777 was pretty long and langarous as it laid waiting for us to pile in .

The New Delhi Chicago non stop flight of more than 14 hours and a distance of more than 12500 km was a long tedious haul and a prestige flight for Air India .

But the plane  had definitely seen better days 

The exterior would do well with a good coat of paint .

The jaded Maharajah was still hospitable in appearance but seemed to have aged .

The interior was spacious seats not bad and leg space adeqaute but one needed not to look hard to see the seat covers had a sad  faded look and the carpets needed a change 

Even some edges were tattered 

The crew had walked a bit earlier in a sizeable number of stewards and stewardesses but most were more aged than in other flights but one had to accept they were efficient and able which was more important .

Think nowadays  people realise that we dont need models to entertain as airhostesses but efficient and hospitable people  no nonsense non glamarous to serve in flights .

Amongst the many black suited smart captains there were a couple of women too .

The entertainment was not bad and food was tasty and filling though not ostentatious .

The fare too was much reasonable compared to other airlines .

This is important too for the budget conscious and it was non stop with no transits specially comfortable for the hordes of senior couples travelling to the US to be with thier offsprings working there .

It was very obvious that the airlines had the jaded unkempt look only because it was a public sector concern with astronomical losses inefficient bureacracy and corrupt ministers managing it for years .

In spite of all this travel was better .

Imagine if Air India is given back to Tatas they would make it as worlds number one airline  like they had when they had owned it .

From the gate I noticed one thing

 the flight was literally  a senior citizens annual excursion .

Very few young people were there 

(naturally me 😆 )

Wheelchairs were aplenty 

Most of them were  dressed like Eskimos in anticipation of the harsh winter they would face .

As i sat in my seat the aircraft filled up slowly with passengers hesitatingly shuffling in , some with sticks one with a huge metal cover over his foot !

Many needed help from stewards to keep thier baggages and I gave away my window seat to a senior couple who were on thier fourth trip to thier children and grandchildren .

Naturally they were happy and looking forwards to see thier loved ones but they looked fatigued and tired to face the long haul so much that it looked they would be happier in thier homes in Ghaziabad or Thanjavoor but then its unfair to make such assumptions on first look .

Air Indias senior look complimented its passengers too .

It was a bygone royalty of a king who lost his power but managed to meet ends frugally .

Hats off to its staff for doing thier best much better than the mechanical insolence one associates airlines of these days .

They still had thier soul and werent the automatons polished and slim with burnished hairstyles set to glory .

My neighbour was an above 80 general surgeon from Patna who had more than seven grown up grandchildren in the US and  senior doctors for sons !

The surgeon himself had worked in US from more than 15 years but now commutes a couple of times an year with his wife .

All i can hear around me is my son is in IT my daughter in finance 

My other son cardiologist

Senioroblia Air India spl

The regular exodus of parents to children with families abroad is actually an excellent topic for a Phd thesis 

Their needs feelings and uses 

None can deny the joy of having grandparents and grandchildren but how do they like this recurrent transposition to be in the homes of thier sons or daughters or in laws the physical the mental part ?

Do they feel that thier responsibilities are persisting even beyond looking after thier children is long over or are they overjoyed at the oppurtunity it gives ?

 the security and comfort to thier wards are all questions to be asked and analysed .

But to the few I talked to  in the flight though bugged of thier physical strains seemed to be cheerful enough to thier situations .

Chotanikkara temple

 Chotanikkara Temple
Chotanikara  Bhagavathy temple is one of the famous Devi temples of central kerala situated around 30 km from Ernakulam city .
Its just around 10 km drive from where my house   .
A temple with several legends and a very popular one too .
During Sabarimala season as this forms part of pilgrim circuit it is very crowded .

Bhagavathi or Devi is supposed to be in three forms here one in resplendent white dress as a fount of learning and creatitvity blessing devotees with intelligence the  Godess Saraswathi in the mornings .

As crimson adorned Mahalakshmi the Godess of wealth at noon ,and
 blue attired Sree Durga the Godess of power in the evening .

The temple is an example of ancient temple architecture of Vishwakarma .

It was once admidst dense forests when it was built with several tales to its origin .

One talks of a tribal devoted to the Godess who used to sacrifice an young calf as his offering every day but  he loses his beloved daughter as a punishment for the sin of seperating calves from thier mother cows and regrets his actions ,while searching for his daughters corpse in the forest he comes across two divine stones one is Vishnu and other Devi .
Kanappan the tribal prays to the stones every day to forgive his sins .later after his death for years they lie in the forest forgotten till a grasscutter  attempts to sharpen his knives they bleed so later a temple is built there which is Chitanikara temple .
Another story talks of Adi Sankara who in his travels pleads to mother Godess in Chamundi hills to come to kerala as there was no temple to the Godess there .
The supreme mother tells she would follow  him but he should not be tempted to look back to see if she is following him .
Adi sankara agrees walks all way from Mooghambika in kodajadri hills  listening to silver anklet of Godess tinkling .
At one time not hearing sound he sneaks a look back and Godess says since he broke promise she would stay there in Moogambika .
Adi sankara pleads with her to reconsider her decision ,impressed by his sincere devotion the mother tells him that she would be in kerala at dawn in white and would return back to mookambika by noon
Thats why chotanikara temple opens at early dawn a bit earlier than mookambika .

The temple on a small hillock has a gradual  descent into a kali or fierce form of Godess Durga in the Keezkaavu which was supposed to have been built later when swami vilvamangalam found the idol in the temple pond .
The keezkaavu is associated with cure of mental illnesses and many devotees who believe in this stay here for days to pray as penance .
The trees inside have strands of thier hair nailed on them as a belief that thier sickness is nailed to tree .
Faith and belief may have strong placebo effects these are medically proven too .
One of the most famous days here is the magam thozhal when the Godess is given a ritualistic bath in temple pond later taken in seven caprisoned elephants into poora parambhu with Sastha as escort where she stays till 11 am .
At 2 pm she is dressed in her best with jewelery ,arms ,sanghu  puspham  ,and gives a befitting visual spectactle blessing those able to see her form into eternal bliss .

Thrissur pooram

Thrissur pooram
Raja R ama varma thampuran or famously known Shaktan thampuran wouldnt have dreamed his revenge would decimate his avengers.
Iam talking of the Thrissur pooram in Kerala
Thrissur the cultural capital of Gods own country is a quaint town of temples ,lovers of elephants ,pageantery ,abd the rhythm of drums .
Way back the temples of Thrissur sent thier teams to Aaratupuzha festival to participate as what then was the most famous temple festival in Kerala .

Once the Thrissur delegates reached late and were derogatively dismissed from participation by the authorities with thier pleas ignored.

A furious Rama varma created Thrissur pooram in 1798 as an answer and today Thrissur pooram is the king of all temple festivals in kerala ..
Shaktan thampuran divided the temples of Thrissur into two groups of five temples each headed by paramekkaavu Bhagavathy temple and Thiruvambady Vishnu temple .
The two groups of  temples  would have a healthy competition under the benign gaze of lord Shiva in Vadakunathan temple in the  vast Thekinkaadu maidan or yesteryear teak  forested grounds but today occupying the center of Thrissur like central park of New York with the Swaraj round going arounf its hillocked eminience .
The festival starts with flag hoisting in day seven
On day 4 there is a fireworks preview called sample vedikettu running for an hour .
This would show what is planned for the D day of pooram on its morrow at 3 am .

The festival would begin with the slow progress of individual processions from each temple at dawn to reach the maidan .
Kaniamangalam sastha temple would start the day .
The ten temples would reach vadakunnadan temple by forenoon to huge crowds waiting in the scorching sun go into temple after maadathil varavu  to pay obeisance to lord Siva come out to arraign themselves in two groups in the ground .

There are two important percussion competitions that take place in maadathil varavu where the tradtional drum ensemble unique to kerala show thier prowess .
The ilanjithara orchestration is a more subtle highly valued show of connouiussuer rhythm professionals who show thier skills under the shade of ilanji tree inside Vadakunathan temple led by doyens in the two teams .
The slow cadence of beats in orchestred symphony tuned in the mathematics of pulsating rhythm rise to a  crescendo of musical sounds and later fall gently into a strummer of beats and then to rise in its frenzy all in the measured tones of developed  art much enjoyed by hordes of its fans who would die to listen to this annual spectacle unsurpassed .

The artistes who lead the orchestras of panchavadyam pandimelam etc like peruvanam kuttan marar and kizakootu Aniyan marar are greatly respected artistes with huge fan followings and much feted for thier skills .
They lead more than 200 artistes on different types of drums ,cymbals,wind instruments etc who create a genre of music never ever heard elsewhere .

Now starts the greatest spectacle in kerala
A total of 50 elephants on both sides stand facing each other and accompanied to the beats of the drums start thier competition show of elephant acourments magnificient kudamattoms or umbrella shows venchaamaroms ,or fluffy fans made of yak wool ,aalavatoms or peacock feather fans nettpattoms or elephant forehead decorations .
Every change alternatively by the two groups are cheered by thier supportersabd the frenzied but disciplined crowds go into joy and esctacy as they absorb the sight to be discussed on its merits for an year till te next pooram .
The creations are exhibited from day four of festival in two venues for oeople to get  a patient view to judge .
The firework display at dawn would last more than an hour its deafening sounds heard for large distances it brilliant colourful pyrotechnics unrivalled and again as a healthy competition of the two groups of Thiruvambady and paramekkaavu .
The fireworks would bring the curtain half closed as a happy tired crowd of locals retire for  a short rest to come back the next day for the pagal pooram or day festival on its end they bid farewell to friends and families who would have come from far and wide to be part of the annual spectacle lasting a week .
Thrissur pooram is really something different from any temple festival in india and today is symbolic of kerala itself .
Its participation is beyond religion or caste and is a great example of true secularism existing among its people
By traditon the christian and muslim sections of Thrissur have important roles in the festival and they are all part of the inspired crowds in Thekkinkaadumaidan on pooram day .
There are other dance events like pulikalli etc that follows as part of Thrissur pooram .

Vishu

When u see the vishukkani, pl keep the following symbolism in mind. It is the day on which sun enters in to the first segment of the Zodiac circle,which is called  Medam raashi in Malayalam.This is the transit period of a season in Kerala. The auspicious day to commence agriculture and farming. Similarly after vishukani, have a feesh mind, fresh thought, fresh investment with the coin you receive as vishukainettam from your father. Do you remember, that the very  first coin of wealth u received from your father which is the first capital investment in your life.The wealth you earned till date is the multiple of your first vishukainettan filled the love and blessings of your father. Pithrudevo Bhava....
Watch the symbols of  each item  in the vishukani, as under:-

1. Idol of krishna....Godliness of the mind.

2. Mirror....your own reflection i.e. jeevatma
3. otturuli...The round universe
4, Rice....Good thoughts
5. Other cereals....earnings and Progress in life.
6. Fruits...Good results
7. Konnaflowers...The ormament of God
8. Cucumber..The fresh and clean mind
9. Gold.....Aiswaryalakshmi
10. White cloth...Symbol of white dressed Devi..
11. Coins....Dhanalaxmi
12. Book...Knowledge
13. Broken coconuts....Devotion with concentration
14.betel leaves...Mangalam & Guru dakshina
15. Kunkuman & kanmashi.. Mangalyam
16. Nilavilakku...The glowing life  in Your soul
17. Water.. the basis of living things on the earth.

Watch the Vishukani.. Not just see it. Happy vishu to all.