Silence of our souls

SILENCE OF OUR SOULS

Have we all not stood in the crossroads in life where we are flummoxed at choices given to ,

we did go in one way right or wrong, that was our chosen way

was it predestined that we chose ?

 it is difficult to answer for with all our rational thinking ,
we are beings who are being directed by someone somewhere .
Is it an alien sitting in some remote galaxy who can control our tomorrows
Or is it a just power who doles out his rewards and punishments as we need them
Or is it just all a coincidence
Will we ever get answers
Idont know
Maybe death will reveal the enigma maybe it would be just an amnesic nothingness where one floats in suspended animation till sailing into a new mothers womb
The fatality of it all this endless churn of life death after life good bad ugly evil all turn to be labels
None can tell us truth not those inner engineerings or mumbo jumbos of ritualists or jargon of science.
That just has to come from within from deep in our cells the primordial answers probably put so well by Ramanamaharshi
It can come only from the silence of our souls .

Rains

I love rains whether  in Brunei or Cochin or in Al Ain
The best swims i had was during heavy rains
Generally not a soul would venture into the pool in Brunei then
In fact the rules prohibited using it as one could get electrocuted by an untimely lightening but then tell me a better way to die than that !!
Walking in rains isnt so good specially in Cochin as vehicles splatter you with mud and may mostly knock you down not at all pleasant as you land up with boken bones mostly broken mind too .
Rains are best to sit in ones house
in mine in the  lovely balcony gazing into the green expanse as it pours its benevolence ,a hot chai would help in the gaze too .
Driving in rains too isnt very pleasant as visibility is less and potholes are covered not by tar but by water and one could splatter a pedestrian or a two wheeler inadvertently.
A few days back i did this unintentionally to an auto guy who promptly overtook me and stopped his auto in front of me as he calculated i would hit him and then he can fleece me .
With kerala being what it is ,whatever a car guy does or doesnt he has to pay to the poor comrades in lesser wheels.
Commie justice
I just managed to not hit him and shouted at him for which he shouted back telling me you spattered me i wanted to shatter you .

Yup possible but then things dont work as you want comrade ,and you of all narrow arrogance can never decipher it ,
Lol salaam get lost ,and iam on way ,

though i told all this only to myself 😁

Rains are nostalgic
Remember once as i sped on my cycle home from school when i was around 12 years old my mother towelling me and asking me to lie down for some time covering me with a blanket as i was shivering, later feeding me a delicious hot lunch.
Thats rains for you !

Ever drop  a time capsule a comfort resort a pleasure ride

Road trip to Kozhencherry

Another Road trip and long drive to Kozhencherry ,heart of Marthomite zone .

We went to attend the funeral of my friends 86 year old dad in his native place .

With the luxury of our son driving ,we both were free ,me to take pictures .

Ithink Kerala is truly Gods own country , specially the Alapuzha Changanessery road via Kuttanad .

Houseboats all tied up ,qauint bridges
Fresh fishes and duck sold on roadside , pedestrian bridges one of  which we walked climbing up to reach its middle for some pictures  but found one auto waiting for us to give way.

Wonder how the auto fitted in  that bridge and climbed up.

We ran down to allow it to pass .

The backwaters was flowing in parts ,had a carpet of green weeds on others .

The toddy signs and bars were plenty, and sea food joints vied with each other .

It was one living miasma in a green canopy .
It wasnt rainy so we missed the surreal clouds .

Once we reached to other end the green hilly Thiruvalla pathanamthitta belt it was another wonder .
But for a stop for some roadside vadas and tea we drove at a stretch .

Reaching Kozhencherry the flowing pampa was seen in glimpses .
The rubber estates ,very neat houses some stately, others cottages covered in green with coloured flowers on both sides of the black narrow neat road were a feast to the eyes .

Traffic was typically malludom with unexpected vehicles starling one in all directions .

Probably only place one didnt expect a two wheeler was the top of the car .

Maybe one day mallu will find some way to do that .

The kuzhichala Marthomite church was 1500 years old but modified a decade back it had a lovely elevation .

I knew a bit of the very intresting history of Syrian christians thier branches  from the times of jesus himself
Very intresting
Wonder why no one made an epic movie in a grand scale on this
It could get an oscar .

The ceremony was somber with my friend giving an emotional memorial speech .

We returned back with so much memories of a fine day.

Postman

Waiting for a postman is definitely unlike waiting for a courier after he calls .

When i used to come to my village in Kerala for summer holidays the postman came once daily around 3 .30 pm .
it was a long distance that he had to walk  most family houses had huge grounds around them .
In our house the distance from main path now road in that area was around 800 meters he had to jump two wooden erections to prevent wandering grazing cattle and one big open gate,he had to  pass alongside the green pond with a roofed room ,and  laden mango and jackfruit trees heavy with fruit along the way .
But walking was what he was born for, and he would clutch his cloth bag full of letters which mean so much to so many .
His long umbrella usually hanging from his shoulders other than during rain .
Seeing him from far in rains under the big umbrella dripping in the pouring rain i cannot do  justice in words ,
i should have been an artist, a caricutarist to do a sketch .
During my internship it was courting days with premila who was in chennai ,with no mobiles letters were the only solace .
At times he would just hand over some unintresting missives and walk off making one face the prospect of waiting another day to see him .

Usually he also chatted with me asked me usual malayalee question when did you come when are you going back
The malayalee wants such information in minutae after all he cant have the non usuals lingering for long .

And then he would walk back briskly like a cowboy riding into the sunset in a western .

Chavittu nadagham

Chavittu nadakham ...kick drama ...a folk art of central kerala ie towards Cochin Allepey among Latin Christians .
Supposed to have originated in Gothuruth in Ernakulam district .
Kerala christians are mainly of two kind earler ones who was said to have followed St Thomas very immediately after Jesus Christ himself though there is historical debate on this about namboothiris becoming christians after listening to St Thomas .
Of course its very intresting to know about orthodox christians and Roman catholics CSI group etc ..iam no expert so i could be wrong .
The other major group are latin christians who got converted after Portugese rule and evangelism .
Mostly from coastal and fishermen they were called Latin christians who today are a very important constituent of Keralas christian community.
The folk art in a drama form of latin christians is the chowuttu nadagam .
Its so known as the artistes stamp thier booted feet on the stage while they perform a retinue which is a mix of song dialogue and dance all by actors themselves .
The costumes of actors resemble 16 century European costumes with prominent caps or head gear glitterring coats pants and heavy boots .
The dialogues and songs are in malayalam
The actors in small groupsbreak into choreographed steps on off with the very trademark stamping .
In fact its even said that a very good group would break the wooden stage by the end of thier act due to the forcible stamping 😁
Todays story was on Julius caesar and Fort Cochin Chowuttu nadagham kalari did the perfomance .
They were very professional having done more than 150 shows so far .
With revival of such folk arts it was very nice of IMA Kochi to arrange this for an audience to most of whom it would have been new .
The actors all did well but applause came to a small boy who dressed as an adult mimed the movements of his elder coleagues to perfection .
In the final scene Julius caesar is stabbed and he dies with an you too Brutus .
I really enjoyed the evening .

Collected cocktails

Collected cocktails

There was a time I never took alcohol in any form .
Now I enjoy my rare drink with good friends
Its social drinking for mellowed evenings .

Whisky single malted or blended isnt my choice though i can nurse one on the rocks ..
the puritans say whisky should be swallowed neat without ice which destroys the release of free radicals that cause the ping .
I dont know ,but whiskey to me was always a bit bitter and i gorge a lot of fried snacks to help me along with it .

Of course you want my choice of whiskey  for future reference ,its American bourbon the popular JD rather than the peated oaked antiquity in fancy bottles of Scotch !

 Rum is a favourite being an ingredient of my most favoured cocktail Mojhito pronounced without the J unless you are drunk .😁

I really cant find much to talk about  the litanies of a single malted whisky like the Glinvilet over a blended Chivas regal .

Whiskey is for cold countries .

You cant sit in a humid Singapore or Chennai nursing your scotch poison for that one needs a cool cocktail .🤗😃😆🎉

My other favourite being Margarita
The pure agave drink with a dash or orange liquer ,plenty of ice and served in a salt frosted glass with a stuck lime is made to order for a warm day better than  sitting with a tall glass of  frozen beer .
The one occasion I did enjoy my Budweiser  and its foamed fill was on a long talk with my dear cousin Balan on our apartment balcony looking out on a drizzly day

Thats exactly what I ordered in Kuala lumpur in the back streets of Bintang or in downtown  Miri in Mings coffee ,which was a cosy bar near the Pullmans hotel where me and friend yuva stayed on a weekend .

The coffee bit was a red herring as it was a boisterous bar with sidewalk tables where one could savour ones favourite drink without any cop pushing his long nose into the glass unlike in Cochin ,where liqour is sold by Government and there are more drunks than politicians with most mallus not knowing how to spell social drinking .
In Kerala most drinking is surreptious with helmet clad gentlemen joining raucous ques in state beverage outlers to get thier refreshments and downing them with concotions spiced to burn ones guts and descend into dramatic disorientation and regurgitation
Of course not all but iam talking of general trend .
Theres no place one could meet a good friend over a drink and part but smoky bars with mustachioed villaionous ruffians in lungies downing thier drinks with sozzled stares !

Coming back to ny story the Singapore sling was  discovered in the famous  Raffles hotel  bar in the city in colonial days though I had seen it there I hadnt stayed there but I did stay in Raffles Dubai though on a weekend for a meeting but  I didnt hit thier bar !
The same happened to me in Adress downtown opposite Burj khaleefa in its 64th floor  bedroom .

I did try the sling twice once as a transit passenger in Bangkok enroute to Taiwan where i would have Tiger beer to wash down a steak sizzler in a street food paradise .
Coming back to the sling its actually a cocktail of Gin .cherry flavoured brandy benedictine pineapple juice lime juice and grenadine with ice in a shaker .
The second time was in Changi itself !!

It was on a frosty december morning  a shivering me  entered a Manhattan bar sat on a high stool with Holywood like characters sitting around me with pointed shoes and hanging cigars  and ordered a Manhattan cocktail with a flourish and was served with panache by a bartender who did the magic with his shaker while talking to the mafia politely, ignoring the overdressed Indian .

 suitably warmed I walked into a dusky New york evening .

It was wine with a romantic dinner when we held long fluted glasses of the sparkler before we saw the skimpies dance in Lido in Paris...
cocktails or beer or scotch dont fit into Paris nor do they when one poses with the junior Abba band in distant Stockholm .

I also do like my Vodka with Sprite my favourite soft drink with lots of ice on long evenings with friends in Brunei but nothing to beat the rum delights with Yuva my intensivist fellow drinker no not intense fellow drinker .
Brandy is one drink i havent had much and after coming to India i find it strange to see people pose with Breezers !!

Amristari Kulcha

Kulcha is a type of roti made of wheat or maida flour puffed with little yeast well mashed and with fillings of either paneer or desi cheese or cauliflower or potatoes ground in layers and fried well in ghee with butter floating on it .
This is taken with chole a type of sabji or veg or aloo sabji
Generally washed down with sweet lassi .
Amtistar is known for its famous kulchas .
Almost every other shops boasts of its kulcha but the ones with star reviews and crowd flocking to them are a few .
One amongst them is the Bhai kulwant kulchiawalas more than 50 years of a family concern .
This was very close to the Golden temple heritage area and we went for a brunch .
We ordered a paneer and a gobi kulcha and 2 lassis .
The lassi was creamy sweet and fresh .
The kulchas were warm with a dollop of butter melting on its crust
It melded well with the chole and a spicy tangy chutney .
It was wholesome filling tasty fresh .
Later we walked to the Gursharan das jelebiwallah another legend to bite into his juicy sweet syrupy golden jalebis of the type i had never tasted before and a gulab jamun to beat all jamuns .

Colours of Kannur

The colours of Kannur ..

North kerala is known for men and women of valour and skill .
The land of thacholi udayanan and pazhasi raja who decimated thier enemies .
But today that valour is used by political parties to pounce on one other in orgies of violence murder mayhem and bloodshed .

The land of flowing rivers green forests undulating hills fresh flowers black roads green ponds brown fields swaying coconut fronds  and beautiful women .
The land of kalari payittu the mother of all martial arts
The place from where indian circus grew
Above all the womb of communism in India

Every where one looked one saw temples mosques some churches and Che Guevra staring at you .
The kannur has a lurking underbelly of political volence of hoary cries of lal salaam interpersed with sanskrit slokas tingling of bells and beat of distant drums

The kaleidioscopy of theyyams the balooned dresses of the kathakali artistes merges with the mundus of the sagaavus

The green was all over with bright flowers blue hills black clouds and red tempers .