Chennai

 This is Manjumatha our lady's basilica in Pallipuram,Vypeen.

Vypeen for those not familiar with central Kerala is longest island in India and stretches from Munambham which is mouth of Azeekal or old Muziris port .

In 1321 Vypeen was formed by a great flood which destroyed the famous Muziris port where ships from all over world had docked .

With the floods this dwindled in importance and Cochin rose to prominence as port .

Christianity existed in Kerala from 52 AD from when St Thomas direct disciple of Jesus Christ himself came to Muziris and spread Christianity.

This was long before the advent of Portugese in 16th century with thier brand of fanatic catholocism evangelism and forcible conversions .

By the time the Dutch overthrow the Portugese protestanism too came and later came the British .

The Portugese built series of forts and embankment in Vypeen to secure thier possessions.

The basilica cathedral too was built near pallipuram fort .

During Tipus invasion people feared his attacks on temples and churches and his religious persecution and many hid inside the church .

It's said the Portugese ships could not see the church from the sea as a misty fog covered it and was a miracle by mother Mary to protect her devotees .

The ships got asunder in fog and sudden cyclone and high tide destroyed many Portugese ships and they retreated .

Since then the church was called the church of our lady of snow .

Tipu beat a hast retreat ..

Now coming to our stay in Pallipuram for just 3 months in 1987 .

We looked after a hospital in the place .

During our stay we were invited by the church priest for the festival annual day lunch .

Every year many important people in the place was invited to church and we too were .

We did go too

Pictures from online thanks to all of you .

There was a funny part in it too .

The priest on inviting us had called us to come to Meda

Having come from Madras we weren't very sure about certain malayalam words and my association those days was only with my native place in north kerala during holidays and the colloquial language there was very different from that I'm Cochin and Vypeen .

Meda in Tamil was stage though in local language it was priests house in church .

So thinking I will be on stage I prepared a speech to the waiting millions and was disappointed when they just took me to sit in the dining hall for the feast .

Sitting next to me was local sub inspector of police Mr J ....I had been warned by my hospital owner Mr R ....a businessman that

SI .J had never been supportive of his hospital and spewed lies ,so I was wary ,SI J shook hands with me and immediately got to point ,he told me don't believe R fully he's known to have cheated many doctors of thier salaries after some time ,So Iam just giving you a caution advice ,I just smiled .

Strangely J was the good man and R the villain as he did just what J told after a few months luckily we had already planned to move to Cochin .

So all this happened in this church on that day

Malikapuram Film Review

 Saw the film Malikappuram in Malayalam .

A superhit without the expected credentials of a superstar or superbudget or super controversy .

No nothing .

It's all about an innocent 8 year old girls love to Lord Ayyappa and desire to visit his temple and how circumstances dash her hope and how the forces of the universe conspire to make her achieve it .

It's about the spirit of Sabarimala itself actually .

The worship of this ancient hill temple in Kerala views humanity with tolerance love and brotherhood and It's hardy climb promotes this oneness amongst people .

Trying to break this great message of the temple by creating controversies and harming It's believers and those who safeguard It's traditions and abusing Its devotees is what the present Goverment in Kerala has been doing for last 4 years ,

At same time it has been looting it through it's Dewasoms handling it's administrations .

I felt this in the film is depicted as the lowly villains who are handled as they need to be , by the valiant policeman on duty, the hero Unnimukundan whose superhuman efforts to help the two children and to millions of devotees was that of the the Lord himself symbolically .

I feel this is where the film succeeded the most

Of course the brilliant acting of the hero , his handsome looks ,and that of the two loveable children and slick direction is to be applauded .

But to me its the hurt lurking in the hearts of every Sabaraimala devotee of how his beliefs were trampled , and how his temple is being looted by low men and women arrogant enough to know nothing of its true meaning .

These wretches can never ever comprehend the great spiritual power of unity and goodness Sabarimala personifies.

Instead of using it as a message to unity and secularism and promoting such an example of tolerance amongst religion and true secularism it had represented ,these people along with the ignorant judges of the Supreme Court who knew nothing of its ethos nor took effort to understand it made the temple distorted and feudal .

They made it ,an orthodox outdated brahministic religious monstrosity .

( the portrayal of the Brahmin as the ultimate bogeyman has been used by these pseudos for long )

It's the giving back to the villains in the picture by a one man hero ,who to not only the children , but to every hurt devotee felt was Ayyappa himself , giving the much needed slap to the architect of the abuse who rules kerala today that made the film a superhit .

This hurt was the true reason for the film becoming a sucess .

Its the sadness lurking in every genuine Ayyappa devotee in his subconscious that got a cinematic closure .

That's what brought the tears out .

The anger the frustration the unfairness of it all got a release at least through a film .

It's may be just a film but It's also the inner desire and hope of the people that the man who did all this will get his slap in due course .

We do feel Lord Ayyappa will rise in the horizon to give his resounding slap to the man who deserves it .

On that day I for one will cheer hard .

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa