A Saving Face for All

She finally succumbed to injuries in Singapore. The woman who was gang raped in Delhi and hogged the national media's attention the entire last week just couldn’t step back to dear life she clinged so hopefully for. We thought she would make it and be an icon of resistance and will power, but it was not to be.

But this outcome is the least troublesome for the time being for all concerned. The government and agitators who held the national capital in an orgy of protests can now save breath for the while. Ever since the girl’s condition grew worse, the government was determined not to take the blame of death on its shoulders. Not a moment later when it was clear that she is going to die, the administration flew her to Singapore ostensibly to seek better medical care, but in fact, with hindsight, it becomes clear that it was a desperate attempt to escape the fingers of accusation on the medical establishment which failed to rescue the girl from the pitiable condition she was in.

The protesters also need to feel vindicated now. The courts can prescribe capital punishment for the accused now, as the victim has died. The demands of death warrant for rape was simply outrageous which no society could accept at face value. If the assaulter knew that he would be punished with the gallows, will any of them let go of their victims alive? When the country has started the debate on whether to scrap the death penalty itself, setting it down afresh for another crime is simply blowing the issue out of all proportion.

At the end of the day, the episode should serve as a lesson for the whole country. Even after 65 years of independence and millenia of cultural heritage later, we are still unable to guarantee freedom of movement to half of the population at night. We accept the notion as taken for granted that it is not safe for women to venture out after dark, when the powers of evil are exalted (as in Baskervilles!). However, this is not an issue that will be addressed by legislation alone – however, draconian you can make them out. The society need to allow greater freedom to a new generation which is more than they are willing to grant them at present. And also, the old generation need to move out of the theatre in its entirety. So, for at least three more decades, nothing fundamental is going to change, even if the seeds of change are sown today.

So, for the time being, let’s pay heed to what the Andhra transport minister advised women. The country obtained its freedom from the British at midnight, but it doesn’t mean that its okay to roam around at midnight in skimpy cloths.

Voluntary Cessation of Life - An Idea

It took a pretty, young Indian dentist’s life to reveal the ridiculousness of allowing religion to dictate terms to a modern, civilized society. Savita Halappanavar would still have been alive, had she stayed back in India or emigrated to some other place than nutty Ireland. Such gruesome incidents bring to focus the incompatibility of false beliefs which should have been exorcised long ago, clinging on to social fabric with such a tenacity characteristic to religion alone. What difference is there, we may ask, between Iran and Ireland? The West demonizes the former, heaping choicest abuses on her, for the inflexibility of its ruling elite's religious dogma. True, but what can we make of Ireland? Just because it is in Europe, won’t make it progressive as compared to Iran. If the clerics or mullahs don the mantle of a doctor and takes decisions on his behalf, as it so happened in Savita’s case, there is not an iota of gap which separates the supposedly ‘modern’ European nation with Bush’s infamous ‘Axis of Evil’. On the other hand, Iran has millennia of civilization behind its back while Ireland has nothing but potato peels, and that too, only for the last two centuries.

While on the subject, it is high time to ask whether a person should be allowed to die of his own volition. At present, the only option available to him is suicide, which is messy, illegal if you failed in the attempt and attaches stigma to the person’s memory and to his relatives and/or friends. It is incomprehensible why the society do not allow an individual to quietly retire from life, when he decides he can no longer endure? The argument most often raised is the exact same one which countries like Ireland raise in favour of ban on abortion, that life is precious, it is a gift from god, we should not extinguish it, blah, blah, blah…But, on sanguine analysis, we understand that while performing abortion, you are killing a human being against his/her wish, while if you allow a person to die, you have the conscience clear, in the full knowledge that he had a choice but preferred to end his own life.

So, I think the argument for Voluntary Cessation of Life, VCL in short (anything noteworthy must have an impressive title and an acronym!) is unassailable. In a nutshell, if you permit abortion to kill a child against its wish, you have no moral high ground not to allow a mentally healthy adult to die of his own choice. Sooner or later, society has to accede to this perfectly justifiable demand. When that time comes, I recommend the following mechanism to regulate its administration.

1. A person aspiring to end his life notifies a magistrate designated for the purpose through a lawyer. The magistrate checks whether he is of legal age as the first step.

2. The magistrate assigns the person to psychiatric counseling to determine whether he is mentally sound and asks to report back after a cooling off period (preferably a month) to see that he is determined.

3. Even after one month, if the person is desirous of ending his life, he approaches the magistrate again with the counseling report and proof that he has properly relinquished his duties and responsibilities in the case of a public servant.

4. The magistrate then issues a decree directing the administrator of a designated hospital to end the petitioner’s life by palliative sedation.

5. The person approaches the hospital and submits consent for donating his organs such as eyes, kidneys and liver to needy patients in a public-administered waiting list and his body for medical research. This should be mandatory.

6. The hospital authorities then put him to eternal sleep by palliative sedation, taking care that internal organs are not damaged.

Sounds cruel, right? But think about what’s happening now. What do we expect of soldiers marching on to the battle field? We hope and sometimes demand that they lay down their lives (a convenient euphemism for asking them to die) for the society’s sake, confronting the enemy. And, the expectations are not much different when coal workers are sent underground in mines having shafts running several kilometers long, which may cave in or may be flooded with water, turning the mine into a mass grave in a matter of minutes. Coal is a precious commodity essential to the well being of a society, so we don’t mind risking the lives of a few individuals. These two examples, which are not exclusive illustrations of such occurrences illuminatingly convey the idea that we are willing to let some of us die or be killed (to make it more precise) if that act is going to accrue some benefit to the society as a whole. Then why should we shy away from the demand that a person’s genuine wish to die should not be satisfied in a legal framework? Remember the advantages – his body and organs will be donated! One who thinks rationally does not find even a single point to be raised against it.

Some minor issues which may be postulated against the notion of voluntary death is the plight of that person’s dependents. True, after their breadwinner’s demise, they are left to fend for themselves, which might not be easy, always. If they are to become beneficiaries of the state’s welfare measures, the whole purpose of benefit to society is defeated. There is some reality here and it must be addressed. When the person who is trying to die appears before the court for the second and final time, the magistrate can demand that he furnish satisfactory proof of providing for his dependents in the event of his death. This measure will turn out to be a deterrent for people who want to die in order to escape financial problems. If you have no money to care for your dependents, you will not be allowed to die – as simple as that. This helps to filter out unwanted flotsam and end up with people who have done their duties well, are content with the life they lived and only want to end it in a smooth way, without bothering anyone. The satisfaction of knowing that their organs live on is an added sweetener.

We may conclude that it is time to think about voluntary cessation of life in a serious way. Life is a complex process with two definite points – the beginning and the end. The former is not under our control, so let the latter is!

A New Dawn for the Poet

As a rule, bureaucrats are the unlikeliest class of people who are able to impart inspiration to young ones and be a role model to them. With tales of corruption, whose corrosive tentacles threatening to weaken the national edifice itself, coming out day by day in which bureaucrats go in cahoots with unscrupulous politicians, it is no wonder that the public servants have denigrated themselves to the status of a ‘necessary evil’. Rarely do we find a gem sparkling among the litter that pass for administrators nowadays. Meet K Jayakumar, IAS, the Chief Secretary to the state of Kerala, superannuating today after decades of scintillating service. Though he is the topmost bureaucrat in the state as of today, anyone living here know that posterity is going to remember him not for his meritorious service, which would surely make only a footnote in the descriptions about this man.

Jayakumar is a great lyricist, poet, painter, translator and what not! The sweetness of his film songs excel all the present day lyricists of Malayalam film industry so conspicuously that not even with a  very large pole they could reach anywhere near him in caliber. (An exceptional talent may be budding in the form of Rafiq Ahmed, but it is too early to say anything for the time being). Being the son of Shri M Krishnan Nair, a noted film director, it is no wonder that Jayakumar naturally gravitated to film industry. His earliest songs were whetted by the great Vayalar Ramavarma himself and shows glimpses of poetic talent that lay hidden beneath his inexpressive visage which usually presented a stoic detachment from worldly pursuits. Hardly fitting for a rough-and-tumble bureaucrat, but adorably impressive for a poet.

How Jayakumar becomes a role model for us is the canny dexterity with which he managed to merge the gifts of higher education, poetic talent, painting and a high flying career in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) so effortlessly, without pomp and ceremony. Even when busy untying the knots of red tape which is a curse of administration, he found time to pen the forever mesmerizing ‘Chandanalepa sugandham…’. When he steps down from officialdom to begin a new lease of life as a creative artist finally freed from the shackles of official responsibilities, Malayalam expects a lot more from his pen, and may be also from his brush. For his fans, the anticipation is impatient as well as exhilarating.

Though he steps down from official duties today, he would continue as the special officer for Sabarimala and is slated to become the first vice-chancellor of the about-to-be-constituted Malayalam University. Though the academy is definitely poised to be served by a worthy intellectual, his literary fans could only hope that these assignments don’t unduly deter him from creative pursuits. It would also be prudent for him to clearly identify friends from foes, or else the new responsibilities might end up miserably in a few months’ time. This apprehension takes substance from the unsubstantiated allegations levelled against just a week ago for his alleged failure to award a work in time while in charge of administration of Veterinary University. Even a cursory glance at the charges prove that the allegations are motivated by nothing but personal animosity, and its real intention was to hinder his appointment as Vice Chancellor to the new Malayalam university.

To sum up, I wish the noted lyricist every success in his all endeavours in the future and request him not to divert his precious, but short time unnecessarily to other ventures. It would be definitely worthwhile here to remember his unforgettable lines for the film Ozhivukalam (1985) reproduced below, which also implies undiminished talent even after the lapse of considerable time. Incidentally, these are the poet’s favourite lines too!

സായന്തനം നിഴല്‍ വീശിയില്ല,

ശ്രാവണപ്പൂക്കളുറങ്ങിയില്ല,

പൊയ്പ്പോയ നാളിന്‍ മയില്‍‌പീലിമിഴികളില്‍ 

നീലാഞ്ജനദ്യുതി മങ്ങിയില്ല.

Yercaud-Mettur Dam 2012 (Self drive)

Yercaud is a little known hill station on the backyards of Salem, nestled in Shevaroy Hills, an outcrop of the Eastern Ghats. This trip has several firsts to its credit. It happened to be a self-drive. Also, it was the first time without companions. We planned to stay two nights at Yercaud, which was a bit overkill as the place does not offer many attractions.

DAY 1 (Sep 29, 2012, Saturday)

Doing a road trip is always a chore considering the poor condition of roads. We started at 6.30 am. The road between Thrissur and Palakkad was in such a messy state that we decided to take a detour through Shoranur. The new MapMyIndia navigator misguided us right in the centre of Palakkad town where it showed us a way through the market which was closed. Apart from that, it worked well. It may be remarked that the road between Coimbatore and Avinashi is also very difficult to drive due to construction work of a new 4-lane road. Where the road is good, heavy toll had to be paid. The route from Salem to Yercaud is in good condition and picturesque, with 20 hairpin bends. We reached Yercaud by 2.45 pm after driving 378 km.

The central feature of the town is the lake, which gives Yercaud its name. In Tamil, eri means lake. We visited the boat house and had a stroll along the main avenue in the evening. As it was nearing closing time, very few people were on the lake, and were aimlessly rowing here and there since they had in their hands all the time in the world. The shops overlooking the main avenue selling food and souvenirs were shanty which gave the town a run-down feel. Lying only 1450 m above sea level, the place is not known for very cold climate, but as the evening sun slowly made its descent behind the mountains, I eagerly longed for the warm clothes tucked neatly away in the hotel room. A short drive to the hotel along a dark, heavily wooded road wading through foggy mist gave a surrealistic feel.

DAY 2 (Sep 30, 2012, Sunday)

The morning broke with a slight, chilly breeze. The window sills bore signs of heavy rain in the night and a weak sun shone its spectral colours through the suspended water drops. We first drove to Pagoda Point, which was 3 km away from the hotel. This is a scenic viewpoint on a hill, having a temple (pagoda) at the top and hence the name. Though great clouds of white fog was wafting in from the valley, the place commanded a great view of a small village somewhere down below. The hamlet appeared to be still in sleep and the gopuram of a local temple rose above the huts as if to keep vigil over its sleeping disciples. Tourists were just beginning to flock in large numbers and we moved on to Lady’s Seat.

The journey took us along Montfort School, which is a prestigious one in Yercaud comparable in fame to great residential schools in Ooty, but open only to the privileged few. The heavily built stone buildings and neatly manicured lawns carpeted in spotless green were silently announcing to the world that its doors open only for those with deep pockets. Driving quickly past the school, we reached Lady’s Seat, which is yet another viewpoint, offering a distant view of the winding road to Salem, which we had traversed yesterday. The place was literally swarming with small monkeys, feeding on tidbits offered by the visitors and included mischievous young ones fighting with each other to mothers clutching infants looking disapprovingly at the whole scene. A short walk took us to Gents’ Seat, which is yet another viewpoint. Where there is a Lady’s Seat, you can be sure of a Gents’ Seat, or is it the other way round?

Absolutely nothing could be seen from here, as the place was full of mist by that time. The terraced walkway engulfed in slow moving mist and the people treading gently uphill as if in a dream met the eye like a scene from a tragic movie. I had to buy a scoop of fresh nuts liberally spread with masala to cast off the gloom!

There is also a rose garden nearby, but was not in bloom during this time of the year. It is quite a large one, and would definitely be very attractive in the peak season. We had lunch at the town centre near the lake and went back to the hotel for afternoon rest.

Nothing particular was on our agenda for the evening. We again strolled through the main avenue, visiting Anna Park nearby and sitting on the lawn next to the lake, watching the happy faces furiously paddling the little contraptions that pass for boats here. Nearby, a young couple huddled close together in a bench was weaving castles in the air, clearly enjoying every minute of it. Peels of laughter floated to us from the children’s section where the slides and turntables never got a moment of rest. Perhaps they carry a lesson for all of us, to strive for the happiness of others, without allowing considerations of oneself to cloud the picture?

The only remaining thing to do in Yercaud was to have a glimpse of Salem city at night, washed in a million electric lights. This sight was reported to be available from somewhere in between the 16^th and 17^th hairpin bends, at a distance of about 7 km from the town. It was already dark when we started and the sky was overcast with dark rain clouds. Just a short distance away, thick incoming fog began to obstruct vision to a few meters, where you can’t even see the tail lamps of the vehicle immediately going in front. Traffic quickly came to a snarl. It was not possible to continue without special fog-lights. We returned to the hotel, sadly missing a grand sight. As soon as we reached, a heavy downpour started which might have washed away the accumulated grime of Yercaud for many months.

DAY 3 (Oct 1, 2012, Monday)

Nothing particular was scheduled at Yercaud for the last day of the tour. So we vacated the room after breakfast and started the journey at 8.50 am to Mettur Dam. The GPS navigator surprisingly suggested a longer route, but without paying toll. It was a drive which obtained an additional 20 km, but the trip was worth it, passing through some remote villages of Tamil Nadu. The paddy fields ran all the way up to the remote hills and a contented people laboured on the fields under the watchful gaze of local gods who cast a fierce look from their stone-walled enclosures close to the road. A husband and wife working on a nearby sugarcane field looked curiously at us as we took some snaps about the local temple. The couple’s thatched hut was standing on the edge of the field where time appeared to stand still.

We reached Mettur Dam at 11.40 am. This great dam was built in 1934 across the river Kaveri and is called the Stanley reservoir. This huge marvel of engineering quenches the thirst of a large part of Tamil Nadu. We later came to know that violent protests were being staged on the same day in Karnataka against its decision to release the stipulated quantity of water to Tamil Nadu. The protestors demanded that since it is going to be a year of drought, excess water need not be given to their neighbour. But Mettur was calm and the garden below the dam is very attractive if you have small children in your midst. Dire warnings were pasted on the entrance that photography was strictly prohibited in the garden. The logic behind the decision is incomprehensible, but the rule was observed more in its violation. People clicked away happily all the time and the guards good-humouredly turned a blind eye.

After lunch, the return journey commenced at 1.30 pm. After an eventless travel of 327 km, we reached home at 8.40 pm clocking a total distance of 839.4 km. Altogether, the trip was satisfactory, but nothing even remotely as memorable as compared to the ones reviewed earlier in this blog. Traveling with companions is always best, but we can only hope for the best, isn’t it?

ACCOMMODATION

We stayed at Sri Durga Residency, Pagoda Point Road, Yercaud, with previous booking. We won’t recommend the hotel to anyone. The pros and cons are as given below.

Pros

1. The hotel is very calm and quiet, situated at a distance of 2 km from the town centre (lake area).
2. The room is very good, spacious, clean and new (at the time we stayed). There was a 32” LCD TV also.

Cons

1. The hotel is situated 2 km from town. No restaurants are nearby. Hotel doesn’t have a restaurant, but food could be arranged by reception.
2. It looks and feels like a 2-storey apartment, with very few rooms overall.
3. It is hugely overpriced for the facilities it provides. Hot water is only available in the morning. But, due to load shedding stretching for hours together, the reception told us that hot water could be obtained only from 5 am to 6 am and suggested that we wake up early to get hot water! Also, there is no intercom in the room. The hotel doesn’t have a generator. During hours of load shedding, a UPS supplies power to rooms, but for long durations of blackout, it fails. TV also doesn’t work when there is no mains power.
4. There is no car parking facility. They showed a steeply inclined gated road to park the vehicle, which will be locked at night. The hotel only offers a stone as the tyre stopper.
5. The hotel charges 12% tax on the base rate, but no bill was issued at the time of checkout.
6. Though it is away from town centre, there is no scenic view. You can only see the backyard of a neighbouring house from where people sitting on the terrace can see inside your room.
7. And, can you imagine? There is no mirror in the bathroom!

Aida's Memorable Poem

There are some poems which captivate our heart and continue to hold our attention in its grip even though the pages in the book in which we found it have been closed a long while ago.Here's one such poem by the Japanese poet, Mitsuo Aida (1924-91).

  

Because it has lived its life intensely

the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by.

The flowers merely flower,

and they do this as well as they can.

The white lily, blooming unseen in the valley,

Does not need to explain itself to anyone;

It lives merely for beauty.

Men, however, cannot accept that 'merely'.

If tomatoes wanted to be melons,

they would look completely ridiculous.

I am always amazed

that so many people are concerned

with wanting to be what they are not;

what's the point of making yourself look ridiculous?

You don't always have to pretend to be strong,

there's no need to prove all the time that everything is going well,

you shouldn't be concerned about what other people are thinking,

cry if you need to,

it's good to cry out all your tears

(because only then will you be able to smile again).

This poem was quoted by Paulo Coelho in his book 'Like the Flowing River'.
 

Sandeeptha - New Malayalam Blog

To start a blog in my mother tongue was a long pending dream. After all, how long can you rant in a foreign tongue when the sweet and melodious Kairali beckoned you with outstretched arms? With a superfine transliteration service from Google, nothing more could be desired for. Finding a name was the toughest part: just when you settled on an apt one, the painful reality will present itself - some good-for-nothing fellow has already taken it and has written exactly one blog some five years ago! Finally after careful filtering of the Shabdatharavali, the Malayalam dictionary, a word was obtained - Sandeeptha, which means stimulating, lightening etc.

So, please visit my Malayalam blog, Sandeeptha at sandeeptha.blogspot.in or sandeeptha.blogspot.com

Comic response to grave danger

A grave chemical hazard occurred in Northern Kerala on the late evening of Aug 27. A tanker lorry, carrying LPG hit a road divider and overturned at Chala, near Kannur. The tank got separated from the chassis, caught fire and exploded with disastrous consequences. The inferno raged for hours and was allowed to burn out. Two persons were killed and about 30 were injured, many of them with severe burns. Though the potential for a more serious outcome was already present, the administration and civil society heaved a sigh of relief as the extent of the accident was rather limited. The government was quick to offer compensation for the kin of the dead and serious injured, the quantum of which seemed quite justifiable, compared to previous such exercises. Adequate compensation from Indian Oil, which transported the chemical is expected.

All of the above was okay, by normal considerations. The preventive measures contemplated by the officials to ward off such incidents in future merited a good laugh. The entire gamut of the administration - including the Chief Minister himself - has no doubt at all that the disaster was caused by the road divider and a decision was quickly made to dismantle it within 24 hours itself. The machinery made notorious for its red tape could summon the resources on the eve of Onam to demolish the divider. No one seemed bothered to ask whether other factors such as poor visibility, slippery road conditions, driving under the influence, or any other untoward incidents triggered the mishap. It will be business as usual once the offending divider is dismantled - until another such incident occurs. Many vehicle accidents result by hitting roadside trees. Perhaps the Kerala government would cut off all trees on the wayside if a tanker lorry ran into it?

Some incidents are like that. They are so fortuitous that they happen and only after that would the participants come to realise that the event has occurred. These are so much ruled by chance alone, that no preventive measure would be sufficient to ensure non-repeatability nor lack of any such would cause it to occur again.

Reliance and Merawala gana

I had taken two Reliance connections in 2006. The service was good, network was robust as compared to BSNL’s laughable alternative and the customer service was quite capable of dealing with anything thrown at them. Recently, I ported one of the accounts, which was CDMA to Reliance’s own GSM. I was quite happy with them.

Last week, the goodwill was suddenly broken. I got an SMS congratulating me that I had been successfully subscribed to ‘Mera wala gana’ service and Rs. 30 had been deducted from my balance. I had no idea what this goddamn service had to do with me nor how this crap came down on me. Luckily, there was an escape route – if I wanted to unsubscribe, I need to send an SMS to another number. I did this, with some heat, that I was compelled to do this ridiculous thing which I hadn’t asked for in the first place. Another SMS came that I have been unsubscribed from the service. On checking the balance, however, it dawned painfully clear on me that the money lost was indeed lost forever. They simply deducted the amount and won’t give my money back, even if I unsubscribed from their silly service. At about the same time, my second number got a message that it was successfully subscribed to ‘mantra’ service, with Rs. 30 going into thin air! If this was not cheating, what is?

I immediately contacted the customer care (*333), but mysteriously, all options to talk to a customer service executive has been blacked out. I tried the complaint service (198), but got the stock reply that all their customer service executives are attending calls and would I be kind enough to wait? I was definitely not kind, but waiting was the only real option. I waited and waited, minutes slipped past and got a full spectrum of advertisement from Reliance in the mean time. After 10 minutes, I disconnected since it seemed that they have deliberately tried to avoid any verbal communication with their service team.

I was determined to find a resolution to this issue or if it failed, to seek another service provider. I really wanted to have a chat with Anil Ambani and advice him on some other unethical measures he can personally undertake, if his company’s financial position is very bad, rather than stealing money from common people who earns money by hard work all day long. The TRAI web site was helpful in the extreme, as it gave the addresses of appellate authority of RCOM, whom I need to contact. It is called Online Telecom Consumer Complaints Monitoring System. I dispatched an email to the address, which was promptly replied to, the next day. An executive called me and said that my complaint will be resolved in two days and gave the phone number of another guy whose job was to see that every complaint is amicably resolved.

Two days passed, my money was not returned. Then the second executive called me and said that my balance has been restored and whether I was happy with the grievance redressal mechanism. I replied that I would be happy only after my money has been returned. At this point, he really became very gracious and announced that Rs. 100 will be credited to both of my phones as a goodwill gesture and hereafter, these two numbers will be removed from the purview of all such fake, cheating services. So, I’m happy now since I’m richer by about Rs. 140.

I thought this narrative would be helpful to others too. We are the customers and these bigwigs earn their livelihood from the money we pay them. We would give them money for efficient service and not for such gimmicks designed soley with the aim of cheating people. Let me be very clear, I have no complaints about RCOM’s quality of service and still think them one of the best. But, such unethical practices must be exposed in public and erring executives chastised a bit.

New Tourist Destination in Agra

Here's another reason to make Agra proud of! It is the home of the famous Agra Petha whose recipe slipped out of royal Mughal kitchens of Shah Jahan into the streets around 350 years before. There are thousands of shops selling this sweet delicacy made from ash gourd, but the original taste is said to be obtainable only from one vendor, Panchhi Petha Shop in Sadar Bazar. Besides the plain old petha, they now come in many varieties, with Angoori Petha and Kesar Petha claimed to be the best. There's even a sugar-free variant for diabetics!

Those who plan to visit Agra would do better to include Sadar Bazar to their list of destinations.

Source: The Hindu Magazine dt. June 10, 2012, Sunday

Shyamamadhavam - Readers' Loss

How can an educated, informed society allow itself to be cajoled into a blind alley, by wilful politicians? This is precisely what is happening in Kerala for the last one month and will continue to unfold for a few more days till the votes in Neyyattinkara byelection to the state assembly are polled. It was all let loose by the gruesome political murder of T P Chandrasekharan, a rebel-Marxist leader in Kozhikode district. The killers were by no means economical with their weapons. Cuts and slashes, numbering several dozen were found on the body. Though the Marxists blame it on hired goons, why should they waste enormous energy on unnecessary mutilation which was sure to arise public ire? The leader who was fearless (reckless, rather!) in the face of threats was claimed to be ideologically motivated and corruption-free.

When the din subsides, we must review the situation further. What was it that differentiate a Chandrasekharan from a Jayakrishnan Master, who was brutally hacked down in front of his students whom he were teaching while the blade slashed through his body? Or for that matter the countless cases of political murders for which Northern Kerala is so notorious? Clearly, something was different this time, otherwise the media and Congress-backed politicians wouldn’t have aroused such hue and cry for a martyred leader who was not even a Congressman.

Rewind to the sensational swearing-in of Manjalamkuzhi Ali, the fifth minister of Muslim League in the ruling UDF. Congress ate dust in front of the powerful Muslim lobby and surrendered meekly before the diktats of communal leaders who saw secularism as another tool for clinging on to power. Voting enmasse, for their own candidates, this lobby is bent on hacking democratic process to insignificance. Uncomfortably for UDF, the byelection to Neyyattinkara came close on the heels and some ruse was desperately needed to divert public attention from the fiasco. The LDF promptly obliged by killing of an opponent, which is one of their areas of specialisation as boastfully owned up by its Idukki district secretary. Chandrasekharan murder case will first be neatly tucked away into the inner pages and then put out altogether from newspapers, once the byelection got underway on June 2.

An unfortunate sideshow of the issue was stoppage of a poem by Prabha Varma, a Marxist fellow-traveller and the resident editor of the party’s organ, titled ‘Shyamamadhavam’ by the periodical Samakalika Malayalam. Its editor, S Jayachandran Nair, took strong exception to the poet’s alleged justification of the murder in some other publications. With a pompous editor’s note, he stopped the publication of the poem after just three instalments which startied from the issue dated May 18, 2012. Perhaps Jayachandran Nair would do more justice to the readers for the trash regularly being published in his journal. Most of the articles can be stereotyped into anti-liberalistic, anti-industry, anti-American, pro-Palestinian to the verge of Al Qaeda-like propaganda and pro-Maoist, who wreak havoc in India’s eastern forests. The editor must understand that readers willingly suffer all this junk, only because the magazine is liberally endowed with literary gems once in a while. With the stoppage of Shyamamadhavam, which is a soliloquial treatise on Lord Krishna who is introspecting on the unjustified ways he used to win the Kurukshetra War. This is a good literary work unseen for a long time in Malayalam (at least, among those I have read!). Of course, the party’s organ has decided to continue the publication, but who would read that magazine, which questions the judgment and intelligence of a reader?

The readers obviously lost this time too.

Where are the Watchdogs?

Today is Vishu in Kerala, the festival commemorating vishuvam (summer equinox). Traditionally it is an occasion of light and joy being bang in the middle of summer. Questions like what’s the business of celebrating equinox is mid-April is not relevant in Kerala. We’re like that from the very beginning. We cling on to some beliefs and ideologies which are proven outdated and corrosive elsewhere in the world. Likewise, complacent time keeping pushed Vishu to mid-April, if the slipping goes unchecked, the month of Medam may fall drenched in monsoon rains in a future era (at a rate of 1 day in 72 years). When will a person of the calibre of Gregory XIII appear in Kerala?

 

However this post is not on the astronomical relevance of the local calendar. It served only to show the I-am-different attitude shown by its people. From March 20 onwards, newspaper agents are on strike demanding higher rates of commission and incentives and other facilities and what not! After passing time lethargically for a few days, the newspapers kicked in to provide alternate channels of distribution, which is the most meagre. You can’t expect people to go out early morning each day to buy a newspaper from a nearby store. Even the people who do it now would later postpone it to a more convenient time, which would turn out to be very late in the end. Popular habit of having the newspaper before breakfast has long gone astray, but surprisingly, people are taking it in their strides. Should such a situation is allowed to continue for long, we would lose the custom and end up depending on visual media to step into the shoes of the print media.

Frankly, newspaper agents’ demands are outrageous and should not be yielded to. Most of them covertly ask the newspaper establishments to increase prices and pay them higher rate of commission. It was only a year or so they began fleecing the subscribers to pay service charge – a practice unheard of anywhere in the world in newspaper delivery! The paper companies need to look for alternative delivery mechanisms to provide the daily paper at the door steps of the customer. You’ve to push the paper to the readers, since you can’t expect them to pull it for long. Or otherwise, if you plan to buckle under the agents’ pressure, do it fast and keep the papers flowing once more.

Newspapers and journalists are the watchdogs in a democracy, to keep it from the greedy machinations of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. Where are the watchdogs in Kerala now?

Prediction of rank in LDC (Ernakulam) exam

Ever since my wife wrote the LDC (Lower Division Clerk) – Ernakulam district exam and was on tenterhooks regarding the rank, she was always scouring the net for possible position in the rank list. She got 64 marks and the probable list contained 2202 persons. So, I offered her a prediction, based on statistics. It was a very very long time that I’d got anything to do with statistics, so a thorough search on the Net had to be made. The calculation proceeded along the following lines.

Representative sample for proportions n₀ = Z².pq / e²  (Eqn 1)

Where 
n₀ = sample size, Z² = abscissae of normal curve that cuts off an area at the tails (1 – desired confidence level, taken as 95%), 
e = desired level of precision (taken as +/-5%), 
p = estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in the population (taken as 0.5 for maximum variability), 
q = 1-p.

Z = 1.96 for 95% confidence level (from normal curve)

Substituting the values in Eqn 1, n₀ = 385

Applying finite population correction, n = n₀ / (1 + (n₀ – 1)/N) (Eqn 2)

Where n = required sample size, n₀ = obtained in previous step and N = population (2202, for this case)

Substituting in Eqn 2, n = 327

The roll numbers of shortlisted candidates were exported to Excel and a macro was run to identify 327 random numbers from the list. Marks obtained by these numbers were collected from Kerala PSC’s website, tabulated in Excel and sorted. My wife’s marks were introduced in the middle of people who obtained exactly 64 marks each. She came at 41^st place.

This was for a sample size for 327, extrapolating to the total, 41 x 2202 / 327 = 276.

Applying precision of +/-5%, her rank can be anywhere between 165 to 385. This I say with 95% confidence, though I have a hunch that it will be between 250-300.

I’m writing this on Mar 15, 2012, the results are expected by this month-end. We’ll see then!

31.3.2012

The results have been published. Her rank came out to be 254.
Prediction is 100% successful. Statistics is great!

Seven Categories of Religious People

Richard Dawkins categorises people into seven categories, based on their religious beliefs and the probability which they assign to divine existence. This makes for curious reading and helps people understand what is meant by agnosticism.

1. Strong theist: 100% probability of God. In the words of C G Jung, 'I do not believe, I know'.

2. Very high probability but short of 100%. De facto theist. 'I cannot know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there'.

3. Higher than 50% but not very high. Technically agnostic but leaning towards theism. 'I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God'

4. Exactly 50%. Completely impartial agnostic. 'God's existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable'.

5. Lower than 50% but not very low. Technically agnostic, but leaning towards atheism. 'I don't know whether God exists, but I'm inclined to be sceptical'.

6. Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. 'I cannot know for certain, but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there'.

7. Strong atheist. 'I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung "knows" there is one'.

Source: The God Delusion by R. Dawkins

Book-banning Indian Democracy

Freedom of expression is an inalienable right of a citizen living in a democracy. India eminently guarantees this freedom to its citizens in its constitution under article 19(1)(a) which reads "All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression". Before the ink drying on these letters, there comes a proviso in article 19(2), stating "Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence". No one objects to preventing such expressions which threatens the soverignty, security, foreign relations and integrity of the country, contempt of court, incitement to violence and offending decency or morality. But public order? That is a sweeping generalization which in effect nullifies the spirit of the freedom granted. This is a loophole any government can adopt to stifle dissent. In a country which is swamped with fanatics and religious minorities whose passions are offended by even innocuous cartoons, no wonder the ruling faction chose this subclause to summarily ban books which they don't approve of. Below is a list of books banned in India at present. (Source: The Hindu, dt. Mar 4, 2012).


1. Hindu Heaven - Max Wylie (1934)
2. The Face of Mother India - Katherine Mayo (1936)
3. Old Soldier Sahib - Frank Richards (1936)
4. The Land of the Lingam - Arthur Miles (1937)
5. Mysterious India - Moki Singh (1940)
6. The Scented Garden (Anthropology of the sex life in the Levant) - Bernhard Stern (1945)
7. What has Religion done for Mankind - Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (1955)
8. Rama Retold - Aubrey Menen (1955)
9. Dark Urge - Robert W Taylor (1955)
10. The Ramayana - Aubrey Menen (1956)
11. Captive Kashmir - Aziz Beg (1958)
12. The Heart of India - Alexander Campbell (1959)
13. The Lotus and the Robot - Arthur Koestler (1960)
14. Nine Hours to Rama - Stanley Wolpert (1962)
15. Unarmed Victory - Bertrand Russell (1963)
16. Nepal - Tony Hagen (1963)
17. Ayesha - Kurt Frishchler (1963)
18. Lady Chatterley's Lover - D H Lawrence (1964)
19. The Jewel in the Lotus (A Historical Survey of the Sexual Culture of the East) - Allen Edwards (1968)
20. The Evolution of the British Empire and Commonwealth from the American Revolution - Alfred Le Ray Burt (1969)
21. A Struggle between Two Lines over the Question of How to Deal with U.S. Imperialism - Fan Asid-Chu (1969)
22. Man from Moscow - Greville Wynne (1970)
23. Early Islam - Desmond Steward (1975)
24. Nehru: A Political Biography - Michael Edwards (1975)
25. India Independent - Charles Bettelheim (1976)
26. China's Foreign Relations since 1949 - Alan Lawrence (1978)
27. Who Killed Gandhi - Lourenco de Sadvandor (1979)
28. Understanding Islam through Hadis - Ram Swarup (1982)
29. Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim - Sunanda Datta-Ray (1984)
30. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie (1988)
31. Soft Target: How the Indian Intelligence Service Penetrated Canada - Zuhair Kashmeri and Brian McAndrew (1989)
32. The Polyester Prince - Hamish McDonald (1998)
33. The True Furqan - Al Saffee and Al Mahdee (1999)
34. Islam: A Concept of Political World Invasion - R V Bhasin (2007 - Maharashtra)
35. Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India - Joseph Lelyveld (2011 - Gujarat)


Even Bertrand Russell couldn't escape the censoring of some obscure chicken-headed bureaucrats!

My Own Two Cents on Astrology and Horoscope

The following is a compilation of the comments I posed in various Orkut forums against astrology and horoscopes. Since Orkut is dead for all practical purposes, I thought it would be better to store them somewhere else.

This is based on a topic 'Horoscope - How do you take it?'

Dec 21, 2009

It is really unfortunate that more and more people are falling prey to this baseless superstition. We can't deny that the percentage of people who check astrological match before marriage has increased many times during the last few decades. This is a curse of Hindu society as a whole.

Nothing exemplifies the fallacy of horoscope matching than the marriage and divorce of actress Kavya Madhavan! Her marriage was consummated with all astrological matches and after several homams at Mookambika and other temples. And what was the result?

Dec 23, 2009

Many people have accepted horoscope matching as a ritualistic practice related to marriage like the tying of the knot or performing three circumambulations around the kathirmandapam. People should be informed about the death trap that is horoscope matching.


People who believe in astrology always claim that most astrologers do secret fixing of the result to gain money and that's why the predictions go awry. This is not correct. Science upholds the view that astrology is absurd and ridiculous. I don't see any reason to suspect the veracity of this statement.


I'd like to bring to the attention of all astrologers, a simple challenge made by Prof. A T Kovoor in the sixties. They will be handed over the birth details of ten people accurate to the minute. They have to predict 1) whether the subject is male/female 2) whether he/she is alive or dead 3) their current professions and 4) their marital status.


Believe me, no astrologer took up the challenge to win Rs. 1,00,000 (in 1960s) offered by the noble professor! 

May 27, 2010

http://malayalam.usvishakh.net/blog/archives/411 is an interesting link on science and astrology. Sooraj Rajan, P N Umesh and Sreehari S has categorically finished off astrology and its followers. Everyone should read this document.