History behind Aanakurissu, Kuttikanam, Peermade..

The legend of Aanakurissu, Kuttikanam, Peerumedu.

If one is moving from Kuttikanam towards Pallikunnu, enroute Kattapana, between Kuttikanam and Pallikunnu, you will come across a cross (kurissu in Malayalam) near a bridge, the aanappaalam (elephant bridge). On either side of the road, there are tea estates, some working and some closed. But there is greenery everywhere. Students and nuns from the nearby St Pius X School and Marian College frequent this place very often.

This cross has a very tragic history / legend behind it. Many years ago, on either side of the road, inside the estates, there were line houses. A line house is a typical cheap, one room accommodation provided to the estate employees, consisting of houses, usually seven or ten, in parallel. Each house consists of a verandah, a room and kitchen. The common bathroom shared by the inhabitants of these line houses. These line houses were built by the estate owners for their employees and families to stay. These line houses also gave enough security to the estates from encroachment by people and attacks by wild animals. Living together, the employees too were guarded against attacks from wild boars, wild elephants etc which were plenty in that area.

Diseases have always been a scourge of human beings and at a time when science and medicine had not advanced as much as today, most of the diseases were fatal. Small pox (vasoori in Malayalam) was one such disease which never had a medicine. There was no treatment available and the only precaution was to isolate the patients to prevent it spreading to other healthy people.

The surrounding areas of Aanakurissu was the place fifty years or so back, where people who contracted smallpox were brought for solitary confinement , away from the healthy population. (Like in the famous movie 'Island of Shadows', leprosy patients were isolated and were made to live in colonies inhabited by other leprosy patients). A care taker used to give food to these patients at regular intervals. People were scared to come to these places and the people who were brought here, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and close relatives, never got to see their relatives and friends again, as these people died a very sad and painful death here. Neglected and despised by the society, the local people never came to these places.

Legend has it that the dead souls of these people who died a painful death in the line houses were wandering these areas as ghosts and scaring travelers and people staying nearby. A cross was brought from Mattanchery, near Ernakulam to this place and erected by the catholic priests in this area. With frequent prayers at the cross, it is said that the scourge of wandering dead souls scaring people disappeared.

Motorist traveling long distances also make a stop at the cross these days to pray for a safe journey. Often the prayers are accompanied by some offerings which are collected by the Catholic church at Kuttikanam which looks after the maintenance of the place. Local people around here say that the prayers at these places also yield results which is evident by the large groups of people who come to this place every Friday for prayers and requests. If these prayers are repeated for five or seven weeks, called as niyogam by the local people, it is believed that the prayers are heard. These days, it is also seen that infertile couples have started tying small toy cradles on the cross for blessings of fertility, and  more often than not, it is granted.

If you are interested in offering prayers at this place, visit it on Friday at 5 PM for prayers there and place your wishes and requests. More often than not, it shall be granted.

George Easaw (As told to George Easaw by Jiji, of MBC College of Engg, Peermade on 17 Aug 07..)

The most promising event of modern India .. Digital and knowledge Revolution

We have heard many people /organisations talk of the different incidents that have helped make up the modern and developing country that is India. Instead of trying to dissect events in history, it will do an ocean of good if we were able to fix our sights on one event which is to hold terrific promise for the country and it's billion plus people in the coming days. Which is that event and who started it ?

It was in mid eighties after Ms Indira Gandhi's assasination that her son Rajiv Gandhi got elected and became the PM of India. Rajiv Gandhi had a terrific aura about him, even though he did not have anything to claim as his achievements except that he was born into the Nehru family and had sat on the lap of Jawaharlal Nehru many a time.

Rajiv Gandhi was a visionary. He got with him intellectuals and accomplished Indians from all walks of life from around the world to advise him on critical issues which were to affect India. The most important contribution of Rajiv Gandhi was picking up Sam Pitroda, the present Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission, to head the telecom revolution and establish the Centre for Development of Telematics (CDOT).

In no time, India could develop it's own telephone exchange which is helping run most of the rural telephone exchanges of BSNL now. It helped spread the reach of telecommunications to the common man in the remotest part of the country. Along with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), under his guidance, the work to launch India's telecommunications satellite also got started and we had telecommunications satellites in the sky. In combination with an indigenous telecomm knowhow and satellites in space, Public Call Offices were opened in different villages and towns in the country. Now it is easily possible for a villager in the remotest of Indian villages to make NSD and ISD calls.

India's leap into the digital world was thus spearheaded by Rajiv Gandhi. The initial steps to start the knowledge revolution, which now has metamorphosised to the National Knowledge Commision is a great step to harness the knoledge in different streams to help make the right decision and harness it for the country's growth.

Were it not for the right thinking at the right time, the penetration of computers would not have been much and Indians would have remained ignorant. Now we find a digital revolution across sections of scoiety, including politicians and it is leading to the total metamorphisation of the digital landscape of the country.

Companies like Infy, Wipro, TCS etc owe it to Rajiv Gandhi and the digital revolution as much to globalization and the technical, english speaking workforce.

Continuing to work at the same pace we can establish high quality R&D labs in the country and innovate for the rest of the world.

George Easaw..

Dr Manmohan Singh on India at 60 ..

Speech by Dr Manmohan Singh, PM, India. 14 August, 2007.

On the eve of an extraordinary historical event, Dr Manmohan Singh, the nation's 14th prime minister, assesses India@60:

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One of humankind's great and exciting adventures of the past century has been the transformation of India from a colonial, agrarian economy into a modern, industrialising, knowledge-based economy within the framework of a liberal and secular democracy. The commitment of the leaders of our national movement to the idea of an independent India as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-linguistic and multi-cultural democracy was one of the great acts of human faith in the 20th century that continues to give hope to humankind.

At a time when the world was battling ideologies of exclusion and divisiveness, the leaders of our freedom movement invested their hope in the ideology of inclusiveness. The idea of India, of unity in diversity, of openness and inclusiveness, has withstood the test of time and history and is our great contribution to humankind these past 60 years.

The success of the Indian experiment in pursuing economic development, social and political empowerment within the framework of a secular and democratic Constitution, with respect for the rule of law and for fundamental human rights has earned for our country a special place in the comity of nations.

In the past 60 years, we have built a firm foundation on which we can in fact redeem the pledge of the architects of modern India in full measure. The young people of today should remember that at Independence we inherited an economy weakened by years of colonial exploitation.

For half a century before Independence, the Indian economy registered virtually no growth at all. In the first three decades after Independence, we grew at 3.5 per cent per annum. In the second three decades our annual growth rate went up to nearly 6.0 per cent.

In the past few years the growth rate has been closer to 9.0 per cent per annum. This has been made possible by a rising rate of investment, now at around 35 per cent of national income, and rising productivity of labour and capital. If we can sustain these rates, and step up the productivity of land and labour, we should be able to attain double digit rates of growth in the near future.

India is on the move.

This steady acceleration of growth, however, averages the impressive performance of some regions and the inadequate performance of others. It has also been socially uneven. Hence, the challenge before us is to make the growth process more socially inclusive and regionally balanced. In the past decade, we have seen a further acceleration of growth, based on the impressive performance of certain sectors of our economy. But we have a long road to travel to realise the full potential of our people and fulfill the promises of the Father of our Nation and the Architect of Modern India [Get Quote].

India at 60 is a nation of young people. To realise our true potential, we must invest in the health and education of every child. We must create new employment opportunities for all, especially for the less privileged sections of society, and for those living in rural areas. We must eliminate the rural-urban divide in development indicators. We must also ensure that the process of industrialisation generates enough jobs for our youth, in urban, semi-urban and rural areas.

In the past 60 years, people moved to where work was available; in the next 60 years, work must move to where people live.

The government has an important role to play in not only sustaining higher rates of growth, but also in making the growth process more inclusive, socially and regionally. Governments must also play an active, creative and constructive role in providing and facilitating access to modern education and good health care.

I sincerely believe that the time has come for us to pay special attention to education and skill development. India cannot keep pace with the world unless every Indian is empowered by skills and capabilities that make every person a productive and creative citizen, capable of living a decent life.

As we mark the 60th anniversary of our Independence, we cannot afford to be complacent, either about our achievements or our ability to meet the extant challenges. We cannot afford a 'business-as-usual' approach to any aspect of life. The world is changing rapidly and we must learn to keep pace. We have to do more to increase the productivity of every Indian, the productivity of our land and of capital.

Each one of us must set our sights higher and aim to be the best in what we do. Our schools and colleges must aim to be the best in the world. So too our businesses and laboratories. So too our services and utilities. I despair of the 'chalta hai' attitude of so many of our people.

While our democracy is our great strength and a unifying force, we must not allow it to become an excuse for not working together in the larger national interest. We have to strengthen and revitalise our institutions of governance, policymaking and education so that we are able to harness the energies of our people better.

Indians have proved that individually they can excel and compete with the best in the world. We must be able to do so collectively too. We need to do more to unleash the full potential of our people's creativity and enterprise. We need better team work and the ability to build wider social and political consensus around the ideas of change and modernisation.

To overcome the many challenges we face -- developmental as well as social, domestic as well as external -- we require at least a minimal consensus on a national agenda. We must all be equally committed to the values and ideals of our Constitution, be it secularism or social justice. We must all join hands in the search for communal harmony and national integration. We must all stand together in the fight against terrorism and extremism of all kinds.

A nation of a billion people, as diverse as ours, cannot move forward unless we learn to work together for the common good and for the national interest. There must be a national consensus at least on a basic agenda of good governance, economic development and national security. No developing nation can make the required great leap forward without a basic consensus on a minimal agenda on such vital issues.

While there is much to be proud of in our record of the past 60 years, the unfinished agenda should make us humble and energise us to work together. The emerging challenges, at home and globally, should make us firm in our resolve to be united and to be cooperative. I do not see enough commitment to such a consensual agenda in our political parties, in our media, in our intelligentsia and in our social elite.

On this 60th anniversary of our Independence I call upon every Indian to think of India first and work to make India first.

Frog in the well syndrome of the Malayali..

Maybe I have been out of Kerala for a good 20 years of my life, I do not know, I am surprised at the frog in the well syndrome of most of the malayalis. Things have changed a lot. People are getting narrow minded day after day. Do not want to improve and go beyond the narrow view of life, neither will he allow his friends to go up. With limited exposure of the outside world, his ego already terribly bloated, he thinks very highly of himself, may not be wrong, and is the first to cast the early stone, knowing fully well his limitations.

Casting the first stone and pulling down his friend / colleague is characteristic of the average malayali. Living in mediocrity and allowing others not to cross over into excellence.

That explains the reason why the average malayali finds himself in a self made bottomless pit and cannot come up in his homeland. The media and press too play an important role in bloating this ego of the malayali, By providing silly news, developmental news is sidelinedby the media, unmindful of the damage it does to the development policies and plans of the state. The media also is to blame for this sad state of affairs..

Kerala does not have a major industry to boast of, other than education, trading and militant trade unionism. It's citizens are forced to move out of the state and out of the country in search of bread and butter. I was subjected to that many years back. The people already in cushy jobs in the govt or aided sector within the state find themselves in cushier surroundings, unmindful of their responsibilities to the society, but very conscious of their rights.

Kerala is the hottest market for all the latest expensive upmarket luxury cars in the country. How does Malayali fuel his urge to showoff, even in midst of poverty and poor industrial development ? Who is funding this false ego of the average malayali ? His relative in the Gulf ? The sweat which he turns to dollars are available for his people back home to squander. His love and concern for his siblings is too great !! The best mansions, the best cars, what not, the best of everything.

If this money is put back into some development projects in the state it will create jobs within the state. The malayali does not have to go out searching for a decent job. Will our politicians allow that? They are the parasites in the society. Totally ignorant of the outside world. Just look at the industrial investment which has gone into Tamil Nadu last year, almost 10,000 crores and the money which has come to Kerala ? a paltry 100 - 200 crores. Where are we standing and what is our future ? The brains to propel the industry in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka is from Kerala.

Pity the malayali, unless he removes this mask of falsehood and false ego, he will not prosper, he will never be independent. Unable to let his state grow and become number one in the country. False and petty ideologies do destroy the state. Long live Hypocrisy !! Care for your fellow human being and believe that if your friend prospers, it is Kerala which is prospering. More jobs are getting created for the Malayali.

george ( a malayali, doing self introspection..)

Our great achievements and failures in 60 years ..

On the 15th of August 2007, India is celebrating 60 years of independence. Many organisations are planning activities to coincide with this great occasion. But we need to have a solid picture of what are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) during the past sixty years and into the future, to be confident of where we are heading to and where we can reach.

Let us introspect with our failures and weaknesses as that will give a true picture of the situation.

The biggest scourge in India is our obsession with authority and excessive bureaucratic control over anything and everything. This has resulted in intereference in every sphere of life by decision makers delaying decision making and resulting in major drawbacks like poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and corruption. The resources do not reach the targeted individuals instead land up in the wrong places and wrong people, defeating the very purpose of the funding or policies.

Even after sixty years almost 40 percent of our population are still below poverty line. Thousands of families still go to bed daily without a proper meal. This is happening when our country boasts of record food-grain production and stocks in the warehouses of Food Corporation of India. Thousands of families suffer from the ills of illiteracy. The benefits which otherwise would have come to them through education is now getting diverted to other sections of society. It is not the question of one section robbing the benefits of another section, that is what our policy makers seem to have been worried about initially. Some of the policies like reservation have done some good, but more harm in the long run. Thousand of children are malnourished or undernourished, leading to improper development of the body, intellect and a healthy mind. Illegal diversification of funds meant for such programmes results in very low utility, often resulting in unattained targets and goals.

The basic premise of the government that the weaker and socially backward comunities of the country need to be taken care well and should be given reservations in government posts was a thinking of the old times. We were encouraging mediocrity in our society, thinking and lifestyle. Now with liberalisation, privatisation and globalization, the playing ground is getting leveled with each passing day. There are plenty of opportunities with many foreign players entering the industry and Indian organizations going abroad. It will be a great experience for the people who are willing to take the risks, be it any field, education, Industry, health care, banking, insurance, financial institutions, software development, professional services, BPO, Knowledge outsourcing, the oportunities are aplenty. The government should only look at regulating and implementing major policy decisions. It should move out of education, health care and other fields of import and allow entrepreneurial spirit to flourish in the country, then only the country can prosper and grow.

Once the government withdraws itself from major decision making involving the common man's life, half the problems of the country will be over.

Our greatest achievements in the past sixty years has been our green revolution, courtesy Dr M S Swaminathan, white revolution, courtesy Dr Verghese Kurien, Space technoloigy development, courtesy a host of people including Vikram Sarabhai, our nuclear technology development, courtesy Raja Ramanna, Sethna, Homi Bhabha, missile technology development, courtesy Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and others from DRDO and ISRO, our educational development, courtesy Nehru and Sarabhai for setting up IIMs and IITs besides the numerous NITs, state engineering colleges and more recently the self financing educational institutions and medical colleges.

Liberalisation, privatisation and globalization, courtesy fromer PM, Narasimha Rao and Finance Min Dr Manmohan Singh. In fact it has been the defining moment of Indian growth in the post 90s. Growth of Indian heavy Industry by establishing the public sector units, bridges, dams, and steel and power plants, hydrolecetric and nuclear projects and so on. Thanks to prudent investment and control policies of the govt post '90, now we have efficient and effective financial institutions, a very active stock exchange and banking system, which vibrates in resonance with international fiscal reveberations, thanks to globalization.

To top it all, the democratic sytem of governance and politics has made the system so lively and kicking. We have a billion plus population working in synergy through disputes for the development of the country. Though the consensus does emerge slowly in this vast country, the agreed to consensus helps it to move like a juggernaut, creating awe and surprise among the other nations at it's potential for growth and development.

India in the coming years is sure going to be a place with little of government controls and excess of growth and entrepreneurship.

george..

The Kerala Professional Education chaos continues ..

In spite of the Kerala high court partially imposing ban on the different fee structures in the private medical colleges which joined with the state, the state Education Minister M A Baby is hell bent on not allowing the Cathlic Managements any say in their admission process. The basic presumption in the constitution and the supreme court verdict in the TMA Pai case states that cross subsidy in the same class cannot be permitted. The Kerala government is still acting stubborn.

Recently it passed the ordinance, bypassing the assembly twenty third time this govt came to power, that permitted the Mohammed committee to decide the new fees and to get it vetted. The High Cort on Monday gave an indication to the government that it is not approving of the govt move to decide the revision of fees through the Mohammed committee as though the committee was an instrument in its hands to be played with at at its will..

The admission proces under the govt quota has run into very rough weather and it may be months before classes can start in the first year of engineering and medical colleges in the state.

In spite of receiving whippings time and again from the different courts, the education minister is very stubborn and is trying his level best to show the world that he is indeed a revolutionary in the educational field in the state. But unfortunately this time his revolutionary actions are directed against peace and stability in the education sector in the state.

When the education minister has not gone through the nerve wracking experience of the parents ( Neither has he seen the gates of any professional institution in the state, unfortunate that such a person is the education minster)

The only solution with the govermnet this time is to accept a common fees for the students throughout the state and depending on the financial capacity of the parent, disburse student loans. An alternative would be to give educational coupons of denominations Rs 25,000 each and give slabs depending on which the number of coupons to be given to a student can be decided. This can ensure there is no disbursal or handling of money, and the whole process of subsidising fees can be achieved with great ease and speed.

george..

Globalization and it's varied impacts..

Globalization has been a very hot topic which has been discussed many times over on different platforms and in conferences and seminars. This article tries to understand the process of evolution of this global phenomenon across centuries and millenia and attempts of state that this is a phenomenon which has been there for thousands of years can only bring about good to mankind.

The main points in this article are being borrowed from a recent book by Nayan Chanda, from Yale Uty, "Bound Together - how the traders, preachers, adventurers and warriors shaped globalization" - in which pre-historic link to globalization has been made out. In his book Nayan Chanda talks of the different factors which were responsible for globalization from ancient times.

The first group of traders in the olden days travelled across borders and helped countries trade in exchange for what they wanted, either by barter or for the currency of those times. They paved the way for opening up sea routes which led to the other exploits by preachers and adventurers later on. India was famous for it's spices, pepper and ivery. We exchanged it for silk, chinese porcelain, paper and so on from China, Arabia etc.. This trade continues even to this day. Sea Links between Arabia, China, India, South East Asia, Europe, America were all discovered by brave men and their disciplined sub-ordinates who braved the seas and the vagaries of nature to present us with our present day knowledge of the world and it's wonders.

The present day traders, similar to their counterparts of yesteryear are the multinational corporations of the world ( there are many from India too..) who are establishing in different countries going across borders and helping in the trade, manufacture of goods at different places and consumption by different people. Rise of living standards in different parts of the world have automatically given the push and raised the demand for such products which require to be manufactured not in their own countries of consumption but from across the globe, utilising abundantly available, good quality raw materials employing skilled labour.

Global sourcing is a hot word for supply chain professionals which implies procuring the cheapest and best raw materials from the best sources from across the world at the lowest costs of transportation, at the right times with assurances of quality and so on. For computer hardware, we find the cheapest sources in the world are in China and Malaysia. Computer assemblers and manufacturers from across Asia and the rest of the world procure from these sources to give the maximum value to customers at the best price. Traders thus have played a pivotal role in the globalization process and even to this day continue to do so. Simultaneously we find that this gives the necessary impetus and push for development of local, national and international infrastructure.

Preachers were the second group who travelled across borders and sailed the oceans hundreds of years back and spread Christianity, Islam, Budhism, Confucianism and other religions. The preachers were later accompanied by people with vested interests who later on moved to establishing channels of trade and then pursued colonialist desires, for example the Portuguese, English, Dutch missionaries switched over from their core competencies to other areas. This interaction helped in the acceptance of modern thoughts, ideals and beliefs by the people of the world. The world was getting more networked and a livable, united place.

If the old day preachers turned into colonialists with time, the present day preachers are the more aggressive, fundamentalist, intolerant born-again groups representing Christianity and other religions. Also included are the more sober intellectuals representing human rights and environmental activists who are fighting for human rights of the people in the world. This includes specially children's and women's rights besides the rights of HIV patients and so on. Amnesty International, Green Peace are some of the major players in this arena. They are also worried about the impact of global greenhouse gas emissions leading to global warming and melting of glaciers, raising ocean water levels, submerging coasts, destruction of pristine forest cover and the accompanying flora and fauna. A real panicky situation!

The third group are the Adventurers who moved across nations in historic times exploring nations, peoples and this led to the discovery of new lands and sea routes to prosperous lands leading to growth in trade between nations. James Cook, David Livingstone are examples of such personalities. The travels and writings of Marco Polo, Ibn Batuta all point to this natural urge among the people to explore and learn about places and people.

While their effort helped us to explore unknown lands and learn about it's specialities and resources which could be explored, the present day adventurers are more interested in exploring, seeing and feeling new places and experiences than any exploitation. Today we see millions of tourists visiting different countries and learning and experiencing cultures and civilizations. In the process there are lots of interaction of ideas and thoughts among the people. This develops better understanding and tolerance of different cultures, beliefs and ideologies and peoples. A vital component of the present global world order.

The fourth group represented the people who went out in aggression, conquering lands, killing people who opposed their exploits. Warriors like Alexander the Great led their armies to invade foreign countries and demolished cultures and civilizations. We read about such invasions right through history and history is full of such exploits of nations destroying civilizations and cultures. Even though time has passed and education levels have improved, this notion among people has reduced very little.

The present day warriors are from the militarily advanced countries and the lone super power US, trying to establish it's hegemony in other countries, getting countries to accept their supremacy. The attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq was necessitated by factors like religious fundamentalism besides this urge to expand and conquer. In countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and other fragile parts of the world we see that such aggressions are least in the modern world order, thanks to the formation and active participation of multi-lateral bodies like the United Nations and financial arms like World Bank, IMF and so on.

From the Human Genographic Project, sponsored by National Geographic Society of US and IBM, we get insight into how people moved from their base in Africa thousand of years back and spread to other parts of the world by the help of modern technologies like DNA mapping. Humans first moved out from Africa, about 2000 of them, some 40 - 60000 years back and migrated to different parts of the world and set up colonies and civilizations. That is the story of mankind. All evidence points that globalization has been there right from those times. If it were not for the globalizing spirit of our ancestors, we would not have reached where we are presently, doing what we are doing and staying with whom we are staying now.

Globalization is thus not a recent phenomenon, it is as old as mankind and it will be there as long as man walks on this earth. It was known by different names and exists in many forms, some exploitative and some understanding, some helpful and some hostile.

A realisation that this networking of nations and their peoples is what is needed for accelerated development to raise the standards of living of the about six billion inhabitants on this earth has prompted many countries to embrace globalization with open hands. Though India was a late entrant in this process, our progress has been fast and steady. We have integrated so well with the global community like nobody else has. We are today being looked up to for not only serving the back office functions of the western world, but also for leading the world in innovations and research and development. Bangalore and Pune are becoming the research hubs / idea incubators of the world. It can no doubt be stated that Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai form the most vibrant, potential and happening triangle in the world. It is slowly overtaking Ireland and the Latin American countries of Brazil and our immediate neighbour China. The pace and fervour with which China has embraced this process about twenty five years back is there for the whole world to see. Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist in his famous book "The World is flat" published by Penguin books, has given a splendid insight into how globalization is presently being pursued with great fervour and vigour in different parts of the world, especially India and China.

The way different countries of the world have embraced this phenomenon, pursuing their areas of strength and overcoming their weaknesses in co-operation, or at times competition with other countries, has increased importance to this global process of migration and interaction. When there is properity all around finally from better utilization and consumption of resources, it ensures world peace and stability, making it a win-win situation for all stakeholders in the process.

george..