my own boswell

Year-end, and some Random Thoughts!

It is that time of the year when attempting assessments of the year that is coming to an end or about making resolutions for the year going to start is the flavor of the season. I would spare my friends of that routine ordeal, for a change. In any case, I am not sure where I stand in iLand, thanks to its `new and improved’ version as certified by the much feared `system administrator’.
iLand has been fun, with all its imperfections. For more than three years, I have found myself at home here, made some good friends (can’t remember making any enemies, though), and enjoyed many wonderful posts. Of course, it has had its aberrations, what with the unfriendly neighborhood `array’ popping up at unexpected hours, making and marking `its’ presence or absence felt in manifold ways. But by and large, it has been good going.

And then came the new and improved iLand. As I quoted in one of my earlier posts, what is `new’ cannot be `improved’ and what is `improved’ cannot be `new’! But I Land had other ideas, for sure.

I am not a computer wizard nor am I tech savvy in the modern sense of these terms. So, to me, the good old iLand that I was used to and familiar with has all but disappeared. And I can’t make the head or tail of the new version. I, for one, don’t know where my GB is, who my friends are, where I can visit them, what their comments on my posts are – and last but not the least, where my posts have disappeared. In one of those rare self-indulgent moods, when I want to read an old post of mine, I don’t have any way of knowing where to locate that! I feel marooned in an island, all by myself like Robinson Crusoe, with no Friday anywhere on the distant horizon!

So, I am resigned to the new and improved iLand, and I guess I am stuck with it. Honestly, I feel like walking out in protest at the way the pitch has been queered, much like the Ferozeshah Kotla one. In Delhi, Chetan Chouhan and Arun Jaitley are promising refunds. But I don’t think iLand administrator is in any mood to offer any such succor. So, I sign off the year on a despondent note, sharing some random thoughts that crossed my mind…

I have noticed this latest adventure by the already adventurous drivers of Delhi. The city has many beautiful roundabouts, some with as many as six radial roads. The daredevil drivers of Delhi have found a new way to jump the queue by simply taking a breathtaking   U-turn right at the circle rather than taking the full round itself! What horrified me more was that I found several government vehicles joining the fray to cut corners, as it were. And the traffic cop stands a mute spectator, totally disinterested at this brazen violation of all civilized road norms.

Talking of traffic chaos, I read with trepidation this notice behind an auto rickshaw: “Auto chalakon ka maha sammelan dilli ke ram lila maidan mein!’ I don’t even dare to think what decisions would be taken at the `maha sammelan’, or else it would add to my already sagging morale caused by the new and improved iLand!

On a positive note, I happened to read some very interesting observations made by our neighborhood Nobel laureate and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus. For one, he says the poor people are in fact `bonsai people’ – those who have not been given the wherewithal to grow up and realize their potential as normal people but who were converted, without giving them any choice, into a bonsai status by the system. I don’t think anyone could have put it more poignantly.

Yunus also envisions a world where there will be `poverty museums’ where you can take your children to show them what poverty was like. Does it sound too idealistic and Utopian? But then, Yunus enumerates many measures to rid the world of poverty. It is no empty talk, for the man describes how his Grameen Bank has been able to address the challenge of poverty in a substantial way.

Yunus also shares another vision, of a South Asian Union which, again, he asserts, is no pipe dream!

I comfort myself that there is some positive thinking going on in this world!
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Every weekend, I go for my walk to the nearby park. And I feel sorry for all the young couples, and some not so young as well – who have to hide behind bushes and shrubs to grab some much needed `privacy’ (pun intended). In winter, the innovative ones take refuge under a blanket – a little ostrich-like, I thought! But I was wondering, if winter comes, can summer be far behind? Imagine grabbing `privacy’ under a blanket in summer, that too in a public park!

The A to Z of God's Own Country!

I am enjoying a break from the din and dust of The Capital. What better to do than enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of His Own iLand! So, here I go!

A: Arabian Sea; Ashtamudi Kayal (Lake Ashtamudi); Aluva Puzha (River Aluva); Arrack (local brew; also see Charayam, Kallu, Beef Fry, Fish Fry, IMFL); Aviyal (mixed vegetable, lavishly laced with coconut paste ' please seek recipe from any resident mallu lady iLander); `Appam' and stew; `Appam' and Mutta (Egg) Curry; AK Antony, yes, the Defence Minister (also see K. Karunakaran); VS Achuthanandan, the Chief Minister (also see Pinarayi Vijayan); Arguments (also see Debates and Discussions, Zero Tolerance); Saint Alphonsa (For Favours Received); Ma Amritanandamayi; Ayurveda; Astrologers;.

B: Bandh (also see Hartal: the mallus are ingenious, you know; now they have village level, district level, municipal level and state-wide Bandhs/Hartals; wag has it that the mallus have come to enjoy them very much. So, the previous day, men throng chicken shops and IMFL vends, stocking stuff, and mallu channels telecast special programmes for the day! Never ever venture out in Kerala during a Bandh/Hartal ' you are asking for trouble, if you dare do that!); Black, and its many beautiful shades; Beaches; Backwaters; Bolgatty Palace (ask anyone who has gone there for Honeymoon); Bar (also see Cool Bar); Bakery; Beef Fry (also see Charayam, Kallu, IMFL, Tapioca); Biriyani.

C: Christianity, which came to Kerala in 52 AD; Churches, traditional and modern; Congress; Communists; Cartoons and Cartoonists (remember mallus work as Cartoonists in all major dailies of the country); Coconuts and Coconut Trees; Calicut; Coir; Comedy Serials (also see Humour, Laughter); Coaching Centers (there is a Coaching Center for everything, you would like to remember); Charayam (also see Arrack, Beef Fry, Kallu, Suicides, Tapioca); Cool Bar (no relative of Bar above; you get fresh fruit juice in a Cool Bar); Comedy Serials; Cuticura (if you haven't heard that, let me tell you it's talcum powder); Circus (mallu artistes crowd the Indian Circus, most of them coming from Thalasserry town in Northern Kerala; Cochin International Airport (look out the window as you land, and enjoy the facilities at the lounge).

D: Debates and Discussions (also see Arguments, Teashops, Zero Tolerance: the other day, I met a schoolmate of mine who is now in the business of wood and furniture; he gave me a lecture on what ails the global economy, what Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch should have done to avoid bankruptcy, the factors responsible for the share market crash, and how P. Chidambaram and the RBI can resuscitate the Indian financial system. At the end of it, he demanded of me, `don't you agree with me?' I smiled my most disarming smile and responded, "how can I but not agree with you?")

E: EMS, The Original Communist and Theoretician (The Comrade's aura remains intact and unsullied); Elephants; Edavappathy (also see Monsoons and Thulavarsham); English Medium Schools.

F: Fish, in its many shapes and sizes; Fish Fry (also see Charayam, Kallu, Tapioca); Fish Molly; Flowers, in their myriad hues; Foreign [anywhere where Malayalam is the second language; Gulf (ok, agreed, we simbly call it Gelf), Germany, Austria, Australia, Switzerland, the US of A, etc. etc.; also see Money Order Economy, Non-Resident Mallus).

G: God's Own Country (I would prefer the much more stylish and modern County, though); Guruvayoorappan; Gelf; Gold (if you haven't seen a mallu bride weighed down in Gold, you haven't seen the best of 24 carat: also see Jewellers); Green: you would be left wondering if a single colour can have so many shades).

H: Houses [the smaller the village, the bigger the houses; the other day, when I saw an opulent structure, I enquired if it was a five star hotel ' I was told, "no, no, that uncle's children are all in `Foreign' (see above); uncle stays alone with the Home Nurse!"]; Hartals (also see Bandh; at the last count, as of September 2008, mallus had already `celebrated' 82 Bandhs/Hartals! The Bongs come nowhere nearby!]; Humidity (visit His County in April-May to experience it first-hand].

I: `I' Disease, from which every mallu suffers; Idukki Dam; Indian Made Foreign Liquor, or IMFL (mallus consume per capita more than any of his brethren in the rest of the country; also see Suicides); Innocent (the guy who makes mallus laugh so innocently and incessantly).

J: Jewellers (also see Gold, Suicides; Jewellers compete with Arrack, Charayam, Toddy, IMFL, Silk Saree and Tea shops for space across the state); Jathas (they pop up anywhere and everywhere, and never do the unthinkable by crossing their path); Jagathy (Sreekumar, the inimitable comedy-cum-character actor); Journalists (mallus work as Journalists across the country); the Jews of Kochi, and their Synagogue dating back to 1568 AD.

K: Keralam; Karimeen Fry (savour it, today!); Kallu (local brew made from Coconut tree; goes best with Beef Fry, Karimeen Fry, Fish Molly, Tapioca, etc.); K. Karunakaran, goes best with daughter Padmaja and son Muralidharan, and worst with arch foe AK Antony; Kalaripayattu, the Mother of many martial arts; Kathakali; Kalamandalam; Kumarakom; Kumily; Kovalam; KPAC or the Kerala People's Arts Club (if you haven't hummed a KPAC song, particularly after having a few rounds of Charayam, Kallu and/or IMFL, you are not a mallu, I say); Kili (the sparrow: he is neither the conductor nor the driver, but the bus doesn't move without his blowing the whistle which he dangles circus style, while he dangles himself, again circus style, from the footboard, giving a lecherous smile, and indulging in even more lecherous `touches' at the girls and women who board and alight the vehicle); Kerala Congress (there are as many factions of it as there are alphabets in English language; no relative of Congress, above); Kallayi Puzha (River Kallayi); Kochi, the Queen of the Arabian Sea, more familiar by its English name Cochin: the saying goes, `kochi kandaal acchi venda' ' anyone game for a fair translation???; Kannur: made famous, also, by our very own nadirafromkannur aka Ekantapadhika!

L: Lethargy, a serious disease afflicting resident mallus but surprisingly not the non-resident ones; also see Money Order Economy, Non-resident Mallus); Lottery (given a chance, the mallu Lottery business will beat the Australian, British, Canadian and Spanish Lotteries, together, hands down; Laughter (also see Comedy Serials in mallu channels, besides Mimicry Shows, etc.)

M: Malayalam (the only language which doubles as a palindrome); Mallus; Mahabali, the legendary King who visits his `praja' during Onam; Mammootty-Mohanlal (also see Super Stars); Malabar; Monsoons (Kerala Tourism has introduced a Monsoon package: avail of it, you must; also see Edavappathy (the Onset of Monsoon, spot on 1<sup>st</sup> June, and Thulavarsham (Retreating Monsoon, in October); Meesa (moustache; also see Thadi); Mundu (don't mistake it for the Punjabi `mundu': the mallu `mundu' is the white dhoti of the mallu gents, best worn `half mast'); Massages; Mohiniaattam, the highly sensual classical dance; Muslim League; Money Order Economy; Mobiles (since mallus are highly mobile, they use at least two!); Mosques, old and new; MT Vasudevan Nair, M. Mukundan, the celebrated Malayalam writers; `M' Publications: Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Madhyamam, etc; they are the largest selling language newspapers probably anywhere in the world; the flip side is that some of the `M' weeklies have been held accountable for the high suicide rates among young women and men, what with them churning out serials largely on `love' of the unrequited kind; Mosquitoes: you can feel them for free anywhere in Kerala, particularly at Kochi; also see Mallus).

N: Non-resident Mallu (also see Foreign, Gelf, Lethargy, Money Order Economy); Nair Service Society or NSS; Nila Nadi (River Nila); Nedumudi Venu (I wonder how this guy hasn't won a Bharat Award yet: also see Thilakan).

O: Onam; ONV Kurup, the Poet; Ottappalam, the small town in Northern Kerala whose chosen products run the country from The Capital; per capita, Ottappalam has perhaps produced more civil servants and diplomats than any in the country; Oil and Oily (also see Mallus, Mosquitoes).

P: Pinarayi Vijayan, the plain speaking State Secretary of the CPI-M, who won't let his own Chief Minister implement policies and programmes (also see VS Achuthanandan); Pepper; Pooram, especially Thrissur Pooram (if you haven't seen it, you haven't seen anything); Panchavaadyam (God's Own Orchestra, comprising five instruments: if you haven't heard it, you haven't heard anything); Pampa (River Pampa); Politics (it runs as the life blood of every mallu, from the womb to the last journey); Protests: mallus will protest anything and everything, including my saying this! [You know what, the entire state cabinet, headed by the chief minister himself, has landed in New Delhi to `Protest' outside parliament today ' they are protesting the central government's `total indifference' towards Kerala! (also see Arguments, Debates and Discussions, Jathas, Zero Tolerance)]; Deb; Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha, more popularly known as PT Usha; Power Cuts: mallus have come to accept Power Cuts of the electricity variety as an integral part of their lives; wag says that when the government, in a rare gesture of benevolence, decided to stop the mandatory daily half-an-hour power cut, there was a popular uproar against the move; mallus said, nothing doing, that is the only thing in Kerala which keeps its schedule!

Q: Questions! Every mallu loves asking Questions, but don't you worry ' you needn't answer them, for they have an answer to their every Question; Quilon, from where yours truly hails, known in mallu lingo as Kollam: the saying goes, `Kollam kandaal illam venda'!

R: Rains (also see Monsoon, Edavappathy, Thulavarsham); Red Flags (it rains Red Flags anywhere, any time); Roads, or what is left of them: nonetheless, you can reach any nook and cranny of His County by motorable Roads; Religious Revivalism (after all, it's His Own Backyard); RMKV (for long, I used to wonder what it was, and then I came to know it's a Silk Saree showroom somewhere in Tamil Nadu!)

S: Sabarimala, with or without women; Sree Narayana Guru; Super Stars (also see Mammootty-Mohanlal; alec smart feels they should let youngsters come to the fore, and check their weight since they can't do that with their age); Spices; Strikes (also see Bandh, Hartals); Slogans (they intimidate you: everyone shouts them all the time); Sounds (they challenge you from the many microphones and mikes); Smells (they intoxicate you); Silk Saree Shops (they beckon you); Serials (they retard you! Ekta Kapoor will run for cover if she ever sees a mallu serial ' there are so many twists and turns that you will never know where the story stands at any given point of time); Suicides (the highest in India; also see Charayam, Kallu, Serials); Snakes; Snake Boats; Sreesanth, the bawling boy, I mean the bowling boy!

T: Toddy (local brew; also see Charayam, Kallu, Beef Fry, Karimeen Fry, Suicides; wag says when the American tourist returned home, he was proficient in two mallu words ' Charayam and Kallu); Thadi (beard; also see Meesa: per capita, mallus sport Meesa and Thadi more than anyone else); TV Channels; Temples, ancient, medieval, recent; Thilakan (also see Nedumudi Venu: two actors who can do any role with such consummate ease and who should have won the Bharat Award long, long, ago!); Tapioca (goes best with Beef Fry, Karimeen Fry, Charayam, Kallu, IMFL); Tea Shops (you get hot tea, fresh dosa, morning newspaper; also get to listen to Arguments, Debates and Discussions; also see Zero Tolerance); Tutorial Colleges, also known as Parallel Colleges; Thrissur Pooram; Thulavarsham (currently in full swing; also see Edavappathy, Monsoons); Thiruvananthapuram (God's Own Capital: long on the tongue, yet mellifluous to the ear, if you get it right!)

U: Umbrellas (every mallu owns at least one; also see Monsoons, Rains, Humidity).

V: Vembanad Kayal (Lake Vembanad); Vijayan, Pinarayi; VS Achuthanandan).

W: The Women of Kerala (I say, He has been partial to His Women! They outnumber men everywhere! And do you know how men took it out on them??? There is no separate `Queue' for women anywhere in Kerala! `By Order'! Whose order, I am not sure!; Waste: plenty; Waste Management: nil ' you throw it into the backyard, or onto the neighbour's backyard, or on the roadside ' the whole state will start stinking if the government doesn't do anything urgently.

X: Xmas; X-ray Clinics.

Y: The one and only KJ Yesudas - fifty years down the lane, Yesudas is still the Malayali's Gaanagandharvan.

Z: Zero Tolerance (also see Arguments, Debates and Discussions, Tea Shops: every mallu thinks he is right ' and that he alone is right!)

Holidays and the Innocence of Childhood

Alakananda has done me the honours again, tagging me this time to write on holidays! She herself has posted a wonderful piece ' bringing out vividly the magic of those beautiful days in far away God’s Own Country. Looking back, trying to recapture the joy of summer holidays means opening the lid, gently, of the treasure trove of golden yesterdays tucked away in the deep recesses ' memories which revive an intense yearning for the simple pleasures and tender joys of the innocence that is childhood.

The month of March for us kids used to be a special one ' not for us the fear of the Ides of March! The third month of the year started off, though, intimidating, with the spectre of the annual examinations: constant prodding by the teachers and the frequent reminders by the elders kept us on our toes: we used to desperately wait for this annual ritual to get over. And when the last of the papers was written, it was relief beyond compare. Rush home, dump the books, and barge out to savour the start of the holidays! And what a way to begin!

Holidays, for us, meant festivals, family, fun and frolic, and friends, (not necessarily in that order), the last two being the common factor which enlivened the next two months! These components multiplied manifold made holidays something special ' not just eight of them, but a lot many of them

It is a strange and happy coincidence that the temple festivals and the holiday season go together at most places in Kerala ' even the Gods were partial to us, you see! In my own village ' as it existed those days ' we have at least four temples which celebrate their festivals in late March one after the other ' and mostly, they begin around the time our exams get over! While preparing for the exams and even while writing them, the festivals were what preoccupied our minds!

All of us kids used to look forward to two festivals in particular. The first one was at the temple which was managed by the local people themselves with no interference from the Devaswom. The festival, naturally, was also managed by the four segments or karas of the village among whom there was intense competition to outdo the other in making the arrangements.

The highlight of the festival used to be the evening celebrations. We had these huge 15-20 feet high heavily decked up wooden horses on wheels, drawn by 20-30 people who were sufficiently drunk to withstand the ordeal! There will be a dozen such wooden horses drawn around by these drunken men which will eventually converge in the just harvested paddy fields outside the temple where they will be lined up through the night to the accompaniment of musical instruments and other forms of merriment.

There will also be the equally huge pairs of oxen, in full regalia: the only difference is, unlike the horses which were wheel driven, the oxen used to be carried on the shoulders: no wonder the guys who held them aloft were a lot more drunk than the ones pulling the horses!

And then there were the caparisoned elephants which added to the beauty of the evenings. The women of the village turned up in all their finery, and the guys were attired in the traditional whites. Kids ran around everywhere, sometimes getting lost too, but always managing to get back to the family: everyone knew everyone else, you know!

As the night wore on, there will be a katha prasangam, or hari katha, a musical concert, sometimes a Films Division documentary (the likes of which used to be shown in cinema halls before the film started), a drama or a ballet (as they used to call it); the adults will sit down to watch the programmes, and the kids will be flitting from place to place, shop to shop, buying balloons, ice cream sticks, salted peanuts, and fresh lemonade. Soon, it is time for the grand finale: the fireworks, which comes with the first sign of dawn. We returned home in groups, exhausted, yet exhilarated, by the night's adventures.

This routine was more or less followed in the second temple as well, except that it was much more fun for a different reason. This was the temple which I mentioned once before in one of my posts where men ' from small boys to the elderly ' dressed up as women and paraded in the temple complex carrying lamps in offering to the presiding deity. And naturally, this was much more fun, walking around the place in groups and passing snide remarks on the many men who, for the night, were temporarily women ' and they cringed at those comments but were in no position to do anything about them! Pity the guys who were our classmates who had to bear the brunt! The not so good looking ones were given special treatment; and the ones who looked good had to suffer too from the verbal volleys! As can only be expected, half the adult world will be semi-drunk, so there will be no shortage of caustic comments on the men-turned-women! I can assure you, you won't get to see this anywhere else in the world ' and it is fun with the F in bold, capitals: at least it used to be those days; today, I am told, it is more like a sponsored programme.

Holidays also meant family: since my grandfather was very much around those days, everyone used to land up from different parts of the state once the schools closed. After a couple of days, the elders will depart, leaving the kiddos with us. So, the house will be swarming with kids of different ages and sizes, of both sexes. We could make any number of teams to play any games we wanted to, roping in the regulars from the neighbourhood, if the situation so warranted. Action begins early in the morning and continues late into the night ' only the imperious presence of the patriarch worked as a deterrent to unbridled revelry.

We shared stamps and stories, mangoes and match box labels: not a care in the world, not the heat, not the mosquitoes, nothing could stop us from enjoying the holidays to the hilt ' it was pure, unadulterated fun!

There was no TV those days, nor was there any PS 1 or 2 or 3 ' and am I glad for that: it was a blessing in disguise as I look back on those holidays! We could do what we wanted to do ' together! On some days when we had some pre-monsoon showers, we will troop out to the overflowing pond to catch the fish which came out with the gushing water. If the sun were not too hot, we will venture out with kites to the paddy fields or else will gather in the large hall of the house, listening to stories from assorted aunts. When it rained in the night, we will sit around the ankanam, our     in-house pool, watching water well up, with crickets and frogs providing the background music. On some nights, we will walk a few steps behind the `petromax' man, admiring the dexterity with which he grabbed and packed frogs from paddy fields and ponds in his cavernous pouch.

Friends were an integral part of the family, festivals and the fun.  Being a village, those days friends meant everyone in the school, at least everyone in the class. They will stream in and out of the house, whenever they felt like it: no one needed invitation, nor was one extended ' it was open house, as it were! Visiting cousins and local friends became bosom pals, exploring the ruins of the run-down temple, exchanging comic books, and experimenting their repertoire of ghost stories on the unsuspecting ones! As the days passed, the bonds got stronger, notwithstanding the occasional differences of opinion on which films we should watch that weekend or what games we should play the next day. Boys, as can only be expected, were the more outdoor types, braving the rain and the shine, while the girls chose the cooler comforts of the four walls of the home.

Beyond Festivals, Family, Fun and Friends, holidays also meant Fruits (and you have no shortage of them in God's backyard: many varieties of mangoes, cashew, papaya, pineapple, banana, passion fruit, you name them, and they are there! There are many whose names I know only in Malayalam! And happily, they all shower their blessings on the kids especially during the holidays! I wonder if we get to see this wide variety of fruits anywhere else!

Holidays also meant Books and Stories: the neigbourhood Library had a decent collection of children's books which kept us busy when we were not up to other pressing engagements! And books meant stories ' what better way to spend late afternoons and late evenings than sharing stories: ghost stories were the flavour of the season, I remember!

Last, but not the least, holidays also meant Rains! It amazes me, just as the festivals wait for the school to close, the monsoon waits for the school to start!

As the first drops of the monsoon fall on the parched earth ' we will rush out into the rain, heeding no attention to the elders' warnings! And as the sun set through the gathering clouds, we will assemble outside on the verandah for the last time. Sitting there, sharing the joys of the weeks past, a sense of sadness will envelop us ' the vacations are over, at least for this year! By the last week of May, the last of the cousins would have left for their places, with a gentle hug, a few tears ' but with a solemn promise to be back again: the same time, the same place, a year hence.
Till then, the sweet memories of the vacation just over would sustain us

Vacations: Past and Present!

Remember the vacations of old? Those fun-filled days we all eagerly looked forward to, right from the day the school reopened after the summer vacations? How can we not remember! As the years rolled past, the sweep and scope of vacations also changed, yet the nostalgia of those magic years lingers on, reviving beautiful memories of fun, frolic and care-free days.

For us, we had several holidays and vacations in God's Own Country. The Onam holidays, lasting about a week, brought together the entire family under one roof ' cousins, aunties and uncles, virtually everyone. It was more of a family get-together and reunion, when one could draw the family tree without asking anyone for further details. Then came the three-day Puja holidays; the added attraction this time was that we kids were not expected to read or write once the books were kept for puja till they were taken out on the third morning! The ten-day Christmas vacation were also special, with the weather at its best, Christmas carols, the mid-night wait to ring out the old and ring in the New Year.

And then, the much awaited summer vacations. The day the annual exams are over, the books and other academic implements are dumped in one corner of the house. Cousins from all corners of the land come together. You sleep when you want and till you decide to wake up! You eat when you want and what you want! Stories are exchanged, new games worked out. You explore the sea side, the paddy fields, the ruins of an ancient temple tucked away amidst green foliage. Temples all around have their festivals around this time, so you hang out with your crowd till late into the night, notwithstanding the admonitions of mother, father and grandfather. The humidity of May-June is no dampener or bother what so ever, nothing can take out the ardour of those sultry days and nights. There is the weekly bonus of a group visit to the good old cinema hall, the films as old as the theater, but still an occasion to cherish. Days pass by and the gathering monsoon clouds remind us that the fun is going to be over shortly. And then it is time for the cousins to bid adieu, teary eyed, with a promise to come back the next year. School bags are dusted, umbrellas repaired; pencils sharpened, pens filled. The sky opens up without fail on the appointed day ' 1st of June to be precise ' and we are all back to school, braving the fury of the monsoon.

More or less the same routine continued during the college days too, though the celebrations were less intense in tune with the process of growing up. As we all dispersed to different parts of the country for higher studies, slowly the vacations also acquired new meanings and dimensions. For me, away in The Capital, it became a half-yearly affair, once in December and again in May-June. That was the time to go around meeting cousins in their places, visit aunties and uncles and other near and dear ones, share the stories of The Capital with old school and college mates, and learn about what was happening back home.

Once you get into the thick of professional life, the concept of holidays too undergo a dramatic change. You pay a flying visit, flit from place to place, and rush back to your head office. Ditto, once you have your own nuclear family, with your vacation inevitably tied to your kids' vacation ' not to forget your spouse's engagements.

Looking back on those wonderful childhood holidays with a tinge of nostalgia, one realizes how much one is missing those beautiful moments of yore. When you talk to kids today, you come to know that they are burdened with all kinds of `projects' to be compulsorily completed during the vacation. Even when they run around enjoying, they are preoccupied with completing their `projects' and competing with their peers to make their `projects' better. Worst of all, the inescapable `tuitions' for different subjects and preparations for forthcoming competitive exams have to be accommodated during the holidays! The lucky ones ' or more correctly the wealthy ones ' get to go to Switzerland or Singapore for vacations, and their less fortunate cousins have to rest content with Kovalam or Kohima.

All in all, like everything else about life, even vacations, have changed. Holidays have been virtually abbreviated to "hols". Yet, even with the unavoidable changes, vacations continue to lure everyone, more so the children. And in us, adults, who were kids not so long ago, the magic of those holidays revives cherished memories of some the most beautiful moments of our life.

Season of Festivals!

Come September-October, and it is the beginning of the season of festivals across the country. Dussehra is followed by Deepavali and around the same time, we also have Id. Goverdhan Puja is there, as also Karva Chauth and Bhai Duj. There is an air of festivity everywhere. Summer is already on the way out, the monsoon has come and gone, the dust has settled. The nation wears a green hue all over, from South to North, West to East, not to forget our North East. You feel the nip in the air, and you get ready to take out the woolens. Children have their time off, after the mid-term exams, and the adults normally get a few holidays at a stretch. One finds tourists thronging all major tourist destinations, enjoying with family and friends. All in all, a sense of peace and well being prevails everywhere. And we wait then for the joy of Christmas, and the celebrations of the inevitable New Year! In the meanwhile, let us rejoice on this season of festivals and festivities.

Shubh Deepavali! Safe Deepavali!

It is that day of the year ' when the night sky lights up with a million sparkles, smiles all around, gifts abound. The nation wears a festive look, wherever you go. Families get together; share the day, the sweets, the gifts, the smiles ' not to forget liquour which flows like water gushing out of the Bhakra Nangal! The inevitable card games are an inseparable part of a Happy Deepavali. Women are out in their finery, radiant and resplendent, men driving around meeting friends, relatives and colleagues. It seems the kids enjoy the most, if you go by the sheer joy on their faces!

It is also that time of the year when, in the garb of festivity, bribes are given and taken ' as gifts, of course -, deals are finalized, crores exchanged! See the long queue outside jewelry shops, sari and garment shops, sweet shops, last, but by no means the least, the wine shops, where business is done in millions, if not billions! Genuine or not, "Diwali discounts" are the flavour of the day!

It is also that time of the year when, we, as a nation, earn the dubious distinction of contributing the most to pollution of all describable ' if not indescribable ' kinds! I read the other day that the animals are the worst sufferers. If you wake up the next morning without a cough, a wheeze, a hearing problem, an upset stomach, without a burn on your body, with your eye sight and hearing intact, well, congratulations, you are the lucky one!

It is undoubtedly a happy augury that the schools have launched a proactive campaign advising children to desist from bursting crackers, and if they must, at least to reduce it and keep it to the barest minimum. Many civil society groups are also bringing to the fore, and rightly so, the plight of those who work in the fireworks industry, especially the small children.

While Deepavali is indeed an occasion to celebrate, let us spare a thought for the children of Sivakasi, and also for the once-upon-a-time pristine environment.

Celebrate, by all means, but take care.

Shubh Deepavali! Safe Deepavali!