just another travelogue

I had been a while i had a trip.and it was a longer than usual break.i was pre occupied and eventually lost that a trip was a last thing i would have thought about.my cameras had their longest rest and i wonder whether they were scared that they are gonna rust resting.but i had no time to think about them either. destiny leads us on trails and we keep going thinking about the destinations we are heading to.at the end, they may or may not be the same as we thought about. but....still we arrived some where...we can be happy about that atleast.
at times the story is different.
the trails end all on a sudden....and its a dead end. we are so exhausted that the main stream,
is as far as another world for us...
we remain there.
but eventually no one can stay any where for long. the whole universe revolve arnd the prinicple of motion..
and we keep movin..
its only a question of when will we be ready to walk bak ...
though not the case with all..some are so weak hearted that they cant return...
they remain at the edges forever...and some even get past that edge into bottomless depths...
ohh...what am i talkin about?
about a trip to alamagordo??
am i??
i think i'll keep it for another day..

in an after noon on a hammock...

it had been for long am idlin here in this hammock over lookin the street....
it was my sister who was cribbin long for a hammock in the balcony..
poor she..i never saw her been in it any time..by the time hammock came she grew older ..
good for me...i never have to wait for it to be free..whenever i feel for it ...its all mine..
this is world so nice :-))
well the word street may invoke a wrong picture in ur mind about my sight frm here..
this is a country road..a narrow one..but not that narrow too..a car can go comfortable..
it just takes a turn infront of my house and go uphill frm there..and at the other end it go down hill and then get into a grave yard and disappear leaving no trails behind....
its a deserted street today..for its rainin since dawn..
i was dreamin about this moment while i took from 20000 kms off my land..
when i flew over pacific my mind was busy dreamin about a morning..soaked in rains out here in my home town..sittin in my chair..over lookin the street..waitin for a familiar face..( well i dont remember any unfamiliar face walkin past that street :-)) )
when waitin for my transatlantic flight later in the evening..
i lost in thoughts..thoughts long walk thru our paddy fields in an evening uptil the railway track.. at the other end..across the stream..it'll be spading since its rainin for a while there..
i'll wait for the train to come..will wave my hands to some unknown passenger on a life's trip in tht train..some one heading home for a marriage..some one moving away for a career..for a livelihood..need to check the train timings..may be it would have changed in these years..
when i took off..the sun was descending behind the beverly hills ...and i started my voyage..
voyage to home land..the most exciting moment of an expatriate's life..i feel..is the moment he get into the skies for a trip bak home..but i was else where....i was busy thinking about the tea shop at the baazar ... will he be there even now....i cudnt tell him when i started..may be he expected me there for days alltogether..wish he is not annoyed at my negligence..why did i miss him but? ... anxiety grew in me..wish he is still arnd waking up the town with his hot tea..to be frank i like his tea to my mother's.may be the way he talks made them tastier :-))
ohh...no...the drizzle is giving way to a deluge..there is an inward wind too..am getting drenched...if i continue here..it'll end up in a shouting from my mom....let me not make her to waste her energy on me..she is already running deficient..catch u sooner..be rite bak...

childhood rains ...

I.....
had been longing for long to scribble about monsoon.
but about the moonsoon in my home town..they are unlike the rains of the city.
they never brought in commotion. they were an integral part of our life..an inspiring
theme for our artists..and a nostalgia to our expatriates...
whenever i thought about moonsoon..i had the same picture in my canvass. the picture of an urchin on his way to school through those country roads of kerala soaked in mud ...ever greeen are those lush lovely rains that fondled me on my way to school.. my companionship with rain began in those journeys ..those muddy roads..those transient streams which often surprised me with their spontaneous birth but often disappointed me with their life spans..
those afternoon breaks wherein we played football at the school ground..and those trips back home....with shoes full of water..with that splashing sound..washing myselves in almost in all the pools on my way back..and those regular shoutings of my grandmother seeing my grimy clothes..
rainy days had lots in them to bring immense delight to a rural boy out there in a small indian town..
i still have older memories of my early schoolin days..wherein i used to get a cap..a plastic cap..which is normally worn by the fishermen of our town..i used to buy such a cap on every rainy season and i never had a rain coat for myselves...that cap was my precious treasure.
i think a red one?? yeah it was always red in color...i had a liking for red since then :-)

the stream behind my home gets stronger and i used to limit my bathin on the first 2 steps and often i used to feel that the stream is calling me into its depths but i never gave away to temptations...

rains where often accompanied by power outages and almost all nites where darker and damp
the life in the evenings were around a kerosene lamp...and imagination got unbundled often..
i used to create all possible shadows on the wall with my hands....and some times incorporating easily available house hold articles..which often ended up in mutliple rounds of shouting culminating in light spanks.

still remember those evenings filled with chantings frm ramayanam.
but i never listened to them carefully :-) i was happy the children's version of it..which i wud have read countless times..but at heart am a fan of krishna and bhima than of rama.
but a brother like lakshman is an adorable guy any day..though hard to find.

as i grew older, imagination took new heights. i learnt the art of making cigars from newspaper.
making was pretty easier but quality test was at high risk. with a single opportunity masked from the eyes of my mother and grand mother i used to test them in a haste often ending up in long coughs.


****************************************

its raining out here today...i can see it across the glass panes of my office...
it started a while back and its still on..now its no more in a haste nor too weak..its rainin in a rhytm..just like the rains of my home town.
lemme go out for walk..good that i brought my umbrella today..
its not that windy so that i may get wet...a good opportunity to get to bak those yesterdays..
now..lemme get to into it..as the same old school boy..with that heart which got filled with simple pleasures ....lemme have a moment of content....
i'll be rite bak...

spring of smiles...

these days ppl often ask me..where are you??
i know am silent for a while..and thats what makes you surprised..
for i was never a person who go silent ...but then am...these days :-))
i dont get to rite any thing ..for am lost else where..
all i wish this moment is ... the power to change the destiny..
i wanna change the destiny for i dont like the course its takin these days..
i know most of u wont be liking it either..
am pretty confused with the jurisdiction of almighty as well..on what basis..does he choose the
people for sentence?
i see lots of innocent souls gettin his wrath every other day..
why is he so cruel at times???
am almost of the verge of denouncin him for i feel he is just not "just" at times..
too many faces pop in my mind when i scribble down these lines..
and the tears and anguish in their eyes are ripin me apart..
am happy with almighty for a moment that he gave me 2 hands atleast..
for i can atleast wipe those tears ...
and i wish u too will look around..and soothe a broken soul....
for thats the most noble act we can do in our lives..
a half blossomed smile on such a face..is worth our entire life...
comrade... lets create spring of smiles all around....
may love rule this world..

love
sudheer

thoughts of a lost...

i had been off for long...was away from all my routines.
when i came bak to whatever i left behind...i had an empty mind...
i wanted to write on many a topics..but whenever i sat down to scribble i realised
i had lost my mind..my thoughts and creativity..i was numb..( or am numb :-) )
then i started contemplating for long..what shud i rite..for i have an empty mind..
back in my home land...there are lots of paddy fields...once the harvest is up...a gloom
descend on those fields..the deserted emptied fields.
i have no plans 2 talk further on those fields...but when i thought abt my mind..i couldnt
think about any thing but those fields..it takes another season for those fields go green again..
i had seen kids flyin kites in those open fields..with a competitive spirit..
a contest for nothing but for a feelin of heart..a warm delightful feeling...i never had a kite..
i never knew to make them either..i just used to go there and sit there watchin the skillful pilots..
and those kites kissin skies..then i own one of those kites mentally and wish for its victory.
my mind is a kite...
a kite with a broken string..its just floatin around...with no destinations..am heading no where..
at times thoughts takes wings and i fly out..but where to?
they lead me to labyrniths and i keep gettin lost.. yes am lost...
all am reminded these days are about losses...
i know they are just not mine...u too have your share of them.
the only common thing we share with any unknown human is despair....
is it what i want to write about today???
am i to talk about the despair of this world and mine in particular..
never....am never gonna write about despair..for its well within us..
it needs no blog to get into u.
where am i now?
what am i tryin to put across ??
when i run thru these scribbled lines...all i know is..am again lost...lost in yet another labyrnith...

me... 

spring of peace blossoms in paradise on earth

guys...
Finally the small but crucial foot step had happened.
after 57 yrs of seperation our bretheren from the other side of LOC crossed the
kaman bridge and walked into our nation....a walk which they would dreamed through all their life..a reunion with their families which they urged for every day. for some..may be they could
see their houses on the other side but could never ever cross a small bridge and get united..
lets join them in their delight..and lets praise the Indian Army for facilitating an almost impossible journey of 120 kms from srinagar to kaman. they threw up their lives in air to keep
the bus going. lets salute those unknown brothers for their determination and patriotism...
and on the bridge which was painted in white some time last week/month..
there was big hoarding.. which just said..."Religion doesnt teach hatred"
i wish sooner all the mornings that blossoms in valley doesnt have to wake up to blood..tears and gunfire..let it wake up to eternal peace and harmony..let them sleep in silence and safety...

love
sudheer
a patriot and a fan of the valley...

water scarcity in kerala (God's Own Country !!)

i would like to invite your attention to the water scarcity that kerala is going to face in immediate future.
its a disaster that a state with a very high rainfall, 44 rivers, around 7-8 backwaters and countless inland water bodies is facing a shortage of water. whats the reason for such a painful situation for this 3 crore population??
sand mining from the rivers which are the life lines of the state attributes the major reason..
it causes the death of rivers in no time..the lean rivers soon after the moonsoon is a heart breaking scene.
the most famous river of the state bharathapuzha is in its last days..
enroachment of rivers is another major concern. people with political influence are able to plunder the resources of the state with no hassles and there by leaving the future of the state at dark..
deforestation of the evergreen forests in the western ghats remains the prime cause as it leads to the disappearance of many a streams that fed the rivers during its early courses..many a tributaries are dying
due to de forestation there by causing a steady decrease in the volume of water flowing down stream...
reclamation of natural water bodies like lakes,swamps and ponds for construction activities add to the woes.
all these greedy short sighted atrocities is pushing the state into a very severe crisis in no time.

rain water harvesting is looked at as an immediate and effective method for this problem. but the state is yet to implement a concrete directive for the people on this front and the enforcement of such a vital step for preserving the water resources is a must. rite now some NGO s and some individuals are driving such efforts.but such isolated moves are far from what is adequate.

there should be some thoughtful decisions and centralised action from the government to avoid the agonies
this disaster is going to bring in...water scarcity is biggest of the social concern since it can drive an individual to a disturbed state of mind..and the society will sooner loose their harmony.

financially sound people are depending on borewells as the immediate solution for this problem and the number of borewells in the state is on a phenomenal increase...this is taking the ground water exploitation levels to an all time high there by draining out some of our last assylums ....


having said all these...its time for us to look ahead for an amicable solution...
i have a couple of thoughts which i felt feasible....
first and foremost is the rain water harvesting practise..state should sooner form a rain water harvesting policy and awareness programs for the common man. some of the state agenices should look for economically feasible rain harvesting methods for the society and families..

second is the revival and protection of the existing water bodies of the state...its high time for the state to
have a "water policy". under this..there should be programmes to protect and preserve the idenitified water sources of the state..there should be some surveys ( can easily get this done..by coupling it the project work
for the numerous engg students in state's engineering colleges. i believe its a pretty good number ). if a couple of engg college is each district can take care of identifying the water sources for the district..its pretty much done. the computer science students can come up with some data base management projects which can
digitalise and store this data and make it available for any further move in this direction..

there are 10 day social service camps organised by NSS (national service scheme) for the college students.
why cant they be diverted into the renovation of the identified water sources in bad shape?
if some 100 water sources are renovated and made good for use by the comman man in each district, it can be the perfect start for our "water preservation programmes". the youth who did executed the work themselves will be aware of the difficulties this problem is going to be bring on..and there is no other better way they can restrict or refrain from their "not so great" water practices .

i feel thats "Synergy" all about...it should be a novel experience for the upcoming youth and a breather for the state...

further focus should be on the usage of water for irrigation purposes and impose some regulations on that front as well. enforcement of law is the biggest challenge the state is facing since the whole govt machinery is
corrupt and so is the outlooks of its disciples. every one is interested in "round the corner" solutions that can benefit them ..and when the majority thinks that way..that becomes the normal routine :-))

i wish we'll sooner realise the magnitude of this problem and start working towards a better state....
jai hind !!!!

sudheer