Golden Temple or Nyingmapa Monastery

A Promising young mural artist



During my visit to Wayanad in November 2007, I came across a movement called Urava, which is a cooperative society promoting tribal arts and culture from Wayanad. They are not technically advanced in any way. It is a loose collections of artists. They participate in various art festivals across the country from time to time and you can find Urava stores across tourist spots in Wayanad.

Among the artists I came across, I found this young man named Sujith, who has a small studio in Kalpetta, Wayanad named Bhavam arts. He is basically a mural painter, and does murals in various mediums - paintings, urns, table lamps, curios. I have uploaded some of his work at
here for you to check out. You can also e-mail him at bhavamart@yahoo.com

I am not doing this for any commercial purpose, but purely out of love for this young artist's work.

A BEND IN THE RIVER

If you thought these pictures are from a remote getaway somewhere in North East India, think again! These are actual pictures from my in laws' backyard in Kottayam District Kerala.

The river is Meenachil, which takes a breathtaking but lazy turn at the back

yard of my grand mother in law's house. They have two sets of access ways to the river.

A curiosly monster like look in pic 3 is actually wild ginger, which grows prodigiously in my in laws' backyard in Ettumanur, again in Kottayam district. The range of trees and plants they have are amazing- rubber ( of course!), jackfruits of 4 different varities- some of which are cooked raw and other eaten the old fashioned way after they are ripe, palms, drumsticks, bay leaf it is just endless. It was heartening to see that the food chain as we knew it continues to exist and flourish in this part of the world. Ettumanur is home to one of the best known siva temples in south India. Hence there are some serious bulls out there who roam the backya

rds of the houses in the vicinity. And why not? There is enough food to go around, and there is enough place to leave your bullshit out! So next time the bull comes around, he has fresh vegetation to eat from, completely nourished by its own dung! Can't think of doing things more organically.

I am blessed to be a mallu in that I can go home and be in the midst of nature! Don't have to spend nervous moments figuring out hotels, food, things to do, what about the kids, blah, blah, blah! I go to my wife's place, I have Thekkady, Vagamon, Kumarakom, Alleppy Beach, the backwaters of Kuttanad all within 4 hours. If I am still lazy to go to any of these places, I can just step out through the kitchen door, or quitely go down Grandma's backyard and sit watching the river come by the bend!

A TREK TO EDAKKAL CAVES, WAYANAD

What you are looking at to your left above is the ceiling of a cave! When I bumpy rode a rickety Mahindra Jeep up the Wyanad hills, little did I realize that I was about to enter a cave that is 1500 feet vertically! I am talking about Edakkal Caves in Wyanad District of Kerala. This rock wedged itself after an earth quake 3000 years ago - Eda =Inbetween, Kallu =Stone in Malayalam, thus giving the cave name Edakkal caves.

Edakkal Caves are just off National Highway 212 between the the towns of Sulthan Batheri and Kalpatta in Kerala's Wayanad district. This area forms a part of the verdant forests that form the Kerala - Karnataka - Tamilnadu border. The approach to the cave itself is on a sheer vertical climb. You have to climb 2000 feet above MSL to be there. This is not recommended unless you have the fitness level to do rock climbing.

The cave itself is not huge or cavernous (pun intended!), but should be about 1500 sqft floor area but the ceiling is really high! The cave etchings go back 2300 years old. If you look carefully into the second picture, you can see the head of a chieftan, complete with his headgear.

The third picture has shows transcripts in Tamil and what a guide told me was some language between Tamil and Sanskrit named Prakritik. I am not sure how far that is true.

The place is a little hard to reach except for the Tourist Department's rickety jeeps, so it is not recommended for those cannot walk steep rocky mountainsides.

A LETTER TO PRESIDENT DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM

Respected President,

Yesterday, I watched with fascination on NDTV how the Tamilnadu government's free Color TV brought electricity to a remote hilly village in Nilgiris District. I am sure in the coming months the entire state would be electrified in more ways than one. I am proud that the quality of those people's lives will have improved all of a sudden.

The thought I want to share with you is that we should be able to use technology to impart uniform quality of education to our children regardless of where they are. Just as you delivered a lecture to Johannesburg yesterday, I am of the opinion that we should use Webcasts to reach children in every school in every state.

This is because there are pockets of our country where schools will not have qualified and experienced teachers in higher classes for subjects such as Physics, Mathematics and Botany. Why cannot we have teachers from District Headquarters and State Capitals webcast curriculum on a periodic basis? That way you from a single classroom, you can reach every single student who needs to attend that class. And webcasts are interactive as well.

Politicians and the pessimists may say that where is the class room and where is the electricity! Both are within the realms of any state government in India and there are enough Charitable organizations who will be willing to fund this initiative as it will give this nation qualified students who can then be groomed into professionals in every walk of life.

I am convinced that the next social revolution in India has to be in our villages. Our cities are becoming characterless, heartless morasses and rapidly losing everything the word Indian stands for. There is still hope in our heartland, and how beautiful it is!

As someone from the post independent generation but still has the memories of Nehruvian socialism and Indira Gandhi's nationalism, I believe that all it takes is political will to make it happen. Actually most of the time, it is not lack of political will, but the politicians will only do things that will bring them votes. How else do you explain closing down 1400 schools in Karnataka (children don't have votes) and announcing Rs. 250 crores to make Belgaum the next capital in one year ( Mr. Kumaraswamy and his cronies must have realised that there is no better way to get the votes of North Karnataka electorate).

Sir, it is people like you, institutions like Infosys Foundation and ITC's e-choupal that are stellar examples of Public Private Participation in our country. For sixty years we have depended on Governments which have been run by people who are in it for themselves and not for the development of our country. It is time for us to show them that we will move forward and that if they don't change with the mood and the need of the nation, they will soon be cast into the dustbin of history.

Thank you. Jai Hind!

Finally, I've been bitten by the blog bug! The more I thought why one should not blog, the more I realized that there are far more reasons why one should blog. So watch this space for some thoughts on topics ranging from Driving on Indian Roads to our so called Indian values to judicial system which I think has virtually collapsed as far as the common citizen is concerned.

Wishing anyone who finds this, a happy Republic day.

So long!