Asides

They love Dalits

It looks like the news of Dalits and Tribals forming a larger political alliance has got the Congress and Communist parties worried in Kerala. Tribal leaders like C K Janu and M Geethanandan have joined hands with Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS – a Dalit organization) to become a political pressure group in Kerala because they have understood that, in India you have to counter caste politics with caste politics. I could see some changes in the mainstream political arena after this news got out.

On the way to my office in Thiruvananthapuram district, there is a board with the headline that says, “Congress strengthens those who have been sidelined” and it shows a picture of party’s newly appointed KPCC General Secretary and former minister M A Kuttappan, who is a Dalit. Then comes the news of P K Biju, a Dalit youth, being appointed as the national president of SFI, the students of wing of Communist party. It is quite interesting, because people affiliated to the trade unions of all major political parties (Communists, Congress and BJP) were allegedly involved in harassing women, blocking food, medicines and other essentials of the protesting tribals and dalits in Chengara. And all of a sudden, they seem to love Dalits.

Manodharmam

Not many of us knew that composer Sarath is also an amazing singer and a Karnatik musician until he displayed his talent through Idea Star Singer. Now check out this video where he sings with P Unnikrishnan, another great singer.

(Thanks to Rosh for the link)

Crickees – Online cricket prediction game

A friend of mine has launched a game portal, Crickees, for online cricket prediction. Here is an excerpt from their website:

Crickees.com is a skill based prediction game where you can play the game by simply predicting the outcome of upcoming cricket matches in three simple games – Match Result, Team and Scorecard.

(1) Match Result : Predict the answer to a few simple questions.
(2) Team : Predict the playing XI and the batting order of players
(3) Scorecard : Predict the match scorecard

Predictions have to be put in before the actual match is played. The more accurate your prediction, the better your chances to win.

Menses justifies polygamy?

Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker MusaliarIt is very common that religion being used for all the wrong purposes when it could have helped to enhance the lives of weak and the oppressed. Most of the times it would be the priests or clerics from a religion who would be misinterpreting the Holy Books to sustain their own interests and misleading the others within the community. The latest controversy about a comment from the senior Muslim cleric Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musaliar on polygamy shows that this trend still continues. Kanthapuram reportedly have said this: A second wife is biologically justified. Women’s menstrual cycle prevents them from sexual contact for 5-6 days.

His statement came in the backdrop of a state law reforms commission has come out with a draft bill to check polygamy and divorce by Talaq. The bill seeks that ‘monogamy shall be the rule’ and that ‘marrying again during the lifetime of husband or wife is an offence.’

The proposed bill wants that “if any married Muslim, man or woman, marries again during the subsistence of the first marriage, the party who violates shall be guilty of bigamy under the IPC and punishable as such.”

Continue reading Menses justifies polygamy?

The Butler’s Story

I have often wondered what stories would those who silent witnesses of history have to say. Imagine what kind of history would unfold if they had begun to speak. Here is an article from Washington Post which writes about a Butler who served for 34 years in the White House.

First lady Nancy Reagan came looking for him in the kitchen one day. She wanted to remind him about the upcoming dinner for West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. He told her he was well ahead in the planning and had already picked out the china. But she told him he would not be working that night.

“She said, ‘You and Helene are coming to the state dinner as guests of President Reagan and myself.’ I’m telling you! I believe I’m the only butler to get invited to a state dinner.”

Husbands and wives don’t sit together at these events, and Helene was nervous about trying to make small talk with world leaders. “And my son says, ‘Mama, just talk about your high school. They won’t know the difference.’ [ A Butler Well Served by This Election – Washington Post ]

But all were not that good as the article explains in itself. Read on…

(Link via email from Krish)

Dinesh Ghate speaks

Those of you who have been frequently visiting this blog would have read my post on Dinesh Ghate, the man who is on a mission to honor the musicians ignored in the film music industry of India. Dinesh runs a magazine that celebrates the musicians who worked in the popular songs whom we never knew about. I had a chance to have an email interview with Dinesh (thanks to Pradeep for his help with this) and here it is.

Q] What is the idea behind Swar Aalaap? What made you take this initiative to introduce those unsung heroes of the popular music to the public?

I am a musician right from the childhood. I always listen to the good old songs and apart from the singers, I have been thinking about the music part that has created the magic mood of a song. So when I became a musician (playing Octopad) I wanted to give credit to the legendary artistes who were instrumental in the songs. Also with the help of Swar Aalap, the musicians come in contact with each other through out the country, because music is a universal thing.

Q] How did you go about collecting the names of those musicians who were not even mentioned in the original credits?

As I’m regularly doing music shows, everybody knows about Swar Aalap and that has made it easy for me. Now a days senior musicians also give good response and information. And I am always busy with searching for original musicians.

Q] How is the response from the film music industry? Do you think this would make them rethink about giving proper credits to the solo instrumentalists?

The response has been very good from across the country as well as abroad, but not from music industry here.

Continue reading Dinesh Ghate speaks

From Goondaism to Terrorism

Whenever the bomb blasts, terrorist attacks and religious riots have made their way to the news headlines, Malayalees believed that nothing as such would happen in their part of the world. We always thought that such things happen because of the lack of education and since we have 100% literacy in Keralam, nothing will happen here. But this comfort zone has been busted with the news of two terrorists from Keralam killed in Kashmir.

This news and the investigation followed have brought out some terrible truth. That the state has become a major recruitment center for terrorists of the border. The newly recruited terrorists were taken for training in Pakistan and then later get ‘appointed‘ in Kashmir to fight the Indian Army. What is more interesting is the reason that attracted the Malayali youth to terrorism. One of the dead terrorists was a goonda prior to joining the terrorist group. Varghese Joseph, a born Christian who later converted to Islam, was a member of the notorious gang of Thammanam Shaji, a notorious gang leader. The investigative agencies say that Shaji has helped recruiting many youngsters to the terrorist groups. These goondas do not have any religious motive other than the financial gains. So they join the terrorist groups and they get benefits – motor vehicles and a monthly allowance. This money comes from the terrorist groups like Lashkar-E-Toiba.

So goondas turn to terrorism, but what leads the youngsters to goondaism? It is their penchant for easy-money. I can quote an example here. I remember the time when my neighbor was building his house. There was this young boy, not more than 18 years old, who came to do the masonry. You could hear him use the swear words aloud and that little fellow used to scold the older women in the team. Everybody had noticed him back then. By the time I saw him next, he had turned out to be the infamous pick-pocketer and small-time ganja dealer of the area. After a couple of years, I saw his photo in the newspaper. By this time he had become one of the most notorious goondas in the town. He and his gang mates were arrested for killing someone from the opposite group and their photo was in the news paper.
Continue reading From Goondaism to Terrorism