A Country that God Abandoned

Bounded by the mountains, cared by the sea, there was a country in the southwest of Indian sub-continent, known for its harmony. The truthfulness of people and the natural beauty made it the “God’s Own Country”. Epics depicted it as a land lifted from the ocean, ruled by a generous king. History proves it as a land ruled by three kings. Independence from British rule united those three kings of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar to form the state Kerala – God’s own country. The green plantations, thick vegetation, misty clouds and windy rains, every thing made it a nice place to live. Beyond all these there was a bond, the relationships. People knew everyone in their locality. Be it a Muslim, Christian or Hindu, they were all one, human. They shared the crops, backed up one another and build a community. This is the picture of Kerala that I always loved to share.

Climates change, crops might not bring fortune, but those people never quarreled each other. They used to share what they had in their shelves. Someone found out that going abroad will bring fortune to them, than the crops. More people followed it. Money flew to that land and economy flourished. But with that, the broad-minded sharing mentality was lost. What I earn should only be mine – selfish minds grew in number. Coins started accumulating around like a deadly flood. Greed of human always wanted to earn more. Then he started to do anything for money. The green meadows and thick woods fell down for one’s greed and pride to showcase his assets. As money become the centre of society everything started revolving around it. Those who couldn’t earn, were at the backyard of this show. There were political parties to support them, communal organizations to back them. There started reservation, based on caste, creed and color.  That too was tolerable, as to the society it brought fortune and there were communities to care the nature.

The political parties that originated to support the people, later turned into organizations of benefit for a few. There was no difference in their intentions, although the colour of flags were different. When power of ruling people was identified as a great source to earn money, these political organizations started fighting for it. There ended the golden era of this small country – “The God’s Own Country”. People who loved, cared and shared their daily bread starting fighting one another in the name of Flags. Verbal fights extended to physical ones. It changed their mentalities. Even the leaders who are supposed to be models for the followers added fuel to the fire through their words and deeds, as to them keeping the situation heated is beneficial. religious leaders, irrespective of which religion they represent, who other wise comments on every crow that flies over their head, stitched their lips; for them these political organizations are suppliers of colleges, schools and hospitals which fetch them money.

When people starts doing extreme things to hide their mistakes, the society loses its morality. Shouting at fellow-men, who raises questions that doesn’t have answer. Killing opponent to just evade off the threat he possess. Brutally murdering men to prevent voices against the wrong deeds of leaders. Human trafficking, drugs and other anti-social crimes not to mention. Newspapers are adding spice to this to increase their circulation, some hiding the news to protect the organizations they represent.  religious gurus, communal leaders, writers, artists and sportsmen, those who are alive in the society when it was having its good time is now in borrows. Either afraid of the situation or not bothered of it as it is not affecting them directly or indirectly. There isn’t any leader to guide the society, no one to shred light. Those who come forward are muted off. What happened to this society. Is money everything? Will the flag you hold bring you peace? This is turning into a country that God abandoned.

Alone I came, Again on this day

Alone I came to this city on the day that made changes in my life. It was a sunny summer Thursday, with sun shining above the head. At around 3 pm I started from my home to catch the bus that leaves at 6 pm to Bangalore. The Volvo moved through the streets of Cochin with an intention to roar its fullest to reach Bangalore in time. The cool air from the vents made me sleep with ease. With the magic of machine pumping its heat to roll over the road, the journey was safe and I reached Bangalore outskirts at 6 am on 7th May 2010. I stepped out of the bus to Electronics City, with out knowing that this is the place that I am going to be in for the next two years of my life.

With the Bangalore autos proving me their talent on the day one, I reached my destination. My expectation was a day long interview, but everything went nicely and I completed all formalities by 10:30 am. The whole day was in-front of me.  I stepped out of the main building of the college and took a walk around, had a cup of coffee from cafeteria and slowly walked towards the exit. I don’t know whether my mind whispered to me that you will come back again. I took a bus from the stop just opposite to the college. Rest of the day was spent at shopping malls and streets of  Bangalore. I started back to my home town on that evening.

Days passed by. I got admission to this college. I came back with my bags packed, and a mind filled with joy, that by God’s grace I got a chance to be at this prestigious institution.  The faces were strange and feelings unknown. As time progressed, the barriers were broken, the boundaries melted off. With each semester adding value to the knowledge gained, the relationship also grew stronger. Be it my five fingers, who always kept me close to their heart, or the guys at infy who keep me safe right from the date of my admission, the bond was getting tighter each day. Priorities might have changed, dreams might have altered, but always the truthfulness of love is kept close to heart.

Today, 7 May 2012. It’s been two years since I started this journey. Starting from my office at 6 pm I was on the way back to college hostel; the usual route that I travel for the past 5 months of my internship. The bus too was a Volvo, and the day long schedule along with the cooling temperature inside the bus made me sleep. When I woke up, it was time for me to get down. To my surprise, instead of taking me to the college gate, the bus that I took dropped me off at the main road where I arrived two years ago. The street was as empty as it was on that day. Streetlights poured the rays and I started walking to college gate.  Alone I came, again on this day.

Seasons Ever Changing

Life is like a wheel that spins around with ease, making each season touching the earth once in every rotation. I don’t know what made me think of this. May be the call from my cousin a few days back, informing me that he is flying back from India after his five years long stay here, had induced these thoughts into my mind. It is all about my childhood, that I was dreaming in the last few days.

The season was the same - Summer vacation after the final term exams. Schools closed, everyone in the joy and pleasure of long summer holidays. So too was I. Seeking the help of Mom to make kites, asking a million questions about the things around. There used to be the summer classes, trips to relatives home and many more events to recollect. The greatest joy of those period was to meet cousins, play games and to spend most of the life with them. Time at school will be spend, waiting for the holidays, to meet them and to play with them. The day of school reopening always made me feel sad, that I’m going to miss the company of my cousins. But when years went off, the priorities changed. I was the same kid at the same school, but when the vacation arrived my likes were to be at cricket ground with friends, or to be in the pool, swimming whole day. The thoughts of meeting cousins were not achievable as they were far away on the other side of globe, where it will be night when I used to be awake. Selfish feelings didn’t had any place in life. Everything used to be shared. Be it my bicycle, story book or what ever.

Seasons changed, years passed away. Life was getting tougher. Competitions, exams and ranks. Things revolved around these three and life was getting tied up to studies. School final exams, entrance coaching classes, engineering, placements and a hell lot of things. Priorities changed, from being sharing every thing, thoughts were more towards acquiring things. Be it the gadgets, fame or recognition, thoughts were concentrated on self. After gaining these, it is heartbreaking to lose it all. Life is unpredictable and fate plays the worst role at times. It makes you realize how small you are and what foolish thoughts you had in mind. The nature never lets its creatures to subside their dreams scattered. The cosmic force lets you rise upon your feet and regain your wishes.

Now that I am sitting on my bed with this small cute machine on my lap, typing these words that comes as thoughts into my mind, I feel a lot relaxed. Friends around me are a lot caring. Sensing my mind, sharing everything as it was at school. I am feeling the same that I used to, when I was a small kid. Amidst all these, there is one thought that makes me sad. In a few weeks this big family is going to split up. Away from this united mansion of education, we are going to be at a place were work is the main priority of life. Who knows what is there in the timeline to follow. Might be the season will repeat. Feelings of appraisals and hikes may make me selfish again. But for the time being, I am happy. I have got such a nice period in my life in the last two years, that the friends that I made and the time that we spend together will ever stay in my mind.

A Trip to Remember

The roads are crowded, packed and  thick, but we have promises to keep and miles to go before the stars sleep. On a pleasant holiday evening, the most memorable trip started from Bangalore. As planned and booked, the Hero arrived way too early, on a Tavera. To mention about the Hero – as per the production controller of this trip Mr. Murali of SRS Transport,  the Hero is a well known driver who knows the place we are going to visit, in and out. Hero’s call made my phone sing the default ringtone. In a mix of Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and English, he told me that he is waiting outside the gate. I was amazed at his language skills. I should have learned those languages instead of C, Java and Python. But its too late. Along with me, my five friends got ready in no time and reached the gate, to start our journey to Wayanad. With no further delay the tavera gained speed, carrying us towards the Gods own country.

We moved out of Bangalore and entered the Mysore road. Speedometer was touching 120Kmph to 140 Kmph at most of the times. The Hero was in single sleepy mood, with not much expressions on his face.  As the Director of this trip I felt bad at hero’s  expression and decided to stop for tea, many a times. The strong tea from Harrison Malayalam Estates could not make the Hero’s expression strong. He was still in the same old mood. Before reaching Mysore, I spelled out the script – ” Bhai, Mysore se gundalpett aur udar se Bandhipur and from there to Sulthan Batheri. Yehi hai route”. Hero replied to me, ” sir H.D.Kotta hogi, mananthavadi jayega”. I told him ” No, hum Sulthan batheri mei room book maadi. Iseliye, Gundalpett route mein jaayenga”.  Hero was not satisfied with the script. But as the Director of the Trip, I was not ready to change the route.

By around 2 am, we stopped at Gundalpett for tea. My good friend, Vipin, had told to take a right turn after Gundalpett to enter into Bandhipur Reserve forest. After having tea, the journey resumed. I saw some trucks parked on the right side of the road. Our hero was driving straight and the expression on his face was like a guy who had driven through these roads a million times. After five minutes I saw a milestone. On that was written these words : ” Coimbatore  - 148 Kms” . I asked the Hero, to drive back to gundalpett. Now that the expression on his face was back to default value. We found the right track and went into Bandhipur forest. The tavera stopped at the forest check post at 4 am. We waited there till 6 am for the check post to open.

In the morning, we reached Sulthan Bathery. Hero took the vehicle to a Diesel pump. I got out of the vehicle to stretch my body. While paying the bill I noticed that, the back wheel on the right is a bit low. I checked with hero, whether it is puncture. Hero told “tubeless Tyre, no worry about puncture”. So we filled air in all four tyres and started towards our Hotel. After freshening up at the hotel room, we started towards Edakkal Caves. On the way we had nice breakfast. The taste of Dosa and chutney made us eat more. We started climbing the hill to reach the caves. The place is amazing. Neolithic human drawings on stone is still preserved with great care.

After spending 3 hours we climbed down to the base. Upon reaching the base we found our Hero sleeping in the vehicle. We woke him up and got into the vehicle. Suddenly from no where a man came in front of our vehicle waving his hands. We were stunned at the happy news that he delivered. The back wheel on right side is punctured. Ooh.. I had asked the hero about the costume in the morning and now he has lost his pants. Wait, the fun was yet in basket. Hero started to replace the tyre. He pulled out the Jackie and tried all that he could do, to make the right wheel out of the drum. At last Director and crew members joined in his effort. Finally we took out the punctured tyre. Hero went to the back side of the vehicle and took out the spare tyre. The real fun arrived then – Spare tyre is also punctured. Hero has started a trip lasting 700 Kms with out checking the basic amenities. Now hero has lost his underwear too…

Even with out his costume, Hero was not ready to compromise on certain things. We told our hero, that we could take the tyre in an autorikshaw and get it repaired. But hero didn’t agree. Hero wanted the tyres to be in vechicle, and he told he will drive to nearest shop. The director had no words there. Its Hero’s costume and I don’t want to make a decision on them. At last hero drove us in that punctured Tavera to the nearest shop, which was around 3 Kms from the spot of incident. The mechanic told that it will take only 15 mins. But once he checked the tyres he came to know that it is going to take an hour and more. The punctured tubeless tyre thus got a tube inside it, as there was no more space to get punctured in that tyre. In the meanwhile we had a nice lunch from a near by hotel.

We restarted the trip cutting short our places of visit, as Hero had done a one man show for around 3 hours. Through the hills of Ambalavayal, planted with tea, we headed towards Soochipara water falls. We took bath at the water falls. After enjoying the place we headed towards the hotel. On the way we decided to have dinner. I asked our hero to drive the vehicle back to sulthan bathery. We saw a hotel on the right side of the road. I told the hero to take ‘U’ turn from next signal. Hero was happy to showcase his driving skills. He took the turn, but it was not complete. Tavera is heading towards the wall. Hero applied break, and took reverse. Ooh God, it was a narrow escape, the car behind us just accelerated, or else we would have been crashing on to it. Hero again took a forward step. Now it was going to hit the pedestrians. People from near by shop came out to have a look at Hero’s break dance. Once the dance was about to get over, a fan of Hero came near him with his arms pumped, to shower the Hero with praises. Some how I calmed down the fan, after all I am the Director. Thank God that I learned malayalam properly at school or else the break dance would have been the climax of the hero.

Sunday morning, we vacated the room and started towards Kuruva Island. We had decided to start back to Bangalore in the afternoon itself. We can’t afford the Hero anymore. He is too costly. On the way to Kuruva Island we had breakfast and visited Seetha Lava Kusha Temple. Hero took us to kuruva by around 9:30 am. We enjoyed the calm and quite Kuruva. The ride on the bamboo boat, the silent flow of water and the greenery were a treat to us. We reached back the main land by 1 pm. After having lunch, we started back to Bangalore. Via Payyampally, we were riding back to Bangalore. The route was Payyampally, H.D Kotta, Mysore and finally Bangalore. As the Hero was talking a lot about H.D Kotta on the first day, I thought he knows the route well. Once we crossed the Kerala border, I took a break from my tour guide role. The way through the forest gave us few moments to stare at deer. After travelling around 15 Kms, we found the road blocked and sign board indicating to take left turn.

The left turn lead us into a muddy road. The Hero was driving crazy. After around 45 mins we were below a banyan tree. There was no road further. Oops, we are at the soul of India. An old man sitting beneath the tree told that we should have taken another road to left around 10 kms back. I looked at the hero, who claimed to have knowledge about H.D Kotta road. His expressions are back to default now. By God’s grace we found the proper track. The road was damn bad, and the Hero didn’t miss any gutter on the way. In around 30 mins we heard a nice sound. Hero was not cared of that. After 5 mins, a rod 3 feet long got separated from the vehicle and fell on the road. Hero stopped the vehicle and checked it. He didn’t had any idea where it has to be fitted. He kept it inside the vehicle as if it is an unwanted part. I thought it might be an extra bone in the vehicle.

God showered his blessings and we reached back safely by 10 pm. We called the Production controller Mr.Murali of SRS to talk about the incidents. But he showed the true colors. He was not ready to listen. Thanks Mr. Production controller for the wonderful Hero you have send. After all we enjoyed the trip even though we couldn’t cover all that we wanted to visit. Wayanad is truly  a beauty. Natures gift. Let it be so for many centuries to come. Let heroes like this never come into your trips.

The long wait is over

Be patient, be cool, be optimistic and be faithful. The long wait thus came to an end today. Almost four months of stress got released. Thanks to Daimler. The feeling that this brings to my heart is so huge. Words and quotes aren’t enough to take them. The journey was painful. To stay cool was difficult, but there is always the helping hand that made me feel comfortable. As I always mention, sharing is the best route to feel comfortable. I need to thank them, the people who always stayed with me, close to my heart, inspiring me a lot. Even the twenty six hour long selection process consisting of five interviews a day taught me many things. The experience was nice, even though the outcome on that day was not impressive. Those experiences helped me a lot. To change my mindsets, to change myself, those were some lessons to learn. The whole journey was so long, but I experienced it to the most with lots of pleasure. Even if I couldn’t make, the joy on my friends face always made me feel good. Even today amidst this joy, the smiling faces which were trying to hide their sorrow makes me think a bit. Be patient the good times are yet to come, be cool that you are just you and nothing can replace you, be optimistic that the best is still in the basket to pick and be faithful in you that you could conquer any heights. Thank you all.

Green, Misty, Cool Mornings

Traveling is a pleasure. It cures our mind and heals our soul. This is all about the time that I spend during last December, with my dear friends. It all started with the plans to spend some time together, away from the hectic semesters and projects. The journey started on a Sunday morning. Packed and charged, we started in a train, which was going to our home town. Its sad that we had to get down in between, but the joy of being together made me forget the sorrow. Routes chosen at wish, buses never booked, the freedom was so good that we reached the destination before dusk. The curly roads, curves and turns, shallow valleys and green meadows, all were a treat to the eyes. The hairpin curves and the driver’s skills added the adjective ‘adventurous’ to the bus journey. The chilling December winds welcomed us. Once we reached the Lake Forest, we were in love with the place. The warmth of our rooms tempted us to stay inside. But we denied it and went out. It was so nice to spend time, at such an awesome place. Chats, games and food, we enjoyed everything to the most. Outing to the waterfall, climbing down the rocks, food from the small cafe near the falls, the memories will never fade. Still the moments of taking wrong route into the jungle, brings a strange fear to my mind. The whole trip was marvelous, that none of us wanted to come back. As always, a journey stated, completes once it reach back at its place of origin. So too were ours. Spending three nice days together we went back to our homes, promising that these memories will be alive for ever. Every Misty Morning, Cool Breeze and Green Shades reminds me of those days. The days of care and love that we shared with each other.

Thoughts at Midnight

Fun, friends and learning. The past one and a half years brings these thoughts to my mind. As I am going to my bed, a small memoir of how I have evolved over the last two years. Tomorrow being the last official lecture of my course work here, makes me think about this. I remember the very first lecture I attended here. Time touched me with its gentle feathers, reminding me about the enormous amount of knowledge and a handful of friends it has gifted during this period. Like a small child on his very first day at school, I too was astonished at being here. It was indeed a moment of joy, surprise and a lot many feelings that words can’t cover. As time went on, flabbergast gave way to solicitude. Work was shared, so too were the worries. Shoulders were there to hold when the brain was no more at its core. Hearts were wide open, that you could find your sorrows forgotten. Thus evolved the relations – friendship. Time wheel rolled again, with fate playing its game. The dark clouds covered our minds, taking the jewel from our side. I know that time will roll on and life will go on. Moments to cheer were always there, even though I didn’t want to. Its true that I have evolved a lot. From the astonishment to realization, the journey was too long. Still I feel like the same kid wondering at the world around.