Kerala This Week Ver 2.04, 2008

A very ardent fan of this blog wished us all Onam in a very funny but really brilliant manner "sHAPPYl pONAM". But nothing could have been so close to the truth. Mallu brethren gulped down Rs.250 crores worth of alcohol during the week of fun, frolic, and celebration, before getting on with their routine eve-teasing, scuffles, pick-pocketing, and groping.

I personally was witness to the antics of the inebriated average malayali scum-bags. I ran into several drunk motorists creating havoc on the roads, bikers racing with their stands scraping the road to create sparks and scare other motorists, third-rate punks hurling abuse at women. The list is endless. Sadly, I could not the see the Onam spirit on the streets that I have seen as a child. I could barely see families enjoying themselves on the roads. Most people I talked to said it was not safe these days, and all of them preferred to stay indoors and "enjoy the peace".

Ironicaly, earlier this week, Kerala won the IBN channel sponsored Diamond State Awards title for infrastructure, womens' empowerment, health services and education system. Come to think of it, all the above are taking a big toll in Kerala and those are the very sectors worst affected in Kerala over the last decade or so. I guess the jury had very little to choose from, and were left between the devil and the deep sea.

After fighting for the Vizhinjam port for over 2 decades and trying to hog praises, now that the project is approved, the politicians are now trying to oppose the project saying that the land acquistion is illegal and will be resisted at all cost. I guess the uneducated scums thought that a port for ships would come up on the sea and will not need any land. Talk about 100% literacy!

There is so much more to report from little ol' Kerala. But I decided to cut it short since I have a very interesting question about Keralites for our readers. You can post your answer as a comment. Lets see how many of you know our land and people well enough to get it right.

Where is the only place in the world that a malayali will stand in a queue?
(Oops..since most malayalis will not know what a queue means - queue is a line of waiting people)

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Hate Hartals? What Can You and I Do?

We have now, almost quite unanimously, decided that most of us hate the antisocial and antiprogressive event of convenience celebrated very frequently by our scum politicians under different names such as hartal, bandh, roko, strike, panimudakku, etc. It does no good to ANY one in this state or country. And because of this single phenomenon, Kerala has stagnated and rotten.

So now what can we do? Clearly, at this stage, I am not in a position to go out and protest [or call a hartal against hartal as someone joked :)]. And I am not interested in filing a public interest litigation and adding to the long list of petitions against hartals.

I am going to list a few of my ideas against hartals and banhds. I welcome all our readers to contribute to this post and add your suggestions. All reasonable, sensible, and practical ideas and suggestions will be compiled and sent to all leading newspapers in Kerala/ India. (jokes are welcome, but wont make it to the final list) You can choose to give your real name or a nickname (even if you dont have a blogger id), but preferably avoid anonymous comments.

My suggestions:

1. I have always believed in creating awareness and educating people. Whenever I get a chance, I speak about hartals and the loss they create to the state. I explain how only hard work can lead to progress. I also stress on the importance of working within the system. I tell all these things to whoever I can in Kerala - be it a driver, rickshaw-wala, shopkeeper, policeman, businessman, or engineer. Giving such perspective can make them think, and realize themselves. And in turn, they will spread the good word to many others (hopefully). So my first suggestion is to:

"Spread the word against hartals and its ill-effects to everyone you come across"

2. For those of you with considerable local clout, please encourage the local decision makers and people to work against hartals and strikes. I have read about one or two towns in Kerala that have people working together against these political games, and remain open during hartals. If this can become a mass movement, and spread across Kerala, then Kerala will surely make progress, and more importantly, it will cut our wily politicians to size.

"Encourage pockets of community activity against hartals"

3. Another longer term action that we can take is to stop voting for parties/ leaders that encourage hartals. Obviously, that would mean that we will not be able to vote. But the idea is to create an awareness among the scumbag politicians that hartals and bandhs will only earn negative points for them. Hopefully its some discouragement for them.

"Vote out politicians and parties that encourage hartals and bandhs"


More suggestions and action points are most welcome.

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