MARAYUR MEMORIES

       Since a long time i was thinking about visiting this place.I went to this beautiful place last week.


      Marayur is famous for Jaggery.Marayur produces high quality Jaggery which is having huge demand in Kerala.


   Marayur is 49 Km north to Munnar in Idukki district.


    I reached in Marayur at noon.Many grocery shops there displayed boards mentioning that "Marayur Jaggery" is available there.I thought of buying it while i return.


     I walked forward from the busstop and reached a point after a Km.The board shoed that "Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary starts from there.


    I was initially apprehensive to go further fearing that someone might stop me.The Check Post nearby was closed and no one was visible around.So i decided to move further along the road.


    After a while,the road keep on deflecting haphazardly .Later the either sides of the road was thick forest.


     A board on the way showed that guided Trekking is possible from the Forest Department Office,1 Km away.


     An autorickshaw suddenly stopped beside me The driver asked me in Tamil where i was going.When i mentioned that i al going to the Forest Deaprtment Office,he asked me to get in as he is going to the very same place.


    From the Forest Department Office there are guided Trekking to 2 areas
1) To dolmens and rock painting sites
2)To Thoovanam waterfalls


     I opted for the first one as i had read about the ancient Dolmens and rock paintings in internet articles.


    Raja,a lean,tall ,dark skinned guide was asked to take me with him.He first took me to the dolmens.


     Dolmens over there was small in size.Dolmens are made using 4 flat rock pieces.3  forms the boundaries  and the 4th one is placed above forming the roof.These small dolmens were burial sites of lower class people in ancient days.

       Raja mentioned that there are some large dolmens in deep forest.These large dolmens are burial sites of high class people and also believed that sages used such dolmens for meditating.Some of the dolmens are destroyed by elephants while they move around in search of water.

      The path from the dolmens was quite gruelling with steep climbs and narrow valleys.I was gasping for breath after sometime.But Raja didn't show any obvious

changes.For him,its just a routine way.

He showed me a Sandal wood tree.Marayur is the place where natural sandalwoods are seen in abundance.A survey conucted in 2004 showed that there are around 60,000 sandalwood trees there.They are used to prepare sandalwood oil and sandalwood paste.

           After sometime Raja suddenly stopped.He started looking for something above us.He showed me a Kite sitting in the branch of a tall tree,making occassional sounds.Raja informed that the Kite might have noticed a Squirrel or Pigeon nearby,which are its favourite prey.

   He stopped again after a few steps and took diversion to right.His steps suddenly become small and was keenly listening to a peculiar sound coming from a nearby tree.He easily spotted what he was searching for.It was a Grizzled Giant Squirrel!!!

            The Kite might have been looking at that Squirrel.Grizzled Giant Squirrel is an endangered species seen in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary.Its image is synonymous for the sactuary as every board of the sanctuary adores an picture of this Squirrel.


          Raja mentioned a peculiar behaviour of this Squirrel.It usually makes around 10 nests,especially at the edges of branches and prefer to live in the ugliest of these nests!!



         Raja then took me to the site of rock paintings.According to him it is mainly archeological and history students who often visit these rocks.

              Last we went to a place which gives a panoramic view of the forest and the surrounding mountains.

          On the way back i enquired about Chinnar Watch Tower,which i read in an online article.Raja informed that it was 13 Km away and a bus going in that direction will soon reach there.

            He suddenly pointed to a place and mentioned that wild buffalo was there  a bit back.It was a surprising information and asked him how he found it out.

            Raja said that he was getting the unique smell of buffalos.Each animal has a peculiar odour.The odour will stay in the forest environment for around 30 minutes.Besides that buffalos has a tendency of pressing their horns to ground.So its easier to recognize the place.

          Within 5 minutes i got the bus to Watch Tower.The Watch Tower was near Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.There also a guide accompanied me from the Office.His name was Muthu.He shared similar features as that of Raja.Watch Tower was 300 meters deep in forest.

          We reached the Watch Tower within 20 minutes.The time was 4:40 PM.According to Muthu,Animals will not come out usually at that time because it a bit sunny.He said ideal time will be 5:30 PM or arounf 7 AM.During those times plenty of animals will come near to Watch Tower,on their way to the river on the adjacent side.After some time we stepped down from the Watch Tower.

         On our way back,he  quickly noticed a small group od spotted deers and showed them to me.I was impressed by his sharp eyes.He stated that he could recognize an animal seeing its excreta.He showed me small small ,light brown,coffee bean shaped things on a rock.He said they are the excreta of wild rabbits.

          I was extremely happy because i did my first guided trekking in my life!!

COMPLICATED

        One of my friends shared an incident, which she recently come across.Sheela , a doctor is working in a rural area of Kerala.


       Few months back, a mother brought her daughter to consult her.The girl was around 14 years old and complaining of stomach pain since a week.After preliminary examination,Sheela felt a suspicion.So she suggested to do ultrasound scanning.


    The Ultrasound Scan report confirmed her suspicion.The report stated that the girl is 4 months pregegnant!!!


     Sheela took the girl along with her to cabin.She asked the girl whether she was in any love affair.The girl replied negatively.She then asked the girl whether anyone had taken advantage of her.The girl kept a blank face and was just staring at the floor.


     Sheela then asked the girl to wait outside and called the mother in.To mother Sheela disclosed the fact.The mother was shocked and stepped into a crying spell.In between she was cursing herself for not taking good care of her child.


   Sheela tried to console her.Sheela mentioned that the girl is not disclosing the person responsible for her pregnancy.Sheela hinted her that the culprit may be a close relative or neighbour.


   As abortion was not an ideal option at that stage,mother decided to take the girl to her maternal aunty's house which was quite far away.


    2 weeks later,the mother somehow found out who was responsible for her girl's pregnancy.He was the girl's own father !!!


    He was sexually exploiting her daughter since a year.He used to do it,while his wife goes for work.He had threatened the girl that if she discloses the fact,he will kill her.


   Mother lodged a complaint in police station and the father was arrested.Sheela was summoned to court as a medical witness.


    Sheela was wondering what relation the man will be sharing with his daughter's child...He will be the child's father as well as grandfather!!!

I WILL LET YOU MARRY HER

       Peter felt that his knees are becoming weak and darkness engulfing his eyes. He took support of the wall and slowly sat on to the floor. He cursed the moment he “entered” to make his daughter.

     Peter was working abroad for a long period. He got married in his late twenties and was blessed with a beautiful daughter. He always dreamed to take his family with him to Gulf. But the company provided only single accommodation and benefits.

     If he wants to stay with family, then he has to rent a house. Such an act will turn out quite expensive.

    Peter felt that making some savings should be given a priority as he is having a daughter. So he was forced to keep his wife and child at home with his parents.

    In his early forties, Peter was suffering from some health problems and once was admitted in hospital due to chest pain. As he had made some money, he felt an urge to return to his hometown.

    He resigned his job and brought a new 2 storied house in Kochi.Then shifted his family to their new home.

    He started working in a nearby firm .Though the salary was less, he was happy to be with his wife and daughter.

   His daughter Reena is now 16 years old and studying in +1 in a reputed school. She is a fair, chubby girl with beautiful eyes.

   Peter and wife stay at ground floor and Reena’s room was in first floor. He felt the room upstairs provides a quiet environment, so that she could study well. His feelings were justified when Reena passed 10^th standard exam with good grades. He brought her a computer with Internet connection as a compliment.

  Peter was woken up by shouts and screams. He checked the Time Piece .Its only 1:30 AM!!

   He took the torch and went outside. He saw some neighbours are standing near his gate. They informed him that a thief entered a nearby house. The housewife saw the thief and when she screamed, the thief ran in the direction of his house.

   They mention that police are being informed and will reach there within a short time.

   Disturbed by the thought of the thief, he returns to his house. While he was about to enter his room, he felt someone is standing upstairs.

  He directs the lighted torch upwards. He sees a young guy in T-Shirt there. He recognizes that the guy is Alan, Reena’s Schoolmate!!

   Alan was shocked when light fell suddenly on him and was froze seeing Peter.

  Peter came upstairs and he understood why Alan was there at that time.

    Peter told him;”Alan, please don’t go outside now. All my neighbours are outside and don’t spoil the image of my family. I will let you marry my daughter”.

   Alan replied;”Uncle, I am not keen to marry your daughter. I came here just for entertainment. I am not the only guy visiting her. I assure you that I won’t go outside now.”

10 THINGS I SHOULD DO IN JANUARY 2012

          I come across an interesting article about a person who prepared a list of things he wished to do and gave the title “100 things I should do before I die”. He succeeded in doing majority of things.

              It inspired me to prepare a list of things I should do. I felt keeping a list of 10 for each month, will be motivating and drive me to achieve them in that set time limit. I prepared a list in last week of December.

1-VISIT ELEPHANT SANCTUARY

        While flipping through various channels in T.V,I come across a programme about the elephants at Guruvayur. I found it interesting and while I searched in Internet, I got lots of information about Elephant Sanctuary at Guruvayur. This prompted me to pay a visit to that awesome place. The visit turned out to be a memorable one. It was exhilarating to see such a lot of elephants in a single place.

http://kaalayavaniga.blogspot.in/2012/01/tuskerland.html

2-VISIT HILL PALACE

         Last time when I went to Hill Palace was in 2004.I explored the place with my friends during that time. Recently it was pictured in a movie and the visuals brought back old memories. So I planned to pay a visit to that place. Though the Palace was quite near to my work place, I kept on postponing it. Ultimately I did it in January and took snaps of that beautiful place and Palace.

3-TAKE PICTURE OF A FOREIGN WOMAN

        Our school was near Fort Kochi beach. Since childhood, I am fascinated by the beautiful foreigners who visit my hometown. During our school days we used to ask foreigners currencies and coins of their native land. Many of them used to share with us coins and currencies of their home country. We used to get excited while receiving them and used to proudly show it to others.

        I visit beach often. So I put a target for myself. That was to take a snap of a beautiful woman from a foreign land.

         Initial day, I was worried about how they will react to such a request and returned back to home without giving it a try.

        Second day, while roaming around in beach I saw a beautiful woman sitting alone over the rocks viewing sunset. I went to her and politely put forward my request.She; Agatha from Poland was surprised by my request and wholeheartedly allowed me to take a snap of her’s.

4-100 PUSH-UPS IN 1 SESSION

        In my late teenage I used to do work-outs religiously. I used to do 100 plus Push-Ups in a session. Though I restarted it again in my Post Graduation period, I often failed to do it on a regular basis. Since last August I am not involved in any regular exercise sessions.

        So I planned to restart working out in January. I kept a target to do 100 Push –Ups in 1 session. The initial attempts all failed and by the mid of January, I could only do 76 in 1 session.

        I discussed this with one of my best friends. He asked me to demonstrate my way of doing Push-Ups.He mentioned that I am not stabilizing my shoulder and guided me how to do so.

        With the corrected technique, I found it quite easy to do Push –Ups and ended up achieving my target of 100 Push –Ups.

5-LETTER TO MITHEN

        In our college Christmas is celebrated in a grant scale. Most interesting thing associated with celebration is selection of “Christmas Friend”. Once the selection process is over, it is immediately followed by exchange of anonymous letters between the so called “Christmas Friends”. A “Post Box” is kept to aid in the exchange of letters. I really love to read and write letters.

        An idea strikes me during that period. It was to write a letter to one of my best friends, sharing memories of our college days.

       The writing process took nearly 2 hours and was exhausted at the end. When finished writing it, I almost lived again those wonderful days.

        I got a call after a few days from my friend. He was extremely happy reading the letter and was astonished to know how well I remember the various incidents of those days.

6-LOVE LETTER TO MITHU SEN

          A few months back, “The Week” magazine published an issue discussing about young creative minds of India. In that issue I come across works of Mithu Sen. I read about an interesting interactive creative project she was doing.

     As part of the project she requests people to write love letters to her. In exchange of these letters, the people will receive 1 unique creation of her and that too free of cost!!

        I wrote a love letter to her. The process was quite interesting as I was writing such a letter to a person, I had only seen in print.

7-VISIT MY GRANDMOTHER’S CHILDHOOD FRIEND

         I was aware since 2 years that my late Grandmother’s childhood friend is residing within a kilometer from my home. I dreamed of paying a visit to her.

         I visited her last week. She is in her early 90’s.But she looks quite younger. She seems to be in her late 60’s.She was quite energetic and has crystal clear memory. She shared many incidents during her younger days.

         She mentioned that she and my late grandmother attended preschool together and was in touch with each other during their youthful days.

8-VISIT A BOY IN ORPHANAGE

     My mother’s colleague took me to an orphanage a few weeks back. One of her student was suffering from severe back pain, so she felt I could help him. I evaluated the guy and taught him some exercises to relieve his pain. I paid a visit after 2 weeks and monitored the progress. I had promised him that I will be visiting him soon. But I kept on postponing the visit.

   I visited him last week. Was happy to know that his pain is considerably reduced.

9-MAKE A CALL TO MY “LITTLE FRIEND”

       I was not in contact with a “little friend” for the past few months. He is studying in 7^th standard and met him in hospital 2 years back, while I was working there.

     2 week back I made a call and restarted our conversations.

10-HOSPICE VISIT

         I visited a Hospice in my hometown few months back. I was greatly moved by the dedicated service of nuns, nurses and doctors.

       I dreamed of taking our students to that noble institution and providing an opportunity to interact with inmates and staffs. Though we got permission from the officials, it did not happen.

       I felt a need to visit that place again and succeeded in visiting that place, overcoming my inherent laziness. I even wrote a blog about this Hospice.

http://intheoceanoflife.blogspot.in/2012/01/holy-cross-hospice.html

HOLY CROSS HOSPICE

      Kerala is well known worldwide for its efficiency in health care delivery system, renowned as “Kerala Model” health care. Though the per capita income is very less, its health care delivery system is at par with that of developed countries.

     In recent year’s palliative care gained much momentum in Kerala. Palliative care is given to those patients whose disease conditions cannot be cured. Objective of palliative care is to decrease the discomfort and problems arising as a part of the disease and provide a qualitative life till their death. An innovative approach was tried in Kerala, which include extensive community participation. It was believed that it is the responsibility of the society to provide the needed assistance for patients suffering from debilitating diseases like cancer. The assistance can be financial, medical, psychological or spiritual. Now World Health Organization recognized it as an ideal approach in providing palliative care for developing countries.

     In certain parts of Kerala, patient population receiving palliative services is more than 90% whereas in developed countries only 70% of the needed gets such services.

     I would like to discuss about Hospice. Hospice is a special place for providing palliative services. It has facilities of a small hospital as well as the environment is a homely one. There will be doctors, nurses and others to take care of these patients. The structure of the building with be disable friendly and has a serene atmosphere.

    One such Hospice is Holy Cross Hospice in Perumpadappu; Kochi-Kerala. You will be astonished to see such an Hospice in a picturesque place. A kilometer away from the bus stop, the environment is calm with lots of trees. The Hospice has a beautiful garden near the entrance.

    Holy Cross Hospice mainly takes care of cancer patients, especially in their end stages. They provide shelter,food,medicines and other necessities absolutely free of cost. A dedicated team of nuns co-ordinates the functions of this Hospice. Patients ranging from children to elderly is taken care of irrespective of caste,creed,gender etc.

    It functions with the help of broad minded people in the society. If you feel that you should donate some amount for noble causes,then Holy Cross Hospice is an apt option.

     You can contact Holy Cross Hospice: Sister Mary Valsala-0484-2232439

                                                                                              -9847907578

TRANCE

          Sometimes you come across people who doesn't fit into the crowd.There is usually something unique about them.

        They exudes grace and elegance.They walk quietly and gently,fully engaged in their own world.Their eyes are crystal clear and glows.They show an inclination towards spirituality and psychology.They will be excited to discuss things related to these.

        They are not interested in worldly luxuries and usually lead a simple life.They render help to all in need,even to animals.They involve themselves in social work.They wholeheartedly devote themselves to volunteer activities in charity organizations.

      Others find it difficult to understand them.They exhibit inherent happiness and will be in a state of bliss at times.

     They love to meditate and usually are seen in a state of trance.

     Some will discontnue their studies/work and suddenly disappear.You will be astonished to hear such news because mostly these people are highly intelligent or may be gifted.Why they left their studies/job and where they went will remain a mystery often.

    Hope you all might have met such a person ,or else you will surely meet :)

IS THERE A JOB FOR ME?

        Who might have asked this question? A young guy who just completed a course?

Read further to know it……

       Coming back from work I board a bus which takes me to my place. After a while, I got a seat. I started conversation with the person sitting next to me. I had promised myself that I will interact with at least one person each week while traveling during this year. So I asked him where he was going.

      He pleasantly replied. Then we shared our personal details. When I mentioned where I am working, he asked-“Is there a job for me?”

      I was surprised to hear it and was taken aback because the person sitting beside me is in his late sixties. He mentioned a bit back that he was a clerk in a government college in Kochi and now retired.

     He shared with me that he has a son and daughter. Though he did not expressed, I could say he is going through some financial constraints. He was wise enough not to share his personal problems with a person whom he just met.

    He cheerfully wished me good luck in career while we were parting.

    Still now, his question is ringing in my ears. Old age which is believed to be relieving a person from the role of one who takes care to a one receiving care is not happening now a day. There is hell lot of uncertainty in the lives of elderly.

   I tried to be in his shoes and understand the stream of thoughts that might be going through his mind. Frankly to say: it’s very uncomfortable!