എന്‍ഡോസള്‍ഫാന്‍ എന്ന ഭീകരത

ഡിസംബര്‍ 26 നു പുറത്തിറങ്ങിയ മാതൃഭൂമി ആഴ്ചപതിപ്പിന്റെ പ്രത്യേക എഡിഷന്‍ എന്‍ഡോസള്‍ഫാന്‍ ദുരിതം അനുഭവിക്കുന്നവരുടെ ചിത്രങ്ങളും വാര്‍ത്തകളും മാത്രം ഉള്‍കൊള്ളിച്ചുള്ളതാണ്. ഒറ്റനോട്ടത്തില്‍ അറപ്പുളവാക്കുന്ന ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍. വീണ്ടും നോക്കുമ്പോള്‍ നമ്മളില്‍ ദൈന്യതയും അനുകമ്പയും ഒടുവില്‍ രോഷവുമുണര്‍ത്തുന്ന ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍.


മാധ്യമങ്ങള്‍ വഴി നമുക്ക് പരിചിതമാണ് എന്‍ഡോസള്‍ഫാന്‍ എന്ന കീടനാശിനിയും അവ കേരളത്തിന്റെ വടക്കന്‍ മേഖലയില്‍, പ്രത്യേകിച്ച് കാസര്‍ഗോഡ്‌ ജില്ലയില്‍, മനുഷ്യനും പ്രകൃതിക്കും വരുത്തിവച്ച വിപത്തും. എന്നാല്‍ യഥാര്‍ത്ഥത്തില്‍ ഈ പ്രശ്നം എത്രത്തോളം ഗുരുതരമാണെന്ന് നമുക്ക് വ്യക്തമായ ധാരണയുണ്ടോ? സമീപകാലത്ത് എന്‍ഡോസള്‍ഫാനെപറ്റി എഴുതേണ്ടി വന്നപ്പോഴാണ് ഇതിനെപറ്റിയുള്ള എന്റെ അറിവ് എത്രത്തോളം പരിമിതമാണെന്നു ഞാന്‍ മനസിലാക്കിയത്.


കാല്‍നൂറ്റാണ്ട് മുമ്പ് കശുവണ്ടി തോട്ടങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് മുകളില്‍ ഹെലികോപ്ടറുകളില്‍ നടത്തിയ എന്‍ഡോസള്‍ഫാന്‍ ഏരിയല്‍ സ്പ്രേയിംഗ് അന്നാട്ടുകാര്‍ക്ക് ഒരത്ഭുതക്കാഴ്ചയായിരുന്നു. എന്നാല്‍ അവ അവശേഷിപ്പിച്ചതോ ലോകത്തെ മുഴുവന്‍ നടുക്കുന്ന ദുരിതക്കാഴ്ചകളും. വായുവും മണ്ണും ജലവും മാത്രമല്ല അമ്മയുടെ മുലപ്പാല്‍ പോലും വിഷലിപ്തമായ ഭീകരാവസ്ഥ. ബുദ്ധിമാന്ദ്യം, അംഗവൈകല്യം, ക്ഷയരോഗം, അപസ്മാരം, ചര്‍മ്മരോഗം, വന്ധ്യത തുടങ്ങി തീരാവ്യഥകളായി മാറുന്ന അസുഖങ്ങളുടെ പിടിയിലമര്‍ന്നുപോയ ഒരു തലമുറ ഈ നാട്ടില്‍ ജീവിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു. ഇവര്‍ക്ക് മതിയായ നഷ്ടപരിഹാരം ലഭിച്ചിട്ടില്ല. ഇവരുടെ പ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ വിശദമായി പഠനവിധേയമായിട്ടില്ല. ഇവരുടെ പുനരധിവാസം ചര്‍ച്ചചെയ്യപ്പെട്ടിട്ടില്ല. ഈ കൊടുംക്രൂരതയുടെ കുറ്റക്കാരെ കണ്ടുപിടിച്ചു ശിക്ഷിക്കാന്‍ പ്രാരംഭനടപടികള്‍പോലും എടുത്തിട്ടില്ല.

ആകാശത്ത് വട്ടമിട്ടുപറന്ന ഇരുമ്പുപക്ഷിയെക്കാണാന്‍ പുല്‍മേടുകളിലും പുഴയോരങ്ങളിലും ആരവങ്ങളോടെ ചിരിച്ചും കളിച്ചും ഓടിനടന്ന ബാല്യങ്ങളുടെ ഇന്നത്തെ ചിത്രം - ഓര്‍മ്മയായി നിലവിളക്കിനു മുന്‍പിലും, മനോരോഗത്തിന്റെയും ശാരീരികവൈകല്യങ്ങളുടെയും ദൈന്യതയാര്‍ന്ന നിഴലുകളായും മാത്രം അവശേഷിക്കുന്നു. ആ ചിത്രം നമ്മുടെ സുഖനിദ്രയെയും മനഃസാക്ഷിയെയും നിരന്തരം അലോസരപ്പെടുത്തുന്നു.

Everything is good

I recently witnessed a dance programme by the 9 year old daughter of a colleague.

When I returned my friends asked me “How was it?”
“Great“, I said “wonderful performance”.

And I stopped at that. In reality the show was horrible. The poor girl lost her balance, forgot her steps and stopped to stare at her teacher at the side of the stage a hundred times. So why did I say it was a great performance? It wasn’t in deference to my friend. It was in respect to that poor girl who had probably spent a couple of years and many hundred hours training and sweating for this one performance. Who am I to sit back and proclaim that it was bad especially since I am not a connoisseur of classical dance?

I have the same attitude to movies as well. A couple of friends have berated me for leading them to bad movies since when they asked my opinion of certain movies I answered “Great…wonderful movie.” And they found it bad. I myself had found it bad. But then who am I to pronounce judgments? The director, actors and others spent numerous hours and days to finish this ‘art’ product.

And what about the poor producer? He spends millions of rupees to entertain us. We spend a meager fifty rupees to watch a movie and then proclaim it “bad”! The injustice of it!

This is why I keep saying everything is good. Be a good sport and show your sunny side people!

Oh, and by the way, if anyone asks you about this article… don’t hesitate to say “Great…it’s wonderful!”

Cheers!

Political clout of Indian army

As Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan gets ready to resign over the controversy of allotment of flats in Mumbai meant for the widows of Kargil heroes to unauthorized people, questions arise regarding the factors that led to him being abandoned by his party leadership.

Certainly this is a face saving exercise by the Indian National Congress to ride against the wave of public resentment. But corruption by political leaders is nothing new in our country. The recent Commonwealth Games scam shamed us in front of the entire world but no action has been taken against any one as such, no one has been asked to resign. So could there be other factors for the immediate action against Ashok Chavan?

Like the political clout of the Indian Army, for instance?

Unlike many third world countries the Indian military has always shown an aversion to direct meddling in the internal political scenario of the nation. This is not to say that the army has no say at all or has not influenced major decisions over the past few decades. Indeed no country can afford to deny the army think-tank a major role in the process of nation building.

In India controversy still abounds over the decisions made during the 1971 India –Pak war and the liberation of Bangladesh. Many former military personnel have argued that the decision of the Indian army to march to Dhaka was a purely military one and the political leadership only came to know about it later.

There is every reason to believe that the immediate action against Ashok Chavan could have been at the insistence of the army brass. Corruption in the name of Kargil martyrs is bound to make a soldier’s blood boil, even more than ours.

The inherent message is clear – don’t touch the army.

.

The Latest Hot Celebrity in Town – 108 Ambulance

Last month during the Onam celebrations, in a colony near my home, a woman tried to commit suicide by jumping into a well. We managed to pull her out and somebody called the 108. Since it was a remote location the ambulance took some time to reach there. But once the siren started to reach us, all the people who had been dispersing immediately crowded back and the arrival of the 108 was greeted with much whistling and clapping! Children could be heard running and shouting “108 has come! 108 has come!” as if their favorite movie star had just walked into their homes. The paramedics and the driver were no doubt bewildered at the welcome they got. Older women crowded around them to ask their name and their homes. Someone even pinched the driver – maybe just to make sure that the famous 108 had truly arrived. The paramedics were frantically asking about the injured person and that is when we finally came to our senses and to our horror we found the woman lying abandoned in the mattress by the roadside where we had first laid her down. Once we got her into the ambulance there was a scramble for others to get in. One of our friends too got in the front. We asked “Why the hell are you going?” and he cheerily waved to us and said “I’m not going to miss this chance! It is now or never!” and we watched him with envy as he shook hands with the driver and posed for the guys to take photos in their mobiles. Usually a suicide attempt makes neighbours or relatives hesitant to accompany the victim to the hospital due to the police affairs and other complications that may arise. However with 108 that has changed too. People are fighting to get inside just to be able to say they have traveled in the 108.

The 108 ambulance is the latest talk of the town, having universally impressed everyone with their prompt and efficient service. It is the first time any city in Kerala has a systematic ERS - Emergency Response Service. 108 is a toll-free number, the biggest advantage, accessible from any landline or mobile. And it is absolutely free.

The loud siren has become a distinctive sign of the coming ambulance. And what a wonderful sight it is to behold, flashing all the colours - red, blue, orange – just like the arrival of a carnival.

The 108 has no doubt changed the face of medical response services. The waiting for an ill-equipped ambulance and the haranguing over the rate has all almost vanished. It is an initiative under Kerala Emergency Medical Services Project (KEMP) by the Kerala Government’s Health Department in association with the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM).

My house is located by the side of the by-pass road which is a preferred route for the 108 to the Medical College. The siren has become so familiar to us that even in our deepest sleep if a 108 passes through, we mumble “108!” and smile.

Santhigiri – nothing but business

All the media houses in the state were buzzing with huge pictures and news reports of the new Parnasala inaugurated at the Santhigiri Ashramam in Thiruvananthapuram the past week. Not a single of voice of dissent. No enquiries as to where they get so much money or influence.

“They tried to get American President Obama to inaugurate the thing”, a friend of mine who works there told me. A few years ago we would have laughed this off as a ridiculous comment. However, today it is evident that, this too is not impossible for them.

The name of Karunakara Guru has become as big as Mata Amritanandhamayi or Sai Baba. Rumours circulate about the divine powers he had. On the other side of the coin rumours are present too about his past, about how he was chased from his original village for immoral or illegal activities, and ended up here.

Anyway I used to visit the Ashramam when he was alive for the Annadanam – the free lunch they used to serve the general public on certain days (Well, back in those college days, we had an all-year-round list when free foodwould be given out anywhere in the district!). But, personally I think, it was ok when the guru was alive. People came to seek his blessings and we know the people have a tendency to seek blessings from godmen as a solution to all their problems.

Then he died. And Santhigiri started getting commercialized. Supposedly someone who completed his MBA and worked in US came to join the Ashramam and he spearheads the commercial activities. They have hundreds of industries going on in different locations. Whats wrong with that, some of you may ask. The thing is they are a charitable institution and they don’t have to pay tax. They have access to free money flow and they are above auditing. This virtually means they save crores on tax amount alone.

But more frightfully, they are buying up land by hundreds of acres in the surrounding areas. They are quickly developing a township with unaccounted money. In the blink of an eye, in the past few years, they had their own post office, petrol pumps, Medical College, a Panchayath ward exclusively for them – ‘them’ meaning people who may have come from any part of the state without proper identification and they are able to vote. This last issue is particularly causing concern because in a few years the entire area would be full of Santhigiri devotees who would be able to vote in all elections according to the orders issued by the Ashram authorities, thus creating a most powerful weapon – their own votebank.

I appreciate all the better initiatives taken by them – but remember they are not giving jobs to the public. And what goes inside the Ashram is a strictly guarded secret, strictly forbidden to outsider knowledge. And most worrisome is the lack of enquiring voices on the part of the media. Santhigiri Ashram needs to be audited (just like all the other godmen ashrams) and registered under the government as an industrial firm. Closing our eyes and blindly believing is easy – opening our eyes to see what is really happening is the difficult part.

P.S. - No, I don't have any proof to substantiate my claims... just like the claims about divinity and miracles.

The internet is making me stupid

Everyday I wake up with this prayer:

“Dear Google God…grant me the serenity to accept the fact that all url’s don’t work; the courage to keep browsing through even more websites; and the wisdom to save money for paying the internet bill. “

A few years ago my life changed forever when I discovered google god within my system. All the wealth of knowledge of the entire universe at my fingertips with the click of a mouse. I slowly became addicted to the world wide web. I had to check my mail everyday. I had more than 15 blogs at the same time on different topics – some didn’t even have a topic. Friends came to with all sorts of doubts because I was the one who could find any answer. Thanks to the internet, of course.

But now I have begun doubting myself. Is the internet really making me more intelligent?

I spend a long time in front of the computer. I don’t go to movies. I download and watch it from the net. I am losing my interest in going out and meeting new people. Instead I send out friend requests through social networking sites.

Now if I have to do a simple math like 25 x 5, I click “start”, “run” and “calc”. It won’t be much longer before I require a calculator to do 2 + 2.

I have become confused about the spelling of a lot of words. The net corrects them for me so I don’t bother about the correct spellings or grammar. And to think I used to insist on correct grammar even while chatting with friends.

Forgot where the library was. Never goes there anymore. Download the books I need – including the entire Harry Potter series. I miss the smell of books – both the new and dusty ones :( (oh yea – another one is the overuse of smileys).

And more importantly am I losing my perceptibility? Can I distinguish what is true and what is not in the answers I find? Everything I read in the net is infused with viewpoints that clearly outline a hidden propaganda. Or am I just being paranoid?

I don’t know. I feel the internet is making me stupid and impotent – changing me from a real person to just another user profile.

I am one of them

I need to make a confession. And today is the day I have got to do it. I need to come out of the closet and reveal to the world who I truly am.

No more whisperings. No more lame excuses for suspicious behavior. I can’t bear it any more. I know it will hurt my family, some of my friends or even my career prospects.

I am one of them.

How or when I became so I don’t remember. I have been that way as long as I can remember. Maybe it ran in some of my family. Maybe my friends when I was small. But I am not afraid any longer. Today I have come out to proclaim to the world – you can humiliate me, isolate me or curse me for being one of them.

But I shall remain firm. My loyalty shall not change. And I shall believe till the end – “FOOTBALL IS THE GREATEST GAME IN THE WORLD”

Yes. I am one of those raging football lunatics. One of those who leave everything behind to watch the World Cup. Family, job – even parties.

Ballack is the tragic hero of this world cup. Oliver Kahn shall always remain an idol. Never liked Ronaldo much. Maradona personifies me. Baggio broke my heart. Wept for Escobar. Secretly admired Zidane and Beckham. Believes Rooney is a goon. Messi is a magician. My team is Germany. And I support the football hooligans. As someone famously remarked – “It is the closest thing we have to war”.

Yes… I am one of them.

From today don’t talk to me if it isn’t about football. Don’t invite me to parties where there is no big screen. Don’t expect me to write anything else other than about football.

So this time for Africa- WAKA WAKA !!