Pampered Memories

  T imes have changed. Cold war is history. The world is not what it used to be. But a war among former disintegrated USSR republics ie Ukraine and Russia  brought memories about my ‘connections’ with this erstwhile largest country . Nostalgia junkies among millennials in Kerala like me grew up reading and hearing everything fantastic about Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.              Soviet Union, Soviet Life, Sovietland and Misha were propaganda magazines from the erstwhile Soviet Union, circulated across the world until the disintegration of the USSR. Those were the days before globalization and India was the mighty Soviet Union’s best friend. Russian magazines and books influenced the reading habits of Indians a great deal, especially those in communist leaning Kerala. The works of Russian masters such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Olga Perovskaya and Maxim Gorky were popularised in Kerala by the Communist Party of India’s Prabh...

  “.......many of the people there (in India), who are strict in their religion, drink no wine at all; but they use a liquor, more wholesome than pleasant, they call coffee, made by a black seed boiled in water, which turns it almost into the same colour, but doth very little alter the taste of the water. Notwithstanding it is very good to help digestion, to quicken the spirits, and to cleanse the blood" So said Rev Edward Terry, Chaplain to Sir Thomas Roe who was British ambassador to the court of Emperor Jahangir in the early 16th Century.   Centuries after that, If there is a taste that connects people and culture in India, then it has to be the Indian Coffee house. A chain which connects 400 cities and towns in India, it has become a part of the common man. For about a century it was the favourite hangout for many sections of people, be it a professional or a labourer, rich or poor. Its legacy as a social meeting place in fostering intellectual discussions is well known, e...

    Ever since I read in   a Sunday supplement about the erstwhile Indo- Srilanka rail route and the ‘Boat Mail Express’   train from   Madras to Colombo , my heart and mind wanted to see the Indian end point of that train journey. So, on a weekend of March 2022, my 'other half'   and I packed   our bags to a very unlikely destination in any of the tourist maps – Dhanushkodi.       Boat mail express or Indo Ceylon Express train was   a steamer ferry service between India and Sri Lanka connecting Chennai and Colombo, by a   rail-to-sea-to-rail operation. Passengers could buy a single ticket for this international journey through rail and   ferry. This train takes passengers from Chennai To Dhanushkodi, then ferries the passengers to Thalimannar in Sri Lanka, and then another train takes them to Colombo. Dhanushkodi, a ghost town today shrouded in mystery is located in the Rameshwaram district of Tamil Nadu. It   is t...

The "Gulf Boom" from Kerala to the Gulf countries started in the 1970s and continues to the present day . The Gulf those days were a transforming  piece of land with a lot of petro dollars in their coffers. They needed  skilled and unskilled labourers to build their country. Mallu men, mostly with a matriculation pass or fail and a mind full of big dreams, packed their bags and left in search of jobs in the gulf. These pioneers, who had mostly come from impoverished families, mostly landed in menial jobs in the gulf countries. They struggled hard under the burning desert sun, building roads, working at the drilling sites and even working in  farms and cattle learning. Some started small businesses or tea shops. The salaries they got in  Riyals or Dirhams  seemed large when compared to the meagre amounts they would have earned for a similar job back home.  They lived frugal lives, sending most of their earnings back home to their families so that they could ...

  My first air travel was 20 years back on a flight from Mangalore to Mumbai. Ever since that maiden trip, I have transgressed the boundaries of states and nations to different airports.  Airports fascinate me but not the air travel.                             Most statistics maintain that air travel is the safest mode of travel. But my pre air travel anxiety surfaces every time I board the aircraft. Before every takeoff, I always try not to skyrocket my anxiety by keeping myself occupied with prayers, or by thumbing through the pages of in flight magazines.   The recent air accident at Karipur, Kozhikode rought back a memory of one of my worst travelling experience. It was a Sunday evening after a conference. The Indigo flight from Raipur took off from Swami Vivekanda Airport on time and everything went on as usual. The stewards started serving snacks and I took my typical trip to the w...

  “You are not fully dressed until you wear a smile” These words by our father of nation carries a lot of depth and thought.   A smile is one of the most simple, inexpensive and wonderful things in the world. Still, often we forget about this one powerful action while we get lost in the details of today and tomorrow. Smile starts you off in the right direction and as you continue to do so it spreads from person to person. A moment, a day, a life, is transformed through the power of your smile.  Smile is a facial expression formed by flexing the muscles near both ends of the mouth and by flexing muscles throughout the mouth.  Some smiles include contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes. Among humans, it is an expression denoting pleasure, amiability, happiness, or amusement, but can also be an involuntary expression of anxiety, in which case it is known as a grimace. Smiling is something that is understood by everyone despite culture, race, or reli...

  Te llicherry was a trading hub  for spices in the western coast of India from the time immemorial . Many wars were fought by the Kings and the invaders for control of spice trade  in this area, and in the 17th century British established  their first settlement on the Malabar Coast at Tellicherry . Tellicherry was a land of renaissance and progressive ideas . From there came many revolutionaries who changed society .Tellicherry was  the birthplace of Communist movement in India. It was on the hills of Parapuram at Pinarayi , the communists had their first party congress . There were people who changed the course of the history through their determination  and vision . In the early 20th century ,people like CK Revathi and Kunhi Mayen changed the perception of the people through their actions and thoughts . Their life  story is much a story of the times. CK Revathi was the daughter of Karayi Damayanthi Amma , a lady with progres...

Jambo... Hello!  January 2019   Travelling from Kannur  to Kenya,  the Jomo Kenyatta Airport at Nairobi looks p unsophisticated  . Affrica  in my mind was a hot and humid , surprisingly the weather is fine  at around 25deg max and 15 deg min and we're told it's summer  now.  It's more or less  little like Wynad winter  climate without air conditioners anywhere on..  .  People were friendly and always wish as we pass them, but we were told by our friends there to be careful about the pickpockets and snatchers which were rampant .  Roads are wide and in vehicles seat belts are a must for all passengers .  Honking is akin to insulting and the discipline in driving and overtaking is worth learning  for malayalees .  All women have very fancy hairdo and they smile a lot . Kenyans speak very good English but the accent needs getting used to. Swahili sounds like hindi and is said to have descended from Hindi. ...

49 years routine of accompanying my father to his  ancestral house at Cherukunnu on Eid day had a break this year because of social distancing and stay at home protocols of  covid pandemic . As I lay in bed after a sumptuous eid lunch , a lot of vivid memories about Cherukunnu and its people  came to my mind. The place  has an innocuous charm like the people residing there. Over the years Cherukunnu has transformed from a simple village  to a bustling town with shopping complexes, banks and schools and most notably larger and bigger houses. During our school vacations we used to go to Cherukunnu to stay at the ancestral house situated at the convent road. The convent road with paddy fields on both the sides  terminates at the famous Christian missionary Martin de porous hospital. As a town born confused desi, walking through the  lush green fields all around with paddy cultivation to visit the relatives was a truly enchanting experience for me. Our sum...

Agra fort, The magnificient structure in red sandstone has seen many emperors and rulers in the past and was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal Dynasty . I have longed to go there to witness and sense the history that I have only read in the history books.  I got the chance in last June . On a sunny afternoon, I  walked around the fort to feel the heartbeat of  history. Two hours at Taj Mahal and and an hour of walk  outside the fort drained me out . I walked through the pillared corriders of Diwan-aam  and moved to the Diwan-E-Khaas, Jahangir's Palace and then to Sheesh Mahal . From there  I moved to the top of  Musamman Burj , the  octagonal tower built in white marble which  looked very distinct. I stood on the pavilion  which  led to the chamber, where the historians claim was the place emperor Shahjehan was kept in exile by his son Aurangazeb. The view of the Yamuna and Taj mahal from there was stunning and ...

         Manly looks are often associated with a glorious mane of hair. Men consider hair a priority when defining their looks, unlike women who consider beauty more holistically covering face, skin, hair, etc. Even the total lack of hair ie. a bald look, is today a male style statement in itself. . . I believe that  hairstyle tells the world what kind of person u are : a rebel ,a  confronter, a freak etc  but  only very  few knows the science and style of  baldness . Hair cutting centres  over the years have changed a lot in name , ambience and also the style of the hairdressers . Previously these  centres were called  ‘Barber shop’ or 'Saloons' but nowadays it is called ‘Hair Dressing centres’ or 'Beauty parlours'  with cozy and air cooled interiors offering other beauty enhancement procedures also . The old radios which used to  air All India Radio and Ceylon Radio programmes with nostalgic Malayal...

Two things I would  like to watch without boring is Elephants and aeroplanes , even though there is some amount of fear while sitting on it or in it . , Both has a distinct beauty and majestic look to  catch  the attention of  young and the old,  whether it is moving or not. Sitting in the train as we cross the Kochi Airport , or driving through the length of Meenabakkam airport at Chennai our heads unknowingly turn towards the runaway to see the metal birds . I had spend hours of transit time watching the jumbos lined up for take off and to see the landing  from the first floor of Mumbai airport. Aircraft spotting is an hobby for many and many take photographs and write notes about the flying beasts .  Bangalore International Airport has set up an elevated point outside the wall for photographers to take pictures  . As the new  airport has opened  at my hometown, the arrival of  flights has triggered lot of interest with tho...

If anyone were to ask me where I like to spend my free time in Kannur, I have only one answer and that is the Cannanore Cantonment area. Over the years many of my evenings were spent at the tranquil shores of Baby Beach , Payyambalam Beach and light house walkway enjoying the silence of the breeze watching the horizon merging with the sea as the sun swirls down . Cannanore Cantonment is the only cantonment in Kerala and is one out of the 62 in India.  It houses the barracks of defense security corps and the 122 infantry battalion of the Territorial Army. Some of the areas are not accessible to the general public due to military and security reasons ,but memories of visiting the serene ‘old baby beach’ in the protected area many years back with my parents is still etched in my mind. Driving through the Wellesley road in Burnassery( formerly Burnshire) gives an elated feeling with its lush green and clean surroundings and colonial buildings interlaced with modern bungalows on e...

Marco Polo of Venice was one of the earliest foreign travelers to visit India in the 13th century. He called the Malabar Coast as “an emporia of spice trade”. With vast areas of plantations, this God’s Own land was known for its natural plantations. People from all over the world came here in search of Black Gold (pepper), cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg etc. The spices of this coast were pure and expensive that only the wealthy could afford them. They were used as aromatics, which seasoned the delicacies served at European, African and Arab banquets. They were also used as medicines, as seen in the writings of Hippocrates. Bay leaves (or laurel) were woven into crowns for Olympic heroes, spice-scented balm were used after baths in Rome and Cordoba, spice-flavored wines were popular in Europe and incense made of spice was burned in temples in ancient Babylon. Our ancestors used the spices extensively in their cuisine making it mouth watering but healthy too. When we talk about spices, ...