All About Kerala and Beyond

According to a recent study conducted by Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management- Kerala, over 80 percent of students who participated in a survey wanted sex education. Most of them were of the opinion that it would help them to be comfortable while interacting with the opposite sex!

In Kerala, sex is a suppressed/underground activity. This makes sex education much more important for the future generations.

Another disturbing finding from the study was that many children were victims of sexual abuse. Nearly 30 percent of children reported atleast one form of sex abuse. Releasing the report, Mukunda das said that this figure indicates "critical social reality".

Posted by onkerala at 10:47 PM | Permalink

As the number of new vehicles on the road increase at a very high rate, Kerala towns are facing parking problem. This is more acute in Trivandrum and Ernakulam towns where finding a parking space is very tough.

This is complicated more by the fact that even new multi-story buildings are not providing enough parking space. So soon we might see parking rage incidents such as the one below!

Posted by onkerala at 07:56 PM | Permalink

Kayamkulam to Trivandrum railway line is now completely electrified. A test drive was done recently and it is expected that electric trains will start running from December.

Finally something good (long overdue!) is happening on Kerala railway lines. After complete electrification, I hope the 20 minute halt (engine change) for long distance trains at Ernakulam will be changed.

Posted by onkerala at 12:36 PM | Permalink

It is interesting to see how some of the technology developments affect our daily life. One of the sites which I found very useful recently is the Wikimapia site based on google earth.

Last week I wanted to do some textile shopping. We usually visit Parthas shop in Trivandrum. This time I decided to look for some other shop and Ayyappas was another commonly heard textiles shop. But I had no idea where it was located. So I opened www.wikimapia.org and searched for "ayyappas textiles". Voila! The first result I got pointed to Ayyappas Textiles and I could see the complete route to the shop!

Wikimapia like wikipedia is surprisingly reliable even though it is publicly edited. There are some problems such as people not qualifying the places they add completely(For example, Ayyappas alone brings many entries without any reference to the place where it is located!). Another problem is that people have a tendency to mark their home much more prominently than useful public places. And lastly not all places are mapped. For example, the place I live is not on wikimapia.

Posted by onkerala at 11:10 PM | Permalink

Thiruvananthapuram Capital Region Development.

Improvements have been happening in traffic infrastructure of Trivandrum for about 2 years now. Things have improved in some areas and further improvement is expected once project is completed. But there are couple of problems.

• As always 'pothujanam' is Kazhutha. You can sometimes find that even cars come in the wrong direction through the newly constructed two lanes between Chakka & Palayam. Some morons want to avoid driving another 200 metres for a U-turn.
• Enviornmentalists are a pain in the ass in Kerala. I love nature and wants it to be preserved. But enviornmentalists are worse than Taliban fundamentalists sometimes. Bus bays along museum roads are affected due to these 'paristhithi terrorists'.
• While taking lands, Govt. should have taken some more land on both sides. Since it is not done, any future expansion on these now carry heavy financial & social burden.
• There are so many things happening like tiling of the footpaths along Kaudiar road. But for God's sake first fill all the Potholes on the road. I used to think what would be my feeling if I am the PWD engineer resposible for a road stretch which is full of big potholes.
• Parking is neglected in this whole business. It is going to be a major headache and cause for lot problems(it already is!). Due to corruption, most of building guidelines are now ignored.

Posted by onkerala at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Technopark is an IT park in Trivandrum employing about 15,000 people. Technopark organizes an entertainment event called "Tech-a-Break" annually.

Following video is made during the Tech-a-Break event. It is a humorous look at the daily life at Technopark. Video available via www.youtube.com.

Posted by onkerala at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Police said on friday that they have taken into custody 2 suspected terrorists (belonging to "Harkka Markka Thul Thul" terrorist organization in Pakistan). It is alleged that these guys came via Indian Ocean using a paddleboat. A huge cache of weapons (234 rounds of M16, 34 square grenades, 104 safety pins and 10002 scud missiles all hidden under the paddle boat) was recovered.

But what surprised the police most was the discovery of a master plan to bring chaos in Kerala traffic and kill as many people as possible. Police said that probably this scheme has been going on successfully for sometime. Police said this is the first time they were able to catch "Traffic Terrorists". A wide net is put all over Kerala to catch any remaining Traffic Terrorists.

Following is an excerpt from "learning driving in 21 days" book which terrorists were trying market in local Malayalam language (Our special thanks to kuttappan in Kerala police for leaking this!). Driving in Kerala will never be the same again!

"Driving is an art. In India, driving is more than an art. It is more a combination of art and acrobatics. Following are some general tips to improve your driving experience in Kerala. It doesn’t matter whether you are driving bike, car or truck; principles almost remain the same. Note that the following principles are in no particular order. They are all very important in a calm peaceful society."

• First and foremost rule. Look at the ground and drive. You need to scan the road all the time to avoid potholes. Some of the potholes are affectionately called "grabham kalakki" in Kerala.
• Indicators are really unnecessary in Kerala. Please do not use them since it helps to conserve the battery power. Let us keep our environment green.
• When driving at night, ensure that headlamps are in high beam. Also whenever you see some one coming with high beam from opposite side, flash your headlamps (or switch off in between) - that will teach him a lesson!
• When you reach a cross section, assume that the guys coming from the cross section road will slow down. Hence do not slow down. In fact it is probably safer to accelerate.
• Apply horn liberally. Horn is not advised when you overtake since it might trigger passion in the driver you are overtaking. Horn is also not advised when you go over a curve as the horn might startle the driver coming from the other side.
• When you a see a pedestrian crossing ahead using Zebra line or otherwise, accelerate maximum and then push horn button and keep it that way till he runs. You can also do a sudden brake at the end. This ensures that he/she may not attempt to cross when you come next time. It is also keeps pedestrians in good health by providing the required exercise and keeping their heart in good shape.
• Sometimes you will see that a pedestrian is standing in the middle of the road like a bull. It is better not to mess with him. You can try a very light horn possibly with sufficient distance. This type guys are quite common in villages and is called bulltrians.
• Overtake from any side. Always strive to overtake. Your number of overtaking increases your Karma. This ensures that your life after death will be pretty good and as a bonus death is also guaranteed earlier.
• All drawings on the road, which includes yellow lines, white lines, dashed lines etc, are road ornaments. They are a part of government’s Kerala Bachao initiative to make Kerala look good. Some people seem to mistake them for some non-existent rules.
• Wherever there is a signal less junction, there is a strong chance that somewhere traffic police is standing and controlling traffic. Pretend that you haven’t seen him (chances of seeing him is actually very less). If you see him at the last moment, do not hesitate, just press accelerator.
• There are not many tollbooths in Kerala. But when there is one everyone wants to cross it in 0.02 seconds. So when you reach booth, if there is someone in front, apply horn to speed him up. You can also make screeching sound to speed him up. Also when you take the toll slip act like you are going to buy ‘vayu gulika’ for your Mom.
• In all parts of Kerala, you can find a unique vehicle called Auto. These are capable of doing a U-turn faster than a bullet. Always overtake one when you see one. He might catch up and overtake you at the next junction. But never loose patience, overtake again and so on.
• When you drive ensure that clearance between you and the guy in front is minimum. This ensures that you are in the vacuum generated by vehicle in front and hence petrol consumption will come down.
• Roads in Kerala are built mainly for possessions such as temple celebrations. So as a road user you will need to do compromises such as sitting at home.
• All speed limits in Kerala are written in hexadecimal and in miles. That means a figure of 50 on highway means 80 miles per hour is the maximum speed allowed.
• All across Kerala, you will see that gay men like to move around in cycles side by side taking almost half of the road. It is also better not to disturb them from their love making talk and cycling.
  

Posted by onkerala at 08:00 PM | Permalink

Irinjalakkuda is a small town in Trichur(Thrissur) district of Kerala. There is something unique of about its railway station. It is located away from the main town in a place called Kalletumkara. In fact it is quite difficult to get to the station! People who use the station normally will have their own transportation such as a bike as can be seen in the following picture.

You wonder why is it that the station is located here? This is the story I heard about Irinjalakkuda station.

When the railway line came though Irinjalakkuda, local elders were against the whole idea. They feared that trains would cause abortion and also that the trains will be used by thieves for easy access to the town!. So they protested against the railway line and got its direction changed. This ensured that even today the station is not accessible. It also affected the growth of the Railway station.

So even today Irinjalakkuda station gives out 'old style' manual tickets. Also train arrival is indicated by old type manual bell. The lonely station master there is responsible for everything at the station. He handles signalling systems, answers passenger queries and so on. This also means that he is in a permanent state of despair!

Posted by onkerala at 07:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A song which evokes strong nostalgic feeling for a malayalee :)

Posted by onkerala at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For a farmer rat is one of his worst enemies. It causes lot of damage to the crops putting the survival of the farmer at stake. So it is no surprise that over a period of time humans have developed sophisticated systems for trapping and killing rats!

Recently on my visit to Thrissur, I came across an “elikkeni” (Rat trap) made of bamboo. Essentially it consists of a hollow bamboo wood of about 20 cm length with a curved (stretched) stick attached to it with two strings. One end of the stick is tucked into the open end of bamboo (see pictures below).

The loose string forms a circular loop on the other end of the bamboo and is hidden in the slit. The stretched string goes vertically inside the bamboo. Rat will have to cut this if he wants to move across the bamboo. When he cuts it the stretched stick pulls the other circular loop effectively strangling him!

Now the question is: how do you get the rat to cut through the bamboo? Rats build elaborate underground tunnels. They open to pits like the one visible in the following picture.

Before putting the trap, farmer opens this hole first. If rat is inside it, he will close it immediately. Next time farmer sticks the loop end of the bamboo into the closed tunnel there by bringing light into it. Rat again comes out to close it, but will have to cut the trap string to get to the end where there is light. That’s it, poor rat is dead!

Posted by onkerala at 04:46 PM | Permalink