You are rich ; 32 times !!

Thirty Two and Twenty Six ; the planning commision has underlined its words. And they left me confused, whether i am rich or not.
In the opinion of the PC, those who have a daily income of 26 Rupees in rural areas and that of 32 Rupees in urban areas are no longer poor. And they claim to have reached this conclusion in the light of authentic study results.
In a country, where oil price scaling new hights bimonthly, where vegetable prices skyrocketing, where self financing colleges carrying out day robbery, where cola companies exploiting the last drop of drinking water, where the 90% of the wealth is concentrated in a few persons, you are still rich if you earn 32 rupees a day. Isn't that invention something deserves a grand applaud ?
So what you can do with these 32 rupees ? In North India, chapathi (assume 5 rupees for one )is the main food item. So in govt's words Richness is the financial capacity to eat 6 chapathis a day without any curry ! You can save 1 rupee for future ! Coming to South (where things are far better ??), they eat rice. Govt gives a kg rice for a rupee, and a person need barely 150 gm rice a day. If you are ostentatious, you can have a curry of 15 - 20 rupees ! More money to save !!
If you earn 32 rupees a day, eventhough you dont have electricity, no LPG connection, no money to spend on education, health and leisure, you are rich !!
I dont know whether the planning commission and the govt are living in fool's paradise, but to believe all this nonsense, i wasn't born yesterday..
Put your thinking cap on, friends..

Witnessing the death of traditions..

Another Onam season has been over. The Malayalees across the world celebrated it with joy and happiness. But, these days also made me deeply think into it. Being a representative of a new generation, i asked myself that whether i'm celebrating the Onam in its real colours ? I got 'NO' as answer. Because they have been lost somewhere in the way back. And in the age of instants, it is impossible to bring those colours back and refill the celebration with them. I dont know how many Keralites, i'm no different, have heard of the traditions namely Thumbi Tullal, Onavillu and Onappottan all observed during the Onam season. There are some places, relatively 'unsophisticated' areas, where they are still observed, but soon it may become history.
Though i stressed Onam, the case is not of that alone. There are many traditions and folk arts awaiting their extermination from the world. Those include religious and non religious arts. Though i'm not a religious person, i used to think on it. The disappearance of some arts, unless they are immersed in superstition and dont include black magic, that once defined a culture has been always a loss for the society. Nevertheless, even some native sports and langugaes across the world are on the verge of extinction. They are getting erased from the picture as the time goes on.
People may ask what is the point in protecting these 'outdated' and tedious arts and all. I still have no firm answer for that, but one thing is that they are the remains of the cultures that have been passed over the generations. And every culture is unique and important as any other.
The usual scene of society is that when someone expresses this concern, most probably he fails to find an echo. People have no time to give an ear to it. These words too, might go unheard as well, i know. That is why i'm of mixed feelings, as the only thing i can do is to word my opinion on it, but not doing something else. But i hope there may have people who can do something..

ഹ്ര്‍ദയം

ഹ്ര്‍ദയം ഒരു മോര്‍ച്ചറിയാണ്
പറയാതെ പോയ ചില പ്രണയങ്ങള്‍
മരവിച്ചു കിടക്കുന്ന ഒരു മോര്‍ച്ചറി
ഹ്ര്‍ദയം ഒരു സെമിത്തേരിയാണ്
കുഴിച്ചുമൂടപ്പെട്ട ചില മോഹങ്ങള്‍
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ഒരു സെമിത്തേരി
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തളിര്‍ക്കുന്ന ഒരു പൂന്തോട്ടം...