Our Stolen Future!

We complain about our untidy colony premises, drainage systems and waste disposals. We hold strikes and protest for price hike of vegetables and petrol. We never bother about widespread epidemic until someone in our family gets it. Same way, we’re not bothered about the dreadful situation that thousands of people go through in our neighboring districts caused by the very harmful pesticide ‘Endosulfan’. Endosulfan is a chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticide which consists of highly toxic compounds which are responsible for severe intoxication and several deaths worldwide. It is used widely for insect control in cashew crops, tea plantations, vegetables and grains but it’s absorbed by humans and animals too. Badiadukka village in Kasargod district, Muthalamada village in Palakkad district and Idukki district in Kerala are the major areas which were badly affected by this pesticide. For better yielding and pest repelling, Endosulfan was given to plants through aerial spraying in bigger plantation areas. But, it was sprayed over water in the wells which are used for drinking purposes, ponds, lakes and even on people who were outside their shelters during the time of spraying. This caused many serious illnesses for people living in those areas including Endocrine disruption, Learning and Nervous disorders, Infertility and Impotency, Early puberty in girl children and several other reproductive failures and disabilities.

As per the Govt. of Kerala health records, When Mrs. Leelavathi gave birth to a girl child, the baby’s reproductive organ was completely protruded outside and Leelavathi’s breast milk contained 46 ppm (parts per million) of Endosulfan. Not only breast milk but also blood in the umbilical cord of the babies born in the village contained blood in it. “Every time officials or journalists come here, we’ve a hope that we’ll get justice soon but we’re being disappointed for the past few years. They just come, take down what we say or capture our pictures and videos and get paid for their job and forget about us”, says Mrs. Sreekumari whose two kids have burnt and wrinkled skin all over the body.

Out of 14 countries which uses Endosulfan, India stands first in the usage and production of this deadly harmful pesticide. The Plantation Corporation Ltd., who owns all these hectares of lands doesn’t bother to take any steps to find a solution to this problem which is actually caused by them. “As per Article 21 of the Indian constitution, every citizen has got the ‘right for living’ and these victims are being denied of that. Govt. of Kerala initially tried taking steps to ban this but as per the Indian Insecticides Act, States has got no rights to ban the usage of any pesticides and the Central Government is not willing to lift a ban on this cause of their own reasons and justifications”, says Dr. C. Jayakumar, director of Thanal, an NGO that helps to find a solutions to problems of this kind. Dr. Jayakumar has been the representative from India at the Stockholm Summit to discuss the hazards caused by Endosulfan and other harmful pesticides.

Vegetables and other products produced in these districts are being consumed by us in some way or the other. This means that the day when we also start suffering cause of this pesticide is not too far. Knowingly or unknowingly we are encouraging the same by not protesting or trying to find an alternate to this issue. We should not let a pesticide to steal our future and our generations yet to come.

ഞങ്ങള്‍ക്കും കൊതിയുണ്ട്, ജീവിക്കാന്‍..!!

വിഡ്ഢികള്‍ക്ക് ഒരു ദിനം ആവാമെങ്കില്‍ ഞങ്ങള്‍ക്കും ഒരു ദിനം ആയിക്കൂടെ?? – കുടുംബത്തില്‍ നിന്നും സമൂഹത്തില്‍ നിന്നും ഒരുപാട് പീഡനങ്ങളും അവഹേളനങ്ങളും ഏറ്റു വാങ്ങേണ്ടി വന്ന ഒരു ഹിജ്‌റയുടേതാണ് ഈ ചോദ്യം. കമിതാകള്‍ക്കും, എയിഡ്സ് ബാധിതര്‍ക്കും, വികലാംഗര്‍ക്കും എല്ലാം ഒരു ദിനമുണ്ട് നമ്മുടെ നാട്ടില്‍, എന്നാല്‍ ഇവര്‍ക്ക് വിധിക്കപെട്ടത്തു മറ്റൊന്നാണ്. ഓര്‍മ വച്ച നാള്‍ മുതല്‍ ഒരു പുരുഷ ശരീരത്തില്‍ തടവിലാക്കപെട്ട സ്ത്രീ ഹൃദയത്തിന്റെ വീര്‍പ്പു മുട്ടലുകള്‍ക്ക് പുറമെയാണ് നാടിന്റെയും വീടിന്റെയും പരിഹാസങ്ങള്‍. ആണിനെയും പെണ്ണിനെയും സൃഷ്‌ടിച്ച പോലെ ദൈവം ഇവരെയും സൃഷ്ടിച്ചപ്പോള്‍ ഇവരെ അംഗീകരിക്കുന്ന ഒരു സമൂഹത്തെ സൃഷ്ടിക്കാന്‍ ഒരുപക്ഷെ അദ്ദേഹം മറന്നതാവാം. അതിനാല്‍ ചിലര്‍ക്ക് കുടുംബം നഷ്ടമായി, തങ്ങളുടെ കുറ്റമല്ല എന്നറിഞ്ഞിട്ടും പലരെയും രക്ഷിതാക്കള്‍ പോലും ഉപേക്ഷിച്ചു, ചിലര്‍ പന്ത്രണ്ടാം വയസ്സ് മുതല്‍ ബോംബയിലെയും, മറ്റു മഹാനഗരങ്ങളിലേയും തെരുവുകളില്‍ ഭിക്ഷാടകരായി. ചിലര്‍ വേശ്യകളുടെ വേഷം ധരിച്ച് നിത്യവൃത്തിക്കുള്ള മാര്‍ഗം കണ്ടെത്തി. നഷ്ടമാവാന്‍ ഒന്നുമില്ലാത്തതിനാല്‍ മാനാഭിമാനങ്ങളെപറ്റി അവര്‍ വ്യാകുലരായിരുനില്ല എന്നു തന്നെ വേണമെങ്കില്‍ പറയാം.

തങ്ങളെ കണ്ടാല്‍ വായ്‌ പൊത്തി ചിരിക്കുന്നവര്‍, കേട്ടാല്‍ അറക്കുന്ന കമന്റുകള്‍ അടിക്കുന്നവര്‍, തരം കിട്ടിയാല്‍ വസ്ത്രാക്ഷേപം ചെയ്യാന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കുന്നവര്‍ എന്നിങ്ങനെ പോകുന്നു ഹിജ്ര സമൂഹത്തില്‍ പെട്ടവര്‍ക്ക് പൊതു സമൂഹത്തോടുള്ള കാഴ്ചപാടുകള്‍. ഇതൊന്നും അവരെ സംബന്ധിച്ചടുത്തോളം കേട്ടുകേള്‍വികള്‍ അല്ല, മറിച്ച് അനുഭവത്തിന്റെ വെളിച്ചത്തില്‍ ഉണ്ടായവയാണ്. സമ്പൂര്‍ണ്ണ സാക്ഷരത, തികഞ്ഞ സംസ്കാര സമ്പന്നര്‍ എന്നെല്ലാം നാം സ്വയം അവകാശ പെടുന്നുവെങ്കിലും, ജീവശാസ്ത്രപരമായ വികാസങ്ങള്‍ കൊണ്ട് സാധാരണ മനുഷ്യരില്‍ നിന്നും വ്യത്യസ്തരായി തീര്‍ന്ന ഹിജരകളെ അംഗീകരിക്കാന്‍ നാം കൂട്ടാകുന്നില്ല.

നമ്മളുടെ അയല്‍ സംസ്ഥാനമായ തമിഴ്നാട്ടില്‍ സ്ഥിതി വ്യത്യസ്തമാണ്‌. അവിടെ ഈ സമൂഹത്തില്‍ പെട്ടവര്‍ക്കായി വര്‍ഷം തോറും മദ്രാസിന് അടുത്തുള്ള വില്ലുപുരം ജില്ലയില്‍ നടത്തുന്ന സൗന്ദര്യ മത്സരത്തിലും, ആഘോഷങ്ങളിലും പങ്ക് കൊള്ളാന്‍ ഇന്ത്യയില്‍ നിന്നു മാത്രമല്ല ലോകത്താകമാനം ഉള്ള ഹിജറകള്‍ എത്തി ചേരുന്നു. തങ്ങള്‍ അനുഭവിക്കുന്ന ഒട്ടപെടലുകള്‍ക്കും യാതനകള്‍ക്കും ഒരു ആശ്വാസമാണ് അവിടെ നടക്കുന്ന ഒത്തുകൂടല്‍ എന്നു അവര്‍ പറയന്നു. ഇന്ത്യയിലെ ആദ്യത്തെ ഹിജ്ര ടി.വി അവതാരികയും, ആദ്യമായി ഹിജ്ര സമൂഹത്തില്‍ നിന്നും തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പിന് നാമനിര്‍ദ്ദേശ പത്രിക സമര്‍പിക്കുന്നതും, ലോകത്തെ തന്നെ ആദ്യത്തെ ട്രാന്‍സ്‌-ജെന്ടെര്‍ വെല്‍ഫയര്‍ ബോര്‍ഡ്‌ രൂപം കൊണ്ടതും, ഇപ്പോ ആദ്യമായി ഏപ്രില്‍ 15 ഹിജരകളുടെ ദിനമായി ആചരിച്ച് അവരെ പൊതുജനമായി അംഗീകരിക്കാനുമുള്ള തമിഴ്നാട് സര്‍കാരിന്റെ ദൌത്യം എറേ പ്രശംസിനീയവും മാത്രികാപരവുമാണ്.

അഞ്ചു ലക്ഷത്തോളം വരുന്ന ഇന്ത്യയിലെ ഹിജ്ര സമൂഹത്തിന്റെ യാതനകള്‍ മനസിലാക്കാന്‍ ഒരു സംസ്ഥാന സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ എങ്കിലും തയ്യാറായതോടെ സമൂഹത്തെ ഭയന്ന്‍ പകല്‍ പുരുഷ വേഷം ധരിച്ചു സ്ത്രീ ഹൃദയവും പേറി നടന്നവര്‍ തമിഴ്നാട്ടിലേക്കു പലായനം ചെയ്തു തുടങ്ങിയിരിക്കുന്നു. സമൂഹത്തെ ഭയക്കാതെ, സ്വന്തം വ്യക്തിത്വം മറച്ചു വയ്ക്കാതെ ജീവിക്കാനുള്ള ആഗ്രഹം കൊണ്ട്... പിന്നീട് എപ്പോഴെങ്കിലും ലോകം തങ്ങളെയും അംഗീകരിക്കും എന്ന പ്രതീക്ഷോടെ...

His Poem, His Life...!!

Have you ever dropped your jaw at a meaningful and an earth-shattering Tamil song, at its lyrics specifically? Or have you ever mumbled at it saying, “wow, what a lyrics, man!?” Well, then here’s the master-mind, the always young at heart, vibrant and the most endowed lyricist India has ever seen, Vairamuthu.

“The poet in me wasn’t born from nothingness; an impulse which was there when I was ten years old made me write until now.”- says Vairamuthu, the maker of nearly 6000 songs including the latest hits from Raavan and Enthiran. Poets like Bharathidasan, Kannadasan and Kalaignar instigated his love for the language Tamil and poems. Writing poems would be a hobby for some, but for him poem is neither a job nor a hobby but rather, his life, itself. If rap and jazz can shake your body, his lyrics sodden in wide meanings and great lexis can shake your mind!

“If a song of mine is enjoyed by illiterate or deprived people, then that song is the best, I would say. If they can enjoy it and understand it, that is when the poet in me acquires the ultimate contentment rather than any awards or accolades can do” – says he, in bliss. “Sometimes I don’t find enough words to articulate the ideas I have in my mind. But sometimes, some words accidentally come to the tip of my fingers which would be exact for the idea that I had in my mind and that is when the rhymester or the lyricist in me becomes complete; when words and thoughts meet together!”- He asserted.

If you ask him how he can write songs like “Usire poguthey”… and “Kadhal anukkal” even at the age of 50s, then he would say, “Body’s age and mind’s age doesn’t have any relation. My heart is still in the 20s, the college-goer who passionately looks at love, relationships and everything around. I keep observing the youngsters, their trends, their attitude, and almost everything which helps me to write for the present generation.”

“I am in search of a bigger and better ship to sail smooth, to cover wider distances, to catch larger fishes and to go to the depths to find pearls in the ocean of music; and when I find all that is when the lyricist in me will attain the ultimate triumph” – says the five times national award winning lyricist.

Poems have been his life for over 40 years; it has given him fame, opportunities, exposure and bliss. And that has made his life itself into a poem, embraced with love, compassion, peace and eternal euphoria…!!

Nagarjuna; an actor and beyond…!

‘Simplicity personified’ could be the best word used to describe Nagarjuna, the south Indian film luminary. Thanks to the economic recession that happened subsequently on his completion of Automobile Engineering from Louisiana University in the year 1985, the reason why he couldn’t find a job and he came back to India to join his Dad Nageshwara Rao’s film fraternity. With his first film, Vikram, he proved to be an amazing actor which resulted in hundreds of opportunities knocking at his door and he became the south Indian Idol in no time even to those who have never watched a single film of Nagarjuna.

Actors tend to confine themselves with their fame and stardom but, Nagarjuna isn’t just an actor. Beyond, an automobile engineer, he is a business person who runs hotels and many other business organizations, he works for the reinforcement of HIV/AIDS victims through the TeachAIDS campaign initiated by the Stanford University. Besides all these, he works for the Blue Cross of Hyderabad which takes care of thousands of abandoned animals in the city. “To satisfy the actor in me, I work with good roles that comes my way, but to satisfy the human being in me, I think the best way is to give care and compassion to the suffering and the down-trodden inhabitants living around me”, says Nagarjuna with his experience in acting over hundreds of films and winning many state and national awards.

Nagarjuna who is planning to a start media school in South India is looking forward to bring more number of talented youngsters to the industry in order to avoid the same old actors dealing with young roles. “I would rather stop acting completely than acting in super action and thriller movies hereafter because am very well aware that my age is 52 and if I deal with such roles it will take me nowhere”, he added. “Thought provoking and thematic movies as in the Malayalam film industry which hardly comes to the limelight should be made examples of by the other languages in order to save themselves from continuous box-office failures”, he asserted.

More than awards or accolades what can make Nagarjuna happy would be just a text message or an E-mail from someone who loves him and his movies or activities sitting in some corner of the world. “It gives me immense pleasure and nothing in the world can refuel or empower me as much as it does”, he says in bliss. Always propagating quality cinema with clean entertainment, Nagarjuna yearns to make good movies, which would not only rise above the typical commercial movies but also enhance our heritage, rich tradition and family values.

His new bilingual movie Payanam which has come out under the Prakash Raj productions that talk about a flight hijack story continues to make waves in theatres across South India.

I TOO QUIT!!

I thought of being 'something', dreamed of being 'someone'. But I've now realized that, am gonna be 'nothing' out here. Therefore, I TOO QUIT!!


No new posts are gonna come up in this blog in the nearest future.

Thanks to one and all...

Those Five Comrades....

They think alike, like any other youngsters who wishes to have fun in their lives. Yeah, they are my friends, who have always helped me to stay happy and forget all my worries…. They’ve made me do assignments and seminar papers for them by promising to buy me chocolates or juices from the canteen which they would never do… still, I do it for them because I never wanted them to lose their marks or get scolding from any of our faculties… I never knew that I’ll miss them so much in my life…. Once, they boozed in their hostel and were caught as one of our classmates Mr. X (Brutus) went and told this to their hostel warden. We never expected Mr. X to do like this because he uses to roam around with these five doing all the stupid things possible. I don’t know what changed him like this… X was my very good friend with whom I’ve had so much of fun. He used to tease me, bug me, make fun of me….and, what not!! But due to so many reasons he changed, a lot. Whatever the reason be, I never expected him to change like this…. Let’s forget about him because, he has got no role in our lives anymore, even as a classmate. I would like to talk about those five. Because of this X, they got suspended from the college; they were not allowed to write the final exam. They were asked to vacate the hostels and leave the campus immediately. They left, without any complaints or arguments. I’m not supporting the mistake they did, am supporting the ones those who did the mistakes because they’re MY FRIENDS! Without them, classes were really boring, when we go to the department, we felt as if we’re going for a funeral…. It was so awful…. Never felt like attending any classes or submitting any assignments… I wanted to bang my head towards some pillar or wall… we miss them a lot… a lot more than ever before. I can imagine the situation of the parents of these five. They went home heavy-hearted and ashamed for the first time. They were speechless in front of their parents tears… we were all helpless… after this mishap, we’d a day for industrial visit to the nearest radio station in our city, we never wanted to go because we were together for each and every visits and reporting that we’d before. Due to this reason, we got back to college right after the visit without roaming around or hanging around anywhere…

I know this is not the end of life or anything but still, I want them to come back as soon as possible and start rocking again. They’re frustrated so much that they’ll do anything out of their anger. But, I want them to make others realize that it is only the relationship that will last forever, not the ‘Rudraksha’!!!!

Let them laugh, I don’t care…!!!

Media plays an important role in everyone’s life. But the 39yr old Aruna, from the rural outskirts of Palakkad never thought that media can make a tremendous change in her life. Eight years back, when her husband Ponnunni (44) died of AIDS, she was left all alone in life with the HIV virus that her husband passed on to her. People stopped using the public tap which Aruna used. They drained the pond in which she bathed; the road which she used to walk was frequently disinfected by putting chlorine. Her mother Anandavalli, a school teacher was the only person who supported her. Now things have changed, nobody bothers if she takes bath in the pond or not. She goes for marriages and meetings, people find pleasure in sharing some moments with her. And now she says, “thanks to media….” With smiles..!!
“Yes, my life has changed. Now I can go anywhere I want. I’ve learned to ignore people who always ask me sit in a corner and cry as I am a widow. Now-a-days nobody has a problem in giving me shake hands or using the water cooler from which I drank water.”- Aruna says. Before, people were afraid of talking to her since they thought that HIV is a contagious virus. After media has taken its role in giving proper awareness about HIV/AIDS, its causes and mode of spreading etc…, people have started being kind and helpful to the victims. Aruna never used to go out few years back. Her mother took care of dropping and picking up her children from school. But, after joining “Prathyasha”, an organization of the HIV victims, Aruna has changed in many ways. She now works as a team to solve the issues and problems faced by the victims everywhere. If somebody asks her about her children’s blood report, she has it ready to show that they are not the carriers of the HIV virus. Aruna takes medicine twice daily and now she’s extremely healthy that she can do any job she wants to. She gives counseling to the victims and makes them overcome the situation and live like others.
In her white and white sari with her pleasing smile, she goes to everyone who need help and conduct AIDS awareness campaigns and workshops in schools and colleges. All that she’s striving hard is to eradicate the stigma towards the HIV victims in the society and to give them a chance to live.