ashapnair: March 2013

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

BLOGSPOT

Tamara, a 60-year-old worn out by cervical cancer but ever-radiant with a never-fading smile on her lips, might never have heard of a blog. But the reach of a blog, the power of words and, above all, the kind-heartedness of a few bloggers have touched the life of this destitute woman like never before.
 ‘Boologakarunyam’, a rare gesture on the blogs, has been doing its bit for the deprived, orphans, and homeless for the past few years. The blog has more than 50 members in the group and almost all of them are working in and blogging from UAE.
 Tamara’s story appeared in the blog last month and the group have been able to mobilise a considerable amount of money by now.
 Ragesh K.U. in Dubai, who was the first to launch the idea of such a blog, says that it’s been an enriching experience so far.
 One or two bloggers from the group would somehow make it a point to visit the person-in-need, make sure the circumstances are not fake, post the story and pool in funds.
 Binu M. Devasia, a physically-challenged boy in Mananthavady, was the first to experience the kindness of Boologakarunyam. He went on to publish his poetry collection later, thanks to a few bloggers who went all out to assist the boy.
 A Pulluvan family with three ill children in Malappuram, a youngster in Cheruvannoor whose two kidneys had failed him, a seven-year-old who had to undergo heart-valve operation in Thiruvananthapuram, a three-month-old girl with heart disease in Thrissur, Nalini and her son belonging to Chavara who had been in dire straits, the family of a man who had died in an accident in Sharjah... the group’s kind hands have reached many.
 Paul, who was battling with bone cancer in Thrissur, Mustafa from Malappuram, who is half-paralysed, but is an ardent reader, and Srijil, who was bitten by a snake, destroying his life, are some others who have been extended a helping hand and lots of goodwill by these bloggers.
 When cancer patient K.M. Sudheesh expressed his pain in words and came out with two books, the group urged fellow bloggers to buy them and help out the writer. The bloggers even posted a story to aid the victims of Bihar floods last year.
 Log on to boologakarunyam.blogspot.com, browse through the posts, and  by the time you log off, you would have decided to help out at least one fellow-being in pain and

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

GUIDANCE

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  In a close-knit tribal society, where a father drinks and smokes and a mother takes to men and has sex in not-so-closed a manner, a child does not remain a child. They love forest than school, chose to hunt than study and opt drugs for books.
It was into this primitive scene in the tribal colonies of Kasargod that a group of trainers under the District SSA here, ventured into two years ago.
What happened then is slowly creating history.
Around 30 guidance centres in the two educational districts of Kasargod and Kanhangad have been scripting success stories in changing the attitude of adivasi children towards learning. The centres, mostly in tribal colonies, have now become a place of union for not just the children but adults too.
The centres, which act as a home away from home for adivasi kids to spent their evenings where a volunteer plays the role of a parent and guides them through learning, have now gained the blessings of the entire adivasi communities here.
“It’s been a long journey. We met with hurdles initially, for it was very difficult to earn their trust. These adivasi children have now gained confidence, learn from nature and fellow-beings, like to read, write and enjoy games. Which means they behave and live like other children, which seemed to have had its effect on their parents too,’’ said Subrahmanian, SSA District Programme Officer.
‘Deeptham,’ a two-hour documentary by the team of Kasargod District Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), has captured this journey in images. It makes a trip into the lives of adivasi students who have been touched and transformed by the entry of SC/ST guidance centres into their colonies. The documentary, just a month old, will now find its way to more panchayats and districts, in a bid to emphasise the importance of collaborative learning. It has also acted as a catalyst to SSA’s decision to open 1,000 neighbourhood learning centres in the state.
“It’s a first-hand introduction to adivasi life here, their jobs, difficulties, how they bring up their children, the lives of these children in families and in schools, how the local bodies have intervened to help the SSA and how these centres have shaped their future. It has interviews with these kids, volunteers, the tribal heads (moopan) and the parents. We thought it is such a novel effort, it must be documented,’’ said P K Jayarajan, trainer at Kasargod BRC who shot the video.
At the recently concluded workshop of SSA held in Thiruvananthapuram to train volunteers for neighbourhood learning centres, Deeptham earned its share of accolades in volumes. It is expected to be telecast shortly in a leading channel.
In 2007, SSA had started guidance centres for SC/ST students in three districts, Kasargod, Palakkad and Wayanad, as a pilot programme. However, these centres will now be known as `padanaveedu’ or neighbourhood learning centres. But the objectives shall remain the same.

ABUSE

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The shocking incident in which girl students were sexually abused by a lottery agent in Kasargod is not an isolated one. Numerous girls, aged between 5 and 15, are falling prey to sexual and substance abuses in schools. A documentation of the cases attended by the helpdesk which was started recently for girls in government schools by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Kerala Mahila Samakhya Society (KMSS) is a testimony to this.
It was only a few weeks ago that members of the KMSS had to pass through a tough time when they received a call to their helpline from a teacher in a government school in Kozhikode. The teacher had found strange marks on the arm of a class IX student, whose head was drooping and was showing mental uneasiness. It was a typical case of substance abuse. The girl, when questioned by the KMSS and the police, revealed the names of 20 other victims like her, all girls, studying in various government schools in Kozhikode. The police was able to trace some of the drug peddlers. ‘’It was possible because of the pro-active teacher who sensed the danger. This is the change that gender education for teachers has brought in. Teachers are not only ready for action, but also eager to take the risk,’’ says Seema Bhaskar, state coordinator of  KMSS.
The helpdesk was launched in the second half of 2010. Though a toll-free number was conceived, it is yet to materialise. As of now, it’s the KMSS office phone numbers that act as helpline numbers. So far, more than 23 cases were documented by the KMSS in which either arrests were made or the girls were rescued and rehabilitated.
In another incident in Kozhikode, a class IX student who was being abused by her father was rescued. In Kannur, a Plus-II student was being sexually exploited with the silent knowledge of her mother who led a wayward life. The girl is now in the safe hands of KMSS and pursuing her studies in Thiruvananthapuram. It was the Ernakulam DPO who alerted the KMSS activists of a case in the Aralam farm in which a class XI student was pregnant. She was also shifted to a safe refuge in the capital.
In Thazhekode, Perinthalmanna, school drop-outs in a tribal area who were being forced to prostitution were rescued by KMSS members last week. The victims were girls in the age group of 5-15. It was from Kannur that the lone case involving boys was reported. The boys, along with girl students, were being sexually harassed by their teacher. So far, helpdesks have been started in 1,712 schools across the state.
For the KMSS members, it’s a continuation of what they have been doing for the past three years. Even before the setting up of the help desk, the KMSS had begun its struggle to create awareness on the importance of gender education in school curriculum, especially gender sensitisation to teachers.
It was in 2008 that the gender education programme of KMSS was started. Modules for the programme were prepared and submitted to the Education Department to reach a consensus in various levels. District Resource Groups, which included BRC trainers, Social Welfare Department officers, high school teachers and the like were formed.
However, it was after joining hands with the SSA that the programme assumed its present form.
‘’We cannot go forward without addressing the fact that our boys and girls in schools are facing several mental and physical problems. If teachers cannot recognise and identify the problems, it is a major shortcoming of our educational system which should be rectified. Gender education is the best tool for this,’’ said a state programme officer of the SSA. SSA is also planning to launch online training on gender education for teachers for which modules are under preparation.

BLOGSWARA

MUSIC and blogging - the most romantic pair ever born online. ‘Blogswara’, which started off as a collaborative musical endeavour by a couple of Indian bloggers, is a child born out of this love.
 The story begins from Thrissur. Joseph Thomas, who loves blogging and singing, meets similar minds online and the idea of a music blog is born.
 Initially, they sing for karaoke versions and post them in their own blogs.
 Then they wonder: Why not do some original music? Narayan Venkit, a blogger in the US, writes the lyrics, Ajith in Chennai does the orchestration and Jo (as Joseph is fondly called) renders his melodious voice. Their first song, ‘Vaazhvu Chezhikka...’ happens.
 Jo, who is presently working as a web-designer with a firm in Thiruvananthapuram, recalls the moments when their first album was launched, back in 2006. Version one (V1) of Blogswara (even the name was suggested by a blogger) had 11 songs, including a theme song.
 ``Everything was done online, without anyone seeing the other, for we were in different parts of the world, just the word Indian uniting us. And, of course, music. Bloggers did everything, including recording and mixing,’’ he says.
 When the bloggers decided to launch V2 of Blogswara, there was one major change. This time, they included non-bloggers too. But the music did not lose its intensity. ``The music is an interesting mix of rawness and finesse, and of tradition and modernism and post- modernism, and of our loves, hopes and desires,’’ Blogswara says in its own pages at http://www.blogswara.in.
 Last December, they released the V5 of Blogswara, for the first time including a Kannada song and wonderful instrumental music by a foreign musician Jerry Oviedo. The latest version saw as many as 15 new musicians becoming its part. The older versions had only carried Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil songs.
 Have they ever thought of bringing out their music in the market?
 ``We began Blogswara with the objective of providing a platform for amateur musicians online. Music here is freely distributed. No commercial aspects have so far entered our thoughts,’’ Jo says.
 But there are new ideas, he adds. As the team now gets ready to launch V6 of Blogswara, the ideas might get a shape. ``In the next version, we hope to include a video song too; visualisation of any of the songs in the album. And we also hope to take our songs to popular FM radios, so that our musicians get more encouragement,’’ Jo shares the dream of Blogswara.
 And may be one day, these online musicians will meet in person. As of now, they are united only through music, and their blog.
anil.asha@gmail.com

IGNOU FM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: How about learning your lessons listening to the radio? The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is all set to make the age-old radio an educational tool by starting FM stations at its campuses in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
Named ‘Gyan Vani’, the FM radio is purely to air educational programmes including live radio counselling. While IGNOU will have an agreement signed with All-India Radio for its transmission in Thiruvananthapuram, it will have its own facilities installed at the Kochi campus.
Though IGNOU had kickstarted a massive programme to start FM stations across the country for wider reach as earlier as 2002, it is for the first time that Kerala ranks among the prospective places for setting up FM stations.
It is keeping in tune with the FM boom in the State that the IGNOU has embarked on such a venture.”We have audio CDs of our classes which will be aired. Every information that our students want to know - their examination schedules, new courses, dates of their classes - all these will be announced through Gyan Vani. It is in the installation stage and will be functional shortly,” said B Sukumar, IGNOU Regional Director.
Though a final decision on the total hours of transmission is yet to be taken, it is expected to be on air for at least six hours. Apart from live interactions with teachers for clearing doubts, campus programmes, and information capsules, IGNOU has plans to tie up with the local educational institutions too. In this way, a more elaborate and comprehensive package of educational programmes can be anticipated with the FM radio available within 80km radius, Sukumar said.
The IGNOU had tied up with the AIR four years back to air a live radio counselling programme for one hour which used to be attended by an administration expert and two subject experts. The programme was well-received among the student community and even rural students who had nothing to do with the IGNOU campus, used to call up for interaction. However, it was discontinued subsequently.
With the FM stations to be launched now, the IGNOU hopes to reinstate its relationship with the student community once again.

CAREER

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  They may be spending the best days of their lives in closed homes; a far cry from the life led by a normal teenager. But hundreds of inmates of various shelter homes in the State have been thrown open a ray of hope to steer their lives to safe shores.
 The Social Welfare Directorate is all set to organise a massive career guidance programme for inmates of shelter homes in the state. The concept has all the support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and is being implemented by a Delhi-based NGO, Etasha Society.
 It is the positive response that they received last year when a pilot programme was initiated in Thiruvananthapuram that enthused the Directorate to take up the mission in a bigger way.
 Teenagers, who are on the verge of taking a new direction with regard to their education, are the lucky ones who would be benefited by the novel step. As many as 150 inmates, both boys and girls, hailing from all districts would be given guidance in choosing the best for their future, at the three-day workshops to be organised at the regional level in Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.  
``These children do not have the exposure to the outside world and knowledge of new avenues as other children of their age have. A little help in choosing their individual paths based on their attitude and aptitude would take them a long way. Besides, the children are also excited to be part of it. It will be held before the examination results are out in May so that the children are ready with their options by then,’’ said K.K.Mony,
Additional Director, Social Welfare Directorate.  Etasha, the NGO which did the pilot programme last year, has similar assignments in other states including Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
It employs a scientific mode of evaluating the attitude, skill and inclinations of the teenagers, enabling them to choose a desired area where they can excel.
 ``We give them exercises where their tastes are known and aptitude is tested. We have charted out nearly 400 career avenues for them to choose. At the end of the programme, the children would be able to choose a minimum of three areas which matches their taste. Then, we help them to proceed with their chosen areas,’’ said Meenakshi Nayar, president of Etasha, from Delhi.  According to her, a scientific approach to career guidance is not even employed by leading schools. Which means the Directorate, by organising the programme would be helping the disadvantaged youth to choose a better future, something that normal teenagers in the state miss.

OLD NEWSPAPERS

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: History lay brittle and moth-eaten in the sepia-toned newspapers, bundled inside a cool sheet of thin cloth-paper. They spoke of umpteen moments in history - when the ripples of a mutiny in Mumbai resonated in Kochi or the times when a Dewan towered a King in Travancore. Though looking torn and worn out, they possessed the ammunition to send an adrenaline rush through a history-monger.
The newspapers of yore, dating back to pre-Independence times, reached the State Archives office in the city on Thursday becoming the first-of-its-kind collection in its custody. Many of the names are unheard of, some little known and others familiar. There are nearly 42 newspapers, many of them in urgent need of a mending. From ‘Samadarshini’, which used to be published from Thiruvananthapuram in 1945 to ‘Gomathy’, which came out from Thrissur during the 1930s, fall in the bundle. The newspapers, which are an interesting collection throwing light on the development of print media in the State, were gifted to the State Archives by a family based in Thrissur.
The newspapers belonged to the collection of K Sreedhara Menon, who was a retired District Judge in Thrissur. Though he passed away in 1992, the collection was preserved by his wife Rukmini S Menon until recently, when their son U Ramesh, an archivist with State Bank in Kolkata, decided the papers should rest on the Archives racks and not lay moth-eaten in their house. At a function held in their house on Wednesday, they handed it over to Dr S Shivadasan, the head of the History Department in Sree Shankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady and Archives Director Rejikumar.
 ‘’We realised that it could be a major asset for research scholars. I asked my mother and she had no qualms about it,’’ is how Ramesh simplifies it. But the fact is, very few are willing to part with historical documents or manuscripts in their possession, going by the experiences of the Archives officials.
 ‘’It is a valuable possession as far as we are concerned. We have not had newspaper collections especially which throw light on the historical developments during the pre-Independence times. We will mend the papers and take steps to preserve them for the researchers who use our archives,’’ said Rejikumar.
 The most valuable information that has tumbled out of the collection is the news item in the paper ‘Gomathy’ which says that the after-effects of RIN (Royal Indian Navy) Mutiny was felt in Kochi too. ‘’There have been many studies done on RIN mutiny, especially one done under a project of ICHR is widely read. I think the Kerala connection was not highlighted in that study too. Until now, we had no proof on how the RIN mutiny was felt by Kerala,’’ said Shivadasan.
 Another interesting find among the pages of the newspapers is about the attack on Dewan C P Ramaswamy which happened in 1947. The news item in ‘Gomathy’ says his condition was grave.
 Of the bundle, some of the papers had appeared only on Saturdays like ‘Snehithan’ (from Thrissur) and some came out thrice a week like ‘Samadarshi’ from Thiruvananthapuram. ‘The Cochin Times’ which was brought out in the year 1945 was published only on Mondays and was edited by T R Ganapathy Iyer. Many of the Malayalam newspapers lavishly used English too, something oft-repeated in many pages. ‘Navalokam, Keralan, Malabar Mail, Bharati, Express’ and ‘Malayarajyam’ are some of the other yesteryear newspapers in the collection.

MARRIAGE

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A sex scandal does not remain in public glare for long, but the trauma inflicted upon the victim lasts longer. For once, the State Government has put in some serious thought about the rehabilitation of sexually- abused or used women and is all set to don the role of a guardian and see them off to a better life.
The Social Welfare Directorate has decided to make a planned intervention in the lives of such women, who were caught in sex traps and are now being sheltered in various institutions run by the Directorate. By intervention, the Directorate means giving them a new lease of life through marriage.
At the end of a thorough examination that lasted for weeks and after endless discussions with the women in various shelter homes across the State, officials in the Directorate have now listed out 33 victims who dream of a married life.
They belong to Thiruvananthapuram Mahila Mandiram, After Care Homes at Kollam and Kozhikode and the Kozhikode Short Stay Home. The Directorate declined to divulge any personal details of these women or the cases they are involved in.
The procedures had begun with a counselling programme where the women were convinced that a normal family life is still possible. Having collected the willingness of 33 women, the Directorate now plans to give newspaper advertisements to invite proposals just like any other responsible guardian.
“As if the mental trauma and media glare is not enough, the women are often abandoned by their respective families. Rehabilitation by means of imparting them a vocation has been going on for years, and in-between some victims have been married off too. But this is the first time we are making a mass, planned intervention to rehabilitate them through marriage,” said K K Mony, Joint Director, Social Welfare Directorate.
The financial, family and criminal background of the men coming forward will be scrutinised first and a screening of these applicants will be done.
The District Probation Officers will carry out an inquiry about the men which will be followed by an interaction with them by officials and the women.
The Directorate will then give trauma counselling and marital counselling to both parties. Even after the victim is settled in a new life, the Directorate will keep an eye on them and provide them with extension services, if needed

SSA CORRUPTION

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which had created a positive ambience in government schools, deviated from its course in the recent years; thanks to its officials, who knew not how to spent the elephantine funds coming their way.
There is possibly no other reason for the pleasure trips (in the guise of exposure trips), around 10, which were undertaken by various SSA officials in the past six months alone.
The shocking aspect is that many of the officials had gone on the trip in the month of March, when usually it’s stock-taking time for the SSA project - a time to wrap up the account books and evaluate and conceptualise old and new projects in schools.  Sample this: The office of the State Project Director (SPD) had remained inactive from March 6 to 12, when the administrative officials in the Directorate (including 12 clerks) were on tour.
They had gone to learn about the working of Himachal Pradesh SSA!
 Not just programme officers, IEDC officials, trainers and members of teachers’ organisations have, at many times (over the last few years), taken ‘exposure trips’.  This include the state representatives of the pro-Congress GSTU (Government School Teachers Union) which had petitioned the State Government against the fund utilisation in SSA leading to a Vigilance inquiry against the project in the state.  The reply given by SSA to a Right to Information application filed by M Shaji, of Mele Thampanoor here, says the exposure trip, which was taken out to Rajasthan in March had the representatives of 31 teachers’ organisations, including the president and secretary of the GSTU.
“The trip had cost Rs 4,18,971. Only KSTA and KSTU had kept away,’’ it says.   In January, the Learning and Enhancement Programme (LEP) coordinators (who are ordinary teachers) had taken out a trip to Kolkata and Darjeeling. That they travelled by flight reveals that they had availed of undeserving travel allowances.
In February, IEDC officials had undertaken a trip to North India. It is also found that the IEDC Resource Teachers team (more than 1,500 of them) had gone on trips during the period between January and May to places including Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore.
The District Programme Officers had travelled to Ahmedabad, Udaipur and Jaipur (in flight) in January. The Thiruvananthapuram DPO had the privilege of being the part of the team of teachers’ organisations too. The trainers in Thiruvananthapuram went on a tour to other states in  March.
 If a wider span of time is taken into account, more cases would stumble out. Though some of the exposure trips had helped enhance the charecter  of the SSA, the 'pleasure trips’ on the other hand had given it a rotten look.

RVG

The year is 1958. Thiruvananthapuram turns venue for the State School Kalolsav for the first time. Sixteen-year-old Vijayagopal makes his first trip outside his little village in North Paravur to compete in the kalolsav. The venue was Thycaud Model LPS, where he signed up for extempore speech and ended up participating in elocution.
 It’s 2008. Thiruvananthapuram is once again the venue for Kalolsav and Vijayagopal returns to the old campus. But this time to judge a competition.
 And all the while Vijayagopal, now better known as R.V.G. Menon, was looking for a gallery class - where he had stood for elocution - which had rows of benches arranged, unlike his small classroom in North Paravur Government HS.
 For social scientist R.V.G. Menon, descending the steps of the Model School to judge a Malayalam essay writing competition was taking a trip down the years, exactly 50 golden years back.
 The district-level competitions in 1958 were held at the Manikyamangalam School in Ernakulam. ``I had participated in extempore speech, where a topic is given only five minutes beforehand for the participant to deliver a speech. When I came to Thiruvananthapuram for the state-level competitions, the item was changed to elocution. But I gave my best,’’ Menon recalls.
 But whether he won a prize, Menon does not clearly remember. ``I don’t remember who the judges were or who my fellow contestants were. But I do remember the elocution I gave. It was Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Speech,’’ he says.
 It was much later, almost decades, that Menon came to know of his contemporaries in the 1958 kalolsav. ``I didn’t know that Yesudas and Jayachandran had participated in the kalolsav or that it was the first time that all districts were included. Back then, it was just enjoying the first distant trip of my life,’’ he recalls.
 Ask him about the first frame that enters his mind when reminded of his youth festival stint and he would say ``the big gallery class.’’ For a village boy, a gallery class in a city school was a big sight, he says.
 Then a student of class XI (now equivalent to SSLC), it was his last appearance in a kalolsav.
 Now, a member of various committees in the field of education and science, Menon is settled in the capital with his wife. On Wednesday, in between his role as a judge, Menon was seen tracking the corridors of the school, reliving some of the 1958 moments.

RVG

FM BDAY

HER day begins at 3.45 a.m., hours before the city wakes up. And by the time the sun is up and shining, Anjali would have woken up half the city with her ‘kalakan’ voice. Almost a wake-up call for many.
Anjali Rajan, breakfast RJ at Club FM, has not missed her show, ‘kalakan recharge’, even once during the last one year. She sums up the whole of 365 days in one sentence when she says, ‘‘It’s been really lovely.’’
An animated Anjali during an interview is no different from the bubbly girl a listener visualises her during the show. The voice is fresh and alive, as usual.‘‘I have had cold and cough many times, but my listeners bear with me. After all, do we mind talking to friends with a cold? It’s the same here,’’she says.
In a job that requires cent percent active mind and body, how does she keep herself cool? ‘‘I reach office by 5a.m. and before my show starts at 7 a.m., I have lots of preparations to do. You can’t chat with listeners without having the stuff in you. I read the papers and see that the computers are ready to go on air without any technical flaws. And once on air, I talk naturally, otherwise you can’t connect with the listeners,’’she says.
And the golden moment? ‘‘When we visited a mental asylum as part of the show, a patient there greeted all of us, took a few steps and then returned to ask ‘Who among you is Anjali’. Well, a mentally unstable person memorising your voice and name in mind is the biggest response you can get,’’she smiles.
A native of Punalur, Anjali stays at Vanchiyur in the city. Though enrolled as a correspondence PG student of Public Relations and Management in Madurai Kamaraj University, RJing has left her with less time to brood over books.
So, not even bored once? ‘‘When you see things, you have a lot to tell people. Now I have a medium and I am enjoying it,’’Anjali bares her mind.
‘‘We are not those folks who just talk and make money. RJing is not that easy.’’ Vishnu, RJ at Radio Mirchi, is best with words. Exactly the way he is in his morning show ‘Hello Thiruvananthapuram.’
Like all other breakfast RJs, Vishnu has an early day. And a lot of preparations goes into making it a real day, he says. Like a little homework the previous day, a thorough reading of newspapers before the show, and of course presence of mind when on air.
‘‘But ultimately I talk of things that is top in my mind. But only keeping in mind, what and what not to say,’’Vishnu makes it clear.
As his show completes a year, Vishnu too has not missed even a single day in work. It’s been too good, is how he puts it. ‘‘Everyday has been a different experience, I got to learn new things. Almost like a kid going to new schools each day,’’he says.
A resident of Kowdiar, he says the pressure is a constant feature. But when the job is fun, there is no regret. ‘‘You can create so many pictures in the mind of the listener, which is real fun. Like the make-over we are planning to do as part of the first anniversary. Listeners would not have seen me, but when I say I have gone for a make-over, they would visualise me in thousands of ways. That’s the beauty of radio,’’Vishnu beams.
The only thing he had to part with ever since he left a job in Technopark to become RJ is his sleeping hours. ‘‘I was never an early riser. But since the last one year, I have been doing it regularly, which is too big a thing for me,’’he smiles.
So doesn’t he get bored, even  for a single moment? ‘‘Do you get bored talking to friends?’’ pat comes his reply.
For the D-day, Vishnu and his Radio Mirchi team is out hunting for the hottest ‘thattukada’ in town. Now isn’t that interesting?
‘Kidilam Firoz’ is a known name by now for all FM freaks. The 105 hour long campaign against use of drugs, which this breakfast RJ at Big FM, ventured into last year is not the only reason. It’s got to do with the way he connects with his listeners too.
‘‘Knowing the pulse of the listeners is most important. Where I have been getting 500 sms’ in my sms portal, it has almost multiplied into five times now. Because more people has begun to connect with me,’’he says.
Well, there is no secret. Other than a little homework and lots of creativity, he says. He deals with a show that is more utility linked. So allthat is left to do is give the necessary information in a buttered and sweetened flavour.
A former anchor of a TV game show, he left the big screen to RJ in a small space. Why? ‘‘In TV, all you need to do is memorize your part and do it well. In radio, your creativity is sharpened. You need to think of ways to present a daily show in the most variety of ways, which is the real bait,’’Firoz says.
So, how has the year been? ‘‘It’s not like wearing the same uniform and going to school. It’s like wearing colourful costumes each day. It’s been fun,’’his sound matches his excitement.
And it’s sound that he most often plays with. ‘‘If you have a good sound, that doesn’t mean you are a good RJ. You must know to modulate your voice, so as not to be repetitive. I can sit in my studio, and give the effect of wandering in a forest or got caught in a traffic, which depends on how you use the sound effects. That is more important,’’Firoz says.
A native of Venjaramoodu, he stays at Murinjapalam with his wife. Suraj Venjaramoodu has been his guru in the field of television. So, any plans to go Suraj’s way? ‘‘I have lots to do in radio, if I am to find a place among the best RJs of India. Let me achieve something here, and then I will think of new avenues,’’he says.
And adds,‘‘It’s a happening time in radio,’’which sums it all.
anil.asha@gmail.com

ADITI ROY

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Aditi is just like the movie she has made. Many-layered. Though she very meekly and timidly takes you through the film she has made, the conviction of a first-timer on her long-cherished dream reflects in her eyes. She has not made her first film, she has lived her dream, she vows.
Aditi Roy, the Bengali debutante director whose film is one of the two from India to have made it into the competition segment of the 16th edition of IFFK (the other being ‘Delhi in a Day’ by Prashant Nair) leaves one touched by her unassuming ways. To make a film,’Abhosheshey’ (At the End of it All), which is a pure narration of a mother-son relationship in a rather realistic manner at the age of 30 probably snatches away the last bit of childhood from a woman.
Aditi tells us that she had first listened to the story of Abhosheshey five years back, when she was still a film student. Neel Mitra, the creative producer of the movie, who also wrote the story, had narrated it to her. She knew it was her film, instantly.Three years later, she and Neel sat together writing the screenplay. While Neel was sure the protagonist would be done by none other than actress Roopa Ganguly, Aditi had cast Ankur Khanna for the son’s role in her mind. They fought healthily over the cast, upon the details and about the music.  But it only brought them closer to their dream.
“We were not going to employ any gimmicks. We wanted to tell it plain and clear. And real. So finding a producer was a hard task,’’ Aditi recalls. It was then the duo met Anil B.Dev of Deb’s Entertainment House who loved their story. Neel being a film consultant moves around the mainstream and parallel cinema with equal ease. She was so adamant on casting Roopa that they waited for almost two years to get the actress on board. And last year they were ready for the go.
The story is the son’s discovery of his mother, of who he has no memories and who he would never again meet. The son returns to Kolkata to find why her mother had chosen her roots over her relationships. He was at her place to do away with her belongings after her death, but realises words, moments, people and places have a lot more meaning in life than they appear, even after one’s death.
“Many people who watched the movie told us they felt like going to their homes after watching it. We have dealt with Kolkata as a character, though very objectively,’’ Neel chips in. The locations are real and majority of shots are handheld. The past and present has been interwoven for a treatment that is non linear.
Though IFFK would set the stage for an Asian premiere of the film, many bigwigs in Bengali cinema who have already seen the movie have loved it which gives the duo much confidence. We ask Aditi what her father Ajoy Roy a documentary filmmaker thought about her movie.
“He is proud of the film and me, though he would not say it to me and goes around telling the whole world,’’ tears well up in her eyes as she hurriedly wipes it off. Suddenly, we knew why this girl could make ‘Abhosheshey’.  
Catch her movie at Kairali on Tuesday.

AUDIT VILAPIL

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A ward member in Vilappil panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram was allegedly gifted a gold bangle by the women engaged in National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in her ward. A male member in one of the adjacent wards received gifts ranging from a gold ring to footwear. All as thanksgiving for work offered to the women under NREGS.
This is just one of the many shocking revelation s which were revealed in a first-of-its-kind social audit done in the state while implementing NREGS. It was carried out by the Social Audit Cell for Local Self-Government in 19 wards in Nooliyode, Vilappil panchayat.
The audit exposed the shortcomings in the implementation of the scheme that was envisaged to ensure at least 100 days of employment for the poor.
The social audit, a subdued affair, was hastily done before the Assembly election Model Code of Conduct came into effect.
The shocking revelation  of violation of rules was with regard to one of the significant requirement in NREGS - that of individual bank accounts for the workers to which wages are deposited.
Instead of bank accounts, the workers here had post office accounts which revealed transactions that did not match the work-roll of the labourers.
“In many cases it was found that the Post Masters and mates (who are Kudumbashree members) had dubious links by which the account of the worker was used to transact money without the knowledge of the worker,” said Bushra Beegum, a social audit team member, in Vilappil panchayat.
The social audit, however, shows that corruption is not limited to any one section engaged in NREGS.
It exposed cases in which various persons from project engineers to ward members to mates were found guilty of tampering with the accounts.
In one instance, a watershed project which required an amount less than Rs 5,000 was found prepared for Rs 5 lakh by  project engineer.
In another case, 600 workers were employed for clearing a forest area which could have been done by 20 people.
“We have found certain irregularities. But the social audit was not to punish any official or worker or mate, it was an effort to bring in a monitoring system for the scheme. It is a move to make grama sabhas accountable to the implementation of NREGS as recommended in the Act. We are training village-level social auditors with the objective of creating a village-level audit network which would bring transparency to its implementation,’’ said an official with the State Social Audit Cell for LSG.
However, S Shobhanakumari, president, Vilappil grama panchayat, said all was well with the implementation of the scheme in the panchayat.
“Some minor discrepancies were found, but it is not restricted to the mates alone or the officials alone. The panchayat carried out many watershed projects under NREGS which was successful," she said.
But it was learnt that half the projects for which money was approved under NREGS was not carried out in the panchayat.

IKM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The awarding of the pilot project of total e-governance solution in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to a private firm has come as a severe blow to the government-run Information Kerala Mission (IKM) which has been spearheading the computerisation in the local body for the past 12 years.
While Corporation officials say Wipro, which has been entrusted with the job, will create an end-to-end e-solution, IKM is of the opinion that a major portion of the project would be an overlapping of its own activities. While Corporation is all for a fast mode, IKM’s slow pace has come under the scanner.
“We are not throwing away the IKM software. Under a Government Order, we are supposed to carry on its usage. However, we could decide whether to use their assistance or completely entrust the new firm with the job. IKM has introduced some of the services, but the project is for total computerisation. Which includes networking in zonal offices, interlinking of computers and facilitating its easy use in the panchayat-turned-wards too. It is not going to be an over-lap,” said G Happykumar, Deputy Mayor.
According to the IKM officials, the registration and distribution of birth and death certificates, the welfare pension distribution, property tax payment, professional tax payment, accounts-entry using double-entry accrual system and submission of building permit applications are some of the online services now put in place in the Corporation. The service of the Janasevena Kendram from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. is testimony to the fact that the computerisation in the local body is going on at a steady. However, the networking and interlinking is yet to be done, the officials agree.
However, IKM officials say a large barrier in the successful implementation of its computerisation activities in the City Corporation has been crossing the psychological hurdles built by the officials. “It is basically got to do with the approach. When it is a government firm, officials are reluctant to fall into place but they do so obediently when it is a private player,” an IKM official.
“We give training to 100 officials and equip them but then there are mass transfers and we have a dearth of trained officials. Even when there is facility to do many things online, Corporation officials resort to using pen and paper and keep up the manual work and blame it upon us,” said IKM officials.
However, the Corporation is of the opinion that IKM has been given 12 years and not much has happened. “Instead of register books, officers sit and enter data into computers. There is no file tracking system, the zonal offices are not updated, no computer networking. When it is computerisation, information should be available at the fingertips. The e-governance project is intended for all this,” said a Corporation official.

UID

THIRIVANATHAPURAM: The project to distribute Unique Identification (UID) Numbers to students which had failed to make any progress beyond Thiruvananthapuram is looking for a reincarnation in Guruvayur.  
Realising that the capital city was a wrong choice to initiate the pilot project, the Local-Self Governance (LSG) Department is now toying with the idea of shifting the project to Guruvayur Municipality which has become a role model in the state for its e-governance initiatives.
It was a major embarrassment to the LSG and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) which had monitored the project when the Thiruvananthapuram project had crashed mercilessly.
The project started off in January and was to be completed before May. For the general public, it was agony for weeks when parents flocked to Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to get hold of birth certificates which was made mandatory for UIDs.  And no services could be offered to the non-parent groups as the manpower was being over-utilised.
Around 40 computers and equal resource were pooled in for the project but the Corporation was not equipped to meet the giant turnout for availing of the birth certificates.
There was no online backup too.
Guruvayur Municipality, on the other hand, has completely gone online last month in providing marriage certificates and birth certificates to public there.  The e-governance project in the municipality is so spic-and-span that half-an-hour after the wedding, the couple can collect the certificate. That too at a place where weddings took place in the range of 100 to 200 per day.
“There should be a trying out of the project and Guruvayur appears the perfect choice now. We are planning to conduct the pilot phase there,’’ said an LSG Dept top official.
The only good that happened in the whole mess is that the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation was forced to equip itself to meet the times and now they are getting ready to make distribution of certificates online.  
According to LSG Dept sources, a group of teachers and even a section of LSG Dept officials had plotted against the project being conducted in Thiruvananthapuram.  Even when students possessed birth certificates, many schools had sent their parents on a second tour to collect them which had toppled the assumptions of the Department.
SSA had expected a turnout of a maximum of 2.5 lakh students’ parents for birth certificates in the 15-day period but those figures crossed in the first three days itself.

MULLAPERIYAR

‘Mullaperiyar appears to be just a water dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In fact, if the dam is to meet with any calamity, there shall be no winners.’
 This was the thought that motivated a group of bloggers across the State to roll out a movement to save the dam, a month ago. But in a span of just two weeks, www.rebuilddam.blogspot.com has been widely catching up on the blogosphere.
 The ‘Rebuild Dam, Save Kerala’ logo has started appearing in many blogs and already the followers of the blog have crossed a hundred. One of its key members, Manoj Ravindran, tells us through an e-mail, ``Majority of the Malayalis, including the educated masses, are not aware of the real issues regarding the Mullaperiyar dam. It is important to educate people of both the states in an unbiased and healthy manner by sharing available information through a series of discussions, debates and articles. It is with this intent that the Malayalam bloggers have come together to launch an exclusive blog site. The blogging world offers a very potent and powerful media which can aid this kind of a mass awareness.’’
 The people behind the blog, however, do not want their movement to contribute to the existing imbroglio over the issue. Instead, they intend to provide readers with a common platform to read the latest developments in the issue, express their views, opinions and comments on the topic. A list of all Malayalam and English blog posts related to the Mullaperiyar issue is currently being updated to the site.
 If readers like to publish links of their posts related to Mullaperiyar, they can send their posts to the site. The newspaper reports that have appeared in many dailies on the Mullaperiyar dam issue and those articles and reports written by people with expertise on the issue have been added to the link.
 The members have also started carrying details about the movement in their Facebook and Orkut profiles, which they think have a wider reach and evoke a quick response. ``As our next step, we plan to make our voice heard beyond the blogging community into the conscience of mainstream media, social, literary and environment activists, bureaucrats, administrators, and most of all, the judiciary who could probably help settle the matter once and for all,’’ Manoj says in his e-mail.
asha.nair@expressbuzz.com

MONORAIL

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If the ambitious monorail project envisaged for the city pans out perfectly, Attingal would evolve as a satellite city of  Thiruvananthapuram.
The meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday to review the progress of the monorail project, which was okayed by the Cabinet last month, decided to extend the monorail traffic facility to Attingal via Technocity, adding another 15 km to the earlier plan.
The monorail traffic system, which is a rail-based transportation system based on a single-rail, was originally planned for Kazhakkoottam to Balaramapuram covering a total of 28.4 km.
At Monday’s meeting, it was decided to extend the facility to Attingal and use the already acquired land for Technocity to set up a yard for the monorail.
The NATPAC (National Transportation Planning and Research Centre), which has been entrusted with the feasibility study for the monorail system, has been asked to look into the possibilities of including Attingal in the project.
 The NATPAC team led by Director B G Sreedevi and senior scientist Tomy Cyriac, who are doing the feasibility study, are expected to complete their work in two months. ‘’We have begun the feasibility study and it will be over in two months’ time,’’ Sreedevi said.
The team would now conduct a traffic study to evaluate the volume of traffic to be expected at various points through which monorail would pass. Since Onam is not a proper time to conduct a traffic study, the team has to wait for a normal week post the Onam celebrations to kick-start the study.
‘’We will probably take up the traffic study  some time next week. Even rains will affect the traffic study, so the weather has to be pleasant too,’’ said Tomy Cyriac.
The Scomi group, the urban transit system provider which is constructing India’s first monorail in Mumbai, presented a demonstration of the monorail traffic system planned for Mumbai at the meeting.
 According to officials, the monorail project in Thiruvananthapuram would be possible on a PPP (Public-private partnership) basis. Since  monorail is expensive, with nearly ` 3,000 crore (approximate) expected for 28.4 km, the government would not be able to burden the expenses alone.
 The transit routes have also not yet been decided. Though Pattom and Palayam have been included for sure, the rest of the monorail route is under consideration only. Whether it will connect with Balaramapuram via Medical College or via Kesavadasapuram is still not certain. Palayam has ben envisaged as a hub since it could be a connecting route to the airport in the future.
 As of now, one hectare of the total acquired land at Technocity has been planned as the yard/depot for the maintenance works.
 According to officials, the monorail would, in all likelihood, have six coaches, though it might start with two or four in the beginning. Once the major artery is decided, the NATPAC team would submit its report to the government.

BLOGSPOT

Two bloggers in the city, one fine day, had a thought to go a little wild.
 Equipped with two GPS-enabled mobiles, they took off on a ride in the city to count the statues around. They found 20 of them on the main stretches alone and now they plan to document them for the sake of history-lovers.
 Sujith John and Kenny Jacob, both residing in Thiruvananthapuram and working in a private tech-firm here, are pioneers in blogging and microblogging. Maybe it was the hangover of the Google Mapping party that they attended some days back, the youngsters have even prepared a map of the city with the statues neatly rounded.
 Click on the bubbles, a picture of the statue and a brief history of the eminent personality appears. The pictures have been posted at the portal, www.trivandrumbuzz.com.
 For those who have seen the statues over and over and have never really given it a serious thought, the attempt is more than just fun. ``We never thought we would find so much of statues around. Once we posted it in the portal, we received lot of comments on the statues that we have missed out. If we get time, we will cover them too,’’ Kenny says.
 Motivated by the response, the two have decided to find out the reason why the statues are found in their particular places. But that’s not all. The adventure seems to have given them fresh ideas.
 ``We are now thinking of making a similar map on the important offices in the city. When I first came here, I had found it difficult to spot Passport Office or AG’s office. There might be many people facing the same situation. If we post it in our blog or in the portal and if it becomes available through GPS, it would be useful to many,’’ Sujith says.
 Sujith had taken the lead to begin one of the first campus blogs in the State, ‘Vosree’ at Sree Buddha College of Engineering, Kayamkulam. Kenny and his friends had launched a site to promote the marketing of films online.
asha.nair@expressbuzz.com

POLL LEFT

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Never before has the city deceived the Left in this fashion. The people of the city who carried the Red brigades on their shoulders, giving them complete domination in the Council and trusting them with their votes in 2005, have shown a cold shoulder to them in 2010. The LDF has been left thinking: What changed in five years?
A lot, seemingly. Political equations and caste consolidation ranking high among them. Anti-incumbency doing its bit. The alleged alliance of UDF and BJP at several places. The indifferent air of middle class Thiruvananthapuram towards an impenetrable party. The total detachment of upper middle-class...it goes on.
A glance through the voting pattern is, however, confusing. Mulloor, which registered the highest voting percentage in the Corporation, a record 78.56, has gone to the UDF. When read with the common belief that high voting usually favours the Congress, it rings true. But Thampanoor, the ward that recorded the lowest voter turnout, 45.54 percent, has also gone to the UDF. Vanchiyur and Pattom, where polling was low at 49 and 48.67 percent respectively, also favoured the UDF.
Whereas, in many of the newly-formed wards such as Kattaikonam, Chellamangalam, Venganoor and Paudikonam, where polling was above 67 percent, the LDF has won. Chandavila and Sreekariyam - also new wards where polling was above 67 percent - went to the UDF and an independent candidate (CPM rebel) respectively. Tough lessons for any psephologist.
The Left is comforting itself with the fact that the coastal areas have largely stayed with them. But that is not a comfortable cushion to rest on. For, it has favoured the UDF too. Of the 14 coastal wards,  six had gone to the UDF, seven to the LDF and one to independent candidate (with BJP support). While Kottappuram, Vizhinjam, Harbour, Beemapally, Mulloor and Valiyathura went to the UDF, Poonthura, Puthanpally, Pallithura, Beemapally East, Sangumugham, Vettukad and Poundukadavu had gone to the LDF.
In many wards, allegations have cropped up on an unholy alliance between the UDF and the BJP in adjacent wards. Take Ponnumangalam and Nemom wards for instance. While Ponnumangalam went to the BJP, the adjacent Nemom (which was a CPI seat) went to the UDF. The same can be seen at Nettayam and Thuruthumoola. Nettayam went to the BJP and the other to the Congress.
Maybe the real reasons are not politics but caste-based. For the first time, Brahmin Sabha and SNDP openly came out in support of candidates. The Vaikunda Swami Dharma Paripalana Sabha (VSDPS), which is spreading its roots in the city, was strongly against the Left. They had tried to topple the chances of CPM candidate at Nedumcaud. However, it was the minority Tamil votes that had saved the candidate here. The failure of Vinodkumar (Mali) at Kesavadasapuram and Vanchiyur Mohanan at Sreekanteswaram throws up the question: How come the NSS votes did not help them? But if caste is a main reason, then how did the coastal area, where large Christian consolidation could be seen, opted for the the Left in many wards?
So, may be the reasons are apolitical and not just about caste. The rude and closed behaviour of Left cadres have been pointed out as a reason for the vote leak. Local CPM leaders agree that their state leadership needs to give a little more attention to public behaviour. The fact that the upper middle class votes in Mudavanmugal have entirely gone for the Congress is read as an indication of this by many party cadres.
The upper class prefer the polished etiquette of Shashi Tharoor to the rustic rudeness of Sivankutty, they assume. Whatever may be the reasons, the Left will have a tough time cracking them.
asha.nair@expressbuzz.com

TIDY CITY

Manu hopes to make it big in films one day, for cinema has remained his all-time passion. When he is not assisting film-directors, this young chap can sometimes be found in city’s public spots  picking up litter. For he is part of Tidy City, a blog-turned-club bound to spread the word for a clean city.
Like Manu, around 20 youngsters engaged in various vocations, who are not demystified by the non-glamorous job of picking up garbage form part of  Tidy City. It has more than 75 volunteers online and about 25 active volunteers outside the blog. They had all met at www.tidycity.org and continues to remain bonded through the site.
But what makes them special is their endeavour to take the message to the youngest population in the city through schools. The tidy city activists, some of them still students, have been approaching schools to give them one hour to send across their message to the young ones. The group has already taken awareness classes in a couple of schools where the response was more than encouraging, they say.
Tidy City’s descend from the virtual world to the real had happened last year, when during a casual conversation, one of the members suggested a clean-up in the Museum premises. And that clicked.
‘‘We meant it as a symbolic gesture. Those who watch would ask what’s it all about, some would join and some might atleast feel the need to keep the surroundings clean. We now do clean-ups once in a while at crowded areas like Kanakakunnu or Shanghumugham,’’ says Srijith, who works in a Technopark firm.
The clean-up gave enough publicity to Tidy City, but that doesn’t make things easy for them. The one hurdle the group met with was the absence of garbage bins in public places. They had to either carry bins or ask for it from authorities. After continous pestering, they could force the officials to keep bins at Museum grounds.
Then, one day they came up with another idea. ‘‘We thought why not give a larger message through a simple act? We stood in bus stands, collected tickets from those alighting from buses. We asked them what they did with the tickets otherwise. Some said they took it home, some demonstrated by tearing it apart in front of us. But we could carry the message to many. We told them to take it home and dispose it or put it in the bins. Again, we dont have bins in bus stands here, which makes it worse,’’ says Cris, who works in a web portal.
That’s when the group decided to go for a survey. They kept a keen eye on the type of garbage they mostly picked up. Bus tickets, packet covers of food items, cigarette buds, pan masala covers and so on, they were things that could be contained in public waste bins. They went ahead and prepared a ‘model street plan’ whereby they envisaged the street from Palayam martyr square to Museum as a model area, free of litter.
‘‘We approached the City Corporation with our project and requested them to install waste disposal facilities along this stretch. But they said it has already been proved useless,’’ says Anil, another volunteer.  The group is now awaiting for the new Council to get on the roll so that they can approach the Mayor again.
The group has decided to focus more on children in the meantime. ‘‘Kids listen. We just have to set them examples. They would surely go home and tell their parents or cousins. It would take our message to more places,’’ says Anand Narayanan, an IIST faculty. These days, the group is being approached by many schools to conduct awareness programmes for their students.
But there is one handicap they are facing. Shortage of volunteers. ‘‘Since there is no glamour in picking up litter in public places, people encourage but do not participate. Almost all of us are employed, so we want more people to join sans any age bar. So that this keeps going, even if we are not there. Sadly, it’s not happening,’’ says Arun Murali who is just out of college.
The other group members Akshaya, Ashith and  Javed are also looking forward to meeting new friends who love to see the city clean. Maybe one day, Thiruvananthapuram would owe much to this gang of youngsters. Till then, they would keep on telling you to love your city.
asha.nair@expressbuzz.com

GUN SATGUR

There are not many records in Indian ranges that haven’t been broken by Satgurudas.
An international shooter from Haryana, who found his career in the Navy and saw his passion resting on rifles, he is living up to his name these days.
Master Chief Petty Officer Satgur, a celebrity coach now, as his name suggests, has earned big credits as a guru. His students in the Navy Club in Fort Kochi and the District Rifle Association, Ernakulam, are some of the best upcoming names in the sport. In Thiruvananthapuram for the 43rd Kerala State Shooting Championship, Satgur relives his shooting days with us.
"Those days, we didn’t have foreign coaches or access to modern facilities. The game itself was not so competitive. Post-Abhinav Bindra, more young people are coming into the game and the sport itself has gained a new momentum," he begins.
Like many of his contemporaries, Satgur’s tryst with rifles began during his student days with NCC. In 1983, he began taking lessons in shooting in Chandigarh, but it was after he joined the Navy in 1996 that his love for pistols met its target.
From the beginning of 2000 till 2005, Satgur represented India in most of the international tournaments. Right from the Commonwealth Games, World Cup, Busan Asian Games, Saaf Games, Asian Games and the list just goes on.. But not the Olympics. There, he often lost to Lady Luck by point one chances.
Then, after the Saaf Games in Pakistan, Satgur was on his way to the World Cup camp when he was thrown to the hospital bed by brain haemorrhage.
It almost ended his shooting career. “Then I thought I needed rest and that’s how I turned to coaching. But the last two years, I have given everything into training these young people. I think shooting is more easy, coaching is a tough job," Satgur says.
It was his student Khusboo Chauhan who won the best female shooter of the year last time.
It is the 50 m prone position that is Satgur’s forte. He thinks that’s where accuracy ranks. Being in one of the most expensive sports, Satgur says its why most people are here for passion and not as a way to a job.
“During our days, we didn’t have shooting jackets, trousers or shoes. But now, they are a must if you are approaching the game professionally. It costs somewhere between Rs 20,000 to 25,000. The air pistols or air rifles are both expensive, between Rs one lakh and 1.8 lakh. The licence is expensive, getting hold of imported ammunition is even more costly," he says. But still, more people are flocking in to learn, which is a good sign, he adds.
 Satgur will retire from Navy in January next year. He has plans to open a Shooting Academy in Kochi, but his biggest plan surprises us: "I would train myself again and prepare for the Olympics. It is my biggest dream." Satgur has never stopped being a student.
asha.nair@expressbuzz.com

PALI CHANDRA

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Pali Chandra had long ago lost interest in the dancer in her. For years, she has hogged limelight as a Kathak exponent, carrying the dance form from Kolkata to international stages. But it’s her big asset of students who interests her, keeps her inspired and enthused these days. She is living the role of a Guru in ways few can fathom.
Pali was in the city on a unique mission. She had brought 20 students, from the age of 7 to 30, from Dubai to Delhi, to Kerala to explore the dance forms here. She hopes to evolve a kind of blending in dance between the North and South. Eminent dancers in Mohiniyattam, Bharatanatyam, Koodiyattom and Kathakali including Deepthi Omchery shared their proficiency with the group in the last few days. They say dance is a universal language, but Pali seems to have taken it into her soul.
As a dancer, Pali Chandra had started off at the age of nine. Trained initially in Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam, she gradually found her forte in Kathak. But somehow, she did not believe in getting trained all through the life. “I believe the best way to learn something is to do it on the job,” she says. That is why she laid her hands on Flamenco, Ballet, Tap and western contemporary dance.
“I may not be a good Flamenco dancer nor very good in ballet. But that’s not I want to be,” she puts it across clearly. “It’s sharing of skills, of techniques, observing other dance forms and exploring their essence,” she says.
She has performed for the Queen of England, danced her way into the stages in Edinburgh, Luton, Birmingham Dance Exchange, spearheaded several collaborations, lecture demonstrations and seminars. She has delivered her thought-provoking lectures in the Seattle University, Birmingham, Oxford, Liverpool, Bradford, Westminister, Surrey University, Hongkong University, Wellington International school and Royal School in Dubai.
 She was a committee member of the ISTD’s (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing) South Asian Dance Faculty where she contributed to the creation of ISTD’s Kathak syllabus. She is also a graded member of ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations).
While Pali runs a dancing studio in UK in the name of Pali Peacock Productions, she is also the mind and soul of Gurukul established three years back in Dubai. Most of the students who accompanied her to Thiruvananthapuram for the workshop belonged to Gurukul.
For the students, it was a wholesome experience, something they would cherish their entire lives. “Few Gurus will give you the chance to get to know other dance forms also. But Paliji wanted us to know, observe and learn about South Indian dances so that through them we get to read the literature too,” says Mythili Patel, who is 13 years old and who came all the way from Dubai with her mother Shilpa.
The demonstrations and lectures left many of them bewildered and enlightened. “The music, the postures, the mudras of different dances, the moods and ambience they create - we got to explore all this. There are different styles to copy and we could compare it with Kathak and understand its nuances,’’ says Ayushi, from Delhi.
The girls who  barely understood what  ‘abhinaya’ meant  in Mohiniyattam are now interested in reading the literature of those parts which were enacted. Ayushi’s mother Alka, who is also a tabla-player, says the workshop has exposed her daughter and the whole group to dance and its literature and to the language of dance forms in
general.
That the group had their days spent at Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan added to their happiness. “It was like being one with nature and feeling that it was natural to be a dancer,” says Mythili. The group had individual recordings too which was done by Invis Multimedia. “I wanted the girls to experience everything. Facing the camera, the audience, that too a new and different audience...at their age, it’s a great confidence booster,” Pali says.
If not for dance, maybe many of them would not have visited Kerala. But now that they have done, this land, its dances and people have got many endorsers in them. And Pali hopes to return with more students, to tell them in the subtlest way that all dance forms are life’s way of celebrating emotions.
asha.nair@expressbuzz.com

KARIMADOM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chenkalchoola was an eye-opener.
That concrete houses do not bring a big change in the lives of people inside it. Changes ought to happen within the community, good enough to alter the thinking and behaviour of residents.
Kudumbasree  Mission has taken the cue and Karimadom colony might savour the real change soon.
A community development programme has been envisaged by Kudumbasree and Costford (which designed the new look of the colony) together, which has been hailed as the first in the State to be implemented for the overall development of a slum. Kudumbasree mission hopes to develop it as a model for the entire State.
A comprehensive survey of the colony was taken by Kudumbasree Mission to get a first-hand information on all the residents. The aged, the young, the students, the disabled, the jobless, the ill ones - everyone were counted and all details possible collected.
"We have started on the mobilization work. Social workers in the colony have been identified to work with the people, talk to them of the need to change and above all to develop as a community," says Liby Johnson, Programme Management Unit team leader of Kudumbasree Mission.
As a starter, two study centres have been opened in the colony where students gather, spend time with books and are taught about the need to be educated. Students - both boys and girls- are motivated to take part in competitive examinations which is a rarest of the rare happening in the colony.
Chenkalchoola (Rajaji Nagar colony), which was one of the first slums to receive better housing facility, had failed miserably where it came to developing a better living style. Out of the 90 flats which were constructed, 40 were illegally inhabited by tenants outside the beneficiary list. Apart from the shift from huts to houses, nothing changed for the children there, nor the adults.
"The case is a perfect example of how slum development is not limited to improving the houses but also the lives of people inside it. So, when Karimadom development was in progress, we had stressed on the need for a community development programme," says Saajan of Costford.
However, the main focus is on the aged and palliative care. According to social worker Aswathy (also an inmate of the colony), there are many people who die in the colony without proper medical care. She cites the case of a woman who had died of cancer recently, who never took any treatment for various reasons. Palliative care is the need of the hour in the colony which the community development programme has envisaged.
The Kudumbasree women in the colony would be given help to form small-scale industrial units. Already, there are two such units working in the colony and setting up of more has been encouraged under the programme. A bio-waste management system with the help of the City Corporation has also been included in the project.
The response has been positive so far, Kudumbasree official say. Residents are opening up to the idea of their children receiving education, getting treated, their elderly getting the care and receiving neat places to market their products and clean surroundings to live.
If found successful, the project may get its due recognition in all slum development schemes in the State. Presently, it has been converged with the BSUP (slum development scheme under JNNURM) for its smooth implementation.
asha.nair@expressbuzz.com

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