The Legendary Lungi

Just as the national bird of Kerala is Mosquito, her national dress is  'Lungi'. Pronounced as 'Lu' as in loo and 'ngi ' as in 'mongey', a
 lungi can be identified by its floral or window-curtain pattern.  'Mundu' is the white variation of lungi and is worn on special
 occasions like hartal or bandh days, weddings and Onam.
 
 Lungi is simple and 'down to earth' like the mallu wearing it. Lungi  is the beginning and the end of evolution in its category. Wearing
 something on the top half of your body is optional when you are  wearing a lungi. Lungi is a strategic dress. It's like a
 one-size-fits- all bottoms for Keralites.
 
 The technique of wearing a lungi/mundu is passed on from generation to  generation through word of mouth like the British Constitution. If you  think it is an easy task wearing it, just try it once! It requires  techniques like breath control and yoga that is a notch higher than
 sudarshan kriya of AOL. A lungi/mundu when perfectly worn won't come  off even in a quake of 8 on the richter scale. A lungi is not attached  to the waist using duct tape, staple, rope or velcro. It's a bit of  mallu magic whose formula is a closely guarded secret like the Coca  Cola chemicals.
 
 A lungi can be worn 'Full Mast' or 'Half Mast' like a national flag. A  'Full Mast' lungi is when you are showing respect to an elderly or the
 dead. Wearing it at full mast has lots of disadvantages. A major  disadvantage is when a dog runs after you. When you are wearing a
 lungi/mundu at full mast, the advantage is mainly for the female  onlookers who are spared the ordeal of swooning at the sight of hairy  legs.
 
 Wearing a lungi 'Half Mast' is when you wear it exposing yourself like  those C grade movie starlets. A mallu can play cricket, football or  simbly run when the lungi is worn at half mast. A mallu can even climb  a coconut tree wearing lungi in half mast. "It's not good manners,  especially for ladies from decent families, to look up at a mallu  climbing a coconut tree"- Confucius (or is it Abdul Kalam?)
 
 Most mallus do the traditional dance kudiyattam. Kudi means drinking  alcohol and yattam, spelled as aattam, means random movement of the  male body. Note that 'y' is silent. When you are drinking, you drink,  there is no 'y'. Any alcohol related "festival" can be enjoyed to the  maximum when you are topless with lungi and a towel tied around the  head. "Half mast lungi makes it easy to dance and shake legs" says  Candelaria Amaranto, a Salsa teacher from Spain after watching  'kudiyaattam' .
 
 The 'Lungi Wearing Mallu Union' [LUWMU, pronounced LOVE MU], an NGO  which works towards the 'upliftment' of the lungi, strongly disapprove  of the GenNext tendency of wearing Bermudas under the lungi. Bermudas  under the lungi is a conspiracy by the CIA. It's a disgrace to see a  person wearing burmuda with corporate logos under his lungi. What they  don't know is how much these corporates are limiting their freedom of  movement and expression.
 
  A mallu wears lungi round the year, all weather, all season. A mallu  celebrates winter by wearing a colourful lungi with a floral pattern.  Lungi provides good ventilation and brings down the heat between legs.  A mallu is scared of global warming more than anyone else in the  world.
 
  A lungi/mundu can be worn any time of the day/night. It doubles as  blanket at night. It also doubles up as a swing, swimwear, sleeping  bag, parachute, facemask while entering/exiting toddy shops, shopping  basket and water filter while fishing in ponds and rivers. It also has  recreational uses like in 'Lungi/mundu pulling', a pastime in  households having more than one male member. Lungi pulling  competitions are held outside toddy shops all over Kerala during Onam  and Vishu. When these lungis are decommissioned from service, they  become table cloths. Thus the humble lungi is a cradle to grave  appendage.
 

An excellent view to share with

A letter to the Left!

Lal Salaam Comrades!

Your tenure in government seems to have ended. How different things were four years ago! Four years ago you were faced with a unique opportunity. The 'communal' BJP-led NDA had suffered a surprising electoral defeat. The 'secular' UPA was to take over the reins of government. In a hung house, you with your 60 MPs formed the crucial outside support to the government. At that time you smiled broadly with your hands held aloft with other leaders of the UPA. You delivered sharp soundbites on the Common Minimum Programme, on the basis of which you gave your support. With your best ever electoral performance, it seemed as if the Communists had finally arrived on India's national stage.

Today, four years later, where are you? The Congress government is getting ready to survive its remaining few months in power without you. Prakash Karat's dream of the 'non Congress' 'non BJP' Third Front lies in tatters. Mulayam Singh Yadav with whom you once shared an anti-Bush platform has ditched you and made common cause with your dreaded Indo-US nuclear deal. The CPI has long ceased being a national party and the CPM is preparing to go back to writing stirring editorials in People's Democracy. In a few months, AK Gopalan Bhavan will wear a deserted look. Even the TV cameras will switch off. Alas, comrades. You are men and women of such unimpeachable personal honesty, such depth of scholarship among so many of your leaders and sympathizers. You have stood sentinel against religious hatred and never hesitated to scream out against social evils. Yet in the end, you have scripted your own tragic drama of irrelevance.

Why did this happen? Your first mistake was that you refused to join the government or take on ministerships. You preferred to be the eternal college campus rebel, always oppositional, always agitational, but never responsible, or adult enough to recognize that in this country, managing change is about negotiating a myriad interest groups. You could have taken over portfolios like the HRD ministry or Women and Child Development where your progressive commitments and social sector expertise would have been put to excellent service of the people. But you refused to hunker down and work with processes of governance, instead you preferred to criticise from the sidelines. Perhaps you are just in love with your own youthful avatar, refusing to grow up because you cannot accept that you are no longer fiery and young. Perhaps your rage against the world is simply fury against the inexorable truth of advancing years.

Your second mistake was that you failed to realize that you are aged in a country of the young; you have failed to come to terms with the new India. Economic globalization, despite your consistent opposition, is raging through the country like a wildfire. Like it or not, India's young are rushing towards new opportunities with open arms. Today a constable from Himachal can become a wrestler on the world stage. A police officer's orderly can become an Indian idol. The son of a Congress worker can build a telecom empire. The son of sweeper can set up his own fast food business. A conquering cricket team can be made up of boys whose fathers are railway mechanics and tyre repairmen. Icons of the poor like Mayawati are not dressed in rags and jholas, instead they are proudly clad in diamonds and silk, embodying the tidal wave of aspiration that every reporter sees in the dirt tracks of UP and Bihar. There are lots of things wrong with this New India. It does not have the social conscience you like, it is creating vast inequalities between rich and poor, it is pauperizing traditional trades and providing little hope for those scratching out worms from riverbeds to survive.

But this New India is also shaping itself into an avalanche of upward mobility. You are trying to tame the avalanche. You have stalled pension reform, stalled banking reforms and for long stalled the privatization of airports. You did not realise that keeping airports as a state monopoly was only preserving it as a sector for the rich. That all over the world air travel is dirt cheap precisely because it is privatized. When leaders like AB Bardhan say, 'Baadh mein jaye Sensex' (to hell with the Sensex) he pours scorn on millions of middle class Indians who invest and trade.

But what must lead you to BJP-style atma chintan is the crisis confronting you in your bastions. In Kerala you are factionalised in a way that makes even the Congress look good. You are split wide open down the middle. In Bengal you badly misread what happened in Nandigram leading to shocking gram panchayat defeats in both Nandigram and Singur as well as recently, very important defeats for you in civic body elections. Last year, your protests against joint Indian and American naval exercises got little response from the public. This year your so-called campaign against petrol price hike was largely ignored by the people.

Courtsey - sagarika ghose

New Blog

My new blog  to share my knowledge and skills on what I really do,  is awaiting to support & share with those who are in  the field of Inventory Management .

www.inventory.exploreinfo.net

A Word of Thanks

Just got flattered seeing a friends email mentioning about my skills on web development , As a mater of fact my web sites and blogs are just few months old and so are my expertise in this . These are just my  attempts with  an intention to share my views with my friends and colleagues all around .  But sincerely i feel delighted when few take the pain to let me know that they found some use of my sites . Thank you all for the support .

Asian Games - The Games of your Money !

Match fixing has become a common scenario with   cricketers now . Players compromise their skills for money . Isn't it  evident that few players in the Doha Asian games also fell prey to this custom . I relay do feel so .  A similar irrational thing is the origin of participants . Countries are buying players from other regions to compete holding  their flag    . This would definitely lead to an  embarrassing situation soon . Countries  who could afford to hire more  dominant players  could win more number of medals . If you see the medal status of Doha Asian games you could understand how money has elevated the ranks of many countries . Basically I feel even a competition  meant to rub the skills of individuals  finally ends up were  money dwell . So obviously it is " The Games of your Money "

Safe Driving Tips

Within city limits drivers often focus their vision completely on the road neglecting the movements on the sides leading to accident. While skilled driving depends on the coordination of eyes  , hands and legs,  safe driving depends on the coordination of mind and eyes .  


My recommendation is that 70 % of our vision is to be focused on both sides of the road . This vision needs to be  analyzed constantly for identifying the slightest movement of anything on the side      . Remaining 30 % of the vision has to be focused on the road  . Judge the speed of vehicles in your front and always anticipate them to stop suddenly . Well,  how do we attain  this sort of synchronization of vision . Only through experience I would say . Analyze the movements of vehicles or pedestrians on the sides of the road and change your driving path or pace accordingly . Cut the acceleration once you anticipate an obstruction and let the vehicle move in its momentum . Accelerate again once you pass the anticipated obstruction . By doing so you could quickly respond to an emergency breaking need  . Practice by assuming your eyes to work as a scanner scanning from left to right and the road in front always . Once you practice this, later  you will do so involuntarily while driving .

Familiarize yourself with the breaking capabilities of the vehicle you drive .Never apply maximum force you could on the break pedals with an intention to stop immediately . Familiarize how you could apply break with out making the vehicle skid . This could save you on emergencies .  Develop the practice of putting indicator lights when ever you take a turn and also habbitize to look the rear view mirrors frequently especially any time you stop  . Safe driving is always dependant on logical thinking . Think wise and drive safely .

Email Forwards ........A different role player

I seldom  forward  emails for having been through the pain of receiving repetitive mails quiet often . Well a positive side of this matter which I see is that you feel the sender still remembers you or a feeling of being in touch . As a mater of fact about 90 % of the forwards which i receive are not read and they  find their destination in the trash box immediately but I do remember the sender a moment or so . I feel this to be an achievement in midst of our time bound race to roll the life . So basically email forwards serve its purpose in a different perspective than it is intended to . So guys do not feel irritated on receiving forwards keep sending and propagate the fact that you like to be in touch . I thank my Aunt Prabha ( Mysore ) for making me blog on this issue .

Pakistan's Role on Indian Territorial Terrorism

Findings of the CBI, linking Pakistan's hand in Bombay bombings has once again reinstated the role Pakistan is playing to destabilize Indian economical growth . Often think and support the general concept that US has given Terrorism a global outlook . Efforts US is making on Iraq has been proven to be utter failure had it been on Pakistan were terrorist dwell would have brought better results for sure . Kashmir issue in my view has become a legally viable reason for Pakistan but their true intention is to curb the economical growth India is attaining day by day . Often I feel pity when i come across Pakistani colleagues comment positioning Pakistan and India on the same level of economic growth .

Nuclear Capability Issue........... !

Why there is a hue and cry when new nations attain nuclear capability . This is often mis interpreted with the double game being played by US . As a mater of fact it is something we need to understand why it becomes a concern to all nations . Each country has their own mechanism of governance . The concern is how reliable and fool proof this mechanism is . India for an example has a democratic setup which has proven reliability for years . The case is unlikely with Pakistan , Iran and North Korea . Think of a dynamite in the hands of a matured person and think of the same held by a monkey . Which is more potentially dangerous ?. The nuclear capability issue is exactly the same . Controls Pakistan has over their nuclear capabilities are proven to be inefficient as their technology was pilfered to Iran and now N.Korea . If this chain is permitted to pursue further , eventually the world would be like a tree with lots of monkeys running around with dynamite in hand . I personally feel that N.Korea would face a tougher sanctions for being a face set to Iran .

15 Asian Games in Doha .....Expats Bare the costs ?

Very recently only I got enlightened , knowing the fact that India was the first country to host asian games .My GK is too poor I knew it .... I do remember the 1982 Asian games held at New Delhi . In fact i still remember because the government in view of Asian games made the import of television duty free and that is the first time we owned a tv . That too imported . So basically Asian games in India gives me a thought of happiness unlike what I experience here in Doha . Guys in Doha could easily figure out the experience we are going through . Do I need to write it down ........I think no . So to me that is what determines the richness of a country's infra structure when talked about . It is not the currency conversion factor which also made us stuck here . Looking forward for the World's biggest event . Did we bare the cost in any manner for this ..............?

My First Day as a Blogger

My First day as a blogger . Thanks to Sandro Raphael My colleague who gave me the motivation and supported me into this .