ANCIENT PROMISES

People deem my nature as 'someone dwelling in the world of words. I can be 'an often unbearable girl' with pestering non stop messages and talks on movies, music, travel, passion for Bangla, Telugu and some other languages cum literature.Sometimes I feel whether my entity has any essence in a world other than my journalism pranks, interviews,media reporting and dudes as crazy, funny and weird as me.I attribute all my flaws and positives to my utmost loving Achan, Amma, Anakha Ajith(Meenukutty) and my Chitappan.The passionate souls who kindled my love for words started right from my school days incorporating my Paternal Grandmother(late) hailing from Palakkad district.I still recollect those days when Granny taught me the English letters and the nursery rhyme 'johny johny yes papa' with her mouth wide open and sans teeth.I owe a lot to my Granny for kindling a passion for literature, novels, handicrafts.A kind hearted soul with a fair complexion as fair as her mind albeit she was partially deaf and weak in eyesight. 

I used to listen to the stories of the hardships which my Father, Granny and family have undergone due to her adverse circumstances in life.But there is a thrill in hearing a sentence repeatedly that "My Granny is the daughter of a then pundit and their family association with Malayalam literary trio Kumaran Asan, Veena Poovu, Karuna and all".My father too has a significant influence in literature via Malayalam Poetry. Once I started having a pure world of literature, word within a word unable to speak a word swaddled with darkness( T.S.Eliot), I literally feel proud of my roots... When many of my friends and faculties tease, bless and wish me addressing 'upcoming Arundhati Roy, Anita Nair and......", I wish to have a mark of my own n may be a typical Jaishree Misra type.. Thanks a lot, Amma for getting me 'Ancient Promises'.Although I am indebted to my cute Amma girl for her love, selfless care, affection, I am blissful when she gifts and gets me all the novels, books, articles of strong women.Your strength especially in the storms of my life plus your ardent desire to see your elocution, University debate winner Appu as a diasporic writer like Jaishree Misra or Lahiri is the pronounced strength of my life.

"Writing is like the tap I have in my bathroom in Delhi that never turns off completely."(Jaishree Misra).Glad that my Parents and Meenukutty adore such a non-stop pipe reverberating water in the form of words through out the nook and cranny of my lovely 'Krishnavandana'.

Being the daughter of Government employees, I literally feel lucky by the way Amma's and Achan's officers and Departments influenced and encouraged my sister and me. Amma being a non- teaching staff had to hear many displeasing comments from some so called teaching staffs( I mean some relatives- blood relation in special). But many good and inspiring hearts have inspired us a lot. Special mention to Anirudhan KumaranSir for knowing me from the time I was a Graduate student.plus my Achan too.Our bonds have enhanced once Amma became your College Senior Supdt. I literally respect teachers like you and for giving me confidence and inspiration to move ahead with my dreams as per the spectacular expectations pinned on me.I miss teachers who know the real dharma of teaching these days. Glad to have teachers like Mohan Ramanan Sir, Sindhu Maam, Girija Miss, Sabitha Teacher, Ravindran Sir, Baiju Chandran sir and... (list goes on)

“After breaking just about every rule in the Kerala Etiquette Handbook”, Janu once again becomes grist for the gossip mill. “Soon it would have reason to sit back and rock on its heels in cruel laughter, slapping its friends on the back and wheezing with the fun of it all.”(Mishra)Though London-based her Malayali roots beckon, Kerala forming the backdrop of her stories. “I am proud to be a Malayali. There is a surge of pride when we realise that we share statistics with the developed world, but we need to beware of getting into a sense of superiority. It is a great feeling but accompanying that is a deeply conservative society. For me it is less forgivable to be deeply conservative when by and large we are educated people.” And her ten long years in Kochi. “M.G. Road has changed beyond recognition. In the city I was losing my sense of direction as I could not find any of the known landmarks.” Her visit to her fond teacher, Prof. Madhukar Rao’s house, where she did her MA, “I had called him from Thiruvananthapuram. He said, come along, we will sit and laugh together.” And that’s what she did there and in the city enjoying her brief visit...

Anakha Ajith- Count down for powerful novels like this from my JRF holder too...Amma will gift anyway as always and usual like Achan...Hope we can witness a Rain Rising together........hehehehe...
Thanks for those who took pains to go through my 'essay'.Wishing a Resplendent New Year' for all !

Miles and promises to keep  with a smile before I sleep!

WORTH verus BIRTH

With BOLLYWOOD Actress and PARCHED movie fame, Tannishtha Chatterjee...... A pic with Deedi ji after introducing her to the PRESS MEET of the 21st edition of IFFK-International Film Festival of Kerala.. Feeling ecstatic to introduce and anchor this Press Meet in special... Her COMEDY NIGHTS BACHAO proved her calibre to roast people who roasted her on the mere pigmentation of Skin...“In an India of 2016 I still have to be apologetic about my skin tone? What is this white-skin hangover? Where does all our pride as a nation go away when it comes to the acceptance that most of us have a darker skin tone?”

Once I was asked “ Your surname is Chatterjee? Oh you are Brahmin.. What is your mothers surname? Maitra! Oh…. She is Brahmin too…” And then indirectly he hinted how is my skin tone still dark… ? This is so deep rooted and linked to our perceptions of caste, class and skin tone. Upper caste =Fair skin =touchable. Lower caste=dark skin=untouchable. Yes I have pronounced it. Probably most of us will not admit to our hatred for the dark skin also comes from our caste bias. I made a film called Parched. Why I am saying “I made” is because all of us who are a part of this film feel that this was not just a film for us. That its MY FILM. We wanted to express a lot of things about gender, body, skin , sexuality , caste etc through our stories. It has been a revelation that the journey just begins here as we realise through our promotional process that we are constantly subjected to exactly those issues from which this film was engendered. The list is long long and the biases are deep deep….The privilege that allows these are what we had hoped to challenge"
Thanks a lot, Tannishtha Chatterjee for being a part of our International Film Festival of Kerala - IFFK Official..Many are yet to learn many things that transcend all the manmade barriers of caste, COLOUR, SKIN TONE, religion and........ 
I dedicate all this to some verygood people I come across the real desert of desert campus who consider these stuffs as the criteria to evaluate people and keep their worth aside. Anakha Ajith- I love my identity as a SOUTH INDIAN(broad word and never ever a narrow minded Mallu coinage) with the dark colour(as Ghori ghori chora choris usually coin south people) and above all as the way I am... Lub, Tonnishto deedi

MAJ RATI KETEKI

Directors Santwana Bardoloi and Green Zeng with My Media Gang

A breathtaking Press Meet and the day turned out to be a red letter one by the sanguine presence of Assamese Director SANTWANA BARDOLOI .. A poet can distinguish human anguish in the lonely cry of a Keteki singing in the night.... The very movie and the director moved me a lot.. Perhaps,one of the best movies that I take to my heart and soul from this IFFK-International Film Festival of Kerala... Truth is always bright athough not clear to the human eyes.. But truth- what is that and whose perception???.Jani na! I wish I could understand Assamese language.. Even the very subtitles echo in my mind like a Keteki... Hope I come across such a writer like Priyendu Hazarika someday who can aspire the lover of words to attain their dreams at its zenith....Thanks to open my feelings to the director and especially the fact that I could associate myself with her character Sumana, the aspiring writer.. Thanks a lot for your inspiring words...

A day that meant a lot in my life.. Let me cite an incident which broke my mind like anything couple of days back. An unknown unseen scientist who insulted me by words saying and explaining the superiority of science to arts.. Science people are in fire and the people like me from the liberal arts have nothing better to do other than read, write, enjoy and play with words.. Science people are only busy...Are they only busy? Navin Christian, Johan S Ben, Anakha Ajith- true na???Now I have come across a Doctor by profession brimming with aesthetics and literary pulse...The thing which astounded me the most is how a paediatrician has this much passion for arts and literature. The movie opens with the dedication- 'I fly because of you'- Dr Jayanto Bardoloi(her better half).. Hope she will fly high like anything reverberating the Keteki's voice in many minds like mine...It is not the stream of arts or science that matters but a mind and heart to know,learn and feel the art of 'real life'... Not justifying arts, science and not even complaining any.......

Hugs for the Aspring writer Sumana in my entity.

READINESS/RIPENESS/SILENCE is ALL

Should I unfold the saga in an ancedotal style???? Might be dramatic! I discern TODAY as the best day to 'unfold this feel' after pending this for long.... Anakha Ajith n Nikhil Sunnymon- I couldn't curb this any more...Sorry my Cuties <3 <3 <3

In this typical tech savvy world of wats app. phones smarter than d smart generation youth, conditional and two/five yr model policy relationships, I felt a spl brouhaha on this very day.Albeit I pondered over and analysed this fact many a times, I think ther is much scope only for 'literary illiteracy, sanitised violence and vulgar exhibitionism"only... The other day I lent my ears to a couple of poems of which one small simple poem penned by Prof Ranu Uniyal was quite ravishing.I quote one or two lines which really striked me a lot.. The poem goes like this
'foto sach nehi hothi/ ladkiyom ki tarah.
lekin hothi hei ek camera mei, ek samaj mei...."
I am not sure whether this poetry of hers has also bagged awards like the other precise and touching ones. Another poet found beauty of face in a 'clay' and the other one in 'thousands of spoken and unspoken words'...........I was in an utter connundrum- which is true- readiness is all??/ ripeness s all?? silence is all? All these words have become mightier than sword ,penned by the same genuis.....................At once somebody mumbled from within- a kind of Laertes polonius mutter- 'To thy own self be true"........
Thanks a lot to all the wonderful people I hv come across within the last 2days span- Philipose VMuncle, Sreedharan Parokode uncle, Janardhanan Ji, Sitanshu Sir, Avdesh singh Ji, Anuradha aunty, Sarita aunty, Nayak ji, ......................and the list goes on.......U ppl made me realise that peace is the strange commodity in the age which we live in and literature is in its struggle....The generations who cannot seem themselves in mirror indulge in mirroring 'dinchaak/totta' pics in fb.....Let me mention a typical kerala frnd of mine who is so good in uploading his/her pics n LIKES all d pics esply those in which whoever eats, drinks, baths,dances r whatever except the meritorious stuffs, others achievements , awards n recognition..The funnniest part is this literally illiterate man is from a renowned IIT from non Arts stream.Another category frnd who js comes n inboxes in fb- dint u like my post?y so??r v supposed to like and comment everything dt appears in fb? this persons know only take policy - oh, coin has become one sided???? These are js two examples I cited which comprise the so called faculty lok also esply those who only n always say "good, very good comments' always directly and in der groups....But they know only to like the 'pics of so called ghora ghori chora choris (may be beauty outwits merit for many ppl including the so cld shatterers of darkness from society?)only albeit dey say very rude/bad cmnts about dem in der own groups.......oh may be literary theory of duality....... I wish to rewrite Frantz Fanon as White in skin Black masked mask... Hv v told dese ppl to say mere n utter ridiculing very good/natak comments??Whatever 'truth is strange always n stranger dan d fiction too'.... There r exceptions everywhere n sm ppl do stand a part apart from all d mere pleasing n praising attitude signifying nothing... I salute my REAL teachers a lot My Sindhu mam, Ramanan sir, Girija teacher, Anirudhan sir,...(list goes on) my convent school teachers <3 <3 <3 
When I pen this I feel literally proud from my heart as a South Indian Malayali speaker understanding Tamil and a speaker making chaala bavindhi try in understanding Telugu..... Anakha Ajith- statement upside down..now its chathukko Appu...auna, Kutty????Being an ardent devotee of the love queen of Malabar, I too hv learnt to dream only in one language despite all class, caste, race conscious lok I am encircled by... I suspect- merit s nothing,has merit bcm nothing??Js like Lear's cordelia nothing comes out of nothing..Here its reversed n culture of silence s d best way n appeasement s d holy slogan for all irrespective of north/south all geographical differences n distances of our Mother India.............But Once again I realise that LITERATURE is not a police station where u can expound the FIR details..nvr n not at all.....When my heart pulsates, my words overhear words talking to each other, I I feel myself sublimated like a Franz Kafka esply his short story the terror of relying on one's own watch......yes, b what u r js as d way u r...life is not at all a ha ha he hee hee js as d fiction says.......
Thanks a lot to lot many hearts esply d destructive crtics(mainly community promoters) who js fire n inspire d strength to many like me........
I dedicate this to my spl Sadia Arman deedi n let's join our hands n heart together as U told me.......Loved ur meeshti bangla, khoob bhalo comments and desires and above all a heart which tries to heal and not to hurt many hearts and the 'weaker cum fairer sex' in spl.... <3 <3 <3 <3...... From Udaipur - The City of Lakes, the real stream of somethings - gona commence.......janina??let's hope fr d best, deeeedi 

OUR BOOK to the LIMELIGHT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally our book came to limelight edited by Gopika Govind, Adv Amina Shajahan, Amala James,Gayathri GR n me. "KERALA - AN AUTHENTIC HANDBOOK "edited by us for the INFORMATION n PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPT to the GOVT of KERALA. Feeling glad to see  our names as "Editors" in the  front page. Thanks a lot to my dearest guide Dr.Bhoomika Ma'am, my dearest teachers DP NeGi sir and Vijay sir for their wishes. Anakha Ajith  and Nikhil Sunny -you guys will be treated in special as very special soon when I get the salary from our Secreteriate office soon..love you, my cutiessssssssssss. <3 <3 

Special thanks to my dearmost Kalidas Pavithran uncle for his whole hearted support for evreything especially for boosting me up by your words and messages from abroad when I am literally dying and feeling useless at that desert..Thanks a lot, my dearest uncle......
....DP NeGi sir- A very special thanks to you sir, for your prayers. Your words have come true and I got a golden opportunity to get the  copy signed by my ever wellwisher and  favourite personality B. Srinivas IAS, Director of higher education, finance  to the Govt of Kerala................ Humility and down to earth aer something else as we discussed it many times with social workers.........

Thanks a lot to Radha Krishnan sir for bestowing this amazing chance to become a part of the kerala Govt.....
Abdul Azeez sir --------- I do take ur words into consideration especially the "culture of silence ".............I hope now you understand my life is literally a waste and its destined to b "wasted in the  desert air".... dats Y "kerala calling " me back and I yearn for my journalistic days.. Anakha Ajith n Nikhil Sunny ---- anything wrong??????????
Once more, Thank you all<3 ..hugs and kisses to my parents, meenukutty and my chittappan....

With B Srinivas IAS sir

.

THE WORDSMITH OF KUTTANAD

Missing the warmth and serenity of my land.Glancing through the pages of Life of the multitudes of Kuttanad aroused my pulse. Kuttanad- An amazing geographical region on the banks of Pamba  river manifesting the natural beauty of my God's own abode. Known by the sobriquet"the rice bowl of Kerala", the life of people hailing from this land is vested on the farm lands and paddy fields. This region, a thing apart from all other regions of Kerala holds disparity in social relations too.I am always fascinated by the Thakazhi village of this Taluk and its grandeur was brought to the map of international acclaim by none other than the realistic writer who portrayed the real man with flesh and blood- Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai..

If classicism can be called the absence of humans, romanticism is the human beings at the extremes of human emotion. It is in realist writing only, we can feel the man who is depicted as the way he is although far away from the ivory towers and sky scrapers..I was really moved when going through the felt miseries and hardships undergone by the middle class people of Kuttanad portrayed by Thakazhi......So, I have made up by mind to go and have some time once again at this land of "real innocence and sincerity" of the agrarian life of my state which is often ridiculed and addressed by some guys of the desert where am now staying as the "sate with high literacy". Even though they criticise a lot,it is a matter of pride that my state holds such a position and let the situation may not get degraded like some other sates of India which are "literally illiterate". Whatever happens, some conceptions are never transformed from the minds of man and that is what is reflected to a great extent in the writings of the novelist of Thakazhi as well.Now waiting eagerly to hv the nx trip to Aleppey with my IJT PRESS CLUB 2013-14 gang .As usual,farmer suicides of Kuttanad create a major hubbub. But now the situation has given way for "babu kuzhimattom's, Mani sir's,Kiss of love and so on...........Still something rocks me back to the agrarian land which fills my recesses with the freshness of ever green colour hinting a note of optimism.

Dedicated to my dear friends who are always the great admirers of our culture ,land and yearning to have a glance of Kerala bust in scenery, greenery and the warmth of valleys, lakes and the village folk!

SREE NARAYANA GURU AS A SOCIAL REFORMER AND HIS BLOODLESS REVOLUTION FOR THE DOWNTRODDEN IN KERALA( my published Abstract and paper selected for publication)

Sree Narayana Guru, the renowned social reformer, philosopher, saint and sage played a prominent role in elevating a society like Kerala engrossed in caste evils and untouchability to a state that stands in front in equality and literacy now. Being a karma yogi and jnana yogi rolled into one, his mantra of “with malice towards none and love for all” enabled him to fight against the heinous acts of casteism and became the voice of the marginalized. His indefatigable preaching of the doctrine “one caste, one religion, one god” turned out to a be a clarion call for the multitudes of oppressed sections of Kerala to make them aware of the need for the social and spiritual upliftment. In order to materialize his dream for the unfortunates, he began temples and educational institutions with the motto “progress through education, strengthen through organization”.

  My paper will begin by examining the role of Narayana Guru and how he succeeded in earning a status for the ‘Avarnas’ or the low castes with his silent revolutionary competence. The paper intends to focus on the social inequalities he also faced in his own Ezhava community where they had to keep a certain distance from others as per the unwritten hierarchy. He envisioned a noble place where “all live in brotherhood without difference in caste or cancor of religions”. The paper would throw light on his Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, consecration of Ezhava Shiva temple at Aruvippuram that created a maelstrom in Kerala, Vaikkom satyagraha and Temple entry proclamation. His proficiency in Sanskrit, Tamil and Malayalam are reflected in the form of literary outputs like “Atmopadesa Sathakam”, “Darsanamala” and translation of “Thirukkural” into Malayalam. The aura of this magnetic personality inspired Kumaran Asan, one among the trios of the Modern Malayalam poetry to prove his pen is mightier than sword with his realistic poems. I would like to conclude the paper stressing the fact that Sree Narayana Guru and his contributions to God’s own country can be never be ignored. There by proving that “posterity will not willingly let this charismatic prodigy die”