Near the Nila

The Nila doesn't advocate Carpe Diem; seizing the day being too dynamic a proposition for a slow-moving river. Instead it urges you to freeze the moment...

This is just a line from a beautifully written travelogue by writer Anita Nair that I stumbled upon, in which she describes her journey along  the bank of the river Nila. I haven't read many travelogues to judge one, but I found this one interesting enough to capture my attention long enough despite the familiarity of what she was describing. I have seen Nila at various points along its length - Palakkad, Thiruvilwamala, Ottapalam, Shoranur, Pattambi. May be it was this familiarity that made it so easy for me to identify with the article. Thanks to her, I came to know of the existence of an organization set up to save the neglected river - the Nila Foundation. The foundation is funded partially by The Blue Yonder, and intends to revive the dying rivers in Kerala, in particular Nila. To quote the author,

"And amidst the shrubs a lone firefly drew neon green smileys in the dark.." 

PS: You can read the complete travelogue here.

Backwaters of Kerala

This is just a picture I took during a train journey from Trivandrum to Bangalore last month. Pardon the  picture quality - I took it using my mobile phone camera.

Ormayil Onam....

I couldn't help but write a post on Onam though I had decided a simple picture of a pookkalam would be enough. May be  because this is the sixth consecutive Onam that I'm spending away from home and the nostalgia that creeps in every time I see or hear something remotely related to Onam or for that matter Kerala is too overpowering for me to resist. Practically my Onam always started from my school where we would have various competitions among the student houses. The next four days of vacation (my school didn't have ten days of vacation for Onam) were always spent at our ancestral home located in a sleepy beautiful village where the whole family would gather. Any flower we could get our hands on  - from the precious little yellow mukkutti to the brightly colored chembarathi( shoe flower) - delicately made its way to the pookkalam over a small circular spread of cow dung which served as the base.( No, we didn't care whether it would make our hands dirty. Neither about the design which mostly was a conspicuously placed flower in the center surrounded by concentric circles.) Then there was the  interesting process of making Thrikkakarappans, and we children were allowed to be just spectators as far as this was concerned. They are pyramidal structures made out of  mud (and that being the reason we children were never allowed to actively participate as much as we would have liked to), and would be kept decorated with rice-flour, chembarathi flowers, and an olakkuda (an umbrella made of Palmyra leaves) in the front yard. And to finish off, a sumptuous sadya on plantain leaf - as colorful as it is tasty with a serving of payasam. Gone are those days but not the memories. My last five Onams were spent at Pilani, and that made it more special sans the Valluvandan style celebration I was so used to. I guess, at home or not, Onam will always be special - we just have to find ways to make it so. Signing off wishing everyone a wonderful and happy Onam....

Save Nila!!

I remember as a child spending Sunday evenings on the beautiful banks of Bharathapuzha. The river then was majestic, with its calm waters in the hot summer, providing the much needed relief to all those tired souls and at the same time, during the rainy season creating a big hurdle for all those who want to cross it. But then I guess, irrespective of the season, people loved the river. My habit gradually died as I myself was caught in the cobwebs of growing up,and there was no time for my beautiful Nila. Years later when I saw the river again, I barely could identify it as the Nila which once flowed from bank to bank. Small streams of water here and there. I couldn't shudder to think what we have done to our Bharathapuzha. The river which once was the inspiration of many a poet, the ultimate location for a song sequence in many a Malayalam film, the life of an entire culture that grew and flourished on its banks, has been reduced to a river slowly on its way to oblivion. Shame on all of us who failed to protect our pious Nila, beautiful Nila.