August 20, 2010

ONAM: a Green Festival

ONAM (Oh num) is the state festival of Kerala, India. It is a harvest festival, celebrates the glory and prosperity of a rich, bountiful harvest of plant products from the farms. 

This festival falls in the Malayalam month of Chingam (now in August). This month follows the lean months of rainfall. With Chingam, the sun re-appears after 2-3 months of hide-and-seek with rain clouds. So chingam is springtime...the green umbrellas after a long battering of heavy downpour  stands up and produces flowers of all hues and shades. At least in the countrysides, one can hope to see the Dashapushpams (ten flowers). I don't see all ten of them around, except in the newspapers.

Yes, Onam is celebration of prosperity. People spend money to buy new clothes and also to travel to their ancestral home (digging out own roots!) and have a good onasadya (Onam feast on the 2nd day of ONAM) on a tender plantain leaf. Really mouth watering........

Yup..wihout the green plants there is no ONAM. Onam is a celebration of plants and only when plants are conserved, be it paddy or Dashapushpams, can we celebrate ONAM. 

No doubt, Onam is a Green Festival

Thiruonasadya: It is all green here

Floral carpet called Pookalam
A close up of Pookalam-flowers, flowers....

Puli (tigers and leopards) raiding me!
Kallavumilla chathivumilla......Pranamum Thampurane

August 14, 2010

Chengaloor GLPS

This forenoon we were in Chengaloor GPS in Puthukad. We held the farmers' seminar and the "mini exhibition" there. As I wrote before, COF focused on Puthukad to educate our graduates about villages, villagers and their lifes (Do Kerala got real villages???). While dreaming about how to do the module, my sub-conscious mind recalled Bapuji's dream of "every village youth going to town to master the skills should come back and serve". How beautiful & True. I thought to give Jithinnath and his friends a memorable lesson.

But these days the youths rarely come back. Instead they "uproot" & "transplant" their full family to the town. If every village in India becomes self sufficient, India will become the superpower that it is projected to become. Only possible if our youths are willing to spare their mind, muscle and time for their rustic brethren.Even if they chose to be in the town.

Lemme come back to GLPS. I have seen innumerable schools, especially GLPS. My journeys to conduct the election took me to several schools. Every school greets you with a large open space-the play ground. Not Chengaloor GLPS.

Not that this school is not having a play ground.  It is there..the difference..strategically located Green Umbrellas...The kids can run (they must run..how else can they develop the muscles and balance?) just freely around, but they are protected from the tropical SUN by the green canopy above. 
The beautiful small school


the Fig with its arms spread
Bauhinia grove...Oh ho.....congrats teachers and kids   
de Vaa-zha yum 


Look and learn
Karaskrithathin kuru paalil...........

I salute the human beings who hoisted the "GREEN UMBRELLAS" here very long ago. Tomorrow, in our independence day, our future generation will hoist our tri-color under the safe canopy of these gigantic trees.

August 11, 2010

Chennai..Singara Chennai

Chennai or Madras is always a lovely place. For me, it's a city where history sleeps..It has a valuable past and paints a bright future as well.....The public transport is a mascot of an administration concerned about social welfare, &, at the same time, ecological footprint. I derived mental pleasure in riding in the city bus. I frequently brushed aside Sreepathy's criticism..he called me a "miser" for not opting to use his Bullet or an auto rickshaw.

Strolling thru the galis (thanks to Shiny, I walked alongside her like a kid) I saw dirt, slum people and their lives....maybe I will be able to do something, some time.....when? i don't know! India has to go a long way, no doubt.

Coming from a quiet, relatively  dust free, smoke free area, I naturally choked. Yes, I was in Chennai for 2 days. I was disturbed by the noise pollution. A "disciplinarian" (discipline is a perversion?) like me naturally did not like how Chennaites drove their vehicles of all types from the now-getting-rare bullock carts, bicycles and the M Benz. I was not at all angry, though. On the other hand, I was surprised to feel the urgency and positive spirit of the Chennai folks.

Naturally, I wondered about the "Green Umbrellas" of Chennai. It is everywhere........copper pods, Lannea coromandelica (I learned that this is a good avenue tree, Thanks Chennai) & much more.........

Polyalthia longifolia-the green umbrellas in front of Southern Railways
Another view

trees are elastic and plastic...Pruned & shaped up
Plants give you anti-oxidants!
beat the heat and cholesterol as well
The Green Umbrellas shielding GOD-live and let live
Shiny going green for lunch in Anna Salai
The Green Umbrellas of Madras High court
Tree breaks to cut noise and dust pollution
The street might be busy...the pavement is however "green"

  


congrats & Thanks........Chennaites for opting the Green Umbrellas.

maatu-mala of Puthukkad

Once a grass topped hillock..now a "lake"
Afrikan payal
Stone is money?????????.
A grand canyon indeed..but be careful 
The Maattu-mala is a strategic hillock in Puthu-kkaad in Thrissur district. One can catch a full view from its top. Well nestled between large green umbrellas of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis)  trees, this hillock, seemed to me like a grass topped large boulder. This area was largely avoided by the locals and was traditionally a haven for maadu (cattle)..hence the name.

Yes, a big boulder is a commodity, and it has, naturally to be traded. Like how we do with soil & sand. And trade, they did, ripping open and converting most part of it into a large monstrous "lake"(??)! Locals told me that a corpse which was finally fished out from the depths was "frozen". Now they are planning a boating facility with rope-way facility on it. Yup..cashing on the opportunity..thatz a gud economic brain...... 

I was there on Aug 31 with my green army for unfolding green umbrellas over the left over earth with Emblica officinalis (Amla) - giving our bit to convert maatu-mala into a nelli mala . The local MLA & the Panchayath authorities all planted amla seedlings. 

Prof. C. Raveendranath, MLA planting a nelli seedling
 Yes, we were on a "Green Puthukad" mission.

August 3, 2010

environmentally friendly consumer behavior

.....now..this a eco-friendly consumer beahviour! 
I keep a tray of one-sided paper for printing.....and I also only print very occasionally

The top-scoring consumers of 2010 are in the developing economies of India, Brazil, China, in descending order (Greendex 2010).