Distant Lands

Kerala is known as 'God`s own country'. You have to be there to realise it. It’s a land of endless splendors. It’s beauty is breath-taking. It’s a place where nature still nurtures.

Sometime back I went to kerala to attend a friends wedding. She was my college mate. Thamarassery is a microscopic village in kozhikode district.The bumpy roads didn’t stop the rumbling bus. 'Mayilvahanan travels' read the board on top of the bus. Its conductor had a thick moustache and was holding a leather bag (with the picture of mira jasmine) in his hand.

The bus spit four of us in Mangulam. And there was a boatman there flicking his mundu in style. We asked him the route for thamarassery. With a smiling face he offered us a ride in his boat. The ride was nice and cool, with the amber rays of sun making us to feel blue. From the distance I saw thamarassery.It is a little paradise.The entire geography of the village ends in 4 kilometers, but it has a world in itself.

Northern kerala is dotted with backwaters which give a typical feel to that place. Thamarassery is no exception to that. The boatman threw the half smoked malabar beedi as we landed in the village. The waterbody was still bathed by glittering rays of sun, which managed to perch through the coconut leaves. As a mark of respect, he removed the turban in his head.We gave him a hundred rupee note, which he accepted with a prayer.

I alone can hear him sing 'welcome to hotel kerala-fonia' …Arghh.

An old 'Prem Nazir - sheela' number was blaring from the nearby toddy shop as we walked past. On the other side of the road was a old malabar style house with a 'sickle-hammer' flag in its roof. Communism still sells in kerala.

All families in that village survive by the money sent by their dear-ones from dubai. My friend is no exception to that. Her brother is working in a leading petroleum company in abu dhabi. She got into our college through 'management quota'.
As we walked past a wooden bridge which was helplessly hanging over the water, I can see a wealthy settlement on the other side. It’s the place where all the 'dubai-settlers' have ther ancestoral homes.
Each house in that area was a piece of art-work. I don’t know what gives that traditional feel to them, the king-size pillars? The rezhi (vacant area in middle of the house)? Or is it just the smell of coconut trees nearby?
Tears of joy were rolling down from the eyes of my friend. She is the first one among our friends circle to enter into the next phase of life. Soon she will be going to fly into the distant lands of sharjah.
Whatever scarce malayalam we had learnt from our friend, we spoke. Or rather I should say 'we sang'. Yes.. It’s a musical language.
As we started after the ceremony we were given a bag of sweets.. Coconut.. Banana.. More coconut.. As we started from that beautiful village , I decided I should spend my retired life in Thamarassery. No doubt.. I would be a full time poet then.
Distant lands are always green!

Auf wiedersehen

** Enemity **

Last week I was reading a book called "The art of war". It was a book written in 250BC by a chinese general called Sun Tzu.

The book was full of tactics that one should adopt in a battle. I found striking some striking similarities.

It says "one who takes allies for granted will lose friends, but one who takes enemies for granted will lose himself ".

"My world is defined by my enemies. Friends always encourage me for whatever I do. Enemies sets the benchmark. They push me towards peak. I can live in a world without friends, but I cant live in a world without enemies" says Tsing-Ti, an emperor in han dynasty.
Now...Are we living in a world which is void of enemies..?

US is a developed country now because they had an enemy in the form of USSR. European countries are developed because there was an enemity during second world war. Japan also took part in second world war. You can see that all the developed countries now took part in some battle in last 100 years. All the technological developments have been from such countries.

Interpolating this, I would say, Sri lanka or some African country (like Uganda!!!) will be the next superpower. The enemity is in their blood. The brain behind any innovation is surely the rage to vanquish the enemies.
Just because we don’t have that rage.. Just because we were told to do 'satyagraha' to make things happen.. I think we lose the edge.
Right from the childhood we were taught not to quarrel with others. But it had made us meek, made us like little kittens.
We don’t fight for our rights. We take things as it comes to us. We live life at surface level. We get stressed because we are denied rights. We show a cold face on loved ones because of that. We end up in a complete mess.
Our rage should be always towards the enemy. Our mind should always think of how to anhilate them with our skills. That’s how we can reach the pinnacle.
It also suits to ones personal life- Have a lot of friends on whom you can trust. But don’t forget to have an enemy.
Let there be force. The force to fight.
Be a rebel.

Auf wiedersehen.