AKASHAGOPURAM

AKASHA GOPURAM - Castle in the Air

Akasha Gopuram means castle in the air . It is an adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen classic Master Builder . It is directed and screenplayed by K.P.Kumaran.It tells the story of Albert Samson, a high esteemed architect, who always thinks about his career' showing little love to his wife or subordinates. His assistant Alex is a talented architect who wish to part with Albert and to go on his own. He needs an approval to his design from Albert to do the work and that Albert denies. He is flirting with Alex's girl friend and mentally tortures Alex. Since Albert is mentally disturbed , there comes a beautiful young girl , Hide Varghese, who is an admirer of Albert, whom she saw in her school days. Her company inspires him to complete his dream project Akashagopuram, but the life ends on a tragic note.


The film is not impressing the audience mainly because of the touch of drama and also of the real adaptation of the drama. The talent of Mohanlal is not properly used. Nitya, a new entrant to the film world excelled in her role. Bharath gopi, though in a small role, made his presence felt. After all , any creative work is made basically to satisfy the creator. If he or she is satisfied, then others have nothing to tell.

Cinematography of the film is done by Mr.Manoj Thundiyil and editing by Mr.Ajith Kumar. Sound is made by Mr. Nigel Holland.

Casts include Sreenivasan, Manoj.K.Jayan, Geethu Mohandas and Swetha Menon.

Dreams of Dust

DREAMS OF DUST

‘Dreams of Dust “ a 2006 Burkino Faso-France-Canada production in French language directed by Laurent Salgues , is depicting the painful life of Africans who works in gold mines of Burkino Faso to make a better future. Once the gold was abundant , but now a rare element , the workers hopefully hope to get good catch one day. Mocktar, basically a Niger, came there after the death of his younger daughter ,bond to a girl of similar age and to her mother. Even though he met with mine accident and injury, he continues there and after getting a good catch, the euro he received has been given to the mother of Mariana and leaves the place.
Director has beautifully blotted out the frames in the desert and in limited shots established the attitude and psyche of each character. Screenplay by the director himself and the cinematography by Crystal Fournier are excellent. Annie Jeans has compactly edited the frames. Sound was given by Thierry Morlass-Lurbe, Luc Mandeville and Stephane Bergeron is also impressive.
Cast- Makena Diop, Rasmane Onedrago, Fatou Tallsalgues, Joseph .B.Tapsoba and Souleymane Zoure.
Producers – Sophie Salbot , Mare Daigle

Thagavalagam

Thagavalagam

Thagavalagam is a Dhan Foundation ICT initiative for advancing development through ICT . Dhan foundation conscious of the technological change and poor being left out in the whole process has initiated, Thagavalagam theme with the objectives to make information technology accessible to poor by developing relevant schemes through research and pilot activities.The project experiments and conducts socially relevant and needed programmes related to micro finance , agriculture, health and other social development as an organizational programme. It also collaborates with research and academic institutions one-governance and computer education at schools.
Thagavalagam Village Information Centre
Thagavalagam is the brand name of the Village Information Centre . It offers a variety of Information and Communication Services which include computer training e mail and browsing work sending applications for obtaining birth and death certificates , sending queries to Aravind eye hospital about eye problems to specialist doctors queries about crops and animals etc . Video Conference in Eye care agriculture fisheries, veterinary science legal consultation education etc is also a regular service in the Thagavalagams.

Thagavalagam Community College : The Hub
Thagavalagam Community College is the hub coordinating the Thagavalagams and is started with the objective of providing quality computer education to students of poor families at affordable fees. The courses offered are
Post graduate Diploma in Computer Application
Diploma in Computer Application.
Certificate course in Computer Application
Thagavalagan Offline Centers: ALCs are adult learning centers which provide computer based adult literacy for poor women in the villages. The illiterate adults learn to read and write Tamil with the help of the software.
Thagavalagam Groups
It consists of poor women and is promoted with the objective of providing ICT based livelihoods. The members are trained in computer software and hardware at the thagavalagams free of cost and they in turn undertake various job works. Sectoral groups are being promoted with various users of the thagavalagams like agriculture, fishermen, youth groups etc. These sectoral groups form the thagavalagam development association which manages the VICs.
Content development
The content developed includes different educational content, different software for services like agriculture and animal husbandry being used by farmers in thagavalagams. A team of VIC operators are also trained and involved in the content development. A wide range of location specific content is available at all thagavalagams.
website www .dhan.org

Lailas Birthday

Laila’s Birthday- a film by Rashid Masharavi

Laila’s birthday is a Palestine-Tunisian- Netherlands film directed by Rashid Masharavi . It tells about the story of a judge , who has been retrenched from service due to lack of money to pay. He is earning his bread as a taxi driver. Still he is enjoying the life and strictly follows the rules and regulations of the country. The story rounds on a day from his life. His wife requests him to come before 8 PM on that day to celebrate their daughter’s birthday. He agrees, drops the kid in the school and visiting the Ministry of Justice to enquire about his posting. The officials are very arrogant and irresponsive. He leaves the place and begins his duty. While on duty, he denies a passenger to smoke in the vehicle, insisting one to use the seat belt and not permits a Palestinian guerilla to enter his vehicle with a pistol. He tries 2-3 times to buy a bag to gift his daughter, but situations do not allow him to do that. Tries to buy a cake, that also fails. In the day time, he has to face bomb attack, attend a hospital case, blockades in the street and a plenty. It’s the reality in Palestine , but the people some how manages their life. Totally frustrated, he is back home and to his surprise , he gets a cake that a passenger forgot to take, the flower basket placed accidentally by a marriage party on his vehicle and a necklace , he casually purchased from a poor boy collectively makes the birthday a remembering event.

The direction and the camera work is simple and attractive. The music, script and editing also need special mention. Mohamed Bakri as the judge performed excellently.

“ I wanted to describe the confusion that currently reigns in the life of Palestinians… After more than half a century of Israeli occupation, after having struggled for freedom, negotiated for peace and waited for progress, we have only gone backward”, Rashid says.

Rashid born in 1962 and raised in the Shati refugee camp, Gaza Strip, is a self-taught film maker.In 1996, he founded the Cinema production and Distribution Center, which offers workshops to young Palestinian film makers . The CPC also initiated the Mobile Cinema Project , which brings screening to refugee camps.

School Days

It’s interesting to recollect

I studied in Class 10 at Boys High School , Karunagappally, Kollam, Kerala . I remembers that I am the only student passed from class X H division that year. We were at the second shift and in the morning attended tuition classes at Raju’s Tutorial. At that time, tuition classes were quite normal and the fee was very nominal. Examinations were comparatively strict and so limited students passed the final exam. Now, the exams are so liberal and thus the quality of the students who pass the exams are so low and not even able to fill an application. Some teachers didn’t take classes if I would be absent. I remember a few good teachers – Shri.Balakrishna Pillai Sir- General science, Das Sir ,Social Studies, Mrs.Mary Mathews, English, Unnithan Sir, Maths, Shri.Ramakrishna Pillai, Malayalam . Very interesting to know where these students are now.

Export- Import Procedure

Procedure for Export-Import trade for Government Institutions

For export - import of equipments for Government Institutions, there is no need to take IE Code separately. A common code has been given by the Director general of foreign trade for state Governments . The same is given in the “Hand Book of Procedure” published by them ( http://dgft.delhi.nic.in) It is available in Para -2.8 – V – Sl.no.2--- 0100000029- It states “All ministries/ departments of any state Government and agencies wholly or partially owned by them “ can use the above given code for their import .

TODDY SHOP at Nedumudi

I recently visited Ponga shap( a toddy shop at Nedumudi). The location is really beautiful. Shap is on the left side of the road while we are travelling from Alappuzha to Changanacherry. On the right side is acres and acres of paddy field that gives greenary to our eyes. It is about 5 kilometers from Alappuzha after Pallathuruthy Palam. They supplied pure sweet toddy in a big mug , Kappa(Tapioca), and meen ( fish varieties like Varal, Karimeen), kakka thoran and Kada meat. I made friendship with farmers like Karimeen chellappan, his main job is fishing karimeen. Occasionally he catch varals also. On our meeting day, he went for harvesting of paddy, it is a time consuming job with less wage. " I went just to support pennals( lady labourers) , because they couldn't do it alone", chellappan said. He sang some beautiful folk songs also. My friend Narayanankutty offered a bottle Kallu(toddy) to Chellappan and his friend. They finished 8 bottles of Kallu, one bottle costs Rs.30/- . They said they daily earn 300 to 500 rupees by selling their catch. While saying it, chellappan's dark tooth shined in the yellow light. "Look dear, I am 60, still young earning good money and enjoying life . when ever you be in this way, please call in this number. I will be ready to give company to you", Chellappan said and given the number -0477-2173540. He said, " The harvest machine is a big failure in Kuttanad beaause the field is not suit for machine. Now, the machines are going back and the labourers have taken that position. " I don't know he is right or not. One thing is sure, on the left side of the road, there is a toddy shap that supplies sweet toddy.

Thalassery- the land of Pazhassi Raja

Thalassery- in memory of a trip

We started from Thiruvananthapuram in the evening of Vijayadasami (8th October,2008) to Thalassery by Train No. 6347 Mangalore Express at 20.45 and reached Thalassery at 8.00 the next day. We mean myself, Jayasree, Vijayasree, Sreekutty, Sreekuttan and Unnikannan. My friend K.P.Vinod Kumar was at the station. In his car we moved to the 3 bed suit at Sangamam Tourist Home ( Fashion Complex, Near Fly over- Phone- 2344457, 2344458) . The room was neat and the staff were quite good and had good behaviour. Per day rent for accommodation was Rs. 632 and 50 paise ( tax included) . We had taken Puttu- payar (green gram ) as break fast. ( Rs.18/-plus tax per plate) , tea Rs.6/- and coffee Rs.10/-
Our primary aim was to see the new born baby boy of Vinod and Sobha. Vinod came at 11AM and we went to the house of Sobha, seen the baby, Sobha’s mother, brother, his wife and children. Good people, had spent some time there and visited Mahe. The beautiful old town where liquor shops are more than tea shops. Malayalees are very fond of Mahe because they gets good variety of liquor on cheaper rate because of reduced tax pertains to Pondicherry , Mahe is part of that union territory. The petroleum products are also cheap. Malayalees fill the vehicle full and carry a few “fulls” in the vehicle, but there is heavy checking at Kerala border to catch the liquor smuggling. There was heavy rush on the roads since the Church festival was going on. We visited I.K.kumaran Master memorial park, spent some time there , later saw the house of Minister Sri.E.Valasaraj .Its architecture is similar to that of the MPs’ buildings at Luton zone of New Delhi.

The lunch was at Vinod’s tharavad( the family house) . It was surprisingly good and was prepared by the noble Chettathies ( Sister-in-laws ) of Vinod , supervised by his mother and assisted by the sister who is running a cooking gas supplying centre near Mahe. Enjoyed the sambar, koottukari, thorans, achar, fish curry and fish fry. Payasam was also prepared by them. After that , we went to Muzhuppilangad beach, a wonder, that is Asia’s biggest drive-in- beach . About two kilometres at length , the beach is really an attraction . The beach needs some development works , a few benches near the kandal forest and a few parking spaces without disturbing the ambience. Dharmadam Island is also near by. People can travel on foot to the Island during low tide. On high tide , the water will rise and the people could not return till the time of low tide. Sea coast have so many rocks also and is very rare in Kerala.

Evening we went to MC Lake View Resort where Vinod’s brother Ramesh is residing. It is a beautiful location having lake on one side and good villas on the other. Though it was built by reclaiming the lake by filling with earth, disturbing the nature’s comfort, the ambience is quite good. We got a nice reception there, with a dates special . Dinner was at Sangamom with Chappathi ( Rs.4/- for one ), Plain Rice (Rs.30/- per plate), Fish Curry ( Rs.40/- per plate), Chicken Curry (Rs.55/- per plate ).

Next day, we took an auto rickshaw and visited the Thalassery Fort. It is in the heart of the town. Like most of the monuments maintained by Archaeological Survey of India , no details have been given to the visitor. The office was seen closed and some maintenance work was going on. We could see the sea at a short distance , but the smell of fishes not allow us to sit under the tree shade. We felt the sleeping history of the foreign rule while seeing the cellars of the fort. Then we expressed our desire to visit the Gundert Smarakam at Illikkunnu, where the great man sat, studied and made the Malayalam English Dictionary and other grate works for Malayalam language. The auto driver said there is no such smarakam, one statue is there in the town. He shown that to us. We asked many people about the samarakam. Then one person said it is in the campus of NTTF . We went to that place. A small hilly area, near the beautiful river. The sad thing is that in the Bunglow where that great personality lived , now students are studying technology. Nettur Technology institute is a Private institution and I don’t know how they got the Gundert bunglow for such an activity. Such places should be protected and be made centre of academic discussions on language and literature. I fear they may build a big building after demolishing that bunglow. I felt shame on our casual attitude to the history.

Then we visited the Sea View Park. It’s under District tourism Promotion council and the entry pass cost Rs.2/- The location is fine but maintenance is poor. In the children’s park, all play materials were found dilapidated. Neatness is not there , ethnic beautification lacks. Recently, a few people died when sitting on the rock near the sea, hence good fencing is needed and also to make some good benches near the border wall to enjoy the sea. If the maintenance be given to a private group, they may beautifully maintain it and will definitely be a good location to enjoy. The big firms like MC Lakshmanan& co or RUBCO could take its maintenance as a social promotional activity.

Thalassery is calm and quite like its beaches, but there are under currents. The very same day, one RSS man was killed and BJP declared hartal for the next day. Politics rules the people and they are ready to die for the political cause, just like there ancestors fought and died for the feudal heads. Is the feudal system still remains in another name , politics?

Kerala Cultural Centre New Delhi

PROPOSAL FOR STARTING A KERALA CULTURAL CENTRE AT DELHI

Back Ground

Kerala has a spectacular heritage of performing , ritual, folk and classical arts. Our language and literature also have a vide acclaim. In order to promote the language , literature, art, culture, tradition and tourism of Kerala, establishment of a cultural centre in the capital city should be a befitting thought. Since one third of our total population live outside the state, a centre at Delhi should be a fulfilment of the long cherished wish of Non-resident Malayalis spread the world over. The centre could act as a link between the Government of India, State Governments , Autonomous bodies of Central and State Governments , Non-governmental Organisations and various Malayali associations .It will also endeavour to be a meeting place enabling dialogue and exchange of views and ideas and also to do research on Kerala.

Aims and objectives

▲ Promote the cultural activities of Non-Resident Keralites
▲ Promote Kerala Art and culture outside Kerala.
▲ Provide opportunities to Malayali artists to perform outside Kerala
▲ Liaison with Cultural ministry and autonomous bodies to sanction the projects submitted by Government of Kerala and its autonomous Bodies.
▲ Support artists and Non-Governmental Organisations to get scholarships, fellowships and financial assistance from government of India and various national and international Bodies
▲ Promote Malayalam Films and documentaries
▲ Promote Malayalam Dramas and Folk arts
▲ promote classical arts of Kerala
▲ Promote Malayalam language and literature
▲ Promote cultural exchange
▲ Manage and organize various art exhibitions and artist camps

Mode of Implementation

Kerala Cultural Centre should be set up at Travancore House, New Delhi. It could be registered as a society under societies act. Membership could be given to Malayalis who contribute Rupees one lakh as membership fee. The chief patron of the society should be the Chief minister, Kerala and Minister for culture should be the patron. The Director, Administration should be a Government representative or a nominated person by the government of Kerala. Director board will be an elected forum from the members and they are not eligible for any TA/DA for attending the meetings. The fund of the society will be utilised solely for the promotion of cultural activities and the welfare of the artists. Every year Government should provide a grant and the balance amount for the activities should be collected through promotional activities and assistance from other sources.

CHITHRASALABHANGALUDE VEEDU

CHITHRASALABHANGALUDE VEEDU

Chithrasalabhangalude veedu, a children’s film directed by Krishna Kumar is a hundred percent children’s film, having a message that all children are good. The situation makes one good or bad. Teachers can contribute great to mould the character of a student. Most of the teachers are taking teaching as a bread earning job, but a few like Suja teachers in this film takes challenge to convert students who has gone on wrong track to the right. The film is located in a village where all typical characters that we normally see are included and the story develops naturally and ends on a positive tone.

Master Ganapathy as Kunju Muthu acted well. All actors have done their role perfectly. They include Master Hari, Master Syam Sunder, Lakshmi Sharma, Mala Aravindan, Sreenath and Ambika Aravind . The script was of Brijesh Balakrishnan, songs penned by Unnikrishnan Wayanad and music by Mohammed Shakkeel. The singers are Praveen Vijayakrishnan and Dr.Shakkeel. Lal Krishnan cranks the camera. The film is produced by Ravi Chalissery for Seven Power Films.

UNNI- A children's film

UNNI- MURALI NAIR TELLS A STORY OF CHILDREN

Unni, a Malayalam film in that lead roles were done by children, is a very interesting movie. He used the talent of children to say their small mischieves as a beautiful story. Such an enjoyment by students can be seen only in villages. The teachers having nicknames “Meesa “ ( The Moustache ), Kuttiyana ( small elephant) , Punchiri( Smile) etc make the adults to think back about their school age. The enthusiasm to know the unknown on opposite sex , lighter mischieves, punishments, love of teachers to students and the clear and simple life of the villagers all shown with its color and pomp. The camera work, editing and music are good. The child artists and the teachers acted well. Even the small characters touches our heart. The faces are new and that makes the viewers much impressed.

KANCHEEVARAM - A FILM BY PRIYADARSAN

KANCHEEVARAM - A BIG TRIBUTE TO SILK WORKERS

Kancheepuram silk is one of the most famous dress material in the world. The artists who make it are definitely gifted people. But they were looted and cheated by the Lords of pre-independent India . The artists were given very meagre salary and they in turn collected huge money for the products. Lords treated the workers as slaves and behaved them just as cattle. The workers had the dream to give one silk sari for his wife or one to the daughter. But that dream never fulfils.

Priyadarsan, the talented Director very beautifully tells the story of the social set up, political back ground and personnel emotions of the individuals of that period. He used close shots to hide the changes happened after independence. Cinematography, Editing, Make-up , Music are made in an excellent manner. Prakash Raj in the lead role and Sreya as heroine captured the mind of the viewers. P.Sreekumar as left activist also done a good job.

The music is done by M.G.Sreekumar and editing by Arun. The location is so apt for such a movie. The rain that moves with us tells us the feelings of the person who is anxious to reach the destination. In “Kalapani “, Priyan loosened a few feet of films that lighted its gravity. Here , in “Kancheevaram “ , he has taken special care not to add unnecessary frames and that is the creative success of this movie.

Suhkruhnye- A Naga festival

Nagaland is a vibrant hill state located in the extreme North Eastern end of India , bounded by Myanmar in the east, Assam in the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam in the North with Manipur in the south. It offers rich incomparable traditional and cultural heritage.
The distinctive character and identity of each tribe in terms of tradition , custom,language and dresses is clearly discernable . The life, culture and tradition of the tribes of Angami, Ao, Chakhesang, Chang, Khiamnigungen, Kuki, Konyak, Lotha, Phom, Pochury, Rengama, Sumi, Sangtam, Yimchungru and Zeliang will make one think of its diversity.

Nagaland is a land of festivals. All the tribes celebrate their distinct seasonal festivals with a pageantry of colour and a feast of music. All the tribes have their own festivals which they hold dear. At these festivals , the spirit of Gods are propitiated with sacrifices by the village shaman for a bountiful harvest either before the sowing or on the eve of harvest.

The Nagas have a rich tradition of art and craft rooted in a life style that has always been blended in harmony with the environment they live in. They lent their skills to creating items of utility as well those with ritualistic and aesthetic value . They carve gates , house posts, storage baskets, drinking vessels, containers and colourful cloths.

Suhkruhnye is the most important festival and is celebrated on 15th January. During this festival, the boys and girls are sanctified through religious ceremonies and rituals, As a matter of fact , Suhkruhnye covers eleven days starting from ‘Nyede’ and within five days starting including ‘Nyede’ necessary preparations are made for the rest of 6 days of festivity period.

The first days of the festivity period is known as ‘Cedu’ . On this very day animals are killed and every household sprinkles the blood of the killed animals on the main post of the house. The first fetched out Suhkeruhnye wine is offered to the deities in banana leaf tumblers and the cooked meat and rice bear are offered to the high priest and the priests of the village in expectation of blessings.

The second day is ‘Suhkruh’ mean for menfolk. Suhkruh signifies sanctification of young , innocent and unspoiled boys for this ritualistic ceremony. On this day, every man is supposed to take a fresh water bath and are forbidden to use water fetched by women. To perform the ritualistic ceremony, they buy everything new including utensils and fire place. The men folk go to the well early in the morning before any animals and birds touches or partakes of the water and take a fresh water bath immediately after the first crow of the cock which indicates the breaking of the new day , in order to sanctify themselves. There after the unpolluted water considered to be holy, is brought home. Fire is made out of fire walling method and unblemished cock is killed and cooked with holy water and eat to sanctify the boys for the rest of their lives . Even when the new house is constructed , Suhkruhs festival is performed . The whole process of Suhkruhs festival is called Nye. On this day the entire men folk go for community bird trapping. The collected birds were hung on a decorated tip of a tall bamboo as a symbol of Suhkruhnye . Different kinds of birds so caught are believed to foretell the fortunes for the forthcoming days of the year of the concerned individual.

Third day is thuno nuso; meant for women only. Mother perform ceremonial ritual to sanctify her young innocent daughters. They prepare unblemished young hen and eat to sanctify themselves for their entire life.

Fourth day for social feast , fifth day –cedu Zhongu- accomplishment of the festival.
Sixth day- for feast, singing and dancing. Chokris in Phek district do water baptism also .

Interesting People

Keralam is on the festive mood. Everybody is preparing for Onam. We can see people purchasing in all most all places , major shops, small pettikkadas, street vendors. Most of the street vendors are from Outside Kerala. There the lazy malayalee saw an oppertunity to take easy money. just like the Head Load workers they seek money for looking on somebody loading or unloading materials, they blocked the footpath and taking per day rent for the space allotted to the vendor . How wise our men to collect money from the person who is doing his bussiness , without taking any pain, only dadagiri. There is an old story. In Government service , there was an official who is richly corrupt and whereever he posted, he took money and done corruption. Finally he was posted to count the sea waves and the authorities thought he can't do corruption there. But, this smart guy ordered the fishermen that don't break the waves by moving in boats. Then, those who want to do fishing met him, bribed him, nad then he permitted them to enter the sea. he repeated the same all days. Squirrel never forget the art of climbing

Happy Onam

Dear All
Wish all of you a happy onam.
When the feudal system prevailed in Kerala, the people belonged to lower castes, not by birth, but by creation of such a situation by the so called brahmins who enjoyed the life with all material happiness at that time, dreamed of a world in that a king ruled the country in that all were equal. The people belonged to lower castes always thought such a period will come back, if Mahabali, the King who was sent to pathala by a vamana who originally was Vishnu. It is only because of that they celebrated Onam during the feudal period. They submitted good agricultural content to the Janmi and taken dress and some money in return. Only beacuse of the dream to get a world where all are equal, The communist movement established in Kerala. Now, the picture of kerala is very different. Most of the people are rich when compare with people belong to other states and are having good onasadya most of the days and getting new cloths whenever they like.

Eventhen, Onam is a nostalgia, a dream and have strong emotions.
Once again, wishing you happy onam.