We are well here

Many of our mates have enquired if we were ok following the recent Mumbai attack. Although we are nearly 1500km away, we were shocked by the violence of it all. It is beyond me to understand why would anyone should unleash such violence on anyone. However, one wonders in a region where religions and great ideas were floated freely not very long ago, many violent incidents are happening on a daily basis. This region had openly invited anyone who wanted to be a part of it. Yet there is so much violence today. I am also adding mental violence to it- promoting differences, caste, classs, economic, etc. The old thoughts in the subcontinent were that all religions must be secular, spirituality scientific and business social. Suppression, exclusivity and fear are making the region violent. More inclusivity would make the region more peaceful. Would this happen? I doubt it. Such differences, I think, have been responsible for foreign domination. There is a saying in Tamil கூடி வாழ்ந்தால் கோடி நன்மை. This nice rhyming statement means you live together and there are millions of benefit.

Wasim Akram, one of those brilliant Pakistani bowlers, made some sensible statments. He says that he considers India as his second home. I doubt if any Indian cricketer would dare say that.

There were also a number of high political dramas after the unfortunate attacks if you had not already read about them -

• a Chief Minister was driven out of the house of a slain soldier,


• Another Chief Minister announced cash rewards for soldiers while the commando operation was going on,


• Politicians commenting about the frequency of such incidents,


• Condaleeza Rice visiting at an unfortunate time and blaming Pakistan, etc.

However, the most disturbing aspect was the media using what could be termed "embed" method. The media was almost alongside the fighting commandos. Some channel even broadcast a telephone conversation with a terrorist. Media liberty is fine but I expect them to be responsible and sensitive.

Soon after the Mumbai attack, some magazines commented that the commandos did not have basic, atleast in these modern times, equipment. One item that attracted my attention was the helmet worn by commandos did not even communication ear plugs! I hope this is not true since almost any motorbike rider in Australia seems to have it.

There were also others who pointed while such attacks were being carried out on a daily basis on poorer populations in India, the entire country is being 'outraged' because a few rich people and their properties were attacked. While this is cynical, there is some truth in it.

What I would like to see is a single India that is united, being inclusive, ready to accept others and their opinions, and make useful contributions to the world. An inclusive India is also very essential for the betterment of this world.

Picture - a waterfall near Ooty.

Gorkhas and Britain

Gorkhas and other non English people have been with the British Army fighting many wars for them. I read with some interest that these soldiers of fortune were mostly from the subcontinent and more of them were killed than the British themselves. The soldiers that survived had to fight the British Government for their rights and entitlement. War offshored one could say. And very convenient too. Fighting for Gorkha soldiers rights, recently, British Actress Joanna Lumley threatened to give up her British Citizenship and take up Indian Citizenship.

Would you do this?

Picture from www.hindu.com

I saw this extraordinary picture in the local newspaper, The Hindu. All this for a living? I really have to kick those political leaders who have put these hapless people at such great risk. I do understand that the infrastructure cannot cope with this kind of demand. But then the leaders, industrialists and people should do something to let people work with some dignity. This is almost along the same lines as the wilderbeast migration.

Mudumalai I

A wild tusker in the night
Indian Gaur

Monkey invitee to the party

Hanuman Langur with a baby

Mudumalai is about 60km from Ooty and the sanctuary has tigers, deers, leopards, elephants, Indian Gaur, hyenas, monkeys, etc. The whole place, like any other public place in India, is badly managed, but beautiful. We went on a night safari and even saw a wild elephant.

Ooty II

Visibility down to 10m or less

Thick fog

We went from Ooty to Mudumalai via Gudalur. The road downhill was mostly good. But the visibility was very poor to less than 10m because of thick fog. But there were idiots again who were driving real fast. Scary stuff.

Another wildlife sanctuary - Ooty I

Ugly houses amidst some beautiful meadows

Scary tree in Ooty Botanical Gardens

Ooty is also called Blue mountains

A rivetted bridge built in about 1920

We went to the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary since there was a chance we could spot a tiger and Radhesh wanted to chance it. The sanctuary wasn't very far from my residence, about 120km away, and up in the hills.

We had to go through Ooty which is a nice hillstation and much cooler than Darwin or Erode. Apparently, this was the defacto capital of the British in the South. Hence the place has many suburbs named after English suburbs such as Charing Cross, etc. The old houses are still around and they are typically English. Many tea estates still have the British touch. But the buildings of recent times are just ugly and are not befitting of the rest of the surroundings.

Driving is a nightmare in India and Ooty is no exception. You can see dumbos driving at 60k at hairpin bends with total disregard for their and others safety. Are they high, drunk, or just the lack of oxygen at these heights make them behave in such a atrocious fashion?

Elephants and monkeys

Well-fed, naughty, bold and free monkeys and well-fed, but enslaved elephants, especially the one in the temple.

Submissive or arrogant or both

Last weekend we went to the Western Ghats in the hope Radhesh can see elephants, tigers and other wildlife. We went to two locations - Topslip and Valparai (meaning tail-like rock).

Before reached Pollachi enroute to Topslip, we came across huge windfarms. The windfarms are situated across a pass (about 70Kms) in the Western Ghats and winds rush in from Arabian sea and, possibly, Indian Ocean. Good to hear that India is the fourth largest country in the world in producing wind energy.

Topslip was disappointing. The roads were horrible and I even wondered if the govt is paying the employees. But then the employees are making their own money. We had a very reluctant ride on an elephant. The ride was most unpleasant for the elephant and also to us. We will never do this.

Valparai was much better. That was just the drive up the mountain. The town was very dirty and we decided not to stay up there. But the drivers on the road were the worst. This says something about the character of these drivers. I felt that these people were very generally submissive and that means they are also arrogant to other submissive people. However, poor people were the ones that were strong and truthful. Let's pray and hope the whole country is not full of submissive people.

Ancient Tamarind trees and Temples

In India there is so much history, that many things of historical importance would be on an average 1000 years old. But tamarind trees close to 1000 years. That would be something. Here is a link to an interesting story about such tamarind trees. I will visit the place when I get the chance.

Vimala and Babu went to a temple near Hospet in North Karnataka that was not so old. The temple was apparently destroyed in bits by Aurangazeb, last of those Moghul emperors. The stone carvings are very fine and extraordinary.

Coconut tree climbing

Look at the hip holster he is carrying just like the ones used for carrying arrows. He carries sickles and his personal things.


In Darwin people cut down coconut trees because they are worried that they may become liable for injuries from a cooconut fall. In India everybody loves a coconut tree. It gives cool coconut drink, coconut kernels, oil, toddy (alcoholic), fibres for rope, fronds for firewood, etc. Safety. Who cares. Coconut falls are natural things and should be expected if you were to stand under a tree. In any case, nobody cares about safety in India. They expect you to look out for yourself. People from Western countries who have not been to India would probably need some trauma counselling while driving or travelling atleast for initial periods.

Coconut climbing is a difficult job. Some engineering organisations have tried to develop a coconut tree climber without much luck. In Indonesia monkeys are trained to pluck coconut without them consuming them. In Tamil Nadu, there are separate tribes to climb coconut trees. The coconut climber will not touch the coconut after they have been dislodged from the trees. Strictly business!

Mythily is enjoying her job as the Principal of a Women's Engineering college near Erode. I am housekeeping and enjoying.

Interesting times

Mythily and I went to the Cauvery river about a km from our house. We met a nomadic family from Central India who have come to labour in the sugarcane fields nearby. With the booming economic situation, the locals are finding difficult get labourers to work in the fields. So they do not mind getting people from faraway places.

Krishna Jayanthi

All over India, amongst Hindus, Lord Krishna's birthday is celebrated with great fervour. However, if you hear about his features he may not fit the traditional Indian 'look'. He is supposed to have been very dark, with curly hair, very strong and brave, very attractive, etc and no doubt he had many girl friends. So these features fit a person of African ancestory. Mind you, in ancient times people from various continents had robust trade and exchange of culture and welcomed everyone. Only in our modern times we need a visa, passport or other identification to even step out of the house.

Did Krishna have African ancestory? May be he did. But Krishna is celebrated as a child and his devotees 'offer' him all sorts of goodies on his birthday. Anyway, it is a good excuse for celebration. Footprints of a child are marked on the floor right from the doorstep to the prayer room in the house wihich is filled with the goodies. Radhesh took this video and I thought it was very nice.

Radhesh's Birthday

Radhesh celebrated his 14 birthday on 29 August. We purchased a nice cake from a rural bakery and they even wrote his name on the cake. But they didn't get his name right. So he was a bit annoyed that nowhere people get his name right. But we had a great time and the cake was very nice to taste.

So what is in a name? With the recent terrorism boogey, spelling names in English has become important. Because most governments have strict border controls, and they do not know whom they can let in, they are quite happy to rely on English spellings. But as you know English is not very suitable for Indian names and most definitely other country names.

However, in India there is a phenomenon called numeralogy which is a system based on the belief that numbers govern our lives. In order to get the right numbers, some alphabets are added to names even if it is not the conventional spelling. The name Raman can be written as Raaman. Although I just do not believe this and believe that this is a waste of time and money, we suggested Radhesh that his name may have been modified for the sake of numeralogy. Radhesh has now become curious about numeralogy.

Engineering Colleges everywhere

In Tamil Nadu alone, there are about 250 engineering colleges. The state has a population of about 65 million. The number of science and arts colleges and polytechnics will be even higher. Around the mid 1980s there were about 10-15 engineering institutions. But why this sudden explosion? It appears that there was a market for education - an engineer or a doctor was a status symbol and many Indian cricketers were engineers. After the government relaxed the norms for private engineering colleges, there was a boom and entrepreneurs just lapped it up. But hear some horror stories in the admission and other procedures(!).

Above are photos of NT parliament and Supreme court buildings in Darwin.

Newton is to blame

David who runs a fun blog mentioned about my blog and thanks to him I seem to have more hits through his readers visiting my blog. I hope to keep updating the blog more often.

David had mentioned about the number of things he would defy especially if they came from the NZ government and other self interest or appointed bodies. Whereas here he can fully feel at home as every rule or legislation is broken by many citizens. But life goes on without much hassles. Is there a sense in all these chaos. For example, the government here in all hopes of reducing head injuries legislated helmets for two wheelers. However, women protested that their hairstyle and flowers in their hair were wasted because of helmets. Later men protested that they are likely to lose hair because of helmets. So the Government rescinded the decision since everyone, well almost, broke the rule. Civil disobedience, if you like. The government has again brought it in and I am told that the pillion riders have been exempted. I do not know if the rule is in place since no one is wearing helmets including the police. The other day I saw a Westerner wearing a helmet while riding a push bike and what a spectacle he was.

The lorry had taken a fall while taking a right turn at a very small roundabout. The lorry was laden with sand and Radhesh's theory is that the sand moved to the left side and increased the centrifugal force. Well, he is right but I blame Newton for inventing gravity. Look at the tyres as smooth as an ice hockey surface.

Thavil Teacher

Radhesh learns to play Thavil at the Government Music School. Radhesh recorded the music played by his teacher. I found his teacher to be very competent and confident. He had a way with his students and well respected. Radhesh has learnt his basics fairly quickly. Enjoy the beat.

Kaalai Kadir

I wrote a few posts ago about Radhesh appearing in the local newspaper. Since I do not have a scanner, Mahima suggested that I just take a picture of the paper. I wasn't sure, but I have been wrong. These days, with high resolution cameras, this is all too easy.

Our Flute Hero Sivaji

Mr Sivaji teaches Radhesh to play the Indian flute. He also runs an orchestra called Hero orchestra playing mainly bollywood music and without a doubt he is the Hero.

Radhesh and Mr Sivaji get along very well and they learn from each each other. Radhesh tantalises him with his mobile phone operating skills.

Mr Sivaji is a very good player on the flute. He learnt to play the flute on his as his father was also a flute palyer. We like his music. For us he is the hero and here is a short clip from his music.

Coconut oil

Interesting part about living in a rural area is that we get to produce stuff we normally buy in the supermarket. This time it was coconut oil. We have about 6 coconut trees in our garden producing more than 500 coconuts this season. We removed the kernals from about 40 coconuts. It is not easy to remove the kernals and I will leave it for another day.

The kernals were cut into pieces and dried in the sun for 4 days. The kernels filled a 12 litre bucket. It was crushed and pressed in a local mill. This mill had a single electric motor powering several machines and operated by one woman. Babu collected about 2.5 litres of coconut oil while Radhesh took all the pictures.

The best part of the extraction process is that it is free but we had to leave to coconut cake after the oil extraction which is used as feed for the cattle.