A New Team India

I never expected to see this in my life time, but on 29th August Indian football team shocked everyone by winning an International Football Tournament. It was the finals of the ONGC Nehru Cup, Indians were clearly the underdogs but finished off a thrilling match against Syria with a 1 - 0 score to take the cup for the first time thanks to a stunning powershot goal from N.P. Pradeep. Indians looked like a spirited team in their new Nike sponsered sapphire blue jersey.

India under their new coach, Bob Houghton looked like a superb side during the tournament, losing only one match against Syria (2 - 3) in the qualifying round. But they surely did give the Syrians the boot in the finals.

I surely hope this is only a start and there's more promising stuff to come in the future. Always dreamed to see India play in the World Cup in my life time. Looks like that day is even closer than I thought.

Say No To Plastics

My heart aches whenever I travel by train in Kerala and see the pile of garbage on both sides of the track. 95% of this garbage consists of plastics. Its like people have become so selfish and don't care about the future or the next generations that they just dump their garbage whereever possible. Few days back, the government of kerala was thinking about curbing the use of plastics by imposing fine and imprisonment upto 6 months for anyone using plastics. Its a good move, but laws won't change much - the life style and thinking of the people will also have to be change.

The present opposition leader of Kerala, Oommen Chandy has a personal website. Recently I took the liberty of putting forward some simple suggestions to the former Chief Minister of Kerala through his website. Well, these were my suggestions

* Proper garbage disposal to be taught to kids in every school.

* Every shop to keep a Garbage bin outside their shop.

* Hotels, Hospitals and Big organizations should be told to dump their waste at an alloted place.

* Every district should have a garbage recycling unit.

* Privatisation of Garbage collection and Recycling.

Hope he reads it and implements some of them when he comes to power.

Athirapally And Vazhachal Waterfalls

I had always wanted to go to Athirapally Waterfalls and last week I got my chance thanks to a site trip planned by my old collegues, a day before my friend Murali's marriage.

Around 13 of my bangalore collegues and friends had arrived at Trissur a day ahead for Murali's marriage. Since Athirapally and Vazhachal waterfalls were near to Trissur the site trip was planned. I had joined the group enroute at Chalakudy and we were off. Athirapally is 32 kms from Chalakudy and the road leading to Athirapally was superb to drive with snake like curves and greenery on both sides. I wished I had got my motorbike for this trip. Around 4 - 6 kms before reaching Athirapally, we were greeted by the breath-taking scenery of the waterfalls with the western ghat mountains in the background. After taking few photographs were off to get a closer view. We reached Athirapally waterfalls, the closer view was even more stunning. It was the biggest waterfalls I had ever seen. I joined some of my friends down hill to see the bottom of the waterfalls. The enormity of the waterfalls could be admired from here. There were hardly people here, the air was covered in mist and visibility was hindered to take much photographs. We were all completely wet, it was just like someone spraying us with water sprayer.

After enjoying some fun time there we next moved to Vazhachal waterfalls which was 4kms from Athirapally. It was little spooky travelling on the road through the forest with only some monkeys to be seen around. Vazhachal waterfalls was not as breath-taking as Athirapally, but was really raging with a picturesque beauty.

Onam Is Here

Another year and Onam is finally here!! Onam is the festival of Keralites. It is celebrated regardless of religion, caste or creed by everyone. It is the time of year when the sun comes out for the harvest season and the air is filled with the sweet aroma of flowers and banana chips.

Mythology has it that Kerala was once ruled by the great ruler called Mahabali. His reign brought prosperous and peaceful times to his kingdom. The gods were envious of his success that they send Vamanan to kill him. For centuries keralites believe that King Mahabali visits his loyal citizens and to see the prosperity in the land during the time of Onam. Traditionally Keralites welcome their king by making an Athapoo (design of flowers on the ground) and by eating vegetarian food on banana leaf.

The season of Onam brings lot of traditional Kerala events like Pulikali, Maram Adi, Snake Boat Race, Athapoo, ..... etc. Pulikali is a tiger dance where people paint themselves in yellow and dance around like tigers. Maram Adi is an Ox race (mentioned in my previous blog). Snake Boat race is a trilling boat race where lot to people row on a long boat. Onam is famous for the Onam Sadya (lunch), which is lunch served on a large banana leaves with lot of colourful side curries. Banana chips is a famous snack during Onam. Ladies wear white sarees and Men wear white Mundu (or dhoti). Ladies dance around a lamp which is symbolic to Onam.

On this day, with my stomach filled with banana chips, I would like to wish all my Keralite friends "A very happy and prosperous Onam".

Maram Adi

Wondering what a Maram Adi is?? Well, it is an Ox Race which is part of Kerala's tradition as well as an entertaining sport. Usually the event is held in a paddy field filled almost knee high with muddy murky water. An ox pair runs from one end of the field to the other end through the muddy water, they are driven by two people standing on an attached wood with their hands firmly holding the cattles nose ropes. Rules differ from place to place - in some places 2 pairs of ox race against each other while at some other places the ox race winner is decided based on time.

Every year on August 15th (Indian Independence Day), Anandapally near Adoor in Kerala gets ready for the local Maram Adi competition. Fortunately this year I was around and thought, why don't I catch some live action? This is the second time that I am been to Anandapally for this Maram Adi event. I reached there in the afternoon when the sun was right over our heads. I had brought my digital camera to capture some exceptional shots of the race. This time I had made a risky decision to stand at the finishing line to get some better photos, it was so risky that sometimes an uncontrollable ox with large horns might run into the watching crowd. During the race couple of times the ox did run into the crowd, and it became even more exciting to see people running for their life with an ox right behind them. Luckily no one got hurt. When each race starts, every single spectator gets on their toes to flee if needed. Its like a loose canon, never know when it might come straight at you. Race after race, the excitement gradually grew as I stood firmly at the finishing line with my camera focused on the raging beasts. At the end of the day by God's grace I came out in one single piece, with some stunning pictures and some thrilling moments to treasure all my life.

Happy Independence Day

Yesterday was a joyous occasion for all Indians as Independent India celebrated her 60th year of Independence. The achievements my motherland has made in the past 60 years is commendable.

Mother India, I am really proud to be your child. God has blessed you with natural beauty, human strength, Intellectual power, envious unity among all diversity and Freedom. May God bless you even more abundantly and give you a prosperous future to be a world power in the near future.

Jai Hind!!

Little Things With Great Love

She was most lovingly called the "Saint of the Gutters". Yes, I am talking about Mother Teresa. She was a giver, who gave all she had for the poor and helpless people of Calcutta. She dedicated her life to give unbounded love to the neglected and the down trodden people of the society. Truly a saint of the modern era.

Already some tv channels have started showing programs on Princess Diana, as her 10th death anniversary is fast approaching. The question is, how many of us remember that the 10th death annivesary of Mother Teresa is also coming very soon? We tend to remember the powerful and influential people for ages to come, I guess thats human nature. Nobody would remember a poor person like Mother Teresa who cared for the well being of thousands of outcasts. Surely the people of Calcutta (now Kolkata) will remember their own saint with love.

Last week while visiting a local hospital, my eyes caught a board on a doctor's door, which read:

"We can't do great things in this life.....

We can only do little things with great love"

- Mother Teresa

We do one good deed in life, brag about it and claim we are entitled to Heaven. But our deeds are like old rags in God's eyes (as one of my friend rightfully said it). There is a lot we can learn from Mother Teresa. The world is filled with oppurtunity to do good deeds to our fellow humans. The question is how many of us care for our fellow humans to help them in their times of need?? Most of the time we question God, as to why there are so many people who are poor and suffering in this world and why there is so much unequality? But the answer is in ourselves, if we help these poor and the needy and do "little things with great love", the gap is filled and all humans will become equal.

Go Sania, Go.....

Sania Mirza is one of the most successful Indian tennis player of all times. Today she gave a shocking defeat to former world number one, Martina Hingis at the East West Bank Classic Tennis Tournament in Los Angeles. Currently in the WTA top 30 ranking, Sania is on fire - shocking people as she moves from one US city to the next. She has already defeated 5 of the top ranked 20.

During the last Asian Games held in Doha, I got my oppurtunity to see this 20 year old teenager in action. I was in the crowd mostly everyday to cheer her to victory. As she reached the finals she kept the Indian flag flying high for all proud Indians to savour. Her baseline back hand shots are world class, but as I see it - her biggest problem is that she is not consistent. If she could work on that, she could probably find herself in the top 10 very soon.

What is most admirable is the fact that she is a Muslim gal (maybe the only one in international tennis) who has defied all odds to be a world star. Even though there is a fraction of Muslim fanatics who are raising voices against her wearing sports attires that scarcely covers her body, she continues to play her normal game. Sania is a normal Hydrebadi girl who is very fond of Hydrebadi Biriyani (probably her biggest weakness). She even brings her mother along with her for every tournament, so that she can have homemade Biriyani before every match. Keep playing your best Sania and we will always be there to support you.