My fervent aspiration currently is to witness myself being at the receiving end of a terrific employment offer in a few days from now. I positively want to start working. The association of guiltiness with my mind due to staying at home and solely watching T.V. is stifling. I no longer am the custodian of the rationale of ‘it-is-a-vacation’, which has enabled me to refrain from working even as a part-timer previously. It is a different matter altogether that I did not need to work then. These are the years you get to spend joyously without the anxieties that usually
accompany adults.
My voyage to Kerala and Tamil Nadu was an exemplary one. Jet Airways and Jet Life ensured that. The people there, in whose bungalows I was lodged, along with my paternal relatives, were sufficiently jocund. Palakkad is a Tamil-majority city. That was a revelation, much to my surprise. I had data on the age-old presence of Tamils in Palakkad. But I always felt that Tamils constituted a significantly scanty minority community in Kerala. Nonetheless, the presence of the Tamils was omnipresent. The installation of messages, in Tamil as well as Malayalam, on socially consequential placards, in various sites of Palakkad, was unexpected. Even the Malayalis in Palakkad understood Tamil. The Tamils could converse in pristine Malayalam as well as their own mother tongue. The amalgamation of Tamils with Keralite culture was praiseworthily comprehensive. Probably, the non-Marathis in Mumbai could learn a slight quantity of lessons from the Tamils in this regard. The Tamils in Palakkad have even incorporated some Malayalam words into their idiom. For example, ‘samaadhaanum’ (which means ‘content’, similar to the Hindi word ‘samaadhaan’), ‘sumuhyum’ ( which means ‘time’, again close to the Hindi word, ‘sumuhy’), etc. It was delightful, listening to the confluence of Tamil and Malayalam in the spoken vocabularies of the Tamils. The Malayalis superficially do not seem to have grudges against the Tamils, who are a reasonably affluent community. The Malayalis also appreciate the efforts put forth by the Tamils in Palakkad to integrate suitably with the Malayalam civilisation.
There were no stray dogs roaming around aimlessly in Palakkad menacing the pedestrians. What a relief! The absence of tobacco stains, which have sullied the reputation of Mumbai and aggravated the countenance of its roads and walls, in Palakkad was truly commendable. It was testament to the civility of the people and their consciousness regarding these matters. The wonderfully extensive network of streets was mostly bereft of potholes, underlying the infrastructural enhancement that has occurred in these areas.
Yes, Palakkad is not a Mumbai. It is devoid of grandiose malls and other outlets owned by business conglomerates. The outfits of females are pleasantly conventional. The generous innocence of rural Palakkadites is inconceivable. One feels that their arrival in a chiefly self-centred metropolis like Mumbai will unbearably shock and painfully mar them. The dissimilarity between the mores and etiquettes of the North and South of India was amply blatant. The sometimes laidback approach of the Keralites on routine chores might irk the Mumbaikars, who are habituated to executing their lives in a frenzied manner. Such is the frenetic disposition of Mumbai that relaxation is out of bounds for most Mumbaikars. However, this slackness is not alien to the society of modern Kerala. It has become an intrinsic constituent of many lives there.
Nonetheless, the really irksome part of Palakkad, for which the people cannot be blamed, was its excruciatingly muggy weather. Geographically, Palakkad is apt for the creation of an unforgivingly sultry climate, which only exacerbates in the summer. The visitors to Palakkad will have to display endurance and, more so, if you happen to journey to Palakkad in the ruthless Indian summer. Otherwise, Palakkad, Thrissur and Guruvayoor, three places that I traveled to, are beautiful areas worth a look! These areas are not in sync with the concretisation of Mumbai and it is this very quality that makes them huggable.
Ugliness was only perceptible in the immense amount of offensive posters of vulgar Malayalam movies, belonging to grades ‘B,C and D’.
Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu is an enormously sophisticated city in terms of infrastructure. The roads are largely spotless. The most endearing facet, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, was the adherence to norms by the people. Cars were not unashamedly parked on the corners of streets as abundantly as in Mumbai. The vehicles never irritatingly crossed the road dividers while waiting at a traffic signal, a phenomenon increasingly seen in Mumbai. It reminded me of the statement made by the Delhi Lt. Governor, Tejinder Khanna, a few months back, in which he loathed the inclination of North Indians to pay disobedience to the rules. While the barefaced generalisation might be unfair, there is a significant quantity of meritoriousness in the comment. The hotels, outlets, malls and luxurious lifestyle shops in Coimbatore were exceedingly reminiscent of Mumbai.
Yes, underneath this astonishing tranquilness and visually pleasurable vistas in Coimbatore, there might be present some quantity of loathsome tendencies in the society of Coimbatore. But such is the tale of every society and city globally and nationally.
The trip to Southern India substantially assisted me in gaining a perspective on the divergences between the North and South. The unwillingness of the Southerners, especially of the Tamils, to accept the enlightening Hindi as the national language, is now more understood by me than was in the past and I empathise with the cause of the anti-Hindi ‘Tamil brigade’. However, I will determinedly stick to my belief that the inspiring Hindi is and should always remain established as the national language of India. It must be understood and spoken by all Indians to instill a sense of linguistic unity amongst us. However,it must not be at the cost of the extermination and alienation of the indigenous languages of the various provinces of India.
My voyage to Kerala and Tamil Nadu was an exemplary one. Jet Airways and Jet Life ensured that. The people there, in whose bungalows I was lodged, along with my paternal relatives, were sufficiently jocund. Palakkad is a Tamil-majority city. That was a revelation, much to my surprise. I had data on the age-old presence of Tamils in Palakkad. But I always felt that Tamils constituted a significantly scanty minority community in Kerala. Nonetheless, the presence of the Tamils was omnipresent. The installation of messages, in Tamil as well as Malayalam, on socially consequential placards, in various sites of Palakkad, was unexpected. Even the Malayalis in Palakkad understood Tamil. The Tamils could converse in pristine Malayalam as well as their own mother tongue. The amalgamation of Tamils with Keralite culture was praiseworthily comprehensive. Probably, the non-Marathis in Mumbai could learn a slight quantity of lessons from the Tamils in this regard. The Tamils in Palakkad have even incorporated some Malayalam words into their idiom. For example, ‘samaadhaanum’ (which means ‘content’, similar to the Hindi word ‘samaadhaan’), ‘sumuhyum’ ( which means ‘time’, again close to the Hindi word, ‘sumuhy’), etc. It was delightful, listening to the confluence of Tamil and Malayalam in the spoken vocabularies of the Tamils. The Malayalis superficially do not seem to have grudges against the Tamils, who are a reasonably affluent community. The Malayalis also appreciate the efforts put forth by the Tamils in Palakkad to integrate suitably with the Malayalam civilisation.
There were no stray dogs roaming around aimlessly in Palakkad menacing the pedestrians. What a relief! The absence of tobacco stains, which have sullied the reputation of Mumbai and aggravated the countenance of its roads and walls, in Palakkad was truly commendable. It was testament to the civility of the people and their consciousness regarding these matters. The wonderfully extensive network of streets was mostly bereft of potholes, underlying the infrastructural enhancement that has occurred in these areas.
Yes, Palakkad is not a Mumbai. It is devoid of grandiose malls and other outlets owned by business conglomerates. The outfits of females are pleasantly conventional. The generous innocence of rural Palakkadites is inconceivable. One feels that their arrival in a chiefly self-centred metropolis like Mumbai will unbearably shock and painfully mar them. The dissimilarity between the mores and etiquettes of the North and South of India was amply blatant. The sometimes laidback approach of the Keralites on routine chores might irk the Mumbaikars, who are habituated to executing their lives in a frenzied manner. Such is the frenetic disposition of Mumbai that relaxation is out of bounds for most Mumbaikars. However, this slackness is not alien to the society of modern Kerala. It has become an intrinsic constituent of many lives there.
Nonetheless, the really irksome part of Palakkad, for which the people cannot be blamed, was its excruciatingly muggy weather. Geographically, Palakkad is apt for the creation of an unforgivingly sultry climate, which only exacerbates in the summer. The visitors to Palakkad will have to display endurance and, more so, if you happen to journey to Palakkad in the ruthless Indian summer. Otherwise, Palakkad, Thrissur and Guruvayoor, three places that I traveled to, are beautiful areas worth a look! These areas are not in sync with the concretisation of Mumbai and it is this very quality that makes them huggable.
Ugliness was only perceptible in the immense amount of offensive posters of vulgar Malayalam movies, belonging to grades ‘B,C and D’.
Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu is an enormously sophisticated city in terms of infrastructure. The roads are largely spotless. The most endearing facet, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, was the adherence to norms by the people. Cars were not unashamedly parked on the corners of streets as abundantly as in Mumbai. The vehicles never irritatingly crossed the road dividers while waiting at a traffic signal, a phenomenon increasingly seen in Mumbai. It reminded me of the statement made by the Delhi Lt. Governor, Tejinder Khanna, a few months back, in which he loathed the inclination of North Indians to pay disobedience to the rules. While the barefaced generalisation might be unfair, there is a significant quantity of meritoriousness in the comment. The hotels, outlets, malls and luxurious lifestyle shops in Coimbatore were exceedingly reminiscent of Mumbai.
Yes, underneath this astonishing tranquilness and visually pleasurable vistas in Coimbatore, there might be present some quantity of loathsome tendencies in the society of Coimbatore. But such is the tale of every society and city globally and nationally.
The trip to Southern India substantially assisted me in gaining a perspective on the divergences between the North and South. The unwillingness of the Southerners, especially of the Tamils, to accept the enlightening Hindi as the national language, is now more understood by me than was in the past and I empathise with the cause of the anti-Hindi ‘Tamil brigade’. However, I will determinedly stick to my belief that the inspiring Hindi is and should always remain established as the national language of India. It must be understood and spoken by all Indians to instill a sense of linguistic unity amongst us. However,it must not be at the cost of the extermination and alienation of the indigenous languages of the various provinces of India.
