Kids Are Kids. They Will Never Lose Their Innocence.

Yesterday was the much awaited installation of our Lions District Cabinet and being the Secretary of my club I was privileged to hold the banner of my club and attend the installation. As its said man proposes and God disposes I fell ill with a terrible flue. As my co members were leaving for the programme I was thinking why God at this time you put me in bed and that too when one of my favourite actresses was attending the show

Poor mom because she had to baby sit her YOUNG son she also could not go. Anyways I slept through and got up today a lot back to normal. So still on rest I was relaxing on one of those bean bags which keep you as cosy as you love to be watching one of my favourite shows on tv. Anyone passing by would get to see me lying in the passage. Suddenly I hear this shrill voice " Naveen Uncle how is your fever ?  ”I looked out and there stands Adi my club presidents son who is my neighbour. So I waved at him and said "Monu am doing well" the conversation didn't end there and there comes the cutest sentence I heard in a few weeks. “Uncle ennikkum ennale paripadikku  pokkan patteella athukondu ningal vishamikkanda" which means I too couldn't make it to the function yesterday  so you don't worry.

I was so touched . A young boy of his age taking the trouble to stop at my gate and call out to me to console me for the bad feeling I had about missing the function was actually so soothing to the mind. I really could feel the concern in his voice when he said it.

We say kids are new generation and they are more caring about their electronic devices....... No it is not. It is about the way the kids are brought up. When the kids in our times asked for time to our parents they gave it in abundance and we were always happy with them. today we as parents don’t have time and we give our kids all the gadgets instead of the time they ask for and we complain about the change in their attitudes.

What all my parents said  I did as a child I see my son and nephew doing then why are we cribbing about  the lost New generation when we are the cause for losing them.

Thank you.... the most paying word...

I went to a wedding two days ago. It was raining and parking my car was a big issue. I somehow managed to get my car into the basement of the wedding hall and was desperately trying to park it when I find this nice man in a security guards attire run upto my vehicle to direct me.

I combed my hair and got of my car and as I was walking up I saw the security guard standing at the entrance. I said “Chetta, Thank You!” which means brother, thank you.  Caught unawares by my impromptu gesture of thanks and sporting a rather weird look on his face, this gentleman, came forward, patted my shoulder and said “It’s a pleasure, mone!” And mone means son in Malayalam. I was so touched. He was so happy.

Why is it that all of us being from the country known for love and benevolence forget that by being a little considerate to the next man who helps us, we make a big difference in their lives. We are happy and they are happy too. Friends why don’t we start saying a thank you with a smile to all those who make a difference in our lives …. no matter however small that maybe

A Mind to Give.....

Onam is a state festival of Kerala. Every Keralite across the globe celebrates Onam in great spirit and zealous enthusiasm. Onam is an occasion celebrated in honour of  Mahabali the erstwhile king of Kerala. He was an asura king but very just and honest. Power and politics are not limited to human being and also find place among Gods…. It so happened that the Gods became jealous of King Mahabali and approachede lord Vishnu asking him for help…  which  is how Lord Vishnu assumed his fifit avatar from among his ten called the Vamana.. Vamana avatar  was that of a tiny man. Having assumed the guise, Vamaa then goes to King Mahabali in his priestly form and asks for three measures of his land, each to be measured by a step he would take. The benevolent king being as good as he is gives the right to the little Vamana to take the three steps. He takes his first step and covers the earth and with the second he covers the sky and for the third he asked the king where and the king bows down and shows his head. Vamana puts his feet on the king and pushes him into the earth. Just before pushing him in he gives his a boon to come and meet his people once every year. We Keralites celebrate Onam in memory of this great king.

Onam is a festival of harvest as well and new clothes don the occasion during which the elders give gifts and money to the younger ones and vice versa.

I was home for Onam this year. My sister delivered a baby boy and I am acting the big uncle very well. There was this old lady, named Shanthamma, who was good at the postnatal care.. A very chirpy and vibrant lady, laughing always  - one would be much energized on seeing her. But tke a look at her household and it wouldn’t take long to realize that her life was in misery. This poor 65 year old lady needs to earn to feed her daughter, son-in-law and 2 children. As if that wasn’t aleady enough, she is ill treated.

So this Onam we decided to give her some extra money so that she could have some nice food with it. My mom and sister gave her some money. I felt that it was a great gesture to give her that extra bit for all the  help she was for my little nephew and sister. Deciding impromptu, I went down with some money to give her… when she walked upto me and told me “Aviii (she calls me Avi instead of Naveen) ninakku enikku ithraye tharaaan pattooo….” Which means “I can only afford to give you this token for Onam...” She squeezed a 100 rupees note into my hand.. God it was such a touching moment… I could have cried. A poor lady like her wanted me to be happy and she was forgoing her happiness only for me which I couldn’t imagine. 

Yet my dear friend you should have seen how happy she was… we have all the luxuries of life and do we ever think about another person..? I felt ashamed of myself.. I was trying to add and subtract in my mind of what to give her but she was far beyond in her thoughts. 

How true are our beliefs?

I was attending a marriage back at my home town in Kerala a few days ago. At the venue I saw a very peculiar type of a flower. It was pink and it had a shape like an animal in the centre. Usually I don’t pluck flowers but that day I plucked a flower from that tree. The minute I plucked the flower somebody from my family ran up to me and told me “throw it away. Why do you want ill luck to come home through the curse of a snake?!!!” Apparently this particular flower is associated with the snakes and the flower attracts snakes to it and in the process all ill luck comes to the family. I am not joking I almost froze. I thought it’s all gone and now it’s going to be bad and worse was to come.

Frantic me, I went and left the flower near the tree I plucked it from and came back to my aunt who was telling me how bad it is and the amount of ill luck I carry because of this. I asked her what I could do and I was advised to go to a very famous temple here in Kannur, my home town called Peralasserri temple where predominantly snakes are worshiped.

I came home took my mother and proceeded to the temple. I was praying all way for forgiveness. I did not want any more bad to come our way because of this. I completed my prayers at the temple and my mom said let’s find out from the priest what to do so that we are out of the ill luck. We found one of the priests who looked knowledgeable and narrated it all. This was what the priest asked me “My dear son God is no one’s enemy then why do you fear of him for trivial things like this. Now if you still feel uneasy just put a small prayer and leave.”

I would only like to bring to our notice how much we stress ourselves with religion, a concept which was originally made to de-stress the human race. Why do we like taking small things to heart thereby putting us through more agony? Why is it that we associate all bad with such small mistakes we do in life?

God was probably created as a mechanism to unite people and make them oriented towards purpose and direction. The same Gods who were conceptualized to protect us now punish us and we are so scared of them. I believe that any thing we fear cannot be loved to the fullest. So do you think I really love God if I were to fear him?

Tribute to Our Culture

A year has passed since I went to the temple festival in my hometown, Kannur in Kerala. The festival happens every year on the last weekend. The temple is called Poothatta Tharavad Kavu. This happens to be my paternal great grandfather’s Tharavad (Ancestral House.) The basic art form performed in the Kavu (Temple) is called as Theyyam or Theyyattam.

Theyyam is a Hindu folk dance ritual of worship exclusive to Northern Malabar region, i.e., Kannur, Kasargod, Kozhikode (formerly Calicut), and Wynad belts. People in the olden times believed that any obstacle that nature brought in front of them was caused by a certain power, which human intelligence could not comprehend. Thus, man started idolizing the various entities in nature like wind, air, water and so on. One person among the group was made to empower himself with these unseen powers and was considered to be a form of God.  The word Theyyam is derived the Sanskrit word Daivam which means God. The origin of this ritual is unknown or rather it is better to say that there is no one theory that explains the birth of Theyyam. 

The ritual dance is exclusively performed by male members of certain caste communities namely Vannan, Malayan, Velan, Mavilan, Pulayan and Koppalan. Most of these communities are indigenous tribes of Kerala and this tradition of folk dance has been kept alive by them. During the Theyyam season (which spans from November till April), these dancers transcend into Gods. They paint themselves with sandalwood paste, turmeric paste, red sandalwood paste and wear very large crowns all with prominence to red.

Each Theyyam has a character of his own and they bless the members who go to meet them. At our Tharavad Kavu we had Theyyams by the name of Karanavar Theyyam, Gulikan Theyyam, Wayanad Kulavan Theyyam, Bhagavathy Theyyam, Vellattom Theyyam, etc. to mention a few. I was asked to meet the Wayanad Kulavan Theyyam and he looked into my eyes and began telling me about things which were in my mind. I was standing in front of him with all due respect and he tells me “you told someone what’s the point of praying because God does not heed to all what we plead to him.” My eyes widened in surprise. A few weeks ago I was telling my flat mate the same thing. I said a big NO to him but he held on to it. I don’t know how he knew it. Men and women who came there, some of them were seen crying and he was consoling them too.

It is indeed a worth watch. Leave alone the religious aspect of it, but the general dress up and the vigor of the dance and the traditions followed are unique in all respects. Forgot to tell you these Theyyams usually drink the local toddy tapped from coconut trees. That is the offering there.  For anyone who really wants to come to see this, January to April of every year is the best time to do this.

Some Information taken from the Wikipedia Link on Google.

Picture of Wayanad Kulavan Theyyam 

Innocence Lost

A teacher in my mother’s school narrated this. One day she saw a rat in the house and she ran behind it and killed it. The 4 year old son was terribly taken aback that the mother did such a cruel thing. He went up to the mother and said “Mom you are so cruel you killed the rat. Now wait and see God is going to punish you. “The 4 year old was so sad and he went on around the place talking about this cruelty and how God would punish her for the act.

The rat was thrown out of the compound and the little boy was looking at it from the top of his compound wall. He thought it should be given a ceremonial burial. He took some sand and stooped on the boundary wall and with a lot of respect began putting it on the dead rat. The poor little boy fell off the fence and was bruised very badly.  The little boy after all the crying and sobbing late in the night asks his mom. “Mom you killed the rat but why is it that God punished me?”  What answer would you give the little child?

What made me think was all of us in our childhood were innocent and uncorrupted, compassionate and friendly. We knew that being bad was wrong.  But gradually we changed and today we have become so corrupted. Today, for many of us to be bad is no problem at all. Is it education that makes us too aware of the world that makes us what we are today, or something else? Why do we lose that love, compassion, true belief in God and unbiased love to every living being over a period of time?  

It’s a very serious question we really need to answer because if we could find an answer to this may be we could have very polished, compassionate , loving and giving, citizens for tomorrow. 

Re-living the Past

I was in my home town Kannur in Kerala. I went to a town called Telecherry to visit my Grand Mom’s sister. She is 89. It was the death anniversary of her husband and the whole family had come together. I drove into the approach and as I did, I found myself driving into the nostalgic past. The childhood which we enjoyed, the mangoes we had thrown stones at, the fishes we used to catch, the adventure cycling we used to do and so many things came running back into my mind. 

I remember us going to stay in this aunt’s house. Uncle used to build tree houses for us and we used to play in those tree houses all day. I remember us planning to stay all night in these houses but the minute the sun sets the fear in us jumped out. Food being served to us there and the whole day going on with fun. Standing under that very mango tree, I felt like I was 12 again, playing there in mud, going fishing and having a whole lot of fun. 

I spoke to one of my uncles and he too had the same things to say. He was talking of the past with a lot more deep feelings.  The whole family was talking about the beautiful times they had together. The pranks they played on each other, the fights they had and how they made up. It was awesome!!! My Sunday was a fun day and as always, being home is a pleasure.  I just sometimes wish that those days come back again with all the beauty of its past.

The legacy from the past is what takes us long in life.   We had enjoyed the best in life and I just do hope that we give all what we got from our past to the present generation. We are we only because of what we got from the past.

A Smile Returns a Smile - Instant Return on Investment.

In a friends note to me, she said that her son’s school had a big issue. A boy from a certain community brought some temple offering from his place of worship to school. He offered it to his friends in class and none of the students from other communities touched it. Two boys from another community had the offerings and said nothing to lose. The little boy was terribly upset.

I don’t understand my dear friends why we do this. Children are the future of tomorrow and why are we instilling all this negative thoughts into them? Let them grow free from caste and religious bias.  When God evolved us from the monkeys did he ever make discrimination? He made us to live within the boundaries of the eco system and he gave us all what we wanted. Now we idiotic individuals are fighting over religion, caste and creed.

What we forget most of the time is, whoever it may be, a Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or Hindu or any religion, every one of us runs red blood within and not any other dependent on our religion. Then why do we stress our own selves with this unnecessary barrier called religion?  And to be very frank from the little I have read of the religious scriptures, I am yet to read them say that religion is to divide people.  It says live and let live and how to keep the individual in a level of peace with himself. But what do we specialize in? We are all out to break the mind into pieces and we restrict our kids from being themselves.

This post is dedicated to the parents of those two boys and all the parents who allow their kids to be free from bias and be themselves. Religion can be no bar to kindness. Good people are Godly and all you need to be Godly is to be kind to the next living being, animal or human. A smile returns a smile- instant return on investment. 

My Element of Life

I came home late tonight.  I stepped in at around 11.30 pm.  My mom was waiting for me with my dinner served hot at the dining table.  I was touched. I was just thinking how beautifully God gave us this life as a present which had the best goodies in it.  A Dad who is nothing less than the Lord himself, Mom who is an embodiment of patience, a sister who is the source of inspiration and a few good friends who make it worthwhile to be with, which is  beautiful.

Life as Naveen Manomohanan has been very eventful and beautiful. I realized that education alone can’t make a person a good human being. One could claim to be well-educated by virtue of trappings earned over the course of study and yet could be a psychotic wreck. One surely has to be instilled with the values of love and compassion from childhood, guided of course by good parentage. Today when I walk forward in life, I understand and value the importance of good upbringing and lineage which few are blessed with.

From our childhood our parents have always sacrificed their needs to keep us happy and even today they do so. Today was a lovely day. Back home I felt the love and the care a lot that still keep us bonded to  the institution called FAMILY, Father And Mother I (WE) Love You. It was not just about education that was told to us, it was taken for granted that we would study. But we were taught immensely about love, compassion and most importantly integrity that have proven to be invaluable assets. Today when I look back, I realize how fortunate I am and how thankful I need to be.

There couldn’t be a better or more precious gift I could be blessed with, and in many ways this post is a tribute to my family, which is so dear to me. I feel privileged more than ever to be part of a wonderful family while I know fully well that many others could never stand to benefit from this remarkable fabric of life for their own misgivings about it.

An Autograph from a Teacher

Standing in a teacher’s shoes at a very young age has been an experience worth a life time of learning and good feelings. At age 22 I began my role as a teacher. Too young to know the seriousness of life, I entered my second job, as Faculty member of a B School , before which I was a Sales Officer in a Bank.  I was in the transition phase of my life and I was in the middle of the best of what life offers, college Life. I was out of my college life, experiencing others enjoying their college life. Imagine that you have a big pot of honey which you are not supposed to touch. Gosh!!!

The first day as a teacher I realized how good and diplomatic our teachers were. Standing on the other side of the classroom was an experience the first day. I saw myself sitting in their place. I could see everyone and everything they did. That’s when it struck me how my teachers tolerated us. But my dear friends, to be frank a teachers life is actually a very fulfilling one. Every student’s achievement becomes your achievement and every students fall becomes your pain. With the exams they write the tension is in the teacher’s heart. But yet all the missed heart beats and pains the teacher goes through get washed away in the process being friendly but not familiar or rather to make it simple being strict.

Here I would like to narrate a small incident of my life as a teacher which made me think a lot. Fortunate as a teacher I have always had very controllable batches, which has been also the reason why I have felt very close to many there. In my class I had a student named Kiran who was very shy and wanted to discontinue the post-graduation course halfway through. Not seeing him in class for a few days I called his parents and asked them to come over. The first shock the parent gets is the look of the teacher. He asked with the highest exclamation “are you the one teaching Kiran?” I answered yes, that’s me. I told him how it was important that Kiran needed to come back and how his parents needed to support us in the cause of getting him going well.

The initiative worked and the then Director of the institute, a walking encyclopedia said “Boss, I am not sure of what you are planning for.” Months passed by and one day the Director summoned me to his cabin. I was sure there was a mess and he asked me to sit with the most irritated look on his face. He extended his hand and said “Congratulations.” I was perplexed. He said “Kiran spoke to me with immense confidence, and it’s all your work.” I was lost and in the middle of nowhere. That was one appreciation I got which was an achievement. I take it as an achievement because it came from a knowledgeable man. Today Kiran is doing excellently well and I feel happy for him. When he said he was leaving the course I felt the pain and today I feel proud of my student and friend Kiran, who has since changed from being a chronic introvert into a confident young man.

Truly, nothing could be more rewarding than the life of a teacher to witness a transformation in the lives of his students.

Tribute to a Teacher - My Blog Begins...

Teachers are a gift of a lifetime. They make us what we are today… I would like to begin blogging by a tribute to my teacher. I owe a lot to her for what I am today.

Back to my class 11 year 1996. An average student I must say, coming to a CBSE School from the state syllabus, with all the qualities of being a nut. The CBSE School was a cultural shock. Everyone was fast and   the only thing I was fast was with my chattering.  Being a Commerce guy I needed to be taking accounts sessions which was a hard spot. Even today let me confess, I go berserk with all numbers other than mobile numbers. So here comes in a very strict teacher into the class who was to instruct us accounts. Not joking friends she was a terror. We used to pray for her to be on leave. The minute she enters the class breaths go up and as she exits we all come back to normal. In the course of time my slowness got noticed and I had a privilege to sit on the teacher’s desk during her hours. It was stressful and the punishments were also bad. I used to think that Ma’am had some ill feeling towards me. Ok I thought.

It so happens that I sing, not very well but yes a bit. I got selected in the western music team for the year. School became enjoyable. Music was taking a lot of time. Michael Jackson’s Heal the world was in full swing practice for a month.  We decided the clothes to wear, the material selected and at one point a teacher comes in and changes the entire team structure and three of us saw us out of the team. At age 15 I don’t think I would have gone disheartened so much. My family was very very supportive. It was all through and I was cool.

The competition day came in. my dad and mom stood by me. I went to school on a cold Saturday morning in mid December. I could not function but I remember the words my dad said, "Son, this is just a small battle. Win it and you will grow." School was all usual tough Naveen was so unusual. As the schedule the accounts class came and we had a two hour schedule. Ma’m walked in and I walked to my special seat. She gave us some accounting problems and all of us were at work. I am not exaggerating I just wrote the date and sat on my seat. Ma’am came once saw my book no response. The second time also she came not a word, again a third, nothing happened. At this point one of my classmates who went for the programme came back and said they got the first prize. My eyes watered but I did not burst out. The so called strict, cruel teacher walked up to my desk and held me on my shoulder and patted me. I felt the love, the genuineness and care of a teacher flow in through the same hands she used to hit me. I changed. I changed from the slow, poor student category to one of the good students in class. From then I had had no looking back.

The word teacher if mis-spelt becomes a cheater. Even after 15 years of leaving school I still meet my mother at school my dear Teacher Ms Rajini Anoop. She is a true asset I earned over my years of being a student.