Welcome New President of India

Sri. Pranab Mukherjee is becoming the thirteenth president of India. He had an illustrious political career spanning decades. He had been cabinet minister for different portfolios. He was a peacemaker for the congress and UPA in many a crisis. Unlike some the former presidents who also had a political background, Sri. Pranab Mukherjee comes right from the thick of action & not after leaving active politics for some time. Though there were a huge demand (especially in Facebook & social networking sites)for Sri. A.P.J. Abdul kalaam, most of the political parties were, i guess - preferring some body from politics - their home turf - to become the president. Incidentally there was not much of competition for Sri. Pranab Mukherjee. Support given to him by Left parties were questioned by some. There were some action in JNU SFI Unit and its reaction came swiftly from higher party echelons. All is well that ends well. We can hope that Sri. Pranab Mukherjee, with his experience as a very senior political leader, will become an Icon of India as its first citizen. May the country prosper well under his tenure especially in wake of the economic turmoil which is happening in different parts of the world.

School Year Begins

It is back to academics time in Kerala. Schools which were closed for the midsummer vacation has just re-opened. Usually this season is accompanied by incessant rains with the onset of monsoon. This time however rain gods seems to be bit reluctant. As per the met dept, a few days delay is not of very much concern. Lets hope that rains are going to be quite normal this season so that kids can play a bit in the poodles around. There was a time when school going kids went walking from home to school through the ill-maintained roads. It was fun to play in the little 'ponds' in the road potholes. Normally the water will be brownish & it will leave a stain on clothes. Alas the present middle class generation goes to school and comes back by bus, car, auto rickshaw & what not.They definitely miss the fun. It is pretty hot here in vizag for the past week. There is an unprecedented heatwave which has resulted in even deaths. It is said that this is the hottest summer of the decade. Hope monsoon comes soon to Kerala so that we at Vizag can hope to get some reprieve soon

May Day

Here comes international workers day. We all are workers in some way or the other. Though there are many classifications like blue collar, white collar & what not. It is nice to have a day for all of us. Hope everyone gets little rest so that we all can introspect a bit. Life is getting fast & furious right? At times it is pertinent to slow down & look around. Better still look inward to see how we all have been faring. Much grime & dust must have accumulated to our body mind & soul. It is time to cleanse ourselves. Make some one happy & feel the exuberance that we used to have in our childhood for (seemingly) simple things. lets laugh aloud, make merry & live in peace ! Phew more of a sermon right ? Have a nice day..... ;-)

Bandh, Harthaal & Life without power...

February is the shortest month in a year. Thanks to feb being 1 day longer this year. As per a popular Facebook post there were as many as 17 days of Bandh / Harthaal in different parts of Kerala. Good going !
Summer heat is on & so is power cut ! owing to fears on Mullaperiyar, generation from Idukki dam based hydro power project was increased. Now water level in Idukki dam is on the lower side adding to the power crisis of Kerala. To top it all on 6th of March, the consumption of power in Kerala crossed 60 MU. Funny part is that only 22 MU came from our own hydel generation. About 30 MU came from central pool including that of NTPC's Kayamkulam gas based power project. Shouldn't there be a re-thinking on viability of a thermal power plant in the state to tide over power crisis. Almost every Indian state is doing capacity addition. Environmental concerns must be addressed in an amicable manner. In any case there are thermal power plants in the border like Mangalore, nuclear power plants such as proposed Koodankulam etc. Another option is to live in darkness or cut out all frills like air conditioning, festival lighting, Decorations etc. Why fuss over pollution from a power plant when almost every shop in a city is using small Diesel Generators which makes more pollutants. Coal will have to be imported or atleast trasported over long distances. Ash disposal can be a problem but with lot of infrastructure projects such as Kochi metro, Expressway etc coming up, ash can be effectively utilized.
Hope wisdom prevails in the echelons of power. (Either we make more power or we use less power)

One more year went on

Its nice to be back on to typing again after some good pause. Incidentally i completed 40 years of existence on earth. That means my half life period (Who knows? may be even more!) have been completed. As with any machinery things are getting down at times. I guess there is a scope of major overhaul as far as life style is concerned. Frankly i am reluctant to do so. Over the period of time i have accumulated many die hard habits more bad than fine. I guess thats the case with many people. Still young at heart but you can't blurt things out. World expects a lot of maturity (?) from people of this age. Any way life is a good mixture of paradoxes. "Chaltha Hai!"
As this is my first post in the year, it is customary to wish you the reader a very happy new year. Should there be any resolutions for new year? My keyword shall be 'Tolerance'. Lets all try to adjust to our neighbors & live amicably. Though it seems simple, some times its very difficult in actual practice. Hey what the heck! we all can give it a try at least....