Photos: Flowers from a bouquet

Click to enlarge.
Copyright reserved.

Also see:
Flowers of India: Some great photos by KO Isaac

Another bandh

Well, we have gone through another bandh. Long weekend for some, misery for many. Apart from that has the event contributed anything?

It was said by the organizers that the purpose of the bandh was to make the Government of India aware of the people’s protest against the increase in petroleum prices. One would assume that if the Government consists of sensible people, it would have known that the hike in petroleum prices would make every Indian unhappy. The loss of crores of rupees caused by the bandh was not required to get the message across.

LK Advani is reported to have mentioned that for the first time all the opposition parties came together. That would have been a happy incident if some sensible solution was put forward by them to tackle the issue. At least those among them who are ruling some of the States could have come out with a declaration that their States would forego the windfall that comes by way of Sales Tax every time the petrol prices are increased. No, that is more of unbudgeted money to spend.

Left ruled States, Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura were faced with the possibility of two bundhs on the same issue within a week. The Chief Minister of Tripura said no. One must congratulate him on that. Also to be congratulated is the Kerala Civil Supplies Minister. He has warned merchants of stern action if prices are unfairly hiked under the excuse of fuel price hike. Imagine, truck owners started off by demanding 30% increase in rates for a Rs.2 per litre diesel price mark up!

In my opinion the BJP should have a rethink on its approach. It unlikely to gain anything by aligning with the Left. There is the example of the Congress – that party moved ahead once the Left withdrew support. BJP is a party which might head the Government of India again. They should take a more objective and mature view.

It is a reality that the oil prices in the international market fluctuate. A government cannot constantly and indiscriminately absorb the increases to subsidize a price level in the home market.

Perhaps the think tanks of the major political parties should sit down together and work out a price escalation formula for future applications.

Please also see Tackling the oil crisis

Apologies for AWOL, rains in Cochin

For a few months now I have not been paying due attention to my blog. It has been a kind of absence without leave. Some of the regular readers have been kind enough to write to me about it. My apologies to them, and to those who made comments on my posts and did not receive any response.

For the last few weeks I was in Kerala. This was my first trip after the cardiac bypass operation I had in September 2009. I did not even touch a computer there. It was a time of getting together with the family and friends, visits to the club, and attending a few functions. Had a lovely time.

Chennai and Kerala are, as you know, in different weather zones – sweltering heat at one end and pelting rains at the other. Singing in the rain was not on cards. Neither was walking in the downpour without an umbrella. But it was nice being driven around. At the moment the Cochin roads have smooth surface. It is likely to be another story after the monsoon. Good while it lasts.

Olavipe, my home village is all green, just like the rest of Kerala. But it looks better on TV. Last week an interview with my younger brother Hormis Tharakan (former RAW chief) at Olavipe was on the mini screen and the place looked great.

An equally alluring spot is the beautiful riverside house of a cousin, Mathew Manipadam, at Udayanapuram near Vaikom. For the first time in my life I saw yellow hibiscus flowers there. I was really stunned by it. A couple of photos I took of them are reproduced below:

The construction activities in Cochin seem to be slow. Probably the reason is the heavy monsoon. A friend who is in real estate told me that there are not many land transactions. The rates quoted are high but very few deals are concluded. One can see a number of buildings in various stages of construction. Some have prominent “For sale” boards. It is also said that lack of clarity in the new land registration rules discourages land transactions.

Given here is a photo of a building I liked.

The structure looks beautiful, rising from the cluster of trees. Imagine it is in a city!

Cochin still has a number of coconut palms. Here is the picture of a high yielding one.

Such trees are not common in Kerala these days. Not much care is given to them. The main reasons for this are (1) it is difficult to get workmen, (2) the wages for unskilled labour is around Rs.300/day, (3) those who climb the palms to pluck the nuts are very few and charge heavily, and (4) the prices the farmer gets for the nuts are uneconomic.

The next is the picture of a special variety of coconut tree from Manipadam house. I believe that it starts yielding in 18 months! But the oil content in the kernel is low. Therefore it is not a commercially viable proposition.

Kerala is slowly changing from the land of coconut trees to a concrete jungle. It is so sad.

Well, I am back in Chennai. The weather gods here are really kinder than they were last month. I am looking forward to keeping up my blog with regular postings.

[Click on photos to enlarge.]

Of Vishwanathan Anand, chess, chathurangam and Velliappan

41 year old Padma Vibhushan Vishwanathan Anand has brought so much glory to India with his exploits in chess. Whether his historic contribution is fully appreciated by his countrymen is doubtful. Four times World Champion, in the great mind game! Bravo Anand.

Chess, in its earlier form known as Chathurangam, is believed to have been born in India in the 6^th century. Later it spread to West Asia and China. The Moors picked up the game during attacks on Persia and took it to Spain when they conquered that country. From there chess spread to other parts of Europe. Incidentally, Vishwanathan Anand lives in Madrid, Spain.

But till Anand came into the limelight, the only Indian who was internationally famous in the game was Punjab’s Mir Sultan Khan. He was the British Chess Champion in 1929, 1932 and 1933 and participated in three Chess Olympiads as the representative of Britain. Chess, which was also known as the ‘King’s Game’, was modernized in the 19c and the first tournament of the new version was held in London in 1851. But the old chathurangam mode continued at many places in India, including Olavipe, my village.

Velliappan ( my father’s elder cousin) was the patron of the game in our area. Two things he loved were Carnatic music and chess. For a long time there was a group of live in musicians in his house. The south-eastern portion of the ettukettu buildining was their domain. They would start tuning their instruments from early morning.

The south-western side of the building was chess area. An elderly Gowda Saraswath Brahmin who stayed not too far away, was in charge of that section. We used to call him Konkani. He would arrive at sunrise, make the chess pieces (I’ll come to that later), place them on the board, and wait.

This situation would continue till Velliappan decided, after breakfast, his pursuit for the day. If he hums a classic and the ‘tuk tuk’ sound of his methiadi (wooden sandals) on hard floor is heard on the eastern veranda, the Konkani could go home. Otherwise the musicians would pack up for the day.

The chess group included a man named Pylee. According to Velliappan, he was good enough for international level chess. It seems that in a Capablanca (World Champion 1921-1927) match in the 1920s the loser failed to gauge the impact that a move would have 23 turns later. When the position was laid out to Pylee, he said that there was some problem 20 moves later. Incredible. But Pylee died unknown except in our area.

I used to go to Velliappan’s house to play with his son Kuttappan who is about my age. One day Velliappan summoned me and ordered me to sit in front of the chess board. I was about ten years old then. Velliappan first explained to me chathurangam. All that I remember of it now is that most of the pieces had much less power than in chess. Then I, a not too interested student, was taught the basics of chess.

From then on I used steal into that house to escape Velliappan’s attention. But whenever he realized that I was there, it meant hours of chess. I did develop some interest in the game and learned a few of the techniques that helped me at college level games.

Velliappan and I played chess for years. I could never match his skills and he always won. Then one day, Velliappan who was quite old then, was taking much longer than usual to make a move. His face was flushed. Then a younger cousin of his walked in, studied the board and laughed. “Chetta, you have lost,” he said to Velliappan.

The old man swiped the pieces off the board angrily, got up and walked away to his room. It was then that I realized that I had, or would have, won. Velliappan and I never played chess again.

Now, about the Konkani and the chess pieces. The first thing that the man did after reaching Velliappan’s house was to cut a big leaf from a banana plant. He would shave off the green flexible part of the leaf and bring the thick middle rib into the house.

Then the ritual began. He would recite a sloka (poem) and start cutting according to it the mid rib of the leaf from the base. One by one the chess pieces would emerge. I think the first piece was the ‘white’ king and the next the ‘black’ king.

These pieces did not have colour of course. The differentiation of the two sets of chessmen was by size. The ‘white’ pieces were called vankaru (large piece) and the black cherukaru (small piece). Since cherukaru was always cut after the similar vankaru, it was always smaller.

It is a matter of regret to me that I never bothered to write down the sloka that the Konkani used for creating the chess pieces sixty years back.

Modern Threaters, Salem’s erstwhile dream factory

MK Kamalam, the heroine of the first Malayalam talkie film ‘Balan’ died on the 20^th of this month. She was 87. The report about her demise mentioned that ‘Balan’ was produced at Modern Theaters Ltd., Salem in 1938.

That reminded me of two things. One was of driving past the studio long ago on the way to visit my children who were studying at Sacred Hearts, Yercaud (SHY). The other was an old photo of my brother-in-law P Thomas Abraham and some of his Montfort School friends with three Hollywood stars. It was taken at Salem in 1952.

The actors, Rod Cameron, Cesar Romero and Marie Windsor who had come down for shooting the movie ‘The Jungle’. It was a joint venture by TR Sundaram, Voltaire Productions Inc., and Robert M. Lippert. The distributors were Lippert Pictures, Inc.

Thomas was kind enough to search out the photo and send it to me. It is reproduced below.

(Click to enlarge. Copyright reserved.)

The story thread of ‘The Jungle’ went something like this: There were several wild animal stampedes in an Indian jungle in which several people in the nearby villages died. The local princess took a great white hunter into the forest to investigate the incidents. They discovered that some prehistoric mammoths caused terror among the wild animals. The great white hunter handles the situation.

‘The Jungle’, directed by William Berke, was released on August 1, 1952. It was a success internationally but did not do too well in India.

Probably that was the only English movie shot at Modern Theaters Ltd., Salem. But the studio produced several pictures in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Sinhalese. Most of them were hits.

The man of vision who created Modern Theatres was Thiruchengodu Ramalingam Sundaram (TRS). He was born in a family of yarn merchants and textile mill owners, in 1907. He was sent to Leeds, UK, to study textile engineering. He met and married a British girl, Gladys there.

Back home TRS worked for some time in the family business and then followed his own dream. He turned to the cinema field and started Angel Films in Salem which produced a few movies at Calcutta studios. Then TRS decided to establish his own production facilities.

Thus Modern Theaters Ltd. was born. That, I think, was South India’s first film studio. It was not just a cinema shooting place but a full fledged facility with a modern studio which had equipments for talkie making, a laboratory, and recording arrangements.

The first film to roll out of the new studio was `Sathi Ahalya' in 1937. The dream run continued for 45 years and ended in 1982 with `Vetri Namathe'. Many of the 117 films (some sources say over 150) produced there were hits. They covered many genres. Mythology was there of course. Other themes included folklore, comedies, classics, mysteries and original stories.

As the name suggests, Modern Theaters Ltd was a Joint Stock Company and was operated on modern business lines by TRS. There was an efficient production schedule covering two or three movies a year and tight budget controls. This resulted in new attractive products being supplied to the market at regular intervals.

TR Sundaram who had an eye for talent operated the studio on the old Hollywood system of having actors, writers and technicians on payroll. Those attached to Modern Theaters included M.G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, M. Karunanidhi, Kannadasan, Manohar, Ramasamy, Thangavelu. Jayalalitha, VN Janaki, Manorama, and MN Nambiar have acted in movies made there.

Those introduced by TRS include MR Radha, SV Ranga Rao and Anjali Devi. Mention must also be made of the American, Ellis R. Duncan who successfully directed several films made at Modern Theatres. TRS paid all his people well and without delay.

The first South Indian colour film ‘Alibabavam 40 Thirudargalum’ (1955) was made at Modern Theatres. The MG Ramachandran and P Bhanumathi movie was a big hit. In Malayalam also the first colour film ‘Kandam Becha Coat’ (1961) came out of this Salem institution.

TR Sundaram died in 1963.

By then Madras (now Chennai) was fast becoming the capital of South Indian movie industry. But his son, R. Sundaram took over the management of the great institution the father had started. He did well, concentrating mainly on James Bond-like pictures starring Jai Shankar.

But tragedy struck the family again. A few years later R. Sundaram also died prematurely. With that activities at Modern Theaters ground to a halt. Later the property changed hands. It is now a prestigious housing area.

I wonder how many people are there in the history of world cinema industry comparable to TR Sundaram. He was a one man institution – studio owner, producer, director, financier, company chief, talent scout, inspirational presence. He is a cinema legend that India can be proud of.

Perhaps the present crop of producers who complain so vehemently about high cost of cinema making can possibly learn a thing or two by studying the operational techniques of TR Sundaram.

Also see:

Star wars in Kerala

Malayalam Cinema: Going, going, gone?

Lalit Modi wins for now, but does the story end?

Shashi Tharoor had an impeccable record: belonging to and old family from Palghat, Kerala but born in London, educated in India and abroad, three decades of successful service with the UN, resigns that job to contest for the post of Secretary General of the UN but fails, back home in India scores an impressive win in the Parliamentary election from Trivandrum though his mother and relatives were against him joining politics, straightaway made Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

So far so good.

Shashi Tharoor was doing okay even though his style of operation was not exactly palatable to the old world politicians. But then he made the mistake of doing two things which Lalit Modi did not like. He sprang a surprise by bringing in a team for Kerala in the recent IPL auctions. Also, his Ministry granted visa to a South African model who Modi, according to reports, did not want to come to India.

Now, everybody knows who Modi is. Technically he is only the chairman of a sub-committee of the BCCI. But that is the India Premier League sub-committee and Modi is its sole effective boss. Even the BCCI does not seem to have any meaningful control over him.

Modi is a genius and he has proved that within two short years. Forgotten or buried were the negative reports about him on different fronts. He made powerful friends and became the number one name in the Indian Cricket officialdom. Nobody really bothered whether all the rules were being followed by the IPL.

When Shashi Tharoor did not toe the line, Modi was not happy. He disclosed the shareholding details of the Cochin team, which had not been done in the case of the other outfits, and stated that he had some doubts. Also, there was a woman’s name in it – Sunanda Pushkar. She was to get a portion of the equity in the sponsoring company of the Kerala team, for free. An explanation that came up was that the shares were in consideration for her services for 10 years. A rumor that Shashi Tharoor and this lady were planning to get married, suddenly caught on like wild fire.

Sweat equity thus became sweet equity and a shadow of doubt was cast on Shashi Tharoor. The BJP went into the attack with all guns firing, possibly without properly evaluating the consequences. It would appear that a major point was overlooked. They concentrated mainly on the Cochin team and Shashi Tharoor being sacked, not on the entire IPL spectrum. The Leftists were quick to join them.

The Prime Minister who was abroad returned to Delhi on Saturday and by Sunday evening ShashiTharoor handed over his resignation. That turned out to be a wet blanket. Suddenly there was no issue left for the BJP in this matter.

But the other opposition parties are not stopping with that. They are demanding an enquiry into all aspects of the IPL from its beginning. Of course, BJP too joined the demand. But the Congress was already on the job.

So, the story goes on.

Also see:

Kerala politics: Confused Comrades

Vishu 2010

Happy Vishu

This beautiful photo of Kani Konna (Cassia fistula) flower, an essential ingredient of Vishu, by HFret is from Wikimedia Commons licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Click to enlarge.

For more on Vishu, see:
Vishu: Did God Create Earth on This Day?