A Warning to Those Buying Land in Kerala

The incident narrated here happened late last month but I came to know about it only yesterday. I am blogging this so that those who stay outside Kerala would be aware of some of the problems involved in land transactions in God's Own Country.

Normally it should be a simple transaction. The price is agreed upon and paid, proper document drawn up, and the land purchase registered before the appropriate Registrar. If there is a broker involved, he would be paid a commission. The document writer would be paid his fees and miscellaneous expenses at the Registrar’s office.

Yesterday I had lunch with a Keralite who has been staying outside Kerala most of his life. He had sold some of his ancestral lands to a Keralite from the Gulf. Practically they were strangers to the place. They went to the concerned office along with the broker for registering the document. Initially the Registrar refused to act, citing all sort of reasons. The seller succeeded in persuading her and the document was registered.

Then the real trouble started. A group of brokers in the locality surrounded them demanding brokerage for them also. The demand was made to the buyer and the seller.

The buyer and seller escaped from there and proceeded to Kottayam separately. What they didn’t realize was that the brokers were following along with the local Sub-Inspector of Police. Registration of land has nothing to do with the police.

The seller stopped at a hotel for a quick cup of tea. Then cinema-like scenes started. The police Jeep screeched to a halt and the SI jumped out along with the brokers. The seller was threatened that he would be arrested unless he paid.

The seller now told the SI that he would pay if the Office of the Director General of Police confirmed that was to be done, and that they would wait in the hotel till the confirmation came. He took out his cell phone. He really has contacts at high level.

The brokers vamoosed and the SI stayed back apologizing. Unfortunately my friend did not make a complaint.

Also see Kerala: Left with empty granaries

Supper Theatre

Supper Theatre means just what the two words indicate – eat (and drink) while watching a live performance. The entertainment part could be anything from a play to kalaripattu, the Kerala martial art. Food, snacks and drinks would be available and you eat and drink as you enjoy the performance.

How does a supper theatre differ from a night club or a restaurant with a floor show? It is a theatre where food and drinks are also served. The play is the important event. You sit at a table meant for say, six to eight people and concentrate on the performance while sipping your drink and munching a snack.

Supper theatre is a Western idea which has recently come to India. Such events have been held in Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore and Hyderabad. I am not sure about the other places. Anyway, Chennai had a successful supper theatre on November 21 at Le Royal Meridien. Perhaps the Chennai socialites are asking around, ‘Where you there?’ You know, a place to be seen at.

The play at the supper theatre at Le Royal Meridien was “FIVE”, a political satire by Shreekumar Varma, the well known novelist and playwright. His works have been published by Penguin, Harper Collins and Macmillan. He was awarded Charles Wallace Fellowship in 2004. Varma is the grandson of Regent Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bai of Travancore and the great grandson of the world famous artist Raja Ravi Varma.

FIVE was directed by Ajit Chitturi and presented by ‘thespian en’. Chitturi was the man who founded the drama group under the inspiration of the theatre veteran Mohammed Yousuf in 1994. Today ‘thespian en’ offers theatre, comprehensive voice training, comprehensive theatre training, children’s theatre and women’s theatre. Some of its personnel were associated with The Madras Players who entertained the city with classy stuff for half a century and more. The ‘thespian en’ email is thespianen@yahoo.com

The credit for organizing this supper theatre goes to three dynamic ladies with proven track record– Divya Reddy, Sujatha Robin Singh, and Usha Shekar. Here is what they say about their venture, “E – tonite plans to provide high quality entertainment programmes, while also supporting lesser known social and charitable organizations. A part of the proceeds of every E – tonite event will go to charity.

Well, let us look forward to more supper theatre events.

Anjili, a tree of many uses

Which is the most used tree that is endemic to the Western Ghats of India? The answer is ‘anjili’. Other common names of this wood include ayini and Hebbalasu in Karnataka. In English it is called ‘wild jack’ or ‘jungle jack’. The botanical name is Artocarpus hirsutus Lam (Moraceae).

 

The statement ‘endemic to the Western Ghats’ needs some explanation. Anjili is seen mostly from Konkan to the south. And it grows from sea level to 1000m elevation, where the rainfall is 1500mm or more. Strangely the tree grows better in lower areas.

Anjili can grow to a height of 45m and attain about 4.5m girth. The durable timber is very good, almost the same quality as teak. It effectively resists white ants and fungus and survives well in saline water.

In old buildings (see photo above and Kerala Architecture: Nalukettu, ettukettu, pathinarukettu ) anjili was used for roofs, ceilings, walls, doors and windows. Even in many modern houses this wood is prefered for doors, windows and furniture.

One of the major uses for anjili wood is for vessels, from tiny canoes to sea going dhows and fishing boats. The famous houseboats of Kerala are made from anjili. So are the snakeboats and other racing boats and palliyodams.

Kerala kitchen – some implements of the past shows some of the wooden kitchen implements used in the past. What is not included in this post is ural in which rice is pounded for de-husking, and making powders.

Chakram: The wheel that turned agricultural fortunes, which is used for controlling water level in the paddy fields, is made of anjili. Now this wood is also used for building truck bodies.

Anjili is a cousin of jackfruit tree which is called plavu in Kerala. Plavu normally does not grow as tall as anjili. Its wood is ideal for furniture. Its fruit, which is the largest tree borne edible fruit in the world (see Jackfruit, the jumbo) has several culinary applications.

Anjili too has a fruit that is identical, except in size. Jackfruit is huge but the other one is just mango sized. It is called anjili chakka or ayini chakka. The thin layer of flesh that covers its nuts is tasty. The nuts can be roasted and eaten. The birds and the squirrels love the fruit and play an important role in propagating the tree. They scatter the seeds far and wide.

If a seed happens to fall on your property and sprouts, take good care of it because of the tree’s commercial value. The attention to be given is very simple – just cut off the branches that start growing, till the plant is about twenty feet tall.

The price of anjili timber is high. It is claimed that felling for commercial purpose can be done when the tree is 25 to 50 years old. In my opinion, it should be 50+.

A good study on anjili is Biocultural Diversity of the Endemic ‘'Wild JackTree’ on the Malabar Coast of South India by Sam P. Mathew, A. Mohandas, S. M. Shareef and G. M. Nair. It can be accessed at:

http://www.erajournal.org/ojs/index.php/era/article/view/99/85

All photographs (copyright reserved) are from Olavipe. Click to enlarge.

Obama Visit: Sense and Nonsense

Obama is the guest and India the host. Traditionally, we give great importance to hospitality. Adhithi Devo Bhava.

Let us listen to what the President of America has to say. The rethink of the Communists on boycotting Obama’s address to the MPs is a sensible decision. Prakash Karat’s Cambridge speech about breaking away from the shackles of the past seems to have had some effect. The 1940s which was mentioned in that speech reminds one of Quit India movement. The Leftists stayed away from that massive uprising by the people of India. At that point of time Brittan and Soviet Union were on the same side, in World War II.

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who received the US President into India yesterday, was invited to a meeting hosted by the Americans. There was a condition that he should submit identification papers for entry to the venue. He refused to attend the function.

The US officials did apologise saying that it was a clerical error. There have been quite a few ‘clerical errors’ by the US in the past. They did not care then. Now the apology mode is on. India has grown into a big boy.

The BJP spokesman criticised Obama for not blaming Pakistan at the memorial function at the Taj Mahal Hotel. It was a poignant occasion. Talk about Pakistan would come later, and it did. Here we must understand that Obama is in a difficult position. The naïve US policy, starting from the time of John Foster Dulles (Secretary of State 1953-1959) of ‘Brinkmanship’ fame, has placed that country in a peculiar situation. The American funding ($ 2billion even recently) is used by the Pakistan Army to fight effectively or not the extremists on the Afghan side and at the same time carry out terrorism against India.

The Indian National Congress was not far behind the BJP. Some of the Party people felt that Obama should have mentioned Nehru when he was in Mumbai. How many Indian Presidents and Prime Ministers visiting the US have talked there about Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln?

Why are we so sensitive of what other countries say about us? It indicates a lack of self-confidence. We are what we are. And the world is recognizing our position.

Yesterday (Saturday) evening in a discussion programme about Obama’s visit on a major national TV channel there was a young fellow. What I understood was that he is a research chap from the CPM. He was critical about India spending money to create jobs in the US and the business contracts that were signed.

The people who concluded the agreements are well-known for their business acumen. They are not going spend money just because some Americans would get jobs. It is all business. For instance, Spicejet could have gone to Boeing or Airbus for the 33 passenger jet aircrafts they need. They took a business decision to place the order worth $ 2.7b with Boeing.

This order creates thousands of jobs at Boeing which otherwise would have gone elsewhere. But what happens when those jets come to India? We need more pilots, cabin crew, ground handling staff, people to organize transport arrangements etc to handle the increased traffic. More jobs are generated. Every genuine import either sustains or creates new jobs. When we imported heavily from Russia, the Left leaning pundits did not raise any objections.

Obama has conceded some of our demands, but there is much more to be obtained. Let us be confident that our Prime Minister and Government are capable of handling India’s interests.

White lilies of our balcony

Last March I had posted about Our lilies of the balcony. Those were red lilies. Last month we had two white lily flowers. Three photos I took of them are given below.

The next picture was taken at my sister Mariamma’s house. Is it a spider lily?

Be Clannish, have Family Meets

You might be aware of the clans of Scotland. I shall deal with that briefly elsewhere in this post. But what prompted me to write this is receiving recently a memento from the Parayil Family to which I belong. The inscription on it says that I am “an inspiration to the Parayil Meets”. It was a very touching occasion for me.

A photo of the souvenir is given below:

All that I did was to suggest ten years back that all family members should try and meet together once a year. The others took it up and have been organizing the Parayil Meet (Kudumbayogam) on a grand scale all these years. The event is normally held in one of our heritage homes on the second Saturday of the month of May. This year I could not attend the function. Therefore the souvenir was delivered to me in Chennai by a family member.

What made me propose such a meet was that with nuclear families living separately and people moving to far away places for work, members of the larger family hardly get a chance to meet each other. In my family unit for instance all the six of us (4 children) meeting together is a rare event.

This is far different from the time when the male members put up houses near the tharavad (ancestral home) and the married off girls came home for at least a part of the major holidays.

That was how it was when I was young. On Saturdays and Sundays the cousins would come home or we go to their houses. Later on, when I was in the boarding houses or hostels, the weekend meetings were only possible during long holidays.

In the last fifty years so much has changed. I was the first person from the Parayil Family to go for a job. That was in 1958, after six month management training in Bombay (Mumbai). Some people were shocked that a family member was to start working for someone. To them, the fact that my uncle Jose Kallivayalil was the Chairman of Ruby Rubber Works Ltd where I started my career did not make any difference.

But Appan.(my father) was a man of foresight. He knew that land limitation laws which would curtail the size of the holdings were on the anvil. He encouraged me to take up the job. My brothers followed suit and so did several cousins, in different fields. In the next generation, a job is almost compulsory. By God’s Grace, all of them have done well in their careers.

But the family became scattered. The members are in different parts of India, Singapore, Australia, Gulf, Europe, North America, and South America. That is all fine. But think of the children. Many of them lack proper awareness of their roots, can’t recognize even close relations, don’t realize that they have people who would stand by them, and are ignorant of their traditions and culture. During the short trips to Kerala once a year or so, it is not practical to meet everyone.

In our case we find that since the date of the family meet is pre-fixed, the members plan their holiday trips to coincide with it. And the meets are really fun, with kids to old people involving actively and enjoying themselves. Also, meaningful discussions take place.

I know of some other families too who have family meets. It would be good if more families organize such get together.

Scotland is the best example of the clan spirit. The world’s largest clan meeting was held in Edinburgh on July 25, 2009. One hundred of Scotland’s clan chiefs and representatives of clans from around the world attended.

Opening the convention the Duke of Rothesay said, "It seems to me that today's event represents the stirring meeting of Scotland's history and its living heritage." The Scottish First Minister’s comment was "Obviously the Homecoming year has a visitor aspect to it. But all of these people are celebrating their heritage and roots. These are deep roots and affinities that stretch back centuries. To mobilise that wonderful diaspora to make a contribution to the future of our country is a massive thing." (From BBC report.)

India can benefit too if family attachments are sustained. No politics, no religious exploitation. Just people of the same ancestry assembling and enjoying, and making plans to help each other and others outside the family who need assistance.

Malayalam cinema: Signs of revival?

Last month Anjali published a post titled Ritu. It is about a Malayalam cinema by that name. The writer is annoyed and angry about the movie mainly because the story is an old tale and the script writer has not bothered study the subject and background well enough. I haven’t seen the picture but can understand why Anjali is upset. Many of the new Malayalam cinemas are like that.

Some years ago when I visited Chennai a friend asked me to join him and the scriptwriter of the Malayalam cinema he was producing for ‘working drinks’ at their hotel. I found him and the writer with a collection of English movie cassettes. This was before the CDs and DVDs. They were shamelessly copying from the Western cinemas for the Malayalam picture. I never saw that movie.

The story and script form the heart of a movie. The director, cameraman and actors work to transfer what is written to the celluloid. A good director would work only with a credible and well written screenplay. He and the writer would discuss and finalize the script.

Scriptwriting is a tough job. It requires understanding the place where the story takes place and the people who live there. The visuals and dialogues should give the impression that the story is actually happening there. This requires great concentration and even visualizing the camera angles. Sometimes research is needed. Attention to details is so important.

This is where Malayalam cinema fails. Most of the script writers just rush through the job. Some introduce theatrical dialogues. The producers go ahead with something that should be thrown into the waste basket. There are enough directors who do not bother as long as they get paid. As a result, 90% of the Malayalam movies fail at the box office.

Some time back I had written a post Malayalam Cinema: Going, going, gone? The same situation continues though Malayalam won 13 National awards recently for the year 2009. Imagine, for discovering a good story, Shaji N. Karun, the director of the best film, Kutty Srank waited 10 years. It is a pity that Mammootty lost out to Amitab Bachan for the Best Actor Award in spite of his good performances in three movies, Kutty Srank, Paleri Manikyam and Pazhassi Raja.

Actually, 2009 had six or seven good Malayalam movies. One of them was Blessy’s Bhramaram. I was quite impressed by the film. It had a good story and script. The final portion of the tension filled movie was shot in the rough terrain of the High Ranges. Blessy, and Mohan Lal, the hero are near perfect.

Both Mammootty and Mohan Lal continue to dazzle. Their latest releases, Pranchiyettan and the Saint (Direction by Renjit) and Shikkar (M.Padmakumar) are reportedly doing very well.

One problem is that the younger set of actors do not get really good chances. They are mostly wasted in quickly assembled, fight and dance oriented movies.

Unless new stories are found and the script writers and the directors put in hard work, Malayalam cinema will continue to be of low standard. The recent National Awards should inspire the industry to come out with better products.

Also see

Malayalam cinema: Random thoughts