IN THE NAME OF RAM AND ONCE AGAIN AYYAPPAN

And the latest news; a 3:2 verdict, the Supreme Court referred to a seven-judge bench the pleas seeking review of its historic 2018 judgement allowing women and girls of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple, set to open on November 17

A legal personality is an artificial creation of the law – Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court says a legal person is any entity other than human beings to which the law attributes a personality. Otherwise called a juristic person is a non-human legal entity recognised by the law and entitled to rights and duties in the same way as a human being. Sometimes legal personality even may be conferred on an abstract idea.

Idols have been identified as juristic persons in Hindu law which personifies the deity as a legal person. Legal personality is conferred on Hindu idols to provide courts with a conceptual framework to pass judgment on disputes involving claims over disputed property gifted to or belonging to Hindu idols.

A company is a legal entity. So are the temple deities. Many temple deities like Tirupati Balaji pay tax, own bank account and even a PAN CARD.

Thus a Deity like a normal human being can fight a legal battle through their trustees or Managing Board of a temple in which they are worshipped.

Although let us underline the fact that these Juristic personalities have only legal rights and not constitutional rights.

When Ram lalla was declared as a legal personality the Ramjanmbhoomi, was not declared so for the following reasons:

1. it will strip of the basic characteristic of an immovable property.

2. no evidence for manifestation of GOD at the disputed site

3. present dispute are questions pertaining to the rightful manager of the deity and the access of the devotees of Lord Ram to the idols and not on the underlying immovable property.

So we have another landmark judgment to wait for once again in the name of Ayyappan.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD

And yet again here is a fresh innings of Religion- creative writing and of course Women.

It is novelist Hareesh’s “Meesha” (moustache) this time, and it pokes really hard into the society.

It is a perfect breeding ground for the right wing and the left to clash on freedom, expression, and cultural-religious crackdown.

PAUSE!! Anyone there to talk of double standards of society on Women please?

Okay ! let’s not talk of temple. But isn’t this a crass statement that supports the ideology that women were better kept within Four walls of the house those days, indicating that religious institutions were hidden centers of prostitution?

That segment of the novel is an offensive treatment against women, their dignity, sentiments and faith. The voices of support to Mr. Hareesh including The Kerala Government has an inconsistent view on women’s right:

Women’s entry in Sabarimala is the Fundamental right of women and it’s her Right to pray and worship, whereas women’s entry into temple being described merely as an act of invitation to physical intimacy with the priest is creative writing. Sabarimala ( I am talking of Sabarimala specifically as both issues are rooted in Kerala) comes into a frame of gender inequality and Meesha is all about Freedom of expression. Isn’t the Government’s Moustache poking at Women’s Dignity?

If Meesha is not derogatory, then is “Kasaba” dialogue merely a film dialogue?

The segment of novel is libel to even husbands portraying them as inefficient to satisfy women and the Namboothri clan portraying them as immoral.

Comparing Hareesh with Perumal Muragan is even more disappointing. Madhurobhagan (one part Woman in English) is all about love, breaking superstition and portrayal of familial pressure and keeps woman at a higher position.  Meesha cannot be justified in the name of being a period novel of 1960s.

The actual issue is being masked under the gaga of highlighting Hindutva protest and mention of temple. Here it is more about faith than just religion. No religious institution can be portrayed as a brothel where priests choose among the women who come to worship. It is the faith of womenfolk, a religion and profession that’s defamed in the name of creative writing. I have grown enjoying reading creative writing. Ideologies are meant to raise a society. Even if one segment of that writing is derogatory and defamatory unnecessarily, then the whole novel is a worthless read.

Yes I am a Hindu who has been taught to respect every religion, but first I am a dignified Woman empowered to voice my opinion...after all that's Freedom of expression too.

FRUITS OR VEGETABLES? WHAT'S FOR LUNCH?

The etiquette of Indian dining is one of the most novel and discrete practices in the world that never fails to get mentioned in travel books and channels.  The combined flavours of spices, herbs, vegetables and fruits rolling in our tongue fed with our hands and dining with friends and relatives making eating hours one of the most important part of our cultural premise.

We are not people who really like repeating the same vegetables or fruits at least in a period of a week. Why should we when our tropical varieties are really large? Having said that, have you given a thought on how do we really differentiate between fruits and vegetables?

Okay, so before you read further categorize the following as vegetables and fruits

CARROT

PUMPKIN

CUCUMBER

POTATO

CABBAGE 

BROCCOLI

GREEN PEAS

BITTER GOURD

PLANTAIN STEM

ONION

TAPIOCA

CHILLI

TOMATO

BRINJAL

We eat so many varieties of fruits and vegetables but sometimes never gave a thought on what actually differentiates them other than the general notion that fruits are sweet and easily consumed uncooked, vegetables usually savoury.

It is not just looks but even taste can be deceptive!

By definition, botanically, A fruit is the mature ovary of a seed plant, usually developed from a flower. 

A fruit is simply the seed bearing structure of a plant mostly growing out of a flower. The rest parts of a plant that are edible are the vegetables. Roots, Stem, leaves, flowers etc are vegetables.

Now check if your answers to the list were right or wrong.

CARROT                              Vegetable

PUMPKIN                             Fruit

CUCUMBER                         Fruit

POTATO                               Vegetable

CABBAGE                           Vegetable

BROCCOLI                          Vegetable

GREEN PEAS                       Fruit

BITTER GOURD                  Fruit

PLANTAIN STEM               Vegetable

ONION                                  Vegetable

TAPIOCA                              Vegetable

CHILLI                                  Fruit

TOMATO                               Fruit

BRINJAL                               Fruit

Carrot, radish etc form edible part of the root of the plant and hence termed vegetables. Similarly potatoes, tapioca are tubers (the fleshy roots) which also come under vegetables. Cauliflower and broccoli for the flowers, Cabbage the extended leafy part of the plant and Plantain stem all come under vegetable categorization. The rest of them bear seeds including bitter gourd and brinjal. Chilies, bell peppers are seed bearing and hence fruits.

So what is for lunch? Rice or Roti? And if I say we have a bowl full of cooked dry-fruits every day, would you agree?

Cereal grains are also a type of fruit - a dry one-seeded fruit in which the ovary wall is united with the seed coat, typical of grasses and cereals. So basically rice, wheat, corn kernels are typically seeds – dried seeds often called dry fruits.  

But remember an unripe corn is a vegetable!

Pulses, lentils are all seeds that grow in a pod. A pea pod is a fruit and Pea by itself a seed.

So how many vegetables and fruits did you eat for LUNCH today???

THE AROMATIC STORY OF COFFEE

Chocolate, men, and Coffee - Somethings are better rich wrote an Unknown.

Coffee – seems so harmless and feels so magical. Each time you hold the mug (or the cup) the aroma stirs your nostrils for more, the decoction blends beautifully giving a treat to your eyes, and the warmth makes you calm even in summer.

Coffee was eaten before it became a drink !!!

But did you know coffee was eaten before it became a beverage?

The legend of Ethiopian coffee estates says that a Kaldi, a goat herder had fed the coffee beans to his goats. He observed them active for a longer period than usual and tried eating it himself once. It kept him awake for a longer time and helped him manage his work better. He and his wife made energy bars out of these coffee beans and ate them until Kaldi, one day revealed about the energy bar to the abbot (head of the monastery) of a local monastery.

The abbot made a drink out of it for an easier consumption. He was a monk after all!!!

And hence came COFFEE into existence which is now  a billion dollars business all over the world.

5 Historical attempts to ban Coffee.

Ever imagined a ban on coffee. Seems next to impossible now. But the period between 16^th to 18^th century witnessed 5 big attempts to ban coffee from their territory.

1.       In 1511 MECCA banned coffee as the governor thought coffee would lead to more hanging out, stimulating radical thinking and thus lead to a stronger opposition. Also a few Sufi saints used it as a funeral bowl to keep them awake whole night for prayers.

2.       In Italy the clergymen pressed a ban on coffee and label it satanic but Pope Clement VIII did fall in love with its taste and the lord saved the coffee from a BAN!!

3.       When Murad IV claimed the throne of Ottoman he banned coffee and its usage led to penalities like first use called for a beating and the second time the user was sewn in a leather bad and thrown in the sea! I wonder if a census of such death was recorded? A lot can really happen over a coffee!

4.       Sweden had a sweet way of killing convicted murderers - making them drink tons of coffee. Convicts loved and the monitoring doctors bored counting how many cups of coffee would kill a man.

5    Fredrick the Great of Prussia banned coffee as the consumption of beer produced was hindered. So he made a royal statement for circulation “His Majesty was brought up on beer”.

Royal Cheers to beer didn’t seem to work the magic like coffee though.

Be it coffee, latte, cappuccino, espresso or just our own FILTER KAPI, we love it and a ban on it would surge a war.

AFTER THE RAIN

She placed her feet on the ground,
Each step giving it a colour of brown,
Her slim swarthy curves,
Camouflaged by clouds dark and gloomy
That the mother found it hard, to hold
In her bosom, the daughter's fear
Of an imminence so murky.
Along with the sun, the heat of her burden
Condensed the air, making the clouds
Further dark and gloomy.
Stifled the daughter felt,

AFTER THE RAIN

Unable to move her feet, tripped she fell.
The fall hit the clouds,
Letting a fully fledged downpour,
Easing the daughter's murkiness
And the Mother's heaviness.
Every drop relaxing her tensed muscles
And the joyous celebration of the oceans,
Flexing their wavy flesh,
with a counselling bash.
The outbreak making her goggle at
The iridescent image of her EGO,
Radiating all its strength as never before,
Curving her lips like the moon .
Isn't there a rise after a fall,
Like the rainbow after the rain?

WALK THE TALK

The soles were being put to varying degree of work; some were being strained to drip out all the sweat, a few moderately pushed and another few worn just to please the wearer that yes they were ‘walking’ too.

At one side I could hear someone talking ‘see, you please tally the balance sheet and mail it tomorrow itself’ some others talking to either family or friends straining their arm muscles, other side gossips and many texting and jay walking and quite a lot plugging their earphones to some music probably.

I was a spectator not belonging to the crowd in race course who were burning calories. I prefer to call it varying interest. I have never been successful in walking or jogging continuously over a period. I always favor burning calories by dancing to tunes…passion is the reason I cite.

I would attach another reason to it. When I go out to jog or walk, I feel lazy to do it alone and immediately carry my mobile phone along with me and have those earphones glued to my ears. I realized later that my walking, jogging, and hopping patterns were out of balance and often trying to sync with the music I hear.

Life has become too busy that we don’t seem happy with 24 hours. When I was watching the lot who were on their walks or jogs passing my view every minute, I found most of them wedged with their mobile phones. A thought to count the heads and survey the number of mobile phones in use struck my mind.

The counting was egregious and satisfactory. I counted 118 to be exact and 93 of them were with their mobile phones and most of them using it in the hierarchy of talking, texting, listening to music, and jay walking. You would have seen such persons. May be you have been this person entranced by your mobile phones in hand while walking and workouts.

Now it is no rocket science or uncommon knowledge that apart from burning those few extra pounds which bother you, exercising also relaxes your mind body and soul.

Workouts reduce stress, depression, and anxiety by reducing the electrical activity of the tensing muscles. It also helps our body to release those endorphins which are natural pain killers that our body releases to makes us feel at it ease. Although endorphins have many other functions studies prove that excess secretion of endorphins by the body is a result of increasing addiction to certain objects like mobile phones and TV. Endorphins as such get highly activated due to radio and microwaves leading to its excess release in the body indicating an addiction to your gadget- that is why you feel excessively happy spending time with those  gadgets.

But these ‘feel-so-good’ gadgets also lead to losing your balance often. A new Australian study revealed that when scientstist studied 26 healthy people and each person was asked to walk with and without mobile phones, all the participants deviated from the straight line and were slower while on their phones including listening to music.

When walking or jogging are meant to enhance our health, why use gadgets that counter balance the good effects.

The Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad declared in London that India was the second largest mobile phone users in the world counting 900 million and still counting. It accounts to twice the users of Africa, Europe, Arab states, and Commonwealth of Independent states. And it is regrettable that people who have mobile phones have no access to proper sanitation as our  Total Sanitation Coverge is only around 40%.

This raises a question in me. Are we really health conscious? I include people who regularly exercise as well. A stage has come where we are more concerned about cell phone restricted area than open defecation and urination in surrounding.

I recollect one of my friends from Dubai telling me once about his broken Motorola smart phone. He claimed to find more time to spend for himself when there was no smart phone around him. He took time to read, pluck the strings of his idle guitar, and even a better workout throughout the week when he was back from his work place.

I have had similar experiences especially during workouts. I prefer to use loud speakers with mild volume for some relaxation music during my yoga time rather than plugging those tiny bulbs to my ears.

When we are over the phone we counter react to the actual purpose of exercise. We get stuck with the same thoughts of office, friends, fights and parties. It is no way going to relax the electrical activity of your muscles nor going to help you reduce stress and anxiety.

We strain to find some time to sweat out those bad chemicals from our body and experience the fruits of all our hard work. Let us say goodbye to our mobile phone for that one hour and instead let us “WALK THAT TALK”.

MARK-BIASED AND BOARD-BIASED ADMISSION

May, a month when the air is filled with mild aroma of Gulmohar, spreading its branches like a peacock with red feathers. It is a month when beauty lingers in the surroundings.

But that is not all about May. Tension, anxiety, and morale of students is put to test the same month, every year. Students of class X and XII await their board exam results through out the country, no matter which board they belong to.
Every state has its own syllabus unlike a centralized syllabus like CBSE or ICSE. And it also happens that a clash always exists between the state board and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The standards of CBSE syllabus being set by the National Council of Education Research and Training, is based on a concentric curriculum. Whilst State board syllabus being governed by the Department of Education under respective State Governments look forward to completion of schooling with a slightly easier syllabus to follow.

Unfortunately, as we see the trend, choice of boards seems to matter not for the standards and quality but for the result declaration and scoring issues. CBSE students of both Xth and XIIth are loosing the race for XIth and college admissions.

The bifurcation of writing school-based examination or Board-based examination for class X of CBSE has proved to be a pain in the neck. Although the CBSE had declared that there is no difference between mark sheets issued for both examinations, it had also mentioned that students who wish to leave CBSE board must take up board exams rather than school based examination.

This had paved way for the state government to add restriction to admission for class XI students who took up school based examinations and later wanted to change to state syllabus. Students of Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, have been suffering for admissions for past two years. Maharashtra government had relaxed the constraints in the year 2011 calling it a ‘one year exception’ admitting students who had taken up school based exam. The kerala government has shown no mercy till now.

The standard XII students loosing out on admissions in colleges has become a familiar practice now. The delay in result declaration by CBSE has literally outcast them in the race to colleges.

Where states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu had declared their results in the first week of May, CBSE is yet to declare results with tentative dates on the website.

Most of the colleges that compete to absorb high scoring students have closed down admissions for CBSE students filling the seats with state board students under all available quotas leaving one or two colleges in exception.

There is no postulated rule by the government stating that colleges should a lot a quota for CBSE students and hence it is solely under the college’s discretion to admit them.

The Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education has set few guidelines for college admission.

i)                To start admission process only once the original mark sheet has been issued

ii)              To give a period of 10 working days to submit the application after issuing of original mark sheet.

iii)            To complete student admissions in aided courses prior to self financing courses.

As the above norms haven’t been followed in the colleges of Tamil Nadu, CBSE students loose chance even for unaided courses.

Most admissions are done based on the printed copy of mark sheet from the internet. By then CBSE students do not get a chance to apply and they are left with a few available management quota seats for which they have to shell out a heavy price.

The desperation to fill seats of colleges by the management, not abiding by the guidelines and also not giving a chance for CBSE students to learn has made the higher educational sector a dirty playground for money. It is a scenario where monetary benefit takes a step ahead, a scenario that showcases complete discrimination against students, which will make education a rottening business than moulding future of younger generations to come. Lack of qualitative monitoring and analysis system for both result declaration and admissions across the country might soon bring about an obsession for prepossession of seta by the student community who will loose confidence in education and gain access to capitation.

This worsening condition has to be soon put under scanner by the government bringing about a systematic process for admissions in schools and colleges. Bringing policies in effect to firstly, give clarity on examinations to be undertaken, boards to be accepted, and also a quota for CBSE students. These regulations can be brought about only if the decisions are made by the centre and not leaving it to the state authorities alone. A centralized procedure for admission is to be generated which should be mandated to be followed through out the country.

Though an easy take on centralized syllabus can be put in place, it is better said than done. Bringing about same syllabus through out the country with immediate effect would prove to be a struggle for failure as students of rural areas will be largely affected considering the amenities they enjoy today. A gradual replacement process within a decade can be definitely put on place, if the rulers and police makers combat to bring an educational revolution in the country.