Kalari Kovilakom….

Kalari kovilakam the erstwhile palace of royal Dhathri thampuratty (Female queen), was apparently built to defend against the tyranny of the male rulers at her time, and to provide the ladies of the family a private space. See these so called kings too were not any better than what people are now, u see its the innate nature of humans…So after the so called independence from the British rule and when democracy had came into existence, obviously the system of monarchy gradually came into non-existence, after all wealth should not always end up in just one hand, we would always like more participation. From then on all those massively palacial buildings were brought under the department of archaeological survey, India, .but somehow until 2002 Kalari Kovilakam, apparently was in a state of negligence from the archaeology department and from the state government and literally was in ruins. Strange thing is that the royal descendants of Dhathri thampuratty are still very much alive, but it seems they haven’t really done anything about it, maybe I guess in the light of the massive expense they might incur in the process…

In 2002, a major hospitality group based in Kerala called CGH Earth, a Casino group of hotels venture, got in touch with the royal family and with the government, proposing new idea of renovating the palace, and turning it into a tourist destination along with authentic Ayurveda treatments. The CGH group agreed to bear the expense of renovating given that they can enjoy the profit whatsoever from the hotel business and the good thing is that they were ready to part a share of the profit with the royal family. See that’s what we call luck, u get to sit at home, and just because u are royal u get monthly income, that too without even moving a little finger..

The renovation works took about more than 3 years to bring the palace to its old royale…but lemme say, it must have been worth the wait, the CGH earth group had done not just an excellent job, but a legendary one, definitely the palace has a glory about it, which it wud have had during its golden years. It is worth appreciating the visionary leadership of CGH group, coz they still make it a point to maintain the aesthetic values of the place, u r never allowed inside the palace with ur footwear and unfortunately u can’t even have a pinch of non veg diet inside the campus, even being a hotel establishment. All those traditional poojas and offerings to the deity inside the palace are still carried out in all its purity. “Leave ur world behind before u enter inside”, that’s what the board at the entrance says and let me tell u, it’s certainly a different experience altogether once u step inside Kalari Kovilakam…

There is this strange story the staff at Kalari had told me during one of my visits there. The temple inside the palace was made visible by the Dhathri thampuratty for the common people through a small hole in the outside wall of the palace. But when the renovation works were done the management decided to close it with glass, to maintain privacy for the tourists, but strangely every time they cover it with glass or something else, it broke leavin it open…after a couple of tries they decided to leave it open and still those who passes thru the outside walkway can see the temple through the openin on the wall…strange right??? Still not convinced…maybe u shud try visitin Kalari once then….

Malooos, the naughty naughty pug……

You know, there is a saying in malayalam, which more or less translates like “The advice given by elderly, may taste bitter in the beginning, but will always be sweet in the end”…how true right??… After a year and half of mental turmoil in the UK, literally ran back to India just to be at my home, to be in the midst of people we know, people who loves us and above all to be with mom and my dear friends. Its been said that, decisions end up wrong when taken in haste and when u r drunk…,oh no..not that I am a habitual drunkard, but yeah once in a while…so there was this emotional call from the inebriation I had during one of those usual alcohol sessions we had..were watchin this ad in the TV they had in the bar, the PUG puppy runs to the girl, steals her dupatta, runs back to the boy with the girl chasin it..when the puppy reaches back to the boy, the girl meets him and yeah they were in love…..how cool man?? everybody should have a puppy like that, wait atleast I should have one….yeah..definitely I must have one, u know, just in case…nd obviously everyone will be happy, mom, dad, me..wow how great an idea. Once I got back to my senses, proposed the idea to mom..u know moms are too strict sometimes and that too for unnecessary reasons, they just reject our cool ideas without even a proper reason behind it..so coaxed her, and more and maan…a looot more..naahhh leave it, tried the quarelling way, again, no ray of hope..god when will moms change…finally I took that strong decision, the strong inititaive..yes I will nd I am gonna take the whole responsibility of lookin after the puppy and that was when I cud see the slight hint of approval, though a very minute one in her face. Yes why shouldn’t I..after all its a puppy, it’ll be really cool to shower her daily, feed it..sleep with it, how wonderful. The very next day called up my friend, went to the best kennel in the town. There was this this cute lil pug runnin around, 2 months old..god she is cute…oh noo wait..is it a girl puppy…”nooo,  no way Im buyin it..I dont wanna a girl,,do u have a boy puppy Mr. Anto”.  “see bro..I know its a girl, but why dont u give it a try, after all whats the problem with a girl puppy, and u knw wat boy pugs are too nasty and u might get fed up with them, I say it from my vast experience and above all, within a year and half if u are havin a girly u’ll get more cute lil puppies, which u can either keep or sell and u’ll get back what u are spendin now” . “Yeahh..man, how true, I think I should give this a try, Im gonna buy her”.

Took her home, made her see the whole house and after hours of contemplation, named her “Malu”, a cute mallu household name, gave her a good shower and took her to a stroll…man she sure is a magnet for ladies, young girls in the neighborhood whom I have never talked to came to me, talked to me just because I had malu alongside..wow, things are workin..I really should have taken this decision much earlier…at night I took her with me and made her a nice fluffy couch, and made her to sleep in it, and with my sweet dreams alongside I too fell asleep..

Morning when I woke up, cud sense this strong odor, thot I wud check it out and when I stepped out, it was right onto the potty my dearest Malu had deposited for me…hhhhhhu…….”wats this Malu, wy havent u gone outside???” noooooo…the one I saw in the ad was obedient and was intelligent too…”Malu u shud also be brilliant rite….”. Ok whatever shit happens sometimes, and besides how is she supposed to go outside all alone, its my fault I sud have taken her out in the first place. Cleaned up the mess, ofcourse how do u expect me to ask mom, after all its my responsibility. Took her outside for the morning stroll, talked with the ladies..yes things are going in the right direction, again a good decision….

Afternoon gave her the over priced Pedigree biscuits specially prepared  for puppies of Malus’ age….man she is cute while feeding too….should feed her more often u knw, its her growth period…..but…..starngely, the moment she finished feedin, started running in a strange circular fashion and after completing about 6 circles, seemed like she was calculating the center point of the circle she has been drawin, and once she calculated it with her precision method, squatted to deposit her holy shit. Noooo maloooo nooo, went running to stop her in vain, dont do it, god please…not again, and this time it happened right in front of Mom, it was more or less like some invisible force givin me a nice tight slap right in my face…man gods are so cruel when it comes to “innovative idea” minded people u see, as usual cleaned thoroughly, reassured myself, after all she is just a baby, everybody needs their time to learn things..she’ll be alright. Days passed, but things started lookin more worse now, circular motions and shit cleaning bacame a usual thing to me, and when she learned to jump higher the holy shit started reachin my bed too….I was cursin myself, felt like everybody including the ad I saw, the alcohol, mr Anto and my friend who accompanied me had cheated me. Finally I decided… I shud teach her to go potty outside whenevr she feels, and albeit after “months” of training I was kinda successful in makin her learn it..but u see u cant just leave ur door open all the time, so obviously there are exceptions. Besides, to make things look miserable, I came to know that pug is a breed that needs constant cleaning, if not it starts to smell soo bad that it reaches levels of intolerability…and my case was no exception too. But when u are workin daily, u dont really get that luxury of time to clean her every single day, and obviously sometimes she smelled really bad…but that means no ladies too in the morning…god every part of my decision had failed miserably by then…then I recalled, I should have paid heed to Mom’s advice….and above all, nowadays its mom who is cleanin the whole mess what so ever created by Malooo and that too everyday…boyy a wrong decision!!!!

Now she is 7 months old and let me tell u, she really is a cute puppy, and very much naughty..I still take her for strolls in the morning, she lays potty when she is out, she now sleeps with me when she knows that I am fast asleep and brilliant enough to get out of bed before I am awake (coz I dont like her in the bed along me), and we all love her, love her doing all those naughty stuff…but if I were to ask myself whether I’ve done the right thing, Im afraid I’ll have to say it might be mom who was right…

oops its time for her weekly shower…

A happy onam from Njyana vedan too…..

He is Njyana vedan, he begs for his daily bread, he hails from Nagercoil, almost 350 KM away from Trichur, reached here learning about Onam…Njyana vedan wishes all malayalis a prosperous Onam..lets wish him a not so prosperous one though…

A happy onam….

Onam is a thought, a vision…the vision that all are equal and all shall be prosperous….A stroll was enough through the usually busy parts of Trichur to reveal the facts, streets crowded with begggars, that too from far way places and yes we have prospered!!!