Just Jo

Kerala : Dogs' own country?

After a long time, I saw a wonderful movie that deals with the current affairs in the Malayali community. Director Lal Jose made a bold move to present such a brilliant movie. I should say, at times it gets into some emotional outbursts, but it is necessary to give the right shock treatment to the society.

I’m talking about the newly released “Achanurangaatha Veedu” by director Lal Jose, that has comedian Saleem Kumar in a serious role. I think Lal Jose is the first director who dared to deal with the religious controversies like conversion etc. He makes his stand clear that religion should not go after counting the numbers like political parties do. He does not spare the evil in Christianity and Hinduism. He also mentions that regardless of the religion, backward community is considered as backwards everywhere. But this is not the main storyline.

I’m not going to explain the storyline, but in the whole the movie is based on The Suryanelli case involved a 16-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually harassed and assaulted continuously for 40 days by 42 men in 1996.

I felt myself ashamed of being part of the Kerala community after watching this movie. Having 100% literacy rate in this state, do we really talk about these things? This movie shows the public reaction, the media’s interest etc in such a case. For sometime I thought how a family that is poor and has girls aged 13-18 can survive in this state. It raised a question in my mind, how safe are we in this state where powerful people (in politics, business and society) can do anything as they want??

People easily forgot Suryanelli. Some people may have night-time fantasies of that poor girl, the victim of the case. But the insult they had to suffer from these cowards and the media and the public – can that be easily forgotten? At least, for that family?

The great comedian in the Malayalam movie industry of our times, who was accused of another such case, Vithura sex scandal involving another minor girl, is still a favorite to us and nobody bothered to question him. Ajitha (an ex-naxalite and an active feminist in Kerala) once said in an interview in Mathrubhumi weekly that “I talked to some of the girls who have been victims of such business and I’ve heard that these days Jagathy Sreekumar prefer girls aged below 16”. Where are we going to???

In between, I saw people applauding for some dialogues and that is a sure sign of humanity which isn’t completely vanished from the Malayali community. I’ve never seen people applauding for such a movie where there are no super heroes or super dialogues (as we call some dumo dialogues). And I think it is Lal Jose’ brilliance to choose Saleem Kumar in the lead role, because the director didn’t have to compromise on the subject to adjust it to the likes of the actor.

It is a must-see, guys. All of you who know Malayalam should go see this wonderful movie. We need movies such as this more often. And congrats Lal Jose!! And thank you for making this eye-opening movie. You’re my man!!!

Suryanelli in Idukki district, Vithura in Thiruvananthapuram, Thoppumpadi in Ernakulam, Kiliroor and Kaviyoor in Kottayam district and Kottiyam in Kollam district -- What’s next??

Is this a God’s own country or Dogs’ own country?

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb032005/n12.asp
http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/apr/wom-surynelli.htm
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/06/26/stories/2005062600220400.htm

The Perfect Lover & other notes

I don't know if there is anything perfect. Since dating and living together before marriage isn't possible in a country like ours, I will have to live with what I get. But it still I can dream about a perfect lover.

What I'm talking about is, I've been tagged by the Doc. Now the rules of the game are,

The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.
Need to mention the sex of the target.
Tag 8 victims to join this game & leave a comment on their comments saying they’ve been tagged. (Don't worry, am ot tagging anyone. I gotta break this rule. :-))

Sex of the target == Female.

Should have a good taste in music. Anykind. If she can sing or play the Piano or Veena, it will be just perfect. (I can't think of someone who says "damn! will you stop disturbing me? I'm watching this teleserial" when I talk about a song or a piece of music).
Shouldn't be a chatterbox all the time. (That doesn't mean, I prefer someone who hardly open their mouth)
Should be a good friend and someone who can understand when I'm down and give me a hug without being asked. (I believe in hug therapy!!)
Should be classy in bed and kissing. Should be thinking sex is a matter of intimacy, not a job to be done in the specified timeline.
Should be a good manager at home.
Should be someone with whom I can share everything and can give me tips to handle situations.
Shouldn't be someone mad of buying Gold, shopping and make-up. (I hate those women with tons of gold)
Should have a good dress-sense. (I prefer a woman in Saree, I think that's the most sexiest and elegant dress in the world, but Churidhar is also okay). I don't like my woman over-exposing herself with dress and makeup.

So that's my perfect lover. I can think of many other things to write here, but #8 would do I guess. Now all thats said, I know I will have to live with what I get. :-))

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The above was written in the morning. Now its 12: 12 AM. Okay, I met two of my friends in the evening. We had a nice time together in the evening. All these time, I thought my worries are greater than anyone in this world. Yes, sometimes I even thought about suicide. An ex once told me that the easiest way to kill oneself is by taking pills. You would just go off to sleep and would never wake up. I thought that's so peaceful. I was never dared to do that, but thought of it so many times. Now after talking to these friends and hearing about their sorrows, I feel so silly to say good-bye to this life. Life is so wonderful man!! Whatever it gives you, whatever the f*** it take you to, it still is so beautiful. You need a great courage to kill yourself, but a greater courage to survive this life. Am not gonna kill myself, never!!!

The day started off with my mother fainting in the morning due to the BP and I was so tensed. You know, nobody, (even your friends) care for you than your mother does. And I was so afraid to see her in the situation. These days am so afraid of losing her. She's 70 now. After fainting she kept vomitting, and I called up the doc and bought some tablets and she got okay by noon. A sigh of relief came at last. And when she was down, I saw her saying "eesoye... eesoye... maathaave" (christ... christ... holy mary) and I felt very angry of Gods whoever the hell there is, Christ, Krishna, Allah -- whoever the f*** there is, they were not of any help to her. Her whole body was shivering. I'm not an aethist guys, but for the moment, I thought there is no God who look over us.

But am so happy tonight. After talking to these two close friends of mine, I feel so stupid to think about suicide. Life is so beautiful man. And am gonna live it off whatever it takes.

Whenever am full of booze, I like to watch Metallica and their live show VCD with San Fransisco Symphony Orchestra. They're just cool. And boybands suck!! You guys have a great weekend!!!

So close, no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
and nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don't just say
and nothing else matters

Meet Meera Manohar & Santhosh

Friends and Comrades in music!

I just happened to hear the beautiful voice of Meera Manohar this week. She has got a very good voice and I wish if I knew her before planning Blogswara. Anyways, as it will be a continued process, she has agreed to be a part of it in the next version of Blogswara.

She's also part of a group called "Thillana". She had been with that group for almost 6 years now. She says "it's got amazing talent, Mux- who has won the best composers award in the US, Ragavan- who is Dr. BalaMuralikrishna's disciple being just a few of our stalwarts".

Check out Meera's songs here: http://meeramanohar.tripod.com

And her blog here: http://absolutelyzilch.blogspot.com

Meera, its hightime that you should put up an audioblog in your blog. :-) All the best to you!

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Santhosh is another new audioblogger in the block. He is got a good voice too. And he is not trained in Carnatic music, but still his Ayyappan devotional song is very touching. Listen to it here. Looking forward to more audioblogs from you Santhosh. :-)

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Cancer Can be Conquered!

So it is proven that Cancer Can be Conquered. In many ways. Go through the contestant entries and the winner entries. The results of Can Conquer Cancer "Blog your thoughts" contest is out. Check out the winners here. Congrats to all who won the prizes and those who showed their support by participating in this contest.

And DON, there are not enough words to appreciate your efforts for such a wonderful initiative.!!!

Birthday notes and a song

Today's song is from the movie Mayookham. Composed by one of my favorite music directors, Bombay Ravi.

Song: Ee puzhayum
Movie: Mayookham
Music: Bombay Ravi
Originally sung by: Chandrasekhar T.K.
Sung by: Jo

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Yesterday was my birthday. I'm 26 years old now. Usually I don't remember my birthday and my sisters would call me up in the morning and say "Happy Birthday". I would be sleeping and ask "Whaaat?"

"Its your birthday! You dont remember?"

"Oh okay. Thank you!".

And would go back to sleep. That's how it is every year.

Sandeep called up in the morning to wish me. And then my sister. It feels good in a way. I don't mean that friends or family who do not call or wish on the birthday are not caring. There is nothing like that. Infact, I don't remember any of the birthdays of my friends and family. But still, getting a call in the morning and having the birthday wishes would make you feel good. Just like that.

Birthdays were the happiest days in my childhood. Amma or elders wouldn't be angry at me because its my birthday. And Amma would give me a cup of tea with milk and bread in the morning. And if possible, amma would give me some change to buy some cheap sweets. That would make my day...

Today I had an ice cream treat from Chechyamma in the afternoon and Sureshettan joined us. It was a small but sweet birthday celebration.

Okay, now see the aichchreeem pic! :-)

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Ah, and by the way Happy Republic Day to all of you!

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നാട്ടറിവ്‌ :: M-Pod's new episode

In this week's episode of M-Pod, Dr. C. R. Rajagopal (He is teaching Malayalam in Keralavarma College, Thrissur) talks about the folk knowledge of Kerala and the importance of knowing our culture and the knowledge that our ancestors had passed on to us.

Click here to listen to the show.

Dr. Rajagopal is the director of Centre for Indigenous Knowledge, Thrissur that accredited in the world intellectual property organisation, Geneva. The group is working and documenting the traditional knowledge systems. It has published 25 books.

And Dr C. R. Rajagopal received folklore academy award. The centre has folklore performances troupe and released 4 album of folk songs. His four video films were also presented in the universities and in Kaumudi Europe online reception. The first film is on Shamanism of Malayan tribes in Kerala. The 2nd is on musicians and dancers on serpent worship in Kerala. 3rd on the 'play' of consciousness in Mudiyettu / a folk theatre and the 4th on destination -A journey into 'Yi' tribal culture of south west China.

You can check for the "Nattarivu" articles in http://www.puzha.com for Malayalam articles and http://www.aboriginalproductions.com for English articles.

If you want to know more about "Naatarivu Padana Kendhram", please contact them in the below adddress:

Naattarivu Padana Kendram, (Center for Indigenous Knowledge Studies)
Kanimangalam P. O.
Thrissur - 680027
Ph: + 91 487 2448827

Or you can contact Dr. Rajagopal at rajagopalcr@yahoo.co.in

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"Pacha panam thathe" from "Nottam"

Today's song is from the movie "Nottam" which is to be released this next month. The songs are already hit here in Kerala. M. Jayachandran has composed some wonderful songs for this movie. And I love the lyrics of this song too.

Song: Pacha panam thathe
Movie: Nottam
Music: M. Jayachandran
Original singer: K. J. Yesudas
Sung by: Jo