nishagandhi
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
Birds Selling---womens kerala
Everything started with a phone call from a friend. That morning I was not exactly planning to chase a bunch of trapped birds through the highway in an auto. But, that is exactly what I ended up doing. “Birds being sold. Has to be stopped. Need assistance. Come immediately.” was the frantic message I got. Within no time, I was speeding in an auto to Chakkai Junction.
Once again the distraught voice of my friend rushed me. "Where are you? They are getting away. I told you to take the road to Kovalam and not to Sanghumugham. How could you not hear?" By now, I felt like a hapless cop who had lost the case even before he could begin the investigation. I reached my friend fuming at the roadside, her fingers pointed firmly towards the lane ahead. “They took the basket and disappeared into the lane. You can find them if you go fast”.
The auto driver and I, doing a Watson and Holmes went into the lane only to be confronted by ten other smaller lanes crisscrossing it. It was ‘elementary’ indeed to understand that we had lost them. “Shall we go this way or that?” asked the driver. “Ways do not matter, we need to reach the end.” I almost spouted philosophy. After moving in all four directions, like partners in a search, I found them and screamed, “There she is..stoppppp !!”. I saw this timid woman, in a saree, peeping out onto the road and another woman behind her. “Hey, are they on the younger side?” I called my friend. “Not very young not very old but yeah wearing a saree.”
I hopped out of the auto a few metres away from them. If they sensed my presence and motive, they would make a run for it, and I did not relish the thought of chasing them again through the maze of streets. I crossed the road, careful not to look at them and ended up looking fishy myself. I walked into a bank right ahead of me so that I could observe them from its windows. Only if those in the bank knew that I was actually on a case. The very thought gave me goosebumps. But they vanished the moment I saw the women jump into an auto. “Darn..! Now I’ll really loose them if I don’t hurry.” I sped down the stairs onto the road only to see their auto turning into the highway. I almost jumped in front of another auto in my hurry to chase them. “Go behind that auto. Fastttt!” I yelled. And fortunately, he did not make a fuss. “Where did it go?” he asked. I asked the same. They took neither left nor right; so… “Shoot straight..!”
Their auto had disappeared. Did it just evaporate into thin air? Then the lorry in front moved and I saw the auto in front of it! Mr. Bond can have his Aston Martin DB5. My auto served me just as good. Meanwhile I managed to tell the DFO who we had already alerted, “Sir, please don’t send your people to Chakkai. I am after them so send them only after my call.” .
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As we overtook the ‘fleeing’ auto, I screamed to its driver to stop. Bewildered he stopped. And then I saw their faces. They knew instantly why I had stopped them; that I was after those little birds that they were trying to sell unlawfully. They were rural, Tamil women trying to eke a living out of it. Reading the misery on their faces, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.
But the chirping of the birds from inside the flat basket made me stand my ground, barring their way out of the auto. “It’s ok. We will stand outside,” they said. A big ‘no’ was my answer. They are smart, that I knew. And running through a traffic packed highway was not my cup of tea. “Be at home inside,” I told them.
Now I contacted the DFO again, “Sir, please send your people. We are at the highway.”
One of the birds was taken out and I saw how pretty it was. Small and sweet. People buy them to lock them up as ‘love birds;’ as if the birds would bring the much needed love they are searching for! I spent the time talking to the women with the little Tamil that I could muster. The two women were strong yet vulnerable. For them to be away from home and roaming the streets, with these birds, is definitely not as easy as the ‘freedom walk’ recently done in their name. But selling these birds was a crime and so the seller and the sold had to be taken into custody. So I decided to take them over to the DFO’s office myself.
“Koncham thalli iri, ma,” I said moving into the auto with them. Now six hands supported the basket as we sped off to the Forest Office in Vazhuthacaud under the gaze of curious onlookers and with the women on the verge of tears. As I stepped out of the Forest Office, I knew that I hardly deserved a pat on my back. There still were hundreds of those birds trapped and sold out there. And many more of those unfortunate women forced to do things they would rather not. Putting an end to both would not be easy. But one is always free to act, even if in the smallest way possible. And it is always better to have your conscience as your charioteer. |
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
BASILICA OF OUR LADY OF DOLOURS (PUTHEN PALLY)
Basilica of Our Lady of Dolours (Puthan Pally) is claimed to be the biggest and tallest church in Asia, situated in the heart of the city of Thrissur in the Kerala state of south India. It is famous for its Gothic style architecture with an area of 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2), it has soaring belfries at the entrance, double storeyed aisles all along the nave and transepts, and eleven altars, five on either side of the main one. It is the largest church in India and its exuberant interior decorations include fine specimens of murals, images of saints and scenes from the scriptures. An array of 15 altars and musical church bells imported from Germany. The ceiling is decorated with marvellous mural paintings of the holy trinity. Look for the pulpit and the throne used by Pope John Paul II during his visit in 1986.The construction of this biggest church in India was done in different phases, started in the year 1929. The two front towers are of 146 feet (45 m) height each and the central tower of 260 feet (79 m) height makes this church as tallest in Asia. Completion of the towers were an architectural challenge. Few experts from TamilNadu were brought over. Architect who completed the church was Ambrose Gounder.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Child rescued from borewell
A three-year old boy was rescued from an abandoned 450 feet deep borewell near Denkanikottai on Sunday evening.
A. Guna (3) fell into the bore well at around 10 a.m. on Sunday morning in a rose nursery in Kummalathur near Agalakottai in Denkanikottai taluk in Krishnagiri district owned by his father Anandan (25).
Mr. Anandan had arranged to dig up a borewell on Saturday. But he failed to get water and left home in the evening.
As usual he along with his wife Ms. A. Padma (22) went to the nursery with their children A. Pooja (4) and A.Guna (3). When the couple were working inside the nursery, the boy slipped into the well suddenly while playing with his sister Pooja. On seeing his brother slipping into the bore well, the girl alerted her parents.
The couple immediately sought the help of local people and police to rescue the child. As the news spreads like wildfire, the Fire and Rescue personnel were summoned by the police and the revenue authorities.
Personnel from Fire and Rescue department rushed to the spot at around 11.30 p.m. and started the rescue operations with the help two numbers of JCBs.
Mr. M. Dakshinamoorthy, Divisional Officer, Krishnagiri district reached the spot around 12 p.m. from Krishnagiri. Before reaching the spot, he gave instructions to his team about the rescue operations while traveling in his official jeep.
As the JCBs were involved in the process, the boy was sighted. The team rescued the boy with a minor scratch on his legs.
A team of medical experts headed by Dr. G. Rajkumar from Denkanikottai Government Hospital gave him first aid. Later, the boy was sent to Government Hospital in Hosur for further treatment.
The boy was responding well to treatment, hospital sources said.
Baby Elephant Cries For 5 Hours After Mom Attacks, Rejects Him
A baby elephant cried for five hours after his own mother attacked and abandoned him at a zoo in China.
Shortly after the mother elephant gave birth to the calf in August at the Shendiaoshan Wild Animal Nature Reserve in Rongcheng, China, she stepped on him, according to Metro U.K. Veterinarians hoped it was an accident and treated the baby before returning him to the mother, but he was attacked again. So they removed him from her.
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