For every Keralite , mangoes linger with his passe and it always bring something nostalgic into his mind. But the rapidly increasing consumerism has wiped off his time-tested affinity towards the mango trees. But a visit to the farm of Kosseri l Kurian George would whet his appetite in farming once again, affirms Madhu Chemperi.

While crossing the boarders of Kerala to Karnataka, through the once barren lands of Tamil Nadu, one can see the lush green plantations now, sway in the hot breeze as if waving a scornful smile. We can see the dark-skinned Tamilians working there fighting the scorching sun above and the defiant soil below. We see them challenging the arrogance of monsoon that passes through the Kerala terrains many times, never turning to this sterile land.

Through the tinted glass of our air conditioned caravan that flies never below 80 Km/hr, we enjoy the greenery that once was a reserved proud of a Keralite.  On the way sides near to Krishnagiri, we see the vast mango plantations and the fresh-from-farm mangoes in the pulling carts on the road sides prompt us for a halt and we taste the luscious mangoes, smacking a nostalgic tint. Even though blessed with two monsoons in a year, most of the Keralites were prostrated before the ever burgeoning consumerism, and habituated with the sky-living status, hate to touch the soil.

Once an agrarian community, Keralites but never let the wholesome inheritance to their own idleness and that tells the story of a Kurian George alias Kunjumon who has been indulged in a passionate mission experimenting with plants in soil and evolving special varieties of natural fruit-trees including that of the King of Fruits, mango, adding it to his own hierarchy, his own address – Kosseril.

Tale of a Kosseril Mango

Kosseril Mango is now famous and stands apart across the State of Kerala, where the majority of the consumer community depends on the artificially ripened mangoes by the venomous calcium carbide to extinguish their covetousness clung to their own past. Kosseril mango is amazingly large in size with enchanting smell and taste.  In the International Mango Festival conducted at Trivandrum last year, Kosseril Mango made the visitors stand agape with its size that is about 2 kg and fetched the prestigious award of that year for its ‘creator’  Kurian George.

“It was a happening rather than a pursuit”, says a proud Kurian George. “I have been interested in farming and agriculture since my childhood. Once when grafted a new mango stump in an old mango tree in our own yard it was becoming an exciting success. It was about 18 years ago. When the grafted mango tree began to give out fruits, those who came to see it were stunned to see the size of the mango. It was big in size as well as luscious in taste. Then people around here asked me to give them such grafted saplings..” Kurian George narrated the tale of the Kosseril mango and a way of living laced with soil in his own down-to-earth simplicity.

Kurian  George voluntarily joined this new comer with his owm family, as one among his Kosseril House.  And it became a trade name in the fruit markets of the Consumer-fed Kerala as Kosseril mango.  Kosseril house is seated in the picturesque hill station of Idukki District, near to Mulappuram hardly 15  Kms from  Thodupuzha.  One will definitely feel as if in the Garden of Eden when reached the farm of Kosseril Kurian George, the hard working Kunjumon of Mulappuram village. We will be spell bound to see the vastness of farming and the verity of knowledge that people of Kerala still dwell upon the agrarian income they get out of surfing the soil.

Kurian George’s farm is an annex to his own courtyard and that extends to about I acre.  While walking through the greenery of his nursery we see the various stages of the mango trees from the grafted saplings to the fully grown tree not so tall, but spread out its canopy to a lovely circumference of small measure, giving out recuperative visuals.  While roaming around, Kurain George, patted its twigs and lean leaves with affection and tapped the bunch of fruits and they swayed along as if contented.

Dimensions

Average life-span of a Kosseril mango tree is 50 years. Its short but spread-out stature is a visual feast. This kind of growth also helps it to survive the winds and storms. If to quote Kurian George, they are very much immune to the common diseases when compared to the other species of mango trees. Within three years it will start to bloom and the fruits can be plucked by standing simply on the ground. So some people prefer Kosseril mango tree to plant in the front yard as an ornamental tree. As its fruits are larger and luscious it is being used by farmers in plantations in an industrial means also.

Blooming begins in the month of November. It takes 6 months for a mango to be ripened naturally. Less fibrous, it is commonly used to make pickles, an inevitable item in the menu of a Keralite.  Ripened fruits are luscious beyond a verbal description.

Hailing from a peasant family (not unusual in the Idukki hill station), Kurian George possess an innate love for trees and plants. So, only after the successful birth of a Kosseril mango, he has started to rear up the saplings industrially, that too because of the persistent egging of the people around for want of this wonderful creation.

Fruits of  hard work

“ I’m particular about the selection of the mother tree. If it is not healthy, the budding and grafting may not be a success, as it would produce only unhealthy saplings” , says Kurian George.

Kurian George has a huge collection of healthy and reliable mother plants, chosen and nurtured well by himself.  The budded ones, especially the straight growing grafts can be planted at the centre of the pits (of length, breadth and depth of 3 ft each) along with the ball of earth intact in such a way that the roots are not expanded and the graft union is above the ground level. The plant should get enough sunlight.  Dried cow-dung and bone meal are the manures to be added along with the first layer of the soil. It has to be irrigated frequently. At the initial stage, enough shade also should be provided and also stake to make them grow straight.  Kosseril mangoes possess a higher rate of immunity when compared to other species, but if noticed the decaying of any twigs, it has to be chopped off not so late.

Kurian George apparently depends only on organic manure and organic pesticides in his farm and nursery. Being less vigorous than the chemical ones, it needs more stress and time to go organic. But Kurian George is ready to do so, as he is inspired rather than learned or trained. So, left alone to work in the farm does not make him depressed; a roaming around among his own blooms makes his anodyne.

Garden of Kosseril

“One who plants five mango trees does not go to hell..”, says Varaha Purana. But Kurian George never puts a brake even after planting thousands of mango trees.  Obviously, like most of the farmers in Kerala, Kurian George is also switching over to high-value tree-fruits of Malaysian origin Rambutan and certain other varieties of tree-fruits, as he has transformed to a fulltime farmer professionally.

But his love for experiments still continues. He tries his hand in budding new varieties of jack fruits from the granny jack fruits of superior quality.  It yields fruits daily, beyond a seasonal scale.  It never goes high more than 30 feet and a single jack fruit of its kind will weigh up to 15 Kg. It is really a charming sight to see a minimum of 3 such big jack fruits hanging from a single stalk. We are yet to hear about a Kosseril Jack fruit bearing another amazement to the fruit lovers and one who is in need of a nostalgic fruit season in his own yard.

Another variety of fruit developed by Kurian is a kind of sweet orange having the size of a small lemon. Most wonderful and enchanting of the fruit trees is Moottippazham (Baccaurea courtallensis) which hang in bunches from the thick trunk of its tree. Other than Kosseril, a lot more variety of grafted mango trees also has been placed in his nursery, for sale.

If you come across with the delicate and slender variety of a dwarf mango tree having long slender and lovely leaves, you cannot help asking its name. And you will be all the more astonished to know that it has no name so far but a Pakistan native, blooms lavishly in Hindusthan where its fruit is considered as an icon of faith, an alteration of Lord Prajapati, the Lord of all creatures…

(If you need a Kosseril mango sapling, ping at 91-9447821881..Definitely you will start sucking the luscious Kosseril mango, within 3 years.)

Maya Krishnan narrates the story of a village, which has been in a fight for the right to live for the last 60 years. It becomes the stinking issue in the political, social and cultural arena of a State known to be as ‘God’s Own Country’ and the said village is nowhere but in its Cultural Capital.

(photos courtesy : The Hindu)

“Culture is the cry of men in face of their destiny”, Commented Albert Camus, years before the Clean Kerala and Go Green missions kick start their break-neck plies throughout ‘God’s own country’. Tourism promotions here are on the up and up. Come here, see and experience ‘the culture’ as one which is roughly ‘anything we do and monkeys do not’.

We need to see the kitchen and the bathroom to know how ‘cultured’ the residents are. This theory is applicable to all nations. As such Keralites keep their own houses and surroundings pure and clean, but their ‘surroundings’ end at the entrance to the road.

Media echo the cries from different parts of Kerala, mourning for the right to live in a hygienic and healthy ambience. Trichur, Trivandrum, Calicut, Kochi and like metros and their suburban stifle with the dumped wastes along the roadsides, markets, and every where around. Waste management is the most burning, (sorry stinking) issue in the current scenario here.

Lalur- an about-turn

Lalur is an ill-fated village in Kerala incurred to bear the excrements of the ‘cultural capital’ city of the State. Lalur has been carrying the loads of stench since the rule of Cochin Kings (before the formation of the Kerala State). After the king’s decision to change his residence to Trichur, he asserted to dispose the entire wastes and dirt from the road sides, at Lalur, the near by village in order to make the royal routes to the temple (Sree Vadakkunnatha Temple) clean. Thus the wastes from the ‘royal sights’ had been removed and plunked at Lalur.

For the last 60 years it had been a usual practice in Trichur to dispose the garbage of the entire city at Lalur. Residents of Lalur started mild agitations against this even under the royal kingdom. It has got strengthened in 1983 and the residents filed a petition in the High Court but in vain. Then, under the maverick Communist whiz Mr.A.V.Aryan, the agitations echoed in the whole State, up to 1992, still evolved no proper solution. Instead, the agitators including their leaders were imprisoned.

Meanwhile, Lalur became the waste bowl of the city, with the solid wastes from hospitals around. Human organs scattered all along, stray dogs scuffled for the bigger portions, and filthy water seeped through the huge masses. The agitators picked the human organs in utensils and put it in front of the Municipal Office. Then High Court intervened and asked the Municipality to find a solution for this burning issue, within 6 months. That was in 1992. By that time Municipality has been promoted to Corporation adding the wastes of four more Panchayaths to Lalur. However, the High Court verdicts never made any move from the side of the authority.

At that time, 3 youths who while cleaning a well near the Lalur trenching ground were died of suffocation due to the contaminated ambit inside the well. This event fuelled the fire and the agitations once again started to fume. Then a conference was held by the District Collector, along with the DSP and the MLA. It was then decided to segregate the degradable and non- degradable wastes and to put the non-degradable waste somewhere else. But the implementation came to execute only in 2003 when 3 Orgaver machines (used to treat the bio-degradable wastes) had been installed at Lalur, which was pathetically scanty to work out when 185 tons of unsegregated waste reach there everyday.

Ecological issues

Lalur is a village of around 2 Kilo metres of perimeter with around 20,000 permanent residents had been living there for years. More than 250 homes situated around the trenching ground including the Municipal quarters, Ambedkar Colony and Aziz Nagar.

After the traumatic death of the youths in the well at Lalur, the District Pollution Control Board in their inspection found out that 9 wells in the adjacent area were contaminated and useless. They reminded the public not to use the well water at any cost. Coliform Bacteria which sprout from human excrement had been spread out there, making the residents hard to get some drinking water. Air also has been polluted around 2 kms of Lalur.

When the Orgaver machines became non functional, the Corporation authorities set fire to the waste heaps and this made the arena more wretched. The last death happened in Ambedkar Colony was of inhaling poisonous gas emitted from the fuming garbage. Despite the incessant warning of the District Pollution Control Board, it is said that they never did take an action against the Corporation’s detached attitude. Again in 2008, they visited the site and reported the authorities that 40 more wells in the area had been contaminated and became out of use.

Globalization Effect.

The global developments reached Trichur also, with women empowering programs and this has evolved out the Kudumbasree and Sevanasree units of self employed women. As a part of their working strategy they started to collect solid wastes from the entire city. At present Trichur is having more than 7000 flats each with an average of 150 apartments. As a by product of the declining joint family system, villas and independent homes mushroomed in every nook and corner of the city. The building constructions are being done with least botheration of the rules to be maintained for the provision of drainage and other things. So it became  easy for the idle house wives of Trichur to pack the unsegregated wastes in plastic carry bags and hand over it when the Sevanasree workers knock the gate. Lalur became a dark and stench mine of garbage heaps.

When the Monsoon broke out in July 2009, water inundated the whole area and the small cabin made by the Corporation to put the garbage heap in the trenching ground, was also drowned. Filthy water oozed out of the garbage heap often stagnated near the plant spreading unbearable foul smell. In the onrush of the Monsoon the compound wall of the trenching ground collapsed and the decayed wastes seeped and spread out in the courtyards of the adjacent homes, making their wells filled with the filthy fluid. Skin diseases, wheezing and variety of allergies along with the epidemics like Dengue, Chikunguniya etc broke out in the area.

This made the whole residents furious against the authorities and they unanimously blocked the trucks which brought the garbage there. This turned to be a revolt which echoed every nook and corner of the city with mounds of garbage piled up emanating stink at everywhere around.

Only at this juncture the city which is always dogging on the gadget wheels realized what really Lalur was for them. Then staged a chain of programs in a war footing track as all-party meetings, awareness campaigns, visiting of foreign delegates, researches undertaken by scientists and techies, at last by the visit of the District Judge, before whom the desolated residents wept, which was louder than the slogans of the joint action council of the agitators. He could perceive the plight of the residents up to a certain extent. He was patient to hear what the residents and the joint action council had to say.

People’s voice

It is a fight for right to live. Here children are denied of fresh water and air. Corporation’s new suggestions of engineered land filling and capping of dumped waste water are not acceptable to them. They ask the authorities to remove the accumulated waste from Lalur and to make arrangements for the decentralization of waste management. Segregating waste at the source is another option. But the problem is, even if the orgaver machines could do with the degradable waste, what to be done with the plastic after the segregation? Another headache for the Corporation is the non availability of an alternative place other than Lalur to dump the waste.

Anyways, it is said that the Corporation has taken steps to install 9 biogas plants in various locations and had given strict instruction to health officials to ensure the segregation of waste at the source. Now the Lalur Samara Samithy has been on a relay satyagraha since December 14 asking the authorities to exorcise this village from the clasps of hazardous diseases. Their needs in loud to make the procedures  supported by the ADB for the solution of the issues, transparent is also worth noticing. The hapless villagers are now adamant to tell aloud that they were not willing to bear the waste generated by a whole city any more.

(As Waste Management became a major issue in Kerala, we invite informative and pragmatic suggestions from our readers to solve this problem. Your Solution may sometimes be a role model for the entire State!)

In spite of the divinity and dignity rendered upon, elephants are being treated as condemned prisoners in India.  At the onset of the festival season in Kerala, Gayatri Sundaram , talks about the back stage events and the illegal corridors through which the elephants outlive a life of  strange ironies.

Five people — an Englishman, Russian, American, Frenchman and Irishman were each asked to write a book on elephants. Some amount of time later they had all completed their respective books. The Englishman’s book was entitled “The Elephant — How to Collect Them.” The Russian’s book titled “The Elephant — Vol. I.” The American’s book called “The Elephant — How to Make Money from Them.” The Frenchman’s book was “The Elephant — Its Mating Habits.”. The Irish man’s book was “Elephants In Irish Political History”

If asked to an Indian, what may be the title? Guess..? Indians are always dogged on English wheels hence without a second thought; he will simply follow the English first and the Americans next, as usual.

*                                          *                                   *

But in India, there was a time when elephant had been accorded a position of dignity and divinity. Indian epics and folklores are replete with legends of the extra ordinary bond with man and elephant. We loved and feared them, revered them, and saw them as “beasts of the moon with crescent tusks”, once.

Indians worshipped, (still said to worship) elephants as the representation of Lord Ganesha. It is believed that several gods inhabit in an elephant’s body. According to Hindu mythology, today’s elephants are the descendants of the celestial jumbo duo, Airavat and Abhramu.

Recently, we see the things are changing upside down, as man started using elephants as commercial commodities, simply money-spinners. The traditional bond of love respect and understanding the two shared, underwent transformation and changed into mere exploitation. Health and welfare of the elephant became insignificant. Ill-fed and much tortured, they are being forced to stand like buffoons with loads of ornaments to lure the agape tourists. Under the individual ownership or under the Devaswam (temple authority), they are being leased from hands to hands like machineries, made to ply from north to south, from dawn to dusk, without enough rest or food, with irrecoverable wounds in the body.

Elephants are basically wild animals, wild in nature and never to be domesticated as we do with dogs or rabbits. Unlike other wild animals they are often found in herd with a father, mother and calves, closely woven with the bond of love and affection. The calves are fed with breast milk up to 7 years..

These wild beasts made to live in the shady forests with the vicinity of enough fresh water, are bought to the cities and tamed to be the slave of man. The calves of one or two years of age are trapped by the man and dragged from the love of their community where they were the centre of a caring family. The stress of the loss of their mother and herd coupled with shouts and beats ‘breaks’ them completely down. This archaic brutality causes direct, sometimes, a late retort in the same degree which hit the head lines,of late.

Kerala- ‘The Elephant State’

Kerala state is having the largest captive elephant population In India. Hence elephant has got another name as ‘Sahyante makan’( son of Western Ghats). But at present 80% of the elephants now live in Kerala are from beyond the Western Ghats.  Despite the stringent laws against the Inter-State boarder, elephants are being transported into Kerala, through some illegal corridors.

In Kerala, a state known for its endless festivities and cultural celebrations, elephant is always the ultimate form of mascot for everything.  From the government emblem to the inaugural ceremony of a barber shop, elephant is an ‘all-pervading’ presence, here. While, adoring the elephant as auspicious and divine inside the temple premises, these animals are being tortured to death outside, at the same time.

No any Hindu scripture advocates the perambulating of the idol of the presiding deity upon an elephant. But now it became a prestige issue of the temple authority and they made others execute this as a custom here.

From the ancient time itself, elephants had been treated here as a symbol of majesty and prestige. Many royal families of ancient Kerala had at least one elephant as their own. They had owners who loved them, adored them and considered them a virtuous omen. They had their mahouts who cared them like their own sons.

Keralites are known for their ‘craze’ for elephants. In fact, this ‘craze’ does never mean ‘love’ but ‘sadism’. They enjoy seeing an elephant living a life based on human wants and whims.

Elephant = Economy

Now, elephants became a symbol of exploitation and commercial success. From the traps of the forest, the agony of the elephant begins. It is being pulled by other elephants into a big cage(mostly inside the forest), where they have to undergo the ‘rigorous’ training with long wooden and iron rods, knives, 3 to 3.5 meters long prods, hooks etc. These tools will always follow them unto their death, even if the mahouts have got changed. The wild animal learns regional dialects.

From Bihar, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and some other states, wild elephants are being trapped and tamed to exhibit in the Sonepur wild animal exhibition ground. The ‘middlemen’(elephant brokers) from Kerala, go there and buy these beasts, with a low price, for most of these animals will be having some physical defects or illness, which cannot be identified by any one, other than an expert. They bring these elephants, to Kerala, crossing the boarder.

Many tricks are played here to cover up the Wild Life Act. One is, they tell the Range officer that, the elephant is having some illness and in Kerala, especially, Trichur, there are a lot of Veterinarians specialized in Elephant treatment. As the second part is a known fact about Trichur, the Range Officer gives permission. The second one is, on reaching the boarder they put the caparisons and other ornaments on the elephant and tells the authority that this one had been sent there for a function and returning now. The third one is the easiest and common method which is known to every citizen under a democratic government hence no need of a narration.

Taming

On reaching Kerala soil, the animal has to bear much more brutalities. As it is unaware of the spoken language, (Malayalam) here, though trained well, it behaves as if it is disobedient. Among the strangers, the lonely creature has to undergo the secondary level of training. For this function, they call it ‘initiation ceremony’ or ‘kettiazhikkal’ in Malayalam. This is literally a barbaric cruelty which is usually done distant from the public to avoid seeing this inhuman brutality. After chaining the four legs with short length, from the four sides many people including the mahout begin to shout and command  supported by the use of multiple tools. Many of them are being mutilated or died of this severe torture.

Unlike in the ancient times, there won’t be a permanent mahout for an elephant now. Traditional mahout community is seemed to be completely extinct. So, naïve job seekers having no traditional or basic knowledge about elephant or its management coming for the job and they execute the work mechanically. So naturally there is no space for love or compassion there. As soon as they get a new job another one comes and the initiation ceremony continues. Frequent changing of the mahouts makes the life of the poor creature miserable.

Owners treat the animal s simply as an investment and hence won’t give an ear for the cries of this poor thing. Even if died of these abuses, he can have the insurance compensation. Insurance company is also getting ‘an elephantine publicity’ by delivering the sum without delay, making bold lines in the news columns. For the mahout, who does not know anything about this animal, it is always ‘disobedient’. So, to make it obedient, he uses many tricks upon it, which can be seen on its body all through. Does any one know, the painful truth, that more than 50% of the captive elephants in Kerala are either completely or partially blind? By pouring the juice of ‘apathi seed’ into the eyes or simply pulled by the hooked prod, the mahouts thus make the animal a complete dependant, a mere slave to him.

Keeping the hooked prod behind the ear, ready to gore the sensitive parts and standing at its front, holding the right side tusk, the mahout always maintain a psychological upper hand upon the beast.

Besides, the principal mahout having some skills and expertise in mahoutery never let his assistants all the tricks of the trade for fearing of losing his job. Most of the mahouts are alcoholic and this makes them torture the elephants without any interceptions.

Elephant Demos

Elephants are mainly used to exhilarate tourism. Luring the foreigners with the colorful pictures of the caparisoned elephants with ornamental parasols and like things, tourism is not in a bad position here. Trichur Pooram is the best showcase for such an entice. From December to May, festival seasons kick start in Kerala. This is also the hottest season here. While men revel in the mood of festivities, these poor creatures’ are being tortured severely to ‘stand in order’ before them.  In every festival avenue, their thick skin (having no sweat gland) which absorbs maximum heat is being exposed under the scorching sun. With ornamental loads, 4 or 5 men with the idol of the deity are sitting upon, not even able move an inch, they stand hours long, without enough food or water. The mahouts sit near the wounded feet, the long prod resting behind the ear, ready to pierce the sensitive flesh. At night a big oil-lit torch (pantham) with unbearable heat, is holding in front of these decorated beings. When the people around enjoy the glittering of the golden caparisons in the yellow light, the poor creature behind was being burnt to sultry.

From this avenue it is being directly transferred to another venue, where the same things repeat. In the festival avenues one can see the naked breaches and violations of the Law. There should be at least 1.5 mtre gaps between two elephants when parading. This is to avoid their ball like bellies no to touch with the adjacent ones’ and tusks not to hit the other. But in Kerala, it cannot be practiced as there is no enough space since the number of parade venues increase day by day along with the enlarging mob. The unhealthy and mean competition among the festival organizers and even among the localites for ‘the more number and more mightier elephants’ push these creatures in to the never ending trauma.

Besides Trichur Pooram, Gajamela , parading of more than 100 elephants in the same compound is also being performed as a Tourism Promotion method. Elephant Polo, in Rajasthan is another archaic brutality carried out with the ‘subsidy’ of the State Government. Circus is another concentration camp for elephants. As the pulmonary organs of an elephant are not like other animals, it cannot sit in ‘dog posture’, for long. If sits, it is very unnatural regarding its anatomy and it will have suffocation.

Earlier, the festivals celebrated with elephants were confined to Hindu religious communities in Trichur, Palakkad, and Ernakulam districts. As elephants render an enchanting amazement to every one, now this phenomenon has spread to other regions and religions also. According to the Kerala High Court order on March 14, 2008, parading of elephants between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. is barred. If it is  implemented, the legendary Trichur Pooram cannot be there to lure the tourists and revel the proud natives. When it came to the brim of a revolt, the HC put forward some demands and there by could carry out the Pooram, as usual with comparatively less suffering to the animals.

Another well organized festival in Kerala is the felicitating an elephant with some honors and credentials like ‘Gajaraja’, ‘Gajaratna’ etc. Such honored elephant will have a good market in the festival seasons, bringing in more income to the owner. In Kerala, you can see more than 3 Gajarajas (King of Elephants), more than 10 ‘Gajaratnas’ (Gem of elephants) and a lot of other Superstar elephants for whom huge flux boards are seen erected along the road sides with Fans Associations and other mess. One such honoured Elephant, famous all over the state, for which the temple authorities compete to have, is Thechikkottu Ramachandran, whose one eye is completely and the other is partially, blind. ‘To get his date’, there is always a long queue, and hence he gets no rest as well. One day, crossing all the limits of endurance, the superstar went berserk and killed 3 at Cochin.

Misconceptions

Regarding Elephants, a number of misconceptions are framed, executed and spread by humans for their selfishness. They say that, elephants are music lovers and that is why they fan their ears according to the rhythms of the temple orchestra. My God, they fan the ears to keep the body temperature cool to adjust with the hoots and dust of the venue under the blazing sun and upon the hot ground where they made to stand for long. Musth, a periodic phenomenon seen in bull elephants is nothing but their sexual aggressiveness, which is seasonal (unlike human beings). During this period, elephants are seen as very aggressive and show disobedience. If musth comes in the festive season, that is being equaled with the loss of the ‘appearance fee’ (eakkam), which is the real income of the owner. In order not to lose the money the elephants are either simply or administering some medicines to it without the prescription of a vet, sent to the avenue. It is being denied with enough food or water, despite its irresistible heat, and undergoes an ordeal. Hampering of this natural physical phenomenon makes adverse effects in the elephant. When it breaks the brim of endurance, it goes berserk and gores down the mahout.

Some elephants never cope with humans. Vets say that after the age of 12, training some habits is not possible, as its limbs had grown beyond twists and strains. Still, we, the human beings train them to exhibit in the parade ground as the ‘pride of our country’ and salute the guest as a sign of veneration. How it happens?  This question leads us to the unnatural and untimely deaths of some known elephants of the state.

It is mandatory to keep some records regarding the ownership, food, diseases, medicines given, working hours etc with the elephant wherever it goes. To transport an elephant from one district to another it needs the permission of the DFO. Most of the elephants roaming about all the districts in a single week, will have no such documents with them. Nobody has time to carry all these ‘unnecessary things’ when they get incessant calls from the festival venues. When the names of the elephant changes from time to time how can a mandatory certificate be issued? Any ways, when at least some of them have gone hi-tech with micro chipping, the Government could identify around 100 jumbos as registered out of the thousands lot.

Euphemistically referred to as‘training’ or ‘taming’, elephants are being tortured and succumb to untimely death, bringing the species to the brim of extinction in a State that boasts over its cent percent literacy. Amidst the din and bustle of celebrations no one cares the suppressed agony of a ‘divine cult’, in a country where the judiciary and media are at its best. Does this chain of ironies mean, communal net work is mightier than the four pillars of democracy???

Though vital to keep pace with the globe, mobile towers raise threats to human health as well as the whole ecosystem. Marring the natural beauty and barring the basic human rights, these masts sprout across the country, gagging media and the cadgers in power. Madhu Chembery elucidates the re-drawn Indian landscape with upright towers, against the palm-fringed lush terrains.

Gone are the days when mobile phones were a luxury. In the fast-paced world it became an indispensable commodity. Many multi national companies, rooted in India, never appoint an employee, if he does not own a cell phone. If they find him that much fit, they provide him a cell phone connection, deducting the cost from his salary.

When we are provided with mobile restaurant, mobile library,mobile freezer and like, why do we bother the torrents of mobile phones? Yes, it is the need of the hour. In a world where most of the mothers are anxiously waiting for their kids to return from the school, their husbands from their office, where TV channels give flash news of fatal accidents on the streets in every minutes, will anyone say ‘no’ to a mobile phone?

Still tirades, in the form of write-ups and awareness programs are at its best in the country, now a day. So something not good is there behind this new kid. It is nothing but its inverse effect on human health as well as the ecosystem of the planet as a whole.

Democracy?

Mobile towers are mushrooming in every minute over the green fields of India. While the erection of mobile tower upon school and hospital buildings is barred, the mobile companies bribe the high end shopping malls and multi-storied apartments to install their products. Call it unawareness or greediness for money, the building-owners allows the companies to spread their vicious wings over the lives of many. Oppositions are ruled out as usual, taking the minority-majority ratio as a yard stick to gauge and tag. Those who protect against this are bannered and brushed aside as old fogies.

The major risks caused by the towers are health-related. In a country like India, where everyone enjoys the freedom and individual rights of democracy, the most rampant sight is its poignant exploitation. It is very pathetic in a democratic nation where judiciary and media are at their best, to have a social menace, prevalent for long. This seems to be paradoxical as well as wondering to the world outside.

What the researchers say

But a survey conducted throughout India, unearthed a number of bad effects of the mobile phones and its connectivity towers.. India is the third largest mobile phone market next only to China and US. The demand-supply theory when positively work out, what left is the ‘struggle for existence’.

We are at the grave risk. Mobile towers pose a serious threat to human health. The invisible electromagnetic waves radiated by the mobile towers affect the human body only gradually. Electro Magnetic Radiation (EMR) is with a frequency of 1900MHz. With this high frequency they can easily pass through our body. It inversely affects everything in a square kilometer range. The standard fixed by International Commission of Non Iodized radiation is only 600micro watt/m2, but no any mobile company follow this as such and emits a radiation power of 7260 micro watt/m2. Facilities like GPRS, GSM, CDMA and like services for internet users, which give out the maximum radio frequency 24×7. Experts have warned it earlier that it might lead to human behavioral cracks. As it directly affects the brain, it has inverse effect on man’s unique quality- the power to think.

It is high time we had a proper legislation in place to bring mobile towers under legal frame work. Despite some fragile guidelines, judiciary and the authority end keep mum against this menace. They simply wait for the statutory medical reports proving the disasters despite the WHO’ s findings and warnings against using cell phones heavily more than a decade could cause, cancer, specifically brain tumor.

Media, Executive and Legislature fail to direct the attention of the public toward this issue. Otherwise, we can conclude that a concerted effort is being poached here to gag them from talking it aloud.

Threat to ecosystem

In the Kerala state, more than one lakh people are indulged in apiculture. With the advent of the mobile towers, the bee population has got drastically reduced. Experts say that one mobile tower can collapse a colony of bees within 10 days. Kerala, once known as the ‘land of singing birds’ is now almost devoid of birds. Natives point out two reasons for this,. One is, they don’t have any thing to eat as all the green fields were domed with apartments and mobile towers. No farmers to work in the fields and the left ones are seen barren and sterile. The other reason is, the radiation emitted by the towers. If watched, we can see the flying birds avoiding the towers. They never try to rest upon it, but prefer to sit on the electric cables. Distributions of birds like sparrow, common mynah, doves and like are affected more. If things are going on like this, the next generation kids will have these birds and bees, only as pictures on the walls or the images in the poems of veteran poets.

Life has evolved under two omnipresent forces – gravity and electromagnetism. Like bees, white storks, sparrows and such organisms having fragile physiques are quite prone to the RF radiations. Several million birds die from collision with telecommunication masts during migration. Birds and bees use earth’s electromagnetic fields to navigate and flock and, when this is disrupted by the man-made factors, they tend to be disoriented. More over, when it affects the immune system, there is a tendency for their weakly built body to develop diseases like, bird flu, and viral infections as the secondary stage.

RF pollution constitutes a potential cause for the decline of animal population and deterioration of health of the plants. There will be another resonance against those who moan for the animals and plants while human health is under constant threat. But India, especially, Kerala has a stupendous history of successful riots against the bestial atrocities against the environment. The jubilant example of such a triumph is the existence of the one and only rain forest in the country- The Silent Valley. Twenty five years ago, a huge segment including the power scoffed at the rioters for ‘moaning for the macaques’. But the ultimate victory was with the wild life and peace riots, as it could be convinced that, these duos together constitute the natural ecosystem of the planet.

The dos and don’ts

Anyways, the internal Housing Departments have woken up now, to a relief. They present strict norms for the installation of mobile towers. They bar the erection of these radio active towers upon a medical or educational institution. Permission to install such towers would be given only in open spaces like parks or agricultural land. Installation in residential and commercial area is to be done only after taking due permission from the concerned development authority. In residential areas the company will have to get a No Objection Certificate from the resident welfare association.

They also advocate the generator of the equipments to run the tower should be silent in order to avoid sound pollution. They insist the need of an IIT safety certificate for each tower to be installed.

Plaguing arguments

Mobile companies deny the arguments by challenging the public to present any single scientific record proving the installation of connectivity towers in residential area is hazardous to health. Besides, they also claim that the RF emissions from these towers are within the safe limits. For the better coverage and transmission as per the demand, they were pursued to install more towers, to which the (ignorant) building owners lease their roof tops. This in turn affects the structural safety also especially in the time of minor earth quakes and severe winds. Weakly constructed buildings never withstand such natural calamities if a huge tower is also mounted on it.

The Truth

The thing which is always prone to be shrouded, deglamorised and twisted in the world, is truth. Violation of laws is prevalent, wherever a law exists.

You go and ask a general physician in your premises about the feedback of his patients suffering from the pernicious radiation of the mobile towers. Their advice to their patients is to stay away from the tower. But for a layman who sustains on daily wages, just imagine, how he can obey his doctor. In Thane, such an incident happened which was revealed to the world only when a lawyer himself put an appeal to remove a tower, which caused carcinoma to a woman from a poor family. After the removal of her one breast and subsequent radiations and all, the doctor repeatedly asked them to go and live somewhere else, as the tower was at a close proximity to their home. But they couldn’t. After some time, she again came to the doctor, crippled by the same disease. When told about their incapacity to change the dwelling place, that news became news. At last, as per the lawyer’s personal initiation, the tower was removed from that thickly populated residential area.

If a tower has to install in a residential area, they should avail an NOC from the residents’ association. In fact, the common man is unaware of this law. This ignorance and unawareness are being exploited by the mobile companies.

That is why in Kerala, the most literate state in India, more than three towers are seen erected together barring all the prescribed norms, in thickly populated residential colonies. Recently, in a village area in Trichur District, where more than three residents associations, five 3-storied apartments, and one primary school exist, three separate towers of three various mobile companies were erected together. Despite the wailing and moaning of the residents, the masts stand upright as a challenge towards the human rights against the money power. District collector, Corporation Mayor and the state ministers (including the natives) and like people are plying through this way at least two times daily. But like that lawyer of Thane, nobody is here to initiate a petition instead of putting some cloth banners describing the ill effects of the towers.

When asked, a native of this place retorted “Does anything happens to rich and influential corporate in India despite the common man’s pleas? Public memory is short and they have loads of burdens and no time to spin around the legal vagaries. There will be some turmoil for a month or so, eventually, the case will fall apart on some flimsy technical grounds…that’s how things work in India.”

Deforestations and environmental exploitations when reaches the pinnacle of endurance, Nature reiterates as never before. Preservation of the natural assets is abreast from the authoritative end when Priya.K.P. on look out of the lost glories of the sacred groves of India.

When the Himalayas began to strip itself, and the infinite blues of the Indian Ocean started her frantic dance on the outskirts of the Indian peninsula, talks and discussions heated up, to save the Mother Earth. Even before that, we had our sacred books, depicting earth not just as a place to live in, but as one of our seven mothers. We had a custom to worship the Mother Earth every morning from the bed, asking permission, to put the feet on her bosom before we begin a day.

Speaking and dreaming about the targets and achievements in ‘life’, we deliberately forgot our traditional values. But now, when the things are about to sweep out of the grip, we begin to think of a return which is not as simple as it thought to be. Preservation of forests, wild animals and of course, of sacred groves has got a place in the niche of government agenda now.

Ancient culture sprouted in the dark harems of wilderness, which has now become almost extinct. Nature lovers moan for the lost forests and the new generation is but, least bothered of the significance it bears.

Origin of Sacred Groves

India had a rich and vast bio-diversity and a mutually dependent ecosystem inside the forests. When our ancestors got bored of the forest-living, when they yearned for more achievements in life, they transformed the forests into villages, then to towns, cities and finally ended in sky-living. Meanwhile some nostalgic area remained untouched, rather preserved. Some of our ancestors protected these zones, with the traits and fragrance of the gone era, as a celestial arena for commemoration and worshipping. They are the remnants we keep to show our children a specimen sample of the reciprocated life we shared once, inside the wilderness with the organisms, god created along with humans to run the co-habitation smoothly.

This miniature forests bear the identity of a by gone culture which is very Indian, having the unique tradition of belief that, every living thing has a self-being which is none other than the Supreme being itself. In every rock and rusted io

ta, there is His presence. Thus the ancient Indians worshipped the tree, which bear a gigantic figure and a mystic stand. Thus they begin to do ceremonial rites to the rocks installed under it. They not only simply believed, but dedicated their every nuance of feelings they have, there. With only the positive thoughts and feelings radiated around, that place became sacred, worth to worship. It was the birth of a Sacred Grove.

Myths and beliefs

The peninsula east to river Indus was Hindustan before the sea-farers’ coming. It was the land of Hindus, the community which molded their life according to certain beliefs and myths, which are not confined to any religious frames. So the community lived there believed in the one and only Supreme Being, and its three-dimensional manifestations. Generations handed over the beliefs as information with loopholes for the self weavings at its fragile brims. Subsequently, Gods manifested themselves into miniature forms that suit to the capacity of the believer, rather, the devotee. Thus variety of Hindu gods began to rule the groves.

While years passing, the number of gods also got increased and, with the alterations in the community, along with the Hindu local gods, gods of Islamic and Buddhist origins, and of some folk origin also began to appear as the presiding deities of the respective groves.

Every ancient Indian worshipped the trees in the grove as vanadevata, the goddess of forest. They believed that if we a cut a tree or chop the twigs, the goddess will be wounded. Furious, She will react with non-co-operation, ie, without giving out rains in that season.

Locating the groves

In India, sacred groves are scattered all over its

terrain, referred by different names. From the Scrub forests of the Thar Desert of Rajastan to the Rain Forests of Kerala in the Western Ghats, they span over the rich and variable cultural canopy of the country. Himachal Pradesh in the North and Kerala in the South are specifically known for the large number of sacred groves. The martial Kodava community of Karnataka alone maintained over a thousand groves, earlier. The groves better known as kavu in Kerala, and the lawkyntangs of Meghalaya are prominent to have the enormous bio-diversity synchronized with the richness of antiquity and piety.

Lungs of Nature

Groves are the remnants of our past habitats of forest-dwelling. They are green rich with variety vegetation. The carbon we spit through the hi-tech pipelines of modernization, when outstrip our Mother Nature, this green scapular comes to her rescue.

Groves are repositories for various Ayurvedic medicines and they are replenished resources of rare fruits and honey. Moreover, the vegetation cover helps reduce soil erosion and prevents desertification.

These are the bio diversity hotspots of the land. Due to progressive habitat destruction and hunting, many animals seek refuge under the wilderness of the groves. So we can find rare species of animals w

hich are almost extinct in the neighboring areas there.

Around 14,000 sacred groves have been reported from all over India. They are the imperishable reservoirs of rare flora and fauna of the Indian landscape.

Root of Folks

Festivals are the modern form of the ritualistic art forms performed inside the groves in the premises of the presiding deities. On the long run of modernization, a lot of groves have got promoted to the position of temples, then. According to the living style of the community around, the rituals also has got changed little by little, glorifying the pompous segments more.

A large number of distinct local art forms and folk traditions are associated with the patron-gods of the sacred groves. It is an important cultural aspect closely associated with sacred traditions. Ritualistic dances, dramatizations etc, based on the mythical aspects of the deities that protect the groves are the known religious festivals in certain places of India. The Theyyam in Kerala and Nagmandalam in Karnataka are the significant non-extinct form of folk arts which have the inheritance from these sacred groves. Anyway, at the time of tourist season, like any other antique piece, these folk forms are also bottled and displayed occasionally to lure the visitors.

The lazy sons

There is a famous story of a farmer and his three lazy sons, prevalent around south Indian regional languages. A farmer, who clearly knows about the laziness of his sons and the fate of his fertile land after his death, calls his sons to his death bed and tells them that there is a hidden hoarding of precious stones somewhere in their compound. After his death, the three went in search of the hidden wealth, dug up and scooped the whole compound with the spade. By aerating the soil like this it became much more fertile and began to give out plenty of crops which made them rich all the more.

Even though, hunting, logging and chopping wood are prohibited or considered as taboo inside the groves, many of the groves are being washed out from the land, day by day. Reasons are many behind this contemptible phenomenon, of which, we can brief to one word – laziness. When the modern man shrunk into a brain with a finger tip in this e-generation, he became all the more lazy to move his muscles or make his cloths muddy. The rich agrarian community of India became the poor consumer community of the globe. A farmer never wishes to make his son a farmer, even in his worst nightmare. Thus a kind of desertedness prevails over the shades of traditional ways of life. And that too affects badly on the earth, which is very raw and never in a ‘ready-to consume’ form, as the new generation expects. They do not see the hidden gems inside, hence.

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