I had timed my Kerala trip last month to coincide with the Kumbha Bharani celebrations
at our local Chettikulangara Devi Kshetram (Mallu for Temple). The last time I had the
pleasure of seeing this was in 1988 during my pre-university days in Kerala.
So, instead of just going to Kerala for the weekend, I took the Friday (23rd Feb 2007) off.
The TVM mail dropped me at Mavelikara on time (well almost) and after a quick bath, I
headed off to the place where they assemble Bhiman (Bhim of Mahabharata). Each kara
(a kind of parish) has one deity and for us at Mattom North, it is Bhiman. The assembly
takes place near a huge banyan tree (aal thara) with a steel crane like structure erected only
for this purpose. Work starts in the morning itself to assemble his limbs and torso all made of
wood. The head is attached and then the structure is dressed.
From morning, people come to offer vazha kula (bunch of bananas) to Bhima, which are hung
around his fingers and all around him. These are auctioned off by the temple the next day.
By around 2PM or so, Bhiman is fully ready to be towed to the temple which is like 2kms away.
Enroute we have Hanuman and Draupadi and the various therugal (temple cart) joining him to
the temple. By evening, the roads are all blocked by people walking along with these deities.
It is something to be seen and experienced. Photos cannot do justice to the event. Still, posting
a few snaps for those that cannot make it to the actual event.
1) Bhiman getting readied for the occasion
2) A close up of Bhiman
3) People offering banana bunches
4) Hanuman getting finishing touches
5) Draupadi dressing up for the big day that comes only once a year
6)The theru from Anjilipra at the temple grounds
7) In this pic, the crane used to put up Bhima can be seen.
8) Bhiman being led to the temple in a procession.
9) The theru from Pela being led in procession to the temple.
10) The theru from Kaitha North being led in procession to the temple.
11) Friends from Chennai infront of the temple on a rainy day
This was one chance that I did not want to miss. Especially since I missed the last track day
organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) in 2006 at the track at Irungattukottai,
just opposite the Hyundai factory and few kms before Sri Perumbudur. It is like 30kms from
Nungambakkam, just to give you an idea of the distance.
A view of the track as seen from space. A run of the long loop would mean the whole track which
comes to around 4kms, while the short loop (half the track) would mean a lap of approx. 2 kms.
Only track Esteems (rented) and owner-driven street cars were allowed on the long loop. Those
driving FISSMEs, LG Swifts and LG Hyundais were limited to the short loop.
Track Days are events organised by the club to enable laymen like us to have a chance to
experience driving on a real track without any traffic signals or pedestrians playing spoilsport.
Drivers have two options - drive their own street cars on track OR rent cars (race Esteems or
Formula Indian Single Seater Maruti Engine (FISSME) or Formula LG Swifts or Formula LG Hyundais).
So, was eagerly waiting for the 24/25th March'07 weekend. Reached the track around 8:30AM.
Registered for a session (5 laps on the short loop) on the Formula LG Swift by paying 700 as
car rental and 300 for track rental. Well worth every second of the 10-15 minutes spent on the track.
First to go on track were the superbikes (usually 600cc and above).
All brands were there - Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha etc.
Then was a Formula car session. These cars look like the Formula cars we see in F1, but fitted
with either Maruti800 engines or Maruti Swift engines or Hyundai Accent engines. In racing/dragging,
the power to weight ratio is a big thing. A Swift engine that makes 87bhp in a normal Swift weighing
thousand kg has a ratio of 0.087. Now put the same engine in a Formula chassis that weighs just
200kg and see the ratio zoom up to 0.435.
What this means is that the car is now super quick and needs expertise to be controlled. Drive it
like you drive your street Swift and you would end up in the grass or the barriers around the track
or worse could get into a bad spin on track.
Getting into the Formula Swift was tough even for me who is just 67kgs and average frame.
The C.G. is so low that you are almost sitting on the ground with your legs parallel to the ground.
The steering is pretty tight (intentional I guess) and the gears are not as smooth as your normal car.
Since I was the first to be flagged off, I got 2 laps more than the 5 that I had paid for.
On the straight section it is fun - the car roars and speeds like mad. However, could not take my
eyes off the track to the speedometer to check the max speed. The curves are tricky if you do not
take them properly. A guy spun around in front of me at a curve and I could avoid hitting him only
because I had reduced speed while entering the curve.
There were atleast 3 Porsche cars, a Nissan Skyline GT R (700 bhp), a Mitsubishi Evo, to mention
the big names. Ofcourse there were guys racing their normal cars too (Baleno, Honda city, Ford Ikon,
Santro, Palio, Lancer etc etc).
There was also a dirt track where you could drive Polaris All Terrain Vehicles (ATV) for 5 minutes for Rs300.
Pictures :
1) The awesome Porsche Carrera 911 (this car & driver combo beat the pants of all the rest on track).
2) The Nissan Skyline GT R & the Mitsubishi Evo
3) Superbikes
4) The Polaris ATV
5) Me getting ready to roll
As per the National Family Health Survey-3, Tamilnadu tops the list in spousal violence
among the four southern states. And Kerala ranks at the bottom of the list, not just among
the southern states, but also in comparison with the other states also.
The national average is 37.2 % women suffering domestic violence and the listing of the
various states was as below :
Tamilnadu : 41.9%
Karnataka : 20 %
Andhra : 35.2%
Kerala : 16.4 %
Bihar, as usual topped the list at 59%. No surprises there.
So, what do these figures show ? Does literacy have any bearing on these figures ?
Kerala is the topper in literacy figures among Indian states. Does literacy help women's
empowerment ? I would guess so.
As was expected, politicians had to come out with their own theories of why things are
the way they are. The PMK leader is sure that liquor is behind this wife-beating and the
surefire way to remove this blot from TN's face is to ban liquor shops or atleast ban the
bars attached to the liquor shops. Rationale being that drinking will reduce as most men
will not be able to drink at home or afford the costly bars in hotels.
If liquor were the culprit, how does Kerala not figure above TN ? Kerala has one of the
highest per capita liquor consumption figures. And still the spousal violence figures are
much lower than that of TN.
Maybe it would be more worthwhile for him to goad his rank and file to go attend adult
literacy classes, instead of spending time blackening Hindi (and recently English also)
sign posts with tar or uprooting trees on the highways.
