-- From the Recycling Bin -- Part 3/10
Jose Thekkumthala
- FROM THE RECYCLING BIN -- Part 3/10 -
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Folks,
In an earlier correspondence, we briefly reviewed our undying love
towards ack. We found that it is not enough that we stay on the
outskirts of ack, that it is not enough that we stand by the
sidelines playing innocent witnesses to an ongoing drama that is
enacted and re-enacted daily and that it is our privilege to
be active participant every inch of the way.
When the ack-writers had their honeymoon with ack-readers in the
good old days of ack, little did we realize how acking was part
and parcel of our life. We took it as a second nature to be an
acker and accepted all the accompanying rights and responsibilities.
In my humble opinion, our eternal love for ack is a clever disguise
for our love towards Kerala.
What is it that is so special about Kerala that makes us take up
martyrdom for the cause of being a Keralite every minute of our
daily life? What is it that is there about Kerala that makes us
go blind with a mindless love for anything and everything to do with
Kerala? Why are our minds love-locked in an inpenetrable grid
with the images of Kerala, with the mythology of ParasuRaman and
MahaBali, with the stories of Keralasaur and Vayanad University?
What is it that is so special about Kerala That makes us privileged?
For me, Kerala is a conglomeration of a thousand images. They are
etched in memory so vividly that time will not dare erase them.
For me, Kerala is a heap of fond memories of my childhood, it is
the sweet music of the birds that fly over our fields and perch
on the tops of coconut palm trees, it is the beautiful sunset
over the Arabian sea, it is the cool moon-lit night bathing the
mango groves, it is the interplay of light and shadow cast by
thousands of plantain tree leaves in the ever-peaceful evenings!!
When I listen to the turbulent skies where thunder roar like a
thousand drums, I know I am in Kerala; when I hear the soothing
sounds of the flowing river, I know that I am in Kerala; when I am
engulfed in a mellifluous melody emanating from the tall palm
trees dancing in the breeze, I know that I am in Kerala; when
I see flock of birds rhythmically reciting a song whose meaning
only they know, I know I am in Kerala; when I see them flying carefree
and disappear into the cloud-filled sky, I know I am in Kerala!!
To me, Kerala consists of the unending array of refreshing mornings
that bathe the trees in a shroud of immaculate dewdrops;
it consists of eversomany starlit nights when jasmine spread its
otherwordly fragrance; it consists of thousands of moon-lit
nights when Pala tree blooms in the temple courtyard...
Folks, let us pay tribute to Kerala
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ +
+ A TRIBUTE TO KERALA +
+ +
+ by Jose Thekkumthala +
+ +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Kerala is a land that Gods and Goddesses would love to inherit.
The pristine beauty of Kerala adorned by ocean on one side and mountain
range on the other makes it a paradise in India.
This is the land where dreams merge into reality and become one
homogeneous entity.
This land's unparallel beauty is what dreams are made of.
This dream world is where Heaven's angels come to weave dreams in
the soft and cool moonlit nights.
It is a privilege to be a Keralite, to inherit one of the most
beautiful pieces of the Mother Earth, to blend into the heavenly beauty
that sunset over the Arabian sea provides every evening,
to be part of the coastal Kerala carpeted with coconut palm trees and to
enjoy the evelasting summer!!
When the creator ParasuRaman threw his axe over the Arabian sea,
little did he know that he was going to give rise to a gem of beauty, a
beauty that Gods and Asuras would probably fight over to inherit, a
beauty that would outlive the flow of history, a beauty that makes Kerala
stand tall in India.
The Western Ghats that stands as a faithful sentinel from the time
immemorial is the benefactor of Kerala, its patron saint, jealously
guarding its immaculate beauty from the outside world and sustaining
its identity.
It is as if the eastern mountain range, disappearing into the cloud-ridden
infinite sky, is conspiring with the stars to preserve and perpetuate
her celestial beauty.
The Arabian sea has been a playmate of the Kerala coast from the beginning
of the time and their love affair is as old as history, renewed day by day.
The multitude of the rivers that bathe the rich soil of Kerala are just
messengers sent from the Heaven.
This is the land you can spend an eternity without getting bored.
MahaBali even today cannot resist the temptation to emerge from the underworld
once every year and visit this piece of beauty on the Onam day.
It requires a supernatural poetic genius like that of Kalidasa to comprehend
the full depth of breath-taking beauty of Kerala and immortalize that in the
golden archives of poetry. Kalidasa was intrigued and mesmerized by the
awe-inspiring beauty of the Himalayas which made him write an adorable piece
of poem in praise of the magnificent mountain.
What would he not have written if he saw the mountain range spanning the
eastern Kerala!! MahaKavi Vallathol comes close to doing some justice in
capturing the beauty of Kerala in his poetic gems.
It requires a novelist's genius like that of Thomas Hardy who immortalized
the Essex county in his novels to write stories about Kerala, stories
narrated daily by the Arabian sea and echoed off the Western Ghats,
stories that fill the Kerala skies, stories that will be told to
the end of the eternity, stories that will enrapture you in a blissful
ecstacy forever!!
Kerala is a joy for ever, because it is a thing of beauty!!
This land is whereto Gandharvans come for vacation whenever they get fed
up with the Paradise.
In this beauty, you can seek redemption; you can almost seek salvation!
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jose email: jo...@csd.uwo.ca
Dept. of Computer Science
Univ. of Western Ontario
CANADA
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