Redefining Horizons

ONAM: SAVOURING THE BEST OF KERALA available with graphics at  www.ktexplorer.com/onam God's own country is a tourist’s dream destination. Unlike other tourist destinations, Kerala, does not limit visitors with "seasons". Every season here is tourist season and Kerala offers something worthwhile depending upon, what one is looking for. Awash in green after lavish monsoons , Kera la is at its pristine best in August. This is often marketed as the beginning of the tourist season that stretches well into March, when the summer starts. On am, the festival unique to Kerala, normally falls in the August - September period. It is celebrated all over the state with gaiety and colour and showcases local art, culture and traditions. Though its origins are deep rooted in Hindu beliefs, Onam is celebrated by Malayalees all over the world, beyond religions and socio-political divides, making it a truly unifying experience. Though events and traditions associated wit...

KERALA: A WET BEAUTY IN THE MONSOON www.ktexplorer.com/kerala_wet/ Everything about tourism is perception driven and perceptions influenced by industry needs. Local climactic conditions, play a significant role in deciding the tourist traffic to a place and based on the resultant convenience and comfort levels, that location is assigned “an ideal season”, referred to as " tourist season ”. Based on “ideal seasons” tourism Professionals create “tourist calendars” to help people plan visits. Tourist inflow to "The God's own country", accordingly, thins out during the monsoons. South- West Monsoon normally reaches Kerala shores in the first week of June. This coincides with the middle of the Malayalam month "Edavam" (May-June), Therefore the south-west monsoon is referred to as, "Edava Pathi"(Pathi meaning Half), in Kerala. Edavam" is followed by the months of "Mithunam" (June-July) and then "Karkidakam...

KERALITE SYRIAN CHRISTIAN WEDDINGS: BEAU TIFUL  AMALGAMATION OF HINDU AND CHRISTIAN PRACTICES   Christian weddings, to most Indians, are what movies show. What people get to see in Indian movies are, formally attired grooms and brides in flowing gowns, walking down the aisle of ornate churches or the newlyweds and scores o f fellow dancers gyrating to pulsating music at a beach resort. Far removed from movie screens Keralite Syrian Christian wedding is a seamless amalgamation of Hindu and Christian customs and traditions in purposeful solemnity. These practices, alien to Western and Eastern Christianity, as also other Christian communities of India, are so integral to Keralite Syrian Christian weddings, its origins and distinctive identities are seldom noticed. Keralite Syrian Christian weddings are, in fact, shining examples of how beautifully native rituals influence religious practices. Ceremonies, of the wedding day, commences with a prayer before ...

accessible at  https://english.manoramaonline.com/news/columns/straight-talk/2018/08/21/flood-heroes-kerala.html While everything is sinister about adversity, it has this uncanny knack of bringing forth the least expected. Having received copious rains, dams, rivers, lakes, ponds and every possible water body, in the state were filled beyond their brims. In no time, waters spilled over and flooded every piece of land, dry or wet, high or low.   Mountains came crashing down and torrents took along everything in its path, man, animal, houses, trees, everything.   It looked like, that the floods would overwhelm and consume the state. Overwhelm, it did.   But an effective Chief Minister and his efficient administration fought back with a well calibrated response that ratcheted up to contain the crisis. Consume it could not, because, against the disaster’s diabolic advance, stood a resilient people and a resolute band of heroes and superheroes. Some of ...

access the article also at onmanorama  https://english.manoramaonline.com/news/columns/straight-talk/2018/05/28/kashmir-solution-is-in-re-imagining-the-peace-process-.html An unusual conversation between a Kashmiri father and son, recently hogged prime time. The father was heard encouraging his son, trapped in a firefight with Army, to die fighting and not surrender . The father, despite his act lives a free man, a law-abiding citizen, while the so n, a dead terrorist, now, is statistics and a locally celebrated martyr. Dissected frame-by-frame and discussed ad nauseam, most “experts”, advocated military retributions, while a minuscule few sounded genuinely concerned. Panellists, irrespective of individual socio-political compulsions, agreed that glorification and ground swell for “home-grown terror” is luring local youth to terrorism like never before and that one man’s “terror” could well be another man’s “movement of resistance”. The peace process ...

also accessible  at onmanorama. follow the link below https://english.manoramaonline.com/news/columns/straight-talk/2018/05/05/indian-army-critical-tailfaces-axe.html A predator’s tail helps it, balance itself, in its chase to get meat between its teeth. S kyscrapers stand tall on foundations, that lie deep within, unseen and unsung. Marketing departments can script success, only if back-offices exist. Organizations likewise, thrive on unglamorous yet inevitable tails. Indian Army, plans to enhance its “ Teeth to Tail Ratio ” ( T3R ), by redeploying” 57,000 personnel in accordance with “Shekatkar Committee Recommendations”. This "redeployment", does NOT envisage moving soldiers from its “ tail ” to the “ teeth ”, but by winding up organisations, which the committee feels are dispensable. Inability to execute “obsolescence replacements” and the penchant to suspect anything related to procurements, has already made Army logistics extremely complex, sensiti...