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Yesterday I went kuttikkol, a remote village in Kasaragod district to speak in a literay seminar organised by the Neruda Library with the support of D.C.Books kanhangad.It was a humble function attended by less than hundred villagers.The most impressive feature of the seminar was that more than half of the audience were youngsters.The topic of the seminar was Valarunna Keralam ,Thalarunna Vaayana(Developing Kerala and it's Withering Reading).Presenting the paper for discussion I told them that no one can deny the fact that during the last half a century kerala has made tremendous progress in almost all walks of social life,though in areas of humanrights and awareness there are so many issues remaining unresolved.About the complaint raised from many quarters that our youngsters shun the reading habit in favour of so many other trifle things which help them to pass their time idly,I said that such observations are not alltogther correct.Publishing industry is growing very fast and even in a small town like Kannur there are four or five publishers,two of them well established and it is known from reliable sources that books worth more than one crore is sold every year from this town alone.What we have actually lost is the sociality of literature.In the earlier decades of twentieth century when even one percentage of our people were not literate the works of a poet like Kumaranasan had great social impact in kerala.Now we boast of cent percent literacy but the total effect of a literary work upon our society is far less.I didn't elaborate on this point since I was not in a mood to generate a heated debate.
In Kerala the sociality of literture has faded mainly because the left has lost interest in keeping literary discussions and cultural activities alive.They are interested only in pampering the already established idols.The sociality of literature was strongly felt in kerala when the communists had a vision about the function of Art and Litrature,though it was often dim and focused in wrong directions.Now they have given up that vision and moved far away from their own politics.There are writers and political thinkers who argue in favour of this change.Change is inevitable and a political party should have the wisdom and courage to make necessary changes in it's policies and programmes from time to time.But when the changes obliterate the very ideological fabric of a political party,thngs become hopeless.

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What is to be done?What changes should the CPI(M)make in it's mode of functioning in this critical juncture?Local body election has proven without any doubt that the party's mass base has shaken.Why this?Why the 'enlightened' voters in the state took a clear cut stand against the Party,even when they abstained from raising any sharp criticism against the functioning of the Govt.lead by the Left Democratic Front.I strongly feel that the people of Kerala,I mean the majority of them give support only to a party that can genuinely claim to have a strong political philosophy and vision.Until recently they stood behind the CPI(M)because it had a history of anti imperialist, anti fascist struggles from the very beginning, the spirit of which,they hoped the party would be able to sustain.But things have changed.The party leadership found it unnecessary to conceal their strong inclinatin to the developmental schemes sponsored by multinational capitalism and thus proved their poverty of philosophy and their total disinterestedness in approaching and analysing the effects of globalisation on Indian economy and Indian politics,using the tools of Marxism.They went even beyond that and became totally apolitical in their stand in many areas.They tried in vain to compensate their lack of philosophy with impertinence.Leninist organisational principle and stalinist practice joined hands with neoliberal develpomental politics and there developed a strange combination which aroused in the common mass only aversion to the Party.Now history has given a chance or it has made a demand from the Party to critically examine it's politics and programmes and redefine them not in the light of global economic realities only but by giving due consideration to the material and intellectual needs of our people also.People don't live by bread alone.They should also be able to maintain the feeling that they are part of a great movement with an inspiring past and a respectable vision of the future.Otherwise they will have no hesitation in saying 'goodbye!'to the party.Everybody who thinks that there should be a strong political party and a vibrant Organisational set up to fight the evils of the unbridled invasion of transnational capitalist forces is keenly watching whether the CPI(M) will be able to meet the challenges by being straight forward in admitting that it has to make immediate changes in it's political line,programmaes and day today functioning.

...therefore I am

Nowadays I exit from the mundane realities of day to day life and experience the thrill of existence by reading and writing.The inexplicable pleasures of reading without any predetermined purpose have come back after decades with the the same intensity that I experienced during my school days in the 1960s when everyday I ran about 3kms to and fro crossing the vast expanse of the Madaippara for returning the book I read the previous day and to collect a new one from the Kasturba Smaraka Grandhalyam at Vengara(Kannur).I remember those good old days not with a sense of terrible loss but an unbearable pain arising from the thought how much eager and innocent was I in those days.Life has familiarised me with all the evil tricks of this world;I have lost enthusiasm in almost all the happenings in contemporay politics and learnt to be insensitive to many a social issues.To a great extent I am disinterested even in my personal wellbeing.My mind is at presnt a rocky vastness in more than one sense.But I yearn to get this vastness filled in a heavy downpour of emotions and urges so far totally unfamiliar to me.Hence the name Rock Pond for this blog.Of course I can't forget the red wattled lapwings whom I used to see nearby the rock ponds of Madaippara.They were the most fascinating organic delights of my childhood.That is why I made them perch on the address bar.

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For a Turkish reader 'The Museum of Innocence' may mean a great many things.It may be a grand carnival of memories and emotions for him/her.But I found it to be an overwritten novel.Where or in which layer that overwriting has taken place is not easy to point out because the overall structure is that much imposingly built displaying wonderfully great creativity and craftsmanship.Perhaps an ideological reading may liberate the reader from the hypnotic effect of the work so as to enable him/her to have a more meaningful understanding of it.Any how one thing could be said without any doubt:The statement in the blurb that 'The Museum of Innocence is Orhan Pamuk’s greatest achievement' is not in the immediate vicinity of truth.

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I am really ashamed to state that I write this note after casting my votes in the panchayat election before an hour.Participation in the process of democracy should elate self respect in a citizen.Otherwise he/she will cut a sorry figure before his/her conscience.Now I remeber 'SEEING'the great political parody of Jose Saramago.With what a strong political vision and insight Saramago wrote that novel!

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In kerala directing a drama has become an activity of utter nonsense.Almost all the young generation directors take the stand that a drama on the stage should only be a cunning assemblage of visual images capable of creating wonderment in the audience.Script,for them, is only bundle of papers something scribbled upon which could be thrown to wastepaper basket at anytime.This has spoiled the Malayalam Drama as a whole and because the serious audience could not make a choice between this nonsense and the artless commercial shows using the label of drama this medium is withering away without anyone to weep upon it's tragic plight.

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A FEW MORE WORDS ABOUT 'TIGER HILLS'

We know that many of the characters in great classical works are more real than real men and women.They share their ontological agonies and sharp edged moral dilemmas with every new generation or to put it in the words of Umberto Eco readers of every generation 'make emotional investments on them.'
Devi and Devanna of 'Tiger Hills'are of a different sort.They are simple human beings.Their existential issues and tensions are not multidimensional.They never come out freely from the limitations of 'Family Drama'.But the possibilities hidden in them to be raised to the heights of classical characters are reminded on several occassions and that itself is a commendable merit of the work.
I was deeply touched by a statement made by Dr.Ramaswamy,one of the many insignificant characters in the novel.When Devi asked him 'Why?Why Devanna?'meaning why Devanna became a prey to the brutal rage of Martin Thomas without any apparent reason Dr.Ramaswamy sighed absently rubbing the edge of his stethescope against his sleeve."Who can say madam?Sometimes it would seem,we are simply cast in the path of misfotune."Dr.Ramaswamy's words do not have great philosophical connotations.But the tragedy in Devanna's life could not be defined better and I felt a burden over my heart akin to that I had experienced in many a similar situations in life.