Kochi’s own MLA Hibi Eden looks like he is all set to gift his constituency with all that he had promised us during the campaigns. Starting from the drinking water issue in places like Cheranalloor and Thevara, to the sewage system atrocities, Hibi seems to be gearing up to ‘clean’ Kochi. Kochivibe managed to meet up with the charismatic Hibi. And he has loads in store for Kochi.

Hibi plans to work on a better sewage system for Kochi, which he thinks is inevitable and a top priority. “Kochi has been facing the mosquito issue for quite some time, and we need to find a good solution for this. We are still clinging on to a project which was brought in 1967, during Dr. Rajendra Prasad’s time. We have not yet executed it in the right way”, says Hibi. Also, he plans to do something so that drinking water is made available to the people in Cheranalloor Panchayat at ease. “Being the only Panchayat under my constituency, I would make sure that the drinking water facility is provided to the residents. They always had some temporary arrangements for this, and that should not be the case. I plan to bring in some exclusive project through which drinking water would be ensured for the Panchayat”, said Hibi.

There is more to come!  Our MLA says that the transportation facilities in Kochi are poor, and with projects like the metro rail coming in, there should be alternatives that can make things easier. “Kochi is getting congested, and Kochiites should be able to compete with this time-bound”, said Hibi.

When asked about the atrocities shown by Kochi’s own Autorickshaw guys, Hibi said that, the high literacy rate of our state and the support of trade unions are playing the vital role in making the situation worse. He thinks the law should be ‘strengthened’, and that would be the only solution for this.

Hibi added that Kochiites do not know much about the two small islands ‘Korongotta’ and ‘Thanthonnithuruthu’ which lies adjacent to our city. “These islands too are part of my constituency. Due to the less number of residents, authorities, over the years have not taken any measures to improve the condition of people living there. They live a hard life with no facilities, and not even a hospital to end up during emergencies. They should be connected to the mainland Kochi. And they should also be given a better lifestyle. They undoubtedly deserve that!” says our MLA.

Well, here is the start to the list of things that our Hibi Eden needs to start off with. But he ensures, there is more to come in the months! Good luck Hibi!

I love Kochi, I love my city, I love the hustle and bustle with its small city charm. The bundles of different cultures intertwined to create a pretty dynamic place to be at. The beautiful cuisines we have, the ones that has foreigners flocking to try out, I mean where else would you get such bountiful options? From seafood to vegetarian, we have it all, though I have to admit I feel at times that we kill the original flavour of the meat or main ingredient used by our indulgent passion for spices, it still goes, and my appetite is a testimony to that. We are nestled in a pretty vantage spot and a part of the ancient “Spice Route”. This is a city anyone would love to be at, or is it?

We are rich in so many ways, but sadly I must say we are so poor in certain areas. Areas that we no longer have the luxury of being lacking in. These are my personal views that I have come to conclusion on after experiencing day to day life in Kochi and I am sure many of you will share the same view with me. Lets start off with the first one, our infrastructure, or there is any infrastructure? The pot-hole littered roads resemble the roads I have seen on TV from the 91′ Persian Gulf War where the Americans had bombed Roads that were transporting Iraqis. But that was war for heaven’s sake! It’s part of the collateral damage, I don’t see Tomahawk missiles raining down on our city, then why are these cavities visible all around our city? Hasn’t our officials ever seen them or are the tints on their luxury cars too dark for them to see through? I feel ashamed that we have such a beautiful city and actually running it to ruins. Note to myself, go to military surplus and get a tracked vehicle….

So that’s that, onto my next ‘opinion’, whats with our people and not wanting development? More industries = More development = Better living = More investments in our city = Better Living = Kochi being great. I remember the time when BMW was trying set up shop here in the outskirts of Kochi. And that was it, they tried they left they set up their factory in Tamil Nadu, everyone is happy. We got what we wanted, we made a point, Kochi doesn’t bow down to MNC’s and foreign investors, we run the show, and we are the big bosses. Yeah right, look what that has gotten us, the ego our people has imprinted within us, the work culture the unions, we are just doing a brain drain sort of thing upon ourselves. We are projecting an image of Kochi and even Kerala as a whole as Investor-hostile. I genuinely think these people are better off investing their money somewhere else; our way of thinking is a real cause of embarrassment. I know what we can do, go back to the Stone Ages or I think we are already at it. We better start putting up signs at state borders saying “Beware of Kerala” rather than “Welcome to Kerala”.

The best has been saved for the last. I had read a long time ago here an article by a lady on how women were harassed in Kochi. Kerala is supposed have the highest literacy rate, the highest! Doesn’t that generally translate to people apparently being more sensible in general? Well I suppose not in Kerala, women generally cower in unease in our city. Why not? With the way men here are its quite natural. Step into a bus and it’s segregated, why have our society gone to such extends? Progress seems to be taking a U-Turn here. Women can hardly travel late in the night on their own without fear, except the rare ones who actually have the grit to stand up. Travelling by bus is like the worst experience for a woman. Imagine dozens of eyes pricking at your back on a bus late in the night. Being a woman can sometimes be a harrowing experience in Kochi. It certainly is saddening, it’s as though the perpetrators indulging in harassing women have not ever had a woman figure in their lives. It’s not a surprise that women look at all men with apprehension in Kochi. It is even more disgusting when there actually are decent men who can stand up for women when they are go through such experience look the other. The time has come for us to stop looking the other way and start acting. What if the next woman who gets harassed is our mother, wife or sister?

Kochi needs to grow up in a lot of areas, A LOT. Otherwise we will just be drowning ourselves in this sea of mediocrity & backwardness.

Kerala is Gods own country. Now which God is something we can all debate over, for me though there is one unanimous winner, Bacchus : The Greek/roman god of wine and intoxication. Little wonder then, one of Kerala’s most revered deities Parassinikadavu Muthappan’s favourite offering is liquor.

Stats show that our people can take on drunkards from anywhere in the world and beat them. The per ca-pita liquor consumption figures show that Kerala and the United States of America are tied at 8.3 litres and easily beat countries like Poland (8.1) and Italy (8.0). In fact our closest competition in India is the Punjabis clocking a not so much as even threatening figure of 7.9 litres. A statistical study shows that every Keralite on an average consumes liquor worth Rs.1340 every year.

According to IRS 2007 R2, as per the Socio-economic classification Kerala has a rural populous of about 74% and as per the education index 33% of Kerala has education above the SSC/HSC level and almost 95% of Kerala is literate. Thus saying that binge drinking is the forte of the illiterate would be a gross exaggeration in Kerala.

The traditional Keralite custom of imparting quality education to their younger ones is also contributing to the rise in spending towards liquor in Kerala. Blasphemous I know, But let me elaborate..

The average house hold income of a illiterate in India is Rs.64,982 and the average income of a graduate is Rs.1,35,015. The important observation here is that while the illiterate will contribute almost all his income towards the house hold a graduate will contribute only about 60% or lesser of his income towards the household expenditure. Surplus cash in hand and thus we turn to our favourite pastime, Binge alcoholism.

Kerala is also slowly undergoing a change of taste in terms of choosing liquor. Rum has traditionally been the drink of choice for the quintessential Keralite, but lately BEVCO figures show that the Rum sales have been on a decline and hit a new low of 56% last year and brandy sales have gone up to 39% almost wiping out whiskey in the state. Surprise surprise, the 3^rd place goes to Vodka; something a Malayali in the older days would not even look towards.

According to police records 69 per cent of all crimes annually committed in Kerala have some link to alcohol. Forty per cent of all road accidents in the State are alcohol-related. Another shocking aspect of liquor is that 19 per cent of patients seeking medical assistance at hospitals have illnesses or diseases pertaining to alcoholism.

And a few enterprising men formed an association called the All-Kerala Madyapana Kshema Samithi (a society for the welfare of drunkards). Their demand, better facilities from the government and free treatment to alcoholics.

Soon ladies and Gentlemen, In the right corner wearing black from Mcdowells the Champion Old Cask XX rum and the left corner wearing blue the challenger from Mcdowells , No.1 McDowells Brandy… and the fight begins…

Top 10 – According to Sales ranking by KSBC.

1. MCDOWELL OLD CASK XXX RUM
2. NO.1 McDOWELL’S BRANDY
3. NO.1 HONEY BEE BRANDY
4. OLD PORT XXX RUM
5. BAGPIPER REGULAR XXX RUM
6. OAK VAT MATURD XXX RUM
7. MC NO.1 CELEB MTD XXX RUM
8. JAI JAWAN XXX SPECIAL RUM
9. ADMIRE XXX RUM
10. OLD ADMIRAL VSOP BRANDY

For the complete list go here

Onam, the festival that is celebrated by all malayalees. Be it any religion, it doesn’t matter this is our festival. I remember my days from school when everyone used to get into the groove and pitch in to get things running and set it for the celebrations. All the boys and girls awkwardly wearing mundus and traditional sarees, trying to carry themselves gracefully. The pookulam contests, the traditional tug of war and other Onam games. Those were the days. But that was then, years pass and people grow old and have no more time to celebrate festivities. But I don’t feel it’s just a passing phase for youngsters. With the changing lifestyle of Kerala, the new age life, it’s more about shopping, taking time off and such. Its not like the people are to blame for how it is, it’s just the way life is now. We forget at times how to live in the moment and relish the few graceful opportunities. But our way of living dosen’t allow it, the mainstream media have extremly commercialized the good things in life.
Step out into the city and you see shops adorned with Kerala’s loved Maveli, another one of the many that’s gone under the commercialisim axe. Virtually every Onam related branding has a sale, a discount, a free offer, something to promote sales. Where has the times gone when things were what they are meant for it purely stood for? Far far away I think. I shudder to think of coming generations that may miss out on the real deal and be spoon-fed plasticky stuff. They don’t deserve that, they must still be able to experience the real joys of life, minus the iPods, playstations and what ever other contraptions, get the hands on experience. Let’s just hope so atleast.
Ah cometh December and we will see the next victim of globalization.

Hope you enjoy you Onam, cook sadhya, have fun with your family and friends, go ethnic, wear traditional wear even if it may seem goofy on you, its Onam, go all out. Have oodles and oodles of payasam, I know I will, lets celebrate Onam the way it should be done.

Happy Onam everyone.

With the advent of August, nearly comes the end of the anticipated wait of Keralaiites in and around the world for this year’s Miss Kerala 2010 presented by Impresario. The last entries to the Miss Kerala event ended weeks ago, now people await with bated breaths to see the showcase of the best what Kerala can offer. With the Miss Kerala event hosted by Impresario slated for the 5th of August, its bound to create the same level of fanfare it did the last year and more.

Miss Kerala’s rising popularity among the malayalee rank’s residing in Kerala and abroad is obvious with the way it is received in recent times. It is also seen as a platform for Kerala’s youth to come up and be groomed for the modern world and life. Glitter and glamor may at of short supply in our still developing society, but this is one place where Miss Kerala will always make a mark and be welcomed with open hands.

Last Year's winner. Who will be crowned for 2010?

Just 3 days left, Kerala, hold onto your seats!

Come monsoon and the Queen of the Arabian is set to be lashed by the Monsoon rains, in due time perhaps. Considering the way the weather is going, monsoon is as much as a mystery in its coming as is the Smart City. But I would place a fair bet on the monsoon though. Leaving that aside, we look into the bigger picture. Right now our city is besieged by poor traffic planning, ever increasing car numbers (which doesn’t look dwindling anytime), rash and uncontested driving by the private buses, irritating and confusing traffic rules and those cones that just stick out of nowhere. Chaos in short.

Add rain to that equation, what do we have? Motorists and pedestrians will be having a nightmare soon, the city is yet to enforce a transparent system to overcome the possible traffic lock-downs that could be faced by us. Although with roads being fixed slowly and the gutters gutted, it is but the tip of the iceberg yet to be tackled by the city officials. Considering how well manicured Bangalore has managed to run its traffic system, we surely can take a page out of it.

The motorists aren’t the only people to be considered in the equation, pedestrians have equal share in the chaos, with their wanton crossings while a lane gets the green light. Its like one of the 80′s arcade games, you just chance to not hit the person crossing. Why all this bother when people can wait it out? Its not ignorance I would suppose as we have one of the highest literacy rates. Its just how our people have become and its high time we change our attitudes, the common folk and the city officials.

Kochi is remarkably is breaking even for the KSRTC low-floor buses and the A.C volvos, while the ones at Trivandrum are running at a loss. That proves that a lot of people prefer the KSRTC for city travel over the private buses. By increasing traffic routes and slowly curbing the private buses we can at the least hope to have a more better transitional traffic within the city. One where buses aren’t competing to reach stops as though its a scene straight out of one the popular Hollywood movies centered on street racing. And while we are it, Car Pool anyone?
According to urban dictionary

Carpool
When 2 or more individuals share an automobile during a commute to a destination or location.

Carpools are frequently used for fellow employees, students, and/or parents of school children.

By Carpooling, you can save money on gasoline, minimize your impact on the environment, and meet new people.

We have embraced the mall culture and so on of the west why not such practices too? It may be untold to do such a thing to share rides when people have so many stigmas bases on ego and social standings, but face it we have little choice, i.e if we rather slog it like always and enjoy the 1 hour ride on a 10 km stretch. And on the note of saving fuel and being ecologically responsible, how many of us has bothered to turn off our vehicles while stuck at a red light? Let it for a couple of minutes, collectively, that means a considerable amount. Quite some months ago some activists had stood around intersections with signs asking people to switch their engines off and they easily complied, but as a passing fad it was soon forgotten. Simple things like this can totally turn around things for the city in a good way.

Traffic, ecology, etiquette, its a long list. But being the foremost city in Kerala and a growing one at that, we need to restructure ourselves and our mentality. In years to come with IT businesses coming and shipping terminals and such also shaping up, investors and people from outside our state and our nation will start coming down in droves to this little city. We should certainly have something worth offering otherwise we are bound to end up as a cess-pool of mediocrity while the rest of India just goes ahead with the new decade. We have a very long way to go, infrastructural-wise, practices-wise etc, it is the hard truth we have to face, but we have to face it nonetheless.

I am not going to end this post with some corny tag-line asking everyone to join their hands and make a better Kochi. But we owe it to the city to make it a better Kochi for generations to come and ourselves.

Feel free to add your views and opinions.

Don’t let the title mislead you this is no hunt for any criminal, The Mr Kerala Manhunt is a hunt for the next (drum-roll please) Mr Kerala. The Manhunt is organized by Cross World Creatives. So if you think you have what it take’s to the title register yourself soon.
But there are two guidelines for you to be able to register.

• You must in the age group of 18-28 years.
• You must stand at a minimum height of 5.10ft or above.

Read the full story

Read the full story