People, mostly foreigners I have come in contact with, tell me I’m privileged to be an inhabitant of God’s own Country. So True! After all, where else do you get tantalizing glimpses of a bustling city nestled amidst swaying palm trees, fishing nets fluttering in the breeze, an amazing harbour view, an over-flowing drainage system that doubles as a breeding ground for malaria… oops! Did I just say that? Yes, I guess I did! With good reason as well!

I’m not a pessimist. In fact, I prefer to see the glass half-full than half-empty. But lately, I’ve had an over-whelming urge to see the city drains and canals empty. And that’s not all. The Kudumbashree project on waste collection and management insist that houses divide their refuse into degradable and non-degradable wastes. Fair enough! But please do tell us where the plastic waste goes… Because if its goes into my next-door-neighbour’s-empty-plot, I can do it myself, thank you! Besides, I’d like the exercise. And commenting on another peculiar quirk city-bred people have, consider this one a note-to-self – throw waste into strategically placed community wastebaskets, not around it!

The police here regularly thrash party protestors. I can see why they’d feel the need to pout and sulk. Sure, we sympathize. But really, lets be practical here. Closing down educational institutes does not work in their favour. Strikes, hartal and lockdowns do work in your favour when you want to laze around, but too much of it and they lose their appeal. Oh! And lets not forget the public transport here! The ‘poor man’s taxi’ is amazingly efficient. It’s a foreigner’s desi amusement park, minus the amusement. Buses speed and fly down the road, run over hapless pedestrians who fail to get out of their way in time, jerk and jump on potholed roads, break when you least expect it and leave you coming out of them wondering if you’ve been given a second lease on life.

Lastly, but not the least, the Cochin Municipality has a website that doesn’t work. It cannot link beyond web pages relating to ‘Kerala History’ or ‘Kerala Tourism’. Everything else states ‘Coming soon…thank you for visiting.’ But, how soon is soon? That’s the perennial question. And we actually seek to call ourselves a metro?

Enforcing laws??? Not my job!!!

Our land is often referred to as 'God's own country' , however, I am of the opinion that this name should be changed into something like 'Laws' own country' for we have umpteen number of laws governing each and every action of ours. As one may remark rather jovially, we have laws to regulate even our food and sleep! it is rather interesting to find the diverse fields that these laws cover...has it ever occurred to anyone of us that it is an offense to receive anything valued over a certain amount of money (Rs.5000/-, if my memory serves me) through post?? likewise, it is an s according to the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1994, to be carrying waste in open vehicles...this should be a rude shock to the Kochietes who are used to seeing waste being carried in open lorries...last month, I happened to see a Corporation Lorry with waste stuffed into every nook and corner of its body, I am enclosing its picture for you to have a look...














From the first of this June, throwing waste into public places has been made punishable by means of a Bye-Law enacted by the Cochin Corporation. The Corporation warned people of specialized squads that will catch hold of those neglecting the law, still we find our city roads flocked with waste...the reason may be two- 1. People are adamant that they wont obey the laws, 2. there is lack of enough alternative mechanisms. However, my brain makes me believe that the second one would be the probable cause. I am not trying to glorify those who throw waste into public roads, never, that is necessarily an act to be condemned, yet, what would i and you do when we have absolutely no means to dispose off the waste? in such a situation, may be my conscience and yours would suggest that we be practical rather than theoretical...whenever we try implementing something new, we should ensure a smooth passage from the existing mechanism to the new one, otherwise utter chaos would be the result. I strongly believe that the above problem of waste could have been efficiently tackled by installing an efficient door-to-door waste collection mechanism. In my talks with the door-to-door waste collectors in the city, i have come to know that whenever some problem is sighted, they are given instructions at once to stop collecting waste, so the smooth functioning of the system becomes jeopardized, which causes people to search for indigenous alternatives. This is not how the system should work, is it?

One word about the police as well. Our Police has immense powers by virtue of our laws, but it is rather funny at times observing how they function. Police flying squads are often sighted in the city roads waiting to pounce upon those drivers who do not wear their seat belts. I wonder how many of us would have seen a single police vehicle in a highway, doing the same act, where there is an actual necessity for wearing seat belts? I am yet to figure out which is more probable, getting killed for not having worn seat belts in city roads where the speed limit is 35 km/hr or in the highways where the speed limit is 70 km/hr? From where i live, i often get to enjoy the entertaining police checks in the roads. I am rather amused to see that policemen are more interested in th health of people traveling in costlier cars, rather than in common man's vehicles. Has our police derogated to the level of money mongers???

JNNURM and Cochin

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) has been a selling point of UPA Government. Though many disagree with the way of implementation of JNNURM, the concept has been a catchy word for many poilcy makers. Let us look at what Cochin has achieved under JNNURM Project.

1. Reform Status

2. Status of Project Implementation

3. Cochin city Development Plan under JNNURM

4. Overall Status of Cochin under JNNURM cities

5. Basic Service for Urban Poor (BSUP) under JNNURM

While I was going through the documents, I was shocked to see some of them. I dont remember any plan meeting held in city to seek the interest of Cochiates to develop CDP. Have you heard of anything of that sort? How many of are aware of these projects in city? Unfortunately we have one of the very funny corporation websites (@) to know about all these developments. I will write more on the corporation website on my next posting.