HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tripunit@algol.cs.psu.edu (Mahesh V Tripunitara)
Subject: Re: Unions & Industries in Kerala.
Organization: Penn State Computer Science
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 17:21:38 GMT

In article <Pine.3.02.9212141959.A8196-c100000@gwunix1.gwu.edu> tstpcc@gwunix1.gwu.edu (Paul C. Chemmanoor) writes:

>2] The success of the comunist party in penetrating the grass roots 
>   level polity to build a suport base has meant a one-sided 
>   approach to the issue of capital-formation and surplus-value.
>
>   Simply put, communist ideology ignores the importance of 
>   capital formation and the people who act as catalysts for that

Though this may be the ideology they supposedly adhere to, I don't
think the Marxist party & its allies have been caught in the
ideological quagmire that their comrades in USSR were caught in,
for instance. We all know of then-CM Nayanar & then industries-
minister Gowri unabashedly fixing up an appointment with a mere
industrialist (Birla) to get him to reopen a factory. Why should
we appreciate their efforts? Because politicians that are in power
in India are an egotistical breed who would not lower themselves
to waiting outside a businessman's office. The CPI(M) clearly showed
its willingness to support industrialization during its last tenure.
The establishment of the Cochin Export Processing Zone, for instance
(where strikes are banned for a certain period after an idustry is
established there) went ahead rather smoothly even though the
Marxists were in power. The number of strikes also seems to be
quite low when the Marxists are in power...perhaps this is just
a feeling I get. 

Mahesh.
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
From: cheriv@nuge101.its.rpi.edu (Vinay M. Cherian)
Subject: Hello There...
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
Distribution: net
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 18:15:08 GMT

Hello fellow-netters,

	I am posting on this group for the first time.   Let me introduce
my self:

Name:  Vinay Cherian
D.O.B:  Nov 1, 1972

I was born and raised in Kollam (Quilon). My parents are from Kottayam.
Attended Infant Jesus High School in Tangasseri, KOllam, until
8th standard.  

I moved to the U.S. in 1987, and finished High SChool here.  Currently,
I am sophomore, majoring in Electrical Engineering.

Last time I visited Kerala was during the summer of 1991.  What a great
time I had!!!???    Visited Quilon, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Trivandum,
Kayankulam.. It was great!!  Spent 9 weeks there..  I hope to go back
again sometime soon, and maybe even find a special woman to can bring
back with me to the U.S.

I am also a big fan of Malayalm movies.. I try to see one whenever I can..


And of course,

	MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU



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117 Nason         V    V   I  N N  N    A A    y y          FSSSSSSSSS
R.P.I.             V  V    I  N  N N   A~~~A    y           F   O
Troy, NY 12180      VV     I  N   NN  A     A   y           FGGGGGGGGG                                                                      FGGGGGGGGG
                            C H E R I A N                   F
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(518) 276-7412       email:  cheriv@rpi.edu                 F
                                                            
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From: oommen@psych.purdue.edu (Mona Oommen)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Re: "ackers"
Date: 14 Dec 1992 12:53:30 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


Thanks for the flood of replies!  Talk about an inundation!!

Mona Oommen
From: shankar@sgi.com (Shankar Unni)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Re: Kerala and Human Development
Date: 14 Dec 1992 00:19:28 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: boris.wpd.sgi.com
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Prathapan Sreedharan (ps4e+@andrew.cmu.edu) wrote:

> Bashing the labor mafia (as some one pointed out) is also fashionable. 
> But  the truth remains that the prevailing wages in Kerala is fair
> compared to the unfair wages paid in other states.

(someone == me).

Yes. I'll agree there. I never said that labour unionism was
intrinsically bad.  They made tremendous strides in the 60's and early
70's in bringing up the wage levels for the lowest strata of workers.

I'm commenting on the situation as it is today. The original successes
have given the unions a taste for blood. Unionism today is far removed
from the worker-oriented activism of the 50s and 60s. Instead, it has
become a tool for political parties (of all stripes - communists,
congress, even the BJP for heavens' sake) to battle each other on the
streets and extort bribes and favors from industry.

The situation today is that a worker can goof off for weeks on end
without any fear of action. He can indulge in acts of gross neglect of
duty, theft, defiance of work orders, and what not, and the
supervisors can not only not take *any* action whatsoever, he cannot
even *say* a single word about it, for fear of (a) being beaten up,
and (b) plunging the factory into a strike.

This may seem somewhat exaggerated, but believe me, it's only a small
part of the labor terrorism that goes on nowadays everywhere in
Kerala.

Let me give you another example. A philanthopist in Alwaye (I forget
his full name now, some Mathai) set up a factory for disabled and
indigent women (mostly sewing, and such stuff). This was run as a
charity, with the women either staying on campus, or commuting from
nearby. The women were fed and clothed, and given their daily meals at
the factory.

One day, some local union walked in and demanded that the employees
"be allowed to join a union". The employees voted against it, and the
Mathai passed on the refusal to the union. The union was so infuriated
at being thwarted, that they started abusing and molesting the women
as they entered and left, and assaulted and almost killed the
philanthropist. Much was made of it in the papers, but the political
parties didn't dare to curb their thugs from doing this (after all,
they were their own employees).

After a couple of weeks of harassment, the institution had to close,
putting the women out into the street.  But hey, did the union care?
They had themselves another victory.

Similar stories are repeated every day, ad nauseam.  If you are
familiar with the term "protection racket", that is precisely what the
labor unions are indulging in these days. Bribe the union officials
lavishly, let the workers get away with sheer murder, don't enforce
any rules, and we'll all get along *juust fiine*. If you do anything
to piss us off, we'll force a lockout. So there.

--
Shankar Unni				E-Mail:	shankar@sgi.com
Silicon Graphics Inc.			Phone:	+1-415-390-2072
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
From: kochumol@leland.Stanford.EDU (anna geevarghese)
Subject: thankyou.....
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 01:28:02 GMT



All ack'ers.........

thankyou very much for all who responded to me.

brought back the malayalee spirit in me.

If i remember correctly, someone was eager to know the situation
in middle east with regard to the riots in India.
The info I got from my mother is that there had been an arab blessed
Indian Muslim rally in some towns of UAE and the shops remained closed 
for a day, earlier last week.

There also had been incidents such as
buring the premises of AlAin Indian school owned by The Indian Association,
Burning  a bus belonging to Sharjah Indian School on monday night also owned by
the Indian Association.

The authorities in Sharjah are already a little prejudiced against
Indian Hindus following the presentation of the drama "shavamthini oorumbukkal"
( still illiterate w.r.to your scripts :-)) and the subsequent events...
The people who were sentenced for rigrous imprisonment included
Christians as well as Hindus. My experience of the Arab world is that they 
tolerate Chrisitians and chrisitianity better than Hinduism.

These inhibitions exist within the Muslims and HIndus of North India too.

Since I have been interacting more with the people on the other side
of Vindhya mountains here at Stanford, I feel that the way we South
Indians interact with and tolerate the other religions is much much better.
A lot of so called intelluctuals here at SFD, expressed strong radical 
opinions about the whole issue which was quite surprising and saddening
for all the Indians.


-anna
From: thomas@olesun.agen.okstate.edu (Prakash John Thomas)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: (none)
Date: 17 Dec 1992 13:13:04 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

	I was wondering if there any ex-Indian School Kuwait guys/gals
out there in the malayalee ack world ? Please send a mail to 
Pummy Lal . His email address is :-
plaul@engr.latech.edu

		Caio mates !
		Prakash John Thomas
From: vallath@vishnu.labs.tek.com (Vallath Nandakumar)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Buddhists in Kerala
Date: 18 Dec 1992 17:56:29 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


A book I read recently, something like 'the history of Kerala
from Vadakkanpaattukal', had something to say on this:

The author says that the Theeyars, also known as the Eezhavars, most
likely came from SriLanka, which is possible since Theeyars could
also mean islanders, and Eezham is the Tamil name for Sri Lanka.
He also says that they were probably Buddhists, but got Hinduized
in the 15th and 16th centuries.  The Vadakkanpaattukal, incidentally,
are set in that time period.  Many of the characters like
Aromal Chekavar and Unniaarcha are Theeyars.  But I have read
a bit of the Vadakkanpaattukal (and my dad used to chant them to
me in their singsong way), but did not see any reference
to Buddhist stuff.

Vallath Nandakumar
From: sathi@cco.caltech.edu (Narayana Sateesh Pillai)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Re: "This is knowledge for the soul"
Date: 16 Dec 1992 06:20:15 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: arrester.caltech.edu

Thank you very much Mathai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At last I have something to think about!!!

I had been trying to understand this 
song ever since I had heard it on the 
radio for the first time. 

Interestingly, my mom once told me that 
this was the first movie she had seen
after she got married. I am
referring to "Harishchandran".

TATA!
Sateesh
-- 
		| Sateesh Pillai			
		| 128-95, Caltech
who am I?	| Pasadena, CA 91125
		| (818) 564-1225
From: jacobt@nynexst.com (Jacob Thomas)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Re: "This is knowledge for the soul"
Date: 14 Dec 92 22:16:33 GMT
Reply-To: jacobt@nynexst.com
Organization: NYNEX Science & Technology, Inc

In article JMq@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu, mchundat@essex.ecn.uoknor.edu (Mathai Chundattu) writes:
>In article <1g8okoINNere@gap.caltech.edu> owl.caltech.edu!sathi (Narayana Sateesh Pillai) writes:
>>	Does anybody have the words to the song from the Malayalam movie
>>"Harischandran" which starts like this:
>>
>>	"Aatma vignaanamay ..."  ????
>>
>>After giving the transliteration, do you mind translating it?
>
>
>This is neither full nor exact. For me it was a kind of song which comes
>to mouth though I don't want to sing it! A typical desperado's (avaSan)
>song!
>
>
> 
>aathma-vidyaalayame              
>avaniyithaathmavidyaalayame    
>
>illaa jaathikaL chethavichaaram     
>ivide pukkavaR oru kai chaaram
>paNDhithanaattE yaachakanaattE
>vannitumotuvil vanJchitha natuvil
>
>aathmavidyaalayame....
>
Two lines I remember are:

ulakam vellaan uzhariya neeyO
vilapidiyaathoru thalayOdaayi


>.......
>....
>.....
>aaRatimaNNil neeRiyotunnGum
>
>aathmavidyaalayame...
>
>
>
>Translation! Are you kidding? 
>
>
>Later,
>
>Mathai
>-- 
>
>

Jacob
-----
From: tstpcc@gwunix1.gwu.edu (Paul C. Chemmanoor)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Gowriamma relieved from party posts.
Date: 13 Dec 1992 16:00:02 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


Read this off misc.news.southasia:

The former industries minister and prominent cpm leader 
K.R. Gowriamma has been removed from the state secretariat of the cpm
for anti-party activities.


------
1] I havent heard of a communist leadre indulging in 'anti-party' activities
   What exactly does this mean, has gowri been friendly to the congress
 or is it something to do with the r.j.-b.m. issue ?



---------------------------------------------------------------------------
.    ~ ~                                                                  .
.    o o         signito ergo sum.                                        .
.     |       i sign therefore i am.               paul chemmanoor        .
.     =                                            washington d.c.        .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: tstpcc@gwunix1.gwu.edu (Paul C. Chemmanoor)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: TRADE UNIONS in MAVOOR.
Date: 17 Dec 1992 12:00:17 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


Mr Shankaranarayan while sending me the article to be posted also
asked me to respond to the article.

I am glad that someone who has the facts has told us about them.
As I always say: You cant argue with reality. :-)

I agree with him that it is not only the communist parties that
have trade unions who create trouble.

Stay Cool.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
.    ~ ~                                                                  .
.    o o         signito ergo sum.                                        .
.     |       i sign therefore i am.               paul chemmanoor        .
.     =                                            washington d.c.        .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: reply to 342
From: anair@icbr.ufl.edu
Date: 16 Dec 92 13:05:41 -0500
Organization: ICBR

this is in resonse to the sadness spelt out in Micheals' post
regarding the death of his room mate.
While I can agree that the finality of death is in itself very
difficult to accept and assimilate,I can not agree to the advice on
not contemplating suicide.
Ones' life is ones' own , to live and share with others if one
so chooses.The bottomline being an acceptance of the resposibility
of accepting of ones' decisions.....
Going with your roommate Might have postponed his leaving        t
but anybody who has seriously contemplated ending his own life
will/would not be easily deterred.Its' a measure of how much one feels bound
to people and places.Moving on so to speak.
To hold that against him is rather futile.
How people of the generation immediately before ours sieve through facts and
draw veils over themselves is not something that  should be held against
them.Convention is a tough barrier to break......all of us learn that
along the way, sometime.Are not your responses to the least of situations
limited by your personal fears and knowledge of its' acceptance by the world
at large? Don't be too hard on others....


  forward
From: shankar@sgi.com (Shankar Unni)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Re: Gowriamma relieved from party posts.
Date: 14 Dec 1992 00:25:32 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: boris.wpd.sgi.com
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Paul C. Chemmanoor (tstpcc@gwunix1.gwu.edu) wrote:

> Read this off misc.news.southasia:
> 
> The former industries minister and prominent cpm leader 
> K.R. Gowriamma has been removed from the state secretariat of the cpm
> for anti-party activities.
> 
> 1] I havent heard of a communist leadre indulging in 'anti-party' activities
>    What exactly does this mean, has gowri been friendly to the congress
>  or is it something to do with the r.j.-b.m. issue ?

Gowriamma is a fiercely intelligent and independent person, who has in
the past refused to go along with the CPI/M in some of its most
asinine policies. Being so well respected (across party lines) and
powerful, she has got away with it until now. I guess she overstepped
some boundary recently.

Disagreement with a party supremo has generally been deemed to be
anti-party activity in India, for most parties, even if you are
actually fighting for the good of the party.  Witness the shenanigans
in the Congress party.

I wonder if the geriatrics are still in control of the CP/M.  Last I
heard, Jyoti Basu was considered one of the "young turks" at the age
of nearly 75.  EMS, who is 90+ and absolutely senile, still had a
strong say in party affairs as of late last year.

The other possibility is that some rival of Gowriamma has seized
control and is trying to get rid of a dangerous rival.
--
Shankar Unni				E-Mail:	shankar@sgi.com
Silicon Graphics Inc.			Phone:	+1-415-390-2072
From: vadi@csi.com (Vadivelu Elumalai)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Monisha of Nakhashatahangal
Date: 16 Dec 92 02:48:49 GMT
Organization: Comdisco Systems Inc.



	I am not a regular reader of ACK.  But I remember reading an
article requesting the details of the death of a Malayam actress.  I don't
remember the name, but the following news appeared in "THE HINDU
International Edition" dated December 12, 1992.  Spelling mistakes, if any
are mine.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MALAYALAM ACTRESS DIES IN CAR ACCIDENT
--------------------------------------

	From Our Staff Reporter


ALAPPUZHA, Dec. 5.
	Film actress Monisha, who had won the "Urvasi" national award
in 1987 for her lead performance in the Malayalam film "Nakhashatahangal"
was killed in a road accident at Cherthala, near here today.  She was 21.

	The car in which she was proceeding to Kochi from Thiruvanantha-
-puram ran into a road divider on the national highway at Cherthala
bypass junction, lost control and crashed into a State Transport bus.
The car driver, Sreekantan Pillai (30), was also killed, while Monisha's
mother, Sreedevi, a dancer of some repute, and Pramod Khar, a Hindi film
actor-producer, sustained serious injuries.  The injured have been
admitted in the Medical Trust Hospital in Ernakulam.

	The car was a total wreck.  Its doors had to be cut open to help
the occupants out.  A bleeding Monisha was taken to a nearby private
hospital where she died around 6-45 a.m.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Vadi
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
From: tripunit@algol.cs.psu.edu (Mahesh V Tripunitara)
Subject: Re: Pittsburgh Malayalees
Organization: Penn State Computer Science
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 18:04:18 GMT

In article <of__n7C00UhW41pGYk@andrew.cmu.edu> Prathapan Sreedharan <ps4e+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

>This message is for people of Kerala origin in the Greater Pittsburgh
>area.  Others please ignore.

Do you mind if I come down from State College?

Mahesh.

p.s. I wish I could...
From: shankar@sgi.com (Shankar Unni)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Re: TRADE UNIONS
Date: 18 Dec 92 22:20:07 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: boris.wpd.sgi.com
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

gvp wrote:

> The major problem seems to be the unique concept of Attimari.

It's hardly unique. It's only a terminological variant of the
millenia-old practice of the "protection racket".  The astounding
thing is how the communist governments (and later, even the
non-communist ones - I have no love for either type) not only condoned
this practice, but even legitimized this highway robbery as standard
accepted business practice.  An exorbitant "loading & unloading tax".

The US branch of the Mafia were particularly adept at this sort of
stuff (your ref. to the NY trucking business, but they were active,
and maybe still are, in the fishing, trucking, produce-selling, and
numerous other businesses).  You pay protection money, nothing happens
to your stuff.  You don't, and bad things happen.  Gee, what a
surprise..
--
Shankar Unni				E-Mail:	shankar@sgi.com
Silicon Graphics Inc.			Phone:	+1-415-390-2072
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
From: paulchem@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Atharvan)
Subject: Re: Unions & Industries in Kerala.
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 22:54:52 GMT

In article <BzB9K2.8KF@cs.psu.edu> tripunit@algol.cs.psu.edu (Mahesh V Tripunitara) writes:
>In article <Pine.3.02.9212141959.A8196-c100000@gwunix1.gwu.edu> tstpcc@gwunix1.gwu.edu (Paul C. Chemmanoor) writes:
>
>>2] The success of the comunist party in penetrating the grass roots 
>>   level polity to build a suport base has meant a one-sided 
>>   approach to the issue of capital-formation and surplus-value.
>>
>>   Simply put, communist ideology ignores the importance of 
>>   capital formation and the people who act as catalysts for that
>
>Though this may be the ideology they supposedly adhere to, I don't
>think the Marxist party & its allies have been caught in the
>ideological quagmire that their comrades in USSR were caught in,
>for instance. We all know of then-CM Nayanar & then industries-
>minister Gowri unabashedly fixing up an appointment with a mere
>industrialist (Birla) to get him to reopen a factory. 

1] Quite so, except that they were forced to do so because the Birlas
   were intent on shutting down the plant and moving it elsewhere.
   And the end result was that teh strike inspired by the cpm-led
   unions achieved bery little other than wasted production and 
   misery caused all around. 
   [ The kerala govt had to offer further subsidies in the wood supplied
     to mavoor to persuade the birlas. ]

   I agree all credit goes to Gowri for treating the mavoor issue as a
   a priority, but that in no way takes the blame away from teh cpm-led
   unions for fomenting trouble and complicating issues.

>The establishment of the Cochin Export Processing Zone, for instance
>(where strikes are banned for a certain period after an idustry is
>established there) went ahead rather smoothly even though the
>Marxists were in power. The number of strikes also seems to be
>quite low when the Marxists are in power...perhaps this is just
>a feeling I get. 

   2] This is something seen when the communist party comes to power
   especially in recent years. But the link is the other way around:
   there are fewer strikes in cpm times because there is no point in
   cpm-led unions striking against cpm administered industry.
   This is another manifestation of teh control teh cpm exerts over the
   unions, nothing else.

  When non-communist governments come to power teh cpm flexes its muscles
  through the unions disregarding the loss of man-days and production
  not to mention loss of income to people concerned.

3] Stay Cool.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
.   Rain makes me remember,                                                .
.   The sunset of that golden hour,                                        .
.   When my eyes were first opened,                     Paul Chemmanoor    .
.   And I saw your eyes, No longer blind.                   Boulder.       .
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
From: mchundat@essex.ecn.uoknor.edu (Mathai Chundattu)
Subject: Re: "This is knowledge for the soul"
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 19:58:38 GMT
Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

In article <1gc0mlINN2dj@flop.ENGR.ORST.EDU> madanga@hobo.ECE.ORST.EDU (Arun Madangarli) writes:

aathma-vidyaalayame              
avaniyithaathmavidyaalayame    

illaa jaathikaL chethavichaaram (?) some grammar mistake? 
ivide pukkavaR oru kai chaaram
mannavanaattE yaachakanaattE
vannitumotuvil vanJchitha natuvil

aathmavidyaalayame....

>Thilakam chaarthi, cheekiyum-azhakaai,
>kaathu sookshichoru punya sirassey,
>ulakam vellaan uzhariya neeyum,
>vila pidiyaathoru thalayodayi...
>
>aathma vidyaalayamey...

......
...
....
aaRatimaNNil neeRiyotunnGum

aathmavidyaalayame...


Looks like we are managing it!

Who sang this? Brahmanandan?



Mathai
--