POPULATION INVERSION

I need not explain 'Population Inversion' to a reader who has learnt Physics. For others let me put it like this. Suppose there are two cities A and B. Let there be one lakh people in A and none in B at 10 A.M on any Sunday. Instead if, say, 75000 people of the total population of A is found in B at 10 A.M on a Sunday, we say that there is a 'Population Inversion'. Not too long ago this phenomenon was very much visible in CMS college. During class time there were more students in the lover's path and adjoining areas than inside the class. A classic example of 'Population Inversion'.

This note is regarding some sort of a 'Population Inversion'happening in Kerala at an alarming pace. But as usual Mallos are very complacent. A recent article in the 'Malayala Manorama' gave some frightening statistics. There are some 25 lakhs of labourers from other states working in Kerala making them 8% of the total population of this tiny state. The article predicts that by 2017 this will be a whopping 20% !!! And none, not even the government, seems to be concerned. Suppose one labourer earns on an average Rs 500 per day and works for 325 days in an year. Then the total outflow from the state per annum is over Rs 40000 crores !!!

I often think of the decimated KELTRON. When none in India and not many in the world thought of electronics, KELTRON was already a giant in the field by the end of the sixties. By the seventies there was only one brand in the TV market. That was KELTRON. Traffic signals in big cities in India were provided by KELTRON. Students and professionals used KELTRON calculators. But suddenly KELTRON started collapsing. There was more politics there than IC's or chips. And today KELTRON is doing 'piece work' for others peacefully without any political interference as there isn't much to be destroyed. We have a nice name for 'piece work', outsourcing !

LG, SAMSUNG or other Korean companies were not even pigmies then. Anywhere outside India the KELTRON of the seventies would have grown into an IBM or Microsoft. Even inside India miracles would have happened if KELTRON was outside Kerala. If things had gone well, entire Kerala would have been a hub of activity in electronics. Kerala would not have needed any other industry. Electronics was ideal for Kerala as watches are to Switzerland.  Kochauseph Chittilappally of the 'V-Guard' empire was an apprentice at KELTRON. Now KELTRON might be doing piece work for him. Great opportunities come but once in many decades. Lament Kerala lament.

The electronics revolution which had its genesis in Kerala in the form of KELTRON failed here and happened with greater vigour  elsewhere. A poignant 'population inversion'.

Out of the (gear)box solution

Like most boys in their early teens, my ambition too was to become a truck driver. But mine was slightly different. I wanted to become the driver of a tanker lorry.

SPMS (Sree Parabrahmam Motor Service), HHYS (Haji Hassan Yakoob Sait), KCT (Kerala Co-operative Transport, Nelson motors etc were some of the buses I used to travel during my school days. Benz (now TATA) or Leyland  were then very few in number. Most of the buses were of the Bedford and Fargo make. I often recall this Pachu and Kovalan cartoon. One day Kovalan asked Pachu the meaning of "Bhargo Devasya Dhimahim". And the omniscient Mr Pachu translated it as: "Devasyachante Fargo Vandi Mahi enna sthalathu vachu 'dheem' enna sabda-thode vedi theernnu"!!! The Gayathri mantram cannot  further be simplified. Anyway this Fargo make was very common those days.

Rajaram Motors

Rajaram motors was a bus plying in the Ochira-Pandalam route. Of all the buses I have traveled in, Rajaram Motors has a special place in my memory. (In a previous post, Kunj Bihari Khandelwal, I wrote that seemingly insignificant, small little things and persons are too .big for me to forget)

Usually the Kili stands on the foot board. In the small little "Itta Vattom" of the foot board, the Kili performs all kinds of acrobatics. Unlike his counterparts elsewhere, the Kili of Rajaram motors was given an honourable place behind the driver. While the driver sat on the hot seat, the Kili had to stand behind him. The Kili of Rajaram Motors had a very special duty to perform. No acrobatics, no somersaults, no pyrotechnics. There was just this unique duty to be performed with ascetic concentration of the body and the mind.

In buses, the gear is behind the engine/bonnet , behind and a little to the left of the driver. Sort of  'first slip' position for the left handed batsman. Now the story. The gear of the Rajaram Motors had the problem of slipping,ie, if the driver goes to the 4th gear and leaves it, it will fall into neutral gear any time. See, necessity is the mother of invention. And the driver invented a new role for the Kili. Like the "On Your Mark, Get, Set, Go", here the gear goes from 1st, 2nd, 3rd. The driver puts the gear to the 4th and the Kili takes hold of it and keeps it in that position. This is a 'highly sophisticated' technology. If the Kili is late by a wink in accepting the gear from the driver, the bus will run in neutral gear. Similarly if the driver wants to bring down the gear, the Kili will have to let it go into the drivers hand with great synchronization. The Kili had become a part of the gear box allowing no slips.

Without having to go anywhere in the Pandalam route, I had traveled by the Rajaram motors many times just to watch the driver-kili combine in action. 

K A Stores, Collectorate P.O, Kottayam

This one room shop is near the Kottayam Collectorate and very near the Kottayam East Police Station.on the left side of the KK road from Kottayam to Kumily. Owned by Mr Muhammed, he runs the shop assisted by his four children Najeeb, Nazeeb, Mujib and Azeeb.

In 1987 Susan and I started our life in a rented house behind the K.A Stores. Those days the four children I mentioned above were kids. Azee might not have even arrived. Then they were not mature enough to do business. I remember the foursome coming to the shop one by one at regular intervals of 2 or 3 years to help Mr Muhammed. There was a person called Babu working in the shop. Like Muhammed, Babu too was from Kannur. Those days the electronic balance was not in use. Be it rice, sugar, tea, dal, oil or whatever Babu had to manually weigh it on the beam balance. He was such an expert in weighing that the beam never tilted in favour of the customer nor in favour of Muhammed. And this he did with amazing speed.

When Renjan  was a small baby it was very difficult to feed him. He would never open his mouth .We would take him to what eventually came to be known as"Babuvetta kada" and show the busses and other vehicles and feed him without his knowledge. Still it took a long time to finish a bowl of Ragi with milk and sugar. I remember telling him this once "Mon you should complete this at least  by the time this Mundakkayam bus comes back. (Mundakkayam is some 50 km from Kottayam). One day Babu told me in typical Kannur slang " Sar Ente Maeri-yaege aanu". Babu left some 18 years ago but still for us K A Stores is Babukkada or Babuvetta Kada.That is how I have saved it on my mobile.

During the second half of nineties margin free shops were mushrooming in Kerala with all those question marks and exclamation marks as trade mark. One fine morning one such thing sprouted adjacent to K A Stores The scenes next were heart breaking for Mr Muhammed and me too. Every single customer shifted loyalty and K A Stores wore a deserted look. Probably I was the only one to go there as usual. The row of parked vehicles extended up to the Plantation corporation head quarters. Those days I used to wonder how  people can so easily abandon a place they have been visiting almost every day for years. But then, margins matter ! This went on for months together.

Najib the eldest of the four sons of Mr Muhammed was then in some gulf country. He returned and took charge of the shop. With his golden tongue and pleasing manners that reflected his honesty, he could win back a sizable chunk of those who went after question marks and exclamation marks. Full marks to Najeeb !

By 1995 we shifted to our newly constructed home in the Annan Kunnu, some 2 km from the K A Stores. But we still go there for our grocery and vegetable requirements. We have some 3 or 4 supermarkets within 1 km , the biggest being just 200 meters away. But at K A Stores we are very much at home. Not that I am averse to getting a commodity at a lesser price. I cannot buy a thing from a person sitting with a stiff neck, locked lips and suspecting eyes all the time.  At K A Stores I even developed an exclusive communication language. Once I went there with Pradeep (2000 MSc batch) and I told Najeeb," Kolu Kalu,Kannan Ara, Njali onnu". Pradeep stared at me with wide opened eyes. His eyes grew wider when within 2 minutes I got 250 gm of Drumstick, 500 gm  of Kannan Devan tea and 1 Kg of Njalippoovan Pazham (plantain fruit)

It is 26 years now since we have been shopping at the K A Stores. If there is something like customer satisfaction, I am more than satisfied. I would advice MBA students to do their internship there.

Mr Muhammed talks very little. But there is humour  in whatever little he talks. And he has this incredible sense of hearing. When the foursome and I bla bla bla  standing by the busy KK road, he will answer from inside the shop !

The four boys are extremely disciplined. Their pleasing manners and sweet words are not any pretension. It should be right from their hearts. Otherwise those would not have reached mine. Last year when the government imposed a ban on plastic carry bags we didn't feel any difficulty.. At the K A Stores  for very long, we were given things wrapped in love !!!

I enjoy going there. My only scare is Azeeb, fondly called Azee .... I mean ... his lower than the lowest waist Jeans !!! Sometimes I stand with bated breath lest it should come down !!! It is dangerously low as the ad people proudly claim !!!