What is wrong with

What is wrong with
tetrapack Onam?

All Malayalis, whether they are living in Kerala, in other States or are abroad, enjoy Onam times. It is a universal festival for Malayalis. It  reminds us of the harvest festival of yore, even though there is not much of harvest in Kerala now-a-days.

Communists would cut down any plantation  other than paddy in converted paddy fields. They want the farmers to cultivate paddy where there cannot be sustainable paddy cultivation. They want the farmers who hold title to these fields to allow it to remain fallow.

Plantains, coconut trees or other cultivations which offer potential yield should not be grown. At the same time, they turn a Nelson’s eye on filling of paddy fields everywhere. They are concerned only when there is some personal interest. Personal interests are taken up as party interests. Things are bad for the real farmers.

We may be bringing rice, bananas, vegetables, milk from outside the State. But we do not fail or faulter in the matter of celebrating Onam. A rightful King has been sent to the Hades by a usurper God. The good deeds of the King did not augur well for an Asura. Therefore, the Asura King had been damned. We don’t mind putting good people into the nether world.

What was peculiar about this Onam? Is everything okay after we have sent P J Joseph to the abyss of damnation? Those who have not sinned, let them throw the first stone against Joseph. It is good he has stepped down. He may not have been able to defend himself quite well, being a Minister. But outside the Minister’s world, everything has to be done to do justice. It has to be examined whether the woman was over-reacting.

I have seen it with my own eyes a woman over-reacting in a running bus. She abused a man standing behind her. The man was not a Minister. Therefore,  he could give a little bit of his mind to the woman. Those standing around were also convinced that the woman was hysterical for no reason.

Joseph is one person who cannot react like the man I pointed out. No man will do like what Joseph is alleged to have done, unless there is some provocation. If it is true that she was working earlier in a channel, she would definitely have identified Joseph as a Minister. No person who has worked in the media for a few days can fail to identify a Minister. All dimensions have to be scrutinised in detail. Passengers have not seen Joseph doing anything untoward. It was the hysterical outburst of the woman which had caught the attention of others. The opinion was made on the basis of the histrionics value of the woman.

Anyway, we have damned Joseph without causing a full-fledged inquiry.
Joseph is no more a Minister. Now he has to be afforded an opportunity to prove his point.  

I believe there is more to it than meets the eye about the Joseph episode.

We all celebrate Onam even if we don’t have the environs of yore. We get everything as neatly packed commodity for celebration. There is no harm in it, even if everything is artificial. There would be memories.