High Five: Five senses that touched society

In this fifth anniversary special issue, we explore the five senses that looked at, listened to, tasted, smelled and touched society.

1. Sight:

Real projects and mere dreams

Kamal: Kamala Surayya’s story

Malayalis can never get enough of the legendary rebel poet and writer Kamala Surayya. Neither can director Kamal who wants to bring alive her story with Vidya Balan in the lead. “I cast Vidya in Surayya's role because first of all she is a Malayali. I did not see anybody else fit to play such a legendary role in Mollywood. Vidya too was very impressed when I narrated the script to her. I took one and a half years to pen the script, the shoot of which will begin by October. Though the film refers to Kamala Das’s autobiography Ente Katha, it also looks at her entire life including the last 10 years and her conversion to Islam and the problems she faced after conversion. Vidya has been given her translated English books and poems to understand her. Murali Gopy will play Kamala’s husband Das.”

Sanal Kumar Sasidharan: A novel attempt

Sanal dreams to make a film of Anand's novel Govardhante Yathrakal, which he read a year ago. “It's fantasy, it's history — not just of India. It is a big project, with wars and everything, covering so much, from the mythical characters to those in current times,” Sanal says. “There is a sequence in it where the rope for the execution is fixed first, and then a man whose neck size matches the knot being chosen.”

Jude Anthany Joseph: Godfather with Amitabh, Rajini

The director imagines an ‘Indian Padam’ (An Indian Movie) that would appeal to Indians across the country. “My dream movie is like Godfather telling the story of an Anjooraan and sons. Amitabh Bachchan must be the patriarch. Rajinikanth is the eldest son, Kamal Haasan the second one, Mammootty and Mohanlal the younger ones,” smiles Jude.

R.S. Vimal: Karnan

It was R.S. Vimal’s dream from his college days, to make a film on Karnan. “I think Karnan is the real hero in Mahabharata. Initially, my plan was to conceive that story as a drama. But, as I was a busy journalist, I could not dedicate enough time for that project,” he says.Vimal points out that the experience he gained while doing Ennu Ninte Moideen has helped him a lot in planning his dream project, which has Prithviraj in the lead role. “It will be shot in Malayalalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. The major share of actors and technicians will be from those industries,” says the director.

Dr Biju: A Cannes dream

Master of unconventional films, director Dr Biju who has given us some off-beat gems such as Aakashathinte Niram believes each movie is a dream project. “My current work is Kaadu Pookunna Neram which has Indrajith and Rima Kallingal in the lead. The movie deals with issues surrounding human rights.” He adds: “But I have this one big dream. I wish to release a movie of mine in an international film festival. A festival like Cannes Film Festival or Berlin Film Festival.”

They sparkled in the field of sports:

P.S. Jeena: For P.S. Jeena, the basketball stalwart from Kerala, it was a year to remember and cherish as she came up with a brilliant performance for her country, state and club. After her standout performance in the FIBA Asia Women Basketball championship at China, she went on to win two national titles with her club Kerala State Electricity Board. She was also superb in the recently held Federation Cup basketball title, in which Kerala won the title after a gap of 21years.

Jisna Mathew: The 16-year-old from Usha’s stable has achieved the unthinkable. With impressive performance while running along with senior athletes in World Athletic Championship in China and participating in the World Youth Athletics held in Cali, Colombia, to clock the sixth best time in world, she has made swift progress and is aiming a Rio Olympic berth.

Nihal Sarin: Last month in Paris, Nihal Sarin became the youngest from Kerala to earn his maiden International Master (IM) norm at the Cappelle la Grande tournament held in France. The 11-year-old Thrissur lad, a former U-10 world youth champion, surprised a host of GMs in the event.

Rohan Prem: The domestic season in cricket belonged to a certain dimuntive southpaw. Rohan Prem was Kerala's star performer in first-class and T20 versions. His career best average of 45 a season took Kerala to the Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20. He also scored his maiden double hundred and averaged close to 60 in first class.

C.K. Vineeth: Last year was a season of mixed fortunes for this Kannur footballer. He saw his dream of playing in the ISL come true when Kerala Blasters signed him up on loan from Bengaluru FC. But the season turned disastrous for both club and player. However, since the beginning of the year Vineeth has been the best Kerala player in Indian football.

2. Touch:

Touch is vital, not necessarily sexual: Cris

Suhasini, in Love 24x7, plays a woman who became a widow in her early 30s. She has been lonely for a long time. To another character, she says how she longs to be touched. But, she adds soon, Malayalis don’t touch, don’t hug. We just grow up to become highly conscious individuals. That’s true, director Sreebala K. Menon, says. Sometimes a touch is all you need in life, but Malayalis give a sexual connotation to any kind of touch. Five attitudes that could change in this regard, are, she says:

1. When you see someone and feel a genuine desire to touch them — an old friend after many years perhaps — you should not stop yourself because you are worried what the people watching you will think. You should express yourself.

2. The idea about expressing your feelings only in private spaces should change. You don’t have to give a secret character to your feelings.

3.The attitude should develop at home. Parents stop hugging or acting too close with children once they reach a certain age. This leaves us inhibited. And we feel awkward when someone comes and hugs us. We can’t even hug as a parting gesture. That should change.

4.There is this idea that it’s alright to hug or hold hands if two people belong to the same gender. But that too is changing now with the idea of homosexuality coming into the picture. This is the problem everywhere, of seeing sexual intentions in every kind of touch. We need to change that attitude.

5.Old people should also be touched. We spend time with them by talking to them. But they are going into a kind of second childhood, so they need all the love and care that a child does. A touch could do wonders here.

Touching in many ways: Dr C.J. John

The magic of touch should be used as a humane tool to promote good attitude. However, touches may vary according to the state of mind of the person. The first kind is a matter-of-fact touch — something that one would experience when a doctor is examining a patient. A very impersonal form of touch. The second kind of touch is used as a tool for inter-personal connectivity. This is a formal gesture like a handshake.

The third kind of touch is more about friendship or concern such as holding hands or a pat on the back. The touch used to convey love, care and intimacy is the fourth kind. The gentle touch that is often used for parenting comes under this. The fifth kind is that of sexual communication and intimacy like a kiss or hug. (As told to Deepthi Sreenivasan)

Five Smart Moves: In this era of changing world of technology, smart phone alias touch phone is one of the gadgets that have gained never-before-seen popularity among youngsters. Startup village CEO Pranav Kumar Suresh points out five ways smart phones influence the youth.

Career — The users will be in touch with the job sites, apps and communities, which would notify them if vacancies arise. Along with this, the artists and software developers get opportunities in the field of mobile app creation and software making.

Education — Many foreign universities offer online courses through smart phones. This service enables students to take lessons even while travelling.

Convenience — Smart phones help save time. If users want to find any hotel, office or theatre, it can be easily tracked. Even a taxi is just a click away; the mobile apps of cab services help them hire the nearest cab.

Creative space- A section of youngsters depends on phone to unleash their creativity. From writers, artists and photographers, budding talents use their smart phones to hone their skills.

Information —Youngsters get the latest news via apps of news portals and channels installed on their phones. (As told to Aravind K.S)

3. Taste:

The writers’ favourites: Authors pick the book that touched them the most

Jaishree Misra: One of my favourite books continues to be Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Faintly reminiscent of another favourite from much longer ago (Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’), this novel too views the cruelties perpetrated by grown-ups through the eyes of children. Employing innovative language and rich description, both books create a strong sense of locale — you’re literally plunged right into Kerala and Alabama respectively, and thrown into the world of children, full of adventure and event and drama, all experienced with the razor-sharp intensity of childhood.

When I first read GoST, I was living in London but for those few days I was transported to Kerala, hearing the rain pelting down on the earth, the smell of monsoon mud and wet leaves filling my nostrils as I explored my grandmother’s backyard during my summer holidays in Kerala. London all but disappeared while I read. The story of GoST is a heart-breaking one and, being a totally involved sort of reader, there were passages that brought tears rolling down my face.

Shinie Antony: ‘Suddenly, a knock on the door,’ a collection of stories written by Israeli-Polish writer Etgar Keret, is a shocker. Every story begins, goes on and ends not at all like you imagine it will. The title story itself is an unexpectedly self-looking one, and then there is ‘Lieland’, a land where every lie comes alive. The story ‘Unzipping’ is about finding a human being’s zip. In other stories, there is an unforgettable goldfish and a haemorrhoid that suffers from a man. At the end you are left with many twists and turns and innovative thoughts that you have never twisted, turned or thought before. The language is down to earth and creative, with slang and everyday terms, and the wit is relentless.

Manu S. Pillai: As a writer of non-fiction, my primary instincts have been towards history, biography, politics, and so on, but in recent times, what has held me in absolute awe is B.N. Goswamy’s magnificent The Spirit of Indian Painting. It is beautifully produced and the result of five decades of painstaking work, celebrating Indian art in a way no book before it has. You can imagine the magisterial quality of a book that encapsulates not only the entire career of a prolific scholar but also compiles centuries worth of Indian art, covering the Rajput school, the Pahari school, Mughal painting, and more. Beyond “schools”, it restores names of artists and artistic communities and families which had never before received any real attention, and focuses on the maker of art instead of the patron.

Anees Salim: It is not easy to pick one favourite book from a huge pile. But since I have been asked to limit the number to one, I would happily pick A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul. There are many reasons why this book is a special one for me. I was just out of school when I chanced upon this book in our home library, and prior to reading this title, I had read only two books which were murder mysteries. A House for Mr Biswas changed the way I looked at books, it changed my reading habits. I was instantly charmed by the simplicity of the storyline and the brilliance of the storyteller. In spite of its Trinidadian setting, I saw this as an Indian novel; I could relate to the aspirations and angst of the protagonist, Mohun Biswas, an ill-educated journalist. I could see many characters and events sketched directly from the Indian middle-class life.

Anand Neelakantan: To write like Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, one needs to see life with the eyes of a Sufi saint, hear life with the ears of a musician, smell it with the nose of a wine taster and dream life with the mind of a lunatic. Only Basheer could do that. He was much bigger than the syntax of grammar and language. Just like Shakespeare in English, Basheer invented his own language for telling his story. As a part of my struggle to learn English, I used to spend many sleepless nights translating Basheer to English. It was Basheer who taught me that great writers are not mere story tellers, but wordsmiths who chiseled sculptures with words. Nothing illustrates this better than my favourite book of his, “Nteppuppakuranendarunnu”. Try translating this masterpiece and we will get entangled at the title itself. Any attempt to literally translate the title as “My grandfather had an elephant” butchers Basheer’s beautiful prose. We can only feel pity for those who cannot read Basheer in Malayalam. (As told to Cris)

4. Smell:

Smell that we can do without

Green Worms, Zero Waste: It’s the brainchild of Jabir Karat, a man who chose to don the role of a rag picker to understand waste management better. Run by a small team of educated men, the initiative collects leftovers from big functions and transports it to recycle the plastic waste and convert the food waste into organic manure for farms Kerala - My Own Country: An initiative started by a German teacher and organic farmer, it enlists people from different fields to keep public spaces clean.

Suchitwa Mission’s Green Protocol: It was initiated to make cultural changes in the way celebrations are held. After its success at National Games, State Kalotsavam and Attugal Pongala, Suchitwa Mission is all set to further expand the Green Protocol to Malayatoor Church for Malayatoor Puthunjayar Thirunal season this year. This effort is aimed at dissuading the devotees from bringing plastics and disposable materials during the pilgrimage season.

Clean Varkala Project: Started in 2015, this project was launched with a goal to keep Varkala beach green and clean and to conserve its natural beauty. The initiative was started by a Russian tourist Nikita Batischev.

Waste Free Swaraj Bhavan: At Nanthencode, Swaraj Bhavan has come up with a novel waste management model. The staff of this eight-storey building has stopped dumping waste or burning waste in its compound. Instead, they make use of two different bins which when filled is taken to a compost facility or for growing vegetables in their backyard.

Headlines that made us stop and take notice:

Mani steps down: Bar baron Biju Ramesh’s allegation that the Kerala Bar Hotel Owners Association paid a bribe of Rs 1 crore to Finance Minister K.M. Mani eventually led to the Kerala Congress patriarch quitting as the Finance Minister, after setting and breaking records for the longest reign. He had no other go when the Kerala High Court upheld the vigilance court order to further enquire on the allegations against Mani.

‘Miss’ of Love: The headline-hogging movement ‘Kiss of Love’ boomeranged in the most unexpected of ways when its most visible faces, Rahul Pasupalan and wife Reshmi R. Nair, were hand-cuffed and put behind the bars for prostitution. According to the police, ‘Kiss of Love’ was but a smoke screen to their online sex racket. Both were granted bail in February this year.

Jacob Thomas episode: What appeared to be an innocuous status update on Facebook stirred up a slanging match between bureaucracy and government. DGP Jacob Thomas in his post on his FB wall talked about ‘whether to live for a job, or live for justice’ and then ‘swimming with sharks without being eaten’. He was soon shuttled from Vigilance to Fire and Rescue Services and then to the Kerala Police Housing and Construction Corporation coupled by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's scathing remarks against the senior civil service officer.

BDJS formation: SNDP supremo Vellappally Natesan’s new political outfit, Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), in alliance with the BJP has opened up new possibilities on the eve of the Assembly Elections.

Requiem to the bard: The demise of the Jnanpith laureate from Kerala, O.N.V. Kurup, has left behind a void impossible to fill. His was the most heard voice in a team of poets comprising big names like Ayyappa Panicker, Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan, Vishnu Narayanan Namboothiri, D Vinayachandran and Sugathakumari who wrote to preserve the Silent Valley rainforest and other failing eco systems. His Bhoomikkoru Charamageetham (Requiem to Mother Earth) had a path-breaking impact on the conscience of Malayalis and nature lovers.

Scent of a celebrity:

Pearle Maaney: “My usual is Victoria’s Secret love spell, especially during college days. It’s the memories associated with each perfume that make it special. Every time I put a dash of it on me, I feel like I am back in school or college. I also use other brands like NARCISO and Versace that make me feel mature and elegant.”

Manjari: “My first ever perfume was Hugo Boss. I buy a lot of perfume and would love to bath in perfume if that’s possible (laughs). Perfumes are an essential part of my life, and I believe fragrance of it emanates positivity. So currently I use Fresh’s Brown Sugar and Satsuma by The Body Shop, which has a Citrus fragrance.”

Apoorva Bose: “My favourite has to be Victoria’s Secret and the Davidoff Cool Water. I like the former because it’s feminine and gives you a nice fruity scent and the latter gives you an edge and makes you feel slightly manly at the same time hot.”

Neeraj Madhav: “I use Dior, Fahrenheit, which is more of a cool fragrance. I searched a lot to get my most apt feel. I also like Davidoff Cool Water perfume for men.”

Tovino Thomas: “There is no special brand I regularly use. I prefer light or pleasant fragrance. The one that I got recently is Burberry and Davidoff Cool Water. I believe perfumes should be more to make others comfortable rather to show off." (As told to Ann Ipe)

5. Hearing:

Five terrific voice artistes: Here are some of the most popular RJs from Kerala, who have proved themselves adept in the world of radio

The Mathukkutty of all trades: RJ Mathukutty

Mathukutty is a perfect jack of many trades. He is a hard-to-find specimen for an RJ/VJ/blogger/film-person in Kerala. While he daubs his hands in many pies, it is the world of sounds that earned him an identity that everyone knows. He became an easy-to-relate, boy-next-door with his cookery host avatar of the culinary show ‘Dhe Chef’. Holding good writing skills, Mathukutty has scripted dialogues for the movie You Too Brutus. Up next, he has two more movies to showcase his skills as a dialogue-writer.

The Kidilam RJ: Firoz Azeez (Kidilam Firoz)

Firoz made his presence felt in the FM radio scene of Kerala with the rapid bloom of private channels here towards the mid-noughties. The quirky moniker Kidilam earned him a great fan following among youth and his quick-witted style made him a darling of radio listeners, irrespective of age and gender. He is one among a few names who have won both the visual and auditory senses of audience. After a brief migration abroad, Firoz is back to Kerala as the head of programmes of Big FM. Reviving the age-old phone-in format on TV, he hosts the show Telephone Maniphone. He walked his way into the Limca Book of Records for doing the ‘most lengthy show in a regional language done live by a single radio jockey’. Firoz has proven skills in short filmmaking too.

In love with film and radio: Jean Markose

Jean Markose, director of 2014 thriller Angels, hails from an RJing background. Dishing out a piping hot morning breakfast show over Hit FM, he lightens up the day of Malayali folk in the Middle East. He juggles RJing and filmmaking with panache. “Both are passion for me. Not a job. Managing both is a task. Radio is just presence of mind and you need to know a bit of everything. And staying in DXB and being a part of industry is challenging,” he says. A Kollam native, he is into the 12th year of his career in radio. His wife Maya also works with the same firm.

A sound move from visual world: Meera Nandan

Playing Shahina in the 2014 flick Mylanchi Monchulla Veedu, Meera straightaway got into the garb of an RJ in Dubai. Having shifted roles, she had a short sabbatical from mainstream film industry. Well, before proving herself as a talented actor, Meera had made a mark as a television host and she never missed an opportunity to pull off her crooning skills. In the 2011 movie Doubles, he lent voice to the character of Taapsee Pannu.

‘RJ life is the best’: Mithun Ramesh

Mithun Ramesh flaunts a report card with good scores against screen test and voice test. Little known is the fact that the early handsome hunk of mini-screen is one among a handful of well-reputed Kerala-bred radio jockeys in the Middle East. He has been in the industry for12 long years and now heads the Hit 96.7 FM. On RJing, he says “RJ life is the best. The challenge thrills me each day.” In 2013, he, together with his colleague Sindhu Biju entered the Guinness World Records for conducting the longest DJ talkathon of 84 hrs 15 minute in Malayalam. He, who has credentials in big screen, has Udaya’s Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho in the pipeline.

Rumours that did the rounds:

Dileep-Kavya Madhavan marriage: For 4-5 years, come every June- July, the gossip mongers start circulating rumours of the Dileep - Kavya Madhavan marriage to be held at Guruvayoor. This year was no different.

Samvrutha Sunil-Akhil divorce: In a divorce rampant industry, there were strong rumours of Samvrutha ending her marriage. The happily married actress and mother took to her social media site to refute the rumours.

Bumping off celebrities: Actors Jagathy Sreekumar, Mamukkoya, Salim Kumar, Anu Joseph and Boban Samuel were killed off by netizens who shared fakes news of the death of these actors which some of them cleared through their social media pages.

Shashi Tharoor joining the BJP: There was a lot of speculation about Shashi joining the saffron party, which he denied, after he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s communication skills and Swatch Bharat.

Beef raid that wasn’t: There was a police raid in Kerala House after a complaint by a Hindu Sena leader that beef was being served in the canteen. It turned out that only buffalo meat and not beef was served.