EFFECT OF POPULATION CONTROL

 EFFECT OF POPULATION CONTROL

Please go through the three clippings if you could spare the time

 I joined the College at the age  of 15 after SSLC.

In a span of few years, the Govt was advocating family planning. Initially it was two or three. Then it was brought down to two. And later one.

It was a blitzkrieg.

Kerala implemented it with vigour.

Now we have converted all men's and women's only schools and colleges to mixed institutions for lack of inflow of students.

We have reached a stage where young women do not wish to enter into marriage. They ask why marriage is necessary.

They wish to stay single.

If we look at the Choirs of Churches, they comprise of the aged. Youngsters and children are scanty.

Now the Nobel Laureate for Economics based in US of A says Pensions are destroying the economy of nations

Add to this the Chinese example.

When we visited China,the guide said govt allows a single child or two only for whom the expenses are met by govt.

If they had more children they were punished. The husband and wife would be posted at different locations. They would have to meet the expenses of the children themselves that was difficult.

Now, concerned at the dwindling population the govt is asking people to have more children. Sops are offered for larger number of children.

The hitch is the women do not wish to have children at all.Men too. Govt is pushing. People do not go in hand

Look at the paradox.

Finally as the longevity has gone up the pensioners live long. Now they must be thinking, less the number of pensioners, the good for the economy.

The accent could now be on, let there be more children and less number of the aged who are a drain on the economy.

I am scared.

                                            

                            Malayala Manorama

                            2 February 2026

                                           Times of India

                                          2 February 2026

 It definitely causes worry as we subsist on the Pension.

 The Malayala Manorama article tells Kerala stands to lose out in central grants in future because its population is receding

 The effects of controlled population is in evidence here. Malayali manpower is not enough in Kerala. It makes the state depend on migrant labour.

 Last Monday we visited Seematti Kottayam. The labour force is Tamil in majority. It is like that in Hotels too. If not Tamils they are Bengalis.

I was reflecting, "Are there such large number of Tamils to come and work here"

The  point is: 

The population in Kerala or the demographic balance has a peculiarity.

Just as the aged are growing in numbers, the number of young is going down. And a substantial number of the young are not here.

Add to that the fall in birth rate.

A MOMENT TO SAVOUR AND CHERISH

 THE PRESIDENT OF SENATE OF SERAMPORE

REV PROF DR DAVID JOY

WITH HIS GRAND CHILD

ON 4TH FEBRUARY 2026

HAPPY 14TH BIRTHDAY AARON

               
                                                  HAPPY 14TH BIRTHDAY AARON

                        Aaron's sports interests are highlighted 

There is the turf

There is the football

There is the shot put

There is the basketball

There is the discuss 

Cake prepared by Indu of Kavadiar 

Aaron's Amma, Reshma's friend

                 We celebrated Aaron's birthday at Hotel Residency Towers on 8th February 2026

Five families residing in three houses got together for lunch

Anoop organises the  functions at this place.

Good food

Good ambience

They book the tables in advance 

Good families could get together

Expensive

But worth it

EMERGENCY CSI SYNOD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULED ON 11TH FEBRUARY 2026

  EMERGENCY CSI SYNOD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING IS SCHEDULED ON 11TH FEBRUARY 2026

How can the Synod executive usurp the powers of the Synod?

Will there be no end to the misery of CSI?

Just as Jesus predicted the destruction of the Jerusalem temple when he walked on earth, is it not a pointer to the demise of CSI itself?

For how long such wanton self centredness could last?

How long could they ride the faithful to satisfy their own whims and fancies?

If God doesn't act now, when should he act?

Is he waiting for the total destruction to rebuild?

One thing I am certain, the wrath of God is not distant.

It is not far away.

PROMA MUKHERJEE KATHAK DANCER

 

PROMA MUKHERJEE   KATHAK DANCER

She performed 12 shows during her treatment.

Kushagra  Dixit writes in Times of India of 5^th February2026

 “Proma often asked why me, but her doctor said, why not you.”

 The day after chemotherapy is usually lost to exhaustion and nausea.

 But for Proma Mukherjee it was a day to put on ghungroos

 Last year, at 34, the Faridabad based dancer stood backstage, adjusting a wig she had begun wearing only days earlier. Just 2 days before her stage performance, the aggressive treatment for stage II breast cancer claimed her hair, not her will. As the tabla began the ‘patient’ vanished. What stood there was a Kathak powerhouse, executing pirouettes and intricate footwork that defied medical expectations.

 Kathak, which Proma Mukherjee practiced for the last 20 years, proved to be her lifeline. “I was not sure initially, and had doubts about myself. But I also knew I was born for dancing, and the stage is for me. That is my place…. And then there was no looking back,” said Proma the professional Kathak dancer.

 Proma was a woman who did not just survive cancer. She danced through it.

 “I was doing absolutely fine, with no symptoms. One day, while applying moisturizer, I felt a lump on my breast. Like anyone else, I was not ready to believe it could be cancer. Yet, I went for screening.”

In 2025, Proma received a life altering Stage 2 breast cancer diagnosis.

 “I was mentally broken and could not get up from bed for almost 2 weeks. During that period, my husband, family members, and most importantly my dance partners stood like pillars and encouraged me,” Proma said. Proma recalled her world turning upside down after the biopsy confirmed the disease.

 “Dance is what kept me alive,” she said.

Proma says, “It took a few days to accept the fact. Then I asked the doctor for a plan. The first thing he told me was not to stop my daily life, and especially not Kathak. My chemos were planned to suit my work. I ensured that I looked presentable and not weak.

Though some of my colleagues even rumoured that I was faking it, my doctor had been very supportive.”

 While her body was undergoing the grueling toll of 8 chemotherapy cycles, major surgery, and 20 rounds of radiation, her spirit remained on the stage.

Refusing to let the ‘Patient’ identity define her, she continued to perform her taals and complex footwork throughout her treatment. During this phase, she performed 12 shows overall, including a 50 minute performance after the last radiation. 2 weeks ago in Jan 2026, Proma was officially declared cancer free following a PET scan. She received her last radiation in the first week of Oct. She received her first chemotherapy in March 2025 and her last in June the same year.

 The next month, she underwent surgery, and following that, she started radiation – 15 sessions and 5 targeted radiation sessions.

 “I often asked why me, but my doctor said, why not you.”

 Proma concludes, “I had the strength to sail through it. Back to normal life now, I consider this phase a lesson that brought out the best in me.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Here the newspaper article has been quoted as it is.

 When I read it, it revived the memories of my mummy and Elsy, my sister in law.

 We had lived through their epic struggles at CMC Vellore.

 Mummy had been stricken with Glioblastoma, the virulent form of brain tumour. Though paralysed, the aggressive treatment of surgery, and chemotherapy brought her back to a semblance of normalcy aided by physiotherapy at the concluding phase.

 We were happy. But it did not last.

 She had a relapse after a few months. Chemotherapy did not help. Finally she succumbed.

It had begun with a severe headache in August 1977 and the end was in May 1978.

 It was heartbreaking.

 Elsy had been diagnosed with breast cancer stage 2 in 2003. But CMC Vellore saved her with Surgery and chemotherapy. She survived the ordeal and cured of cancer, she went on to live a normal, happy and productive life for long.

 However a cardiac ailment took her away at the age of 60.

 It was devastating.

 

 

 

DIGITAL BLACKMAIL ONE FACEBOOK PHOTO IS ALL IT TOOK

 DIGITAL BLACKMAIL  ONE FACEBOOK PHOTO IS ALL IT TOOK

Sneha Bhura writes in Times of India of 2nd February 2026

The first phone call came on a weekday last year, just as Ramesh Verma (name changed), 41, was finishing dinner with his wife Anjali in their Ghaziabad apartment. The man on the line said casually,"I have bad photos of you and your wife," Verma recalls.

"I thought it was a scam call and cut it." But the calls kept coming.

Then the caller sent proof. On WhatsApp, Ramesh received an image of himself and his wife that they immediately recognised. It was a photograph from facebook., taken years ago at a cousin's wedding. Except, now, both of them appeared naked. "It was us - same posture, same expressions - just undressed," he says with a shudder. 

The caller threatened to upload the image on social media, porn sites and circulate it on WhatsApp groups if they didn't transfer Rs.5 lakh. A helpline for online scams informed Verma that it was most likely an AI tool used on the image and advised them to report it to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. 

Following the complaint, the calls stopped.

"What stayed with us was how easily it happened. One Facebook photo is all it took," says Verma.

 Anjali deactivated her social media accounts soon after.

"But the fear doesn't go away."

RETIRED HUSBAND SYNDROME OF JAPAN

 

RETIRED HUSBAND SYNDROME OF JAPAN

Abhijit Bannerjee, Nobel winning economist writes in the Times of India of 2^nd February 2026

Women in Japan, faced with the impending retirement of their husbands, start to feel worried and depressed. It can even turn into high blood pressure, ulcers and rashes. The problem comes from the specific lifestyles of the Japanese ‘Salarymen’ in a generation when relatively few women worked outside the home. Workdays and commutes were long, and men mostly socialized with their colleagues and male friends..As a result, the couple never really needed to spend a lot of time together.

But once retired, it is hard to avoid his presence in the narrow confines of the typical Japanese apartment.

She wants to behave well, to be welcoming and friendly. But after 35 years of limited intimacy, it is starting life all over again with an almost stranger, a confrontation of her or his idiosyncrasies (easily concealed so far) with each other.