The Sahithya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society, popularly known as SPCS, was at one point of time, the leading publisher of Malayalam books and brought out works by all the leading writers of that period. However, being a co-operative society, and that too, one of writers, it became a victim of infighting and mismanagement and is now in so pathetic a condition that it is unable to pay the writers promptly or sell the books effectively. The organisation that once used to boast of giving the highest royalty in the world (30%) is now struggling to even send the sales statement on time. Sad to see an icon disintegrate like this.I remember Prof. O.N.V. Kurup saying once that he had taken much effort to revive the society, but to no avail.We Malayalis who boast a lot of our intelligence and talents seem to be highly talented in destroying organisations too.
Politics
How an army officer saw the rescue operations in Kerala
This is a message that came over WhatsApp, but it is so heart-warming to read such messages, especially from a person who has participated in many such operations in India, I thought it deserves to be posted here. So, here goes:
From an army officer who is in the forefront of activities at Kochi:
I have been in the centre of activities at Kochi. While there is no doubt the armed forces have been doing a tremendous job and it has to be acknowledged, I would like to bring out the differences I felt in this mission and the ones carried out at Srinagar, Chennai, Uttaranchal and Mumbai.
Firstly to the credit of the civ admin they have also been in the front and have been operating along with the public. Unlike other places where they had hid themselves and were unwilling to show themselves to the public here they were shoulder to shoulder with all affected people.
Secondly the youngsters had on their own taken on the task of organising the efforts. IT cos had given their ppl off to work on relief and rescue. These ppl had all sorts of programmes created to coordinate the efforts. The place where they were coordinating the efforts were teeming with the youngsters who were bringing in supplies and other essentials as needed. From my flat complex the young ladies has overnight collected over Rs 3 lakhs and were supplying packed food.
Thirdly the fishermen community had on their own transported their boats and were rescuing the stranded. Similarly others also had formed their own little organisations to rescue.
The population in general did not wait idly for the govt machinery to begin the actions as in other places.
I find tremendous happiness having seen all the groups work together without any sense of religion or cast or other divisions. I had gone to a church with rations and they directed us to a temple as there were more people there.
I am sure with such an attitude, in spite of our politicians and what a number of us say, this country has a good future.
Random Thoughts 