MGS wrote about Kozhikode and had an active life here
Quoting the chronicles of the courtiers of Portuguese kings, MGS, as the historian was popularly known, used to say that such an incident had never happened. He often ridiculed the Archaeological Survey of India for installing a memorial stone for the traveller at Kappad. According to MGS, though Gama and his team could have anchored their ship off the Kappad coast, they did not land there. He used to say that Gama could have landed at Panthalayini near Kollam in Koyilandy because of a port there. Kappad did not have one.
MGS not only discovered such historical nuggets about Kozhikode, but was also a part of the city and wrote about it extensively. Calicut: The City of Truth Revisited and Kozhikodinte Katha are among the notable ones.
The late historian's connection with Kozhikode started in 1947 when he joined the Zamorin's Guruvayoorappan College as an intermediate student. MGS developed an interest in history after listening to the lectures of historian K.V. Krishna Ayyar, the author of Zamorins of Calicut. After completing his masters in History from Madras Christian College in 1953, he returned to his alma mater in Kozhikode as a faculty member. From then on, for MGS, a native of Parappanangadi, Kozhikode was home.
According to his close associates, MGS shared a deep personal bond with the major writers of the time, such as M.T. Vasudevan Nair, and other cultural activists, as he was also interested in literature and painting. Old timers recall the lively debates and discussions they used to organise in various parts of the city.
When the University of Kerala set up a postgraduate centre at Guruvayoorappan College, he was appointed there in 1965. When the centre became part of the University of Calicut in 1968, he joined there as a lecturer. He retired in 1992 as Professor and Head of the Department of History, and also Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences.
As modern-day Kozhikode has few historical structures, MGS wrote repeatedly about the need for a proper museum to showcase the city's past. He was among the first to criticise the demolition of the Hajur Kacheri at Mananchira, the administrative headquarters of Malabar and a specimen of the Anglo-Indian style of architecture.
He was active in socio-political spheres as well. M. P. Vasudevan, a member of the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action Committee, recalls that MGS was elected its president when the forum was set up in 2012. 'Without his involvement, the road-widening work would not have reached its present advanced stage. He was part of all the agitations that we took up,' Mr. Vasudevan says. MGS also associated himself with some cultural groups as their patron until recently.
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Once a symbol of self-reliance that lit up his hut and powered a fan through scorching summers, the panel is now coated in grime, barely functioning — a casualty of lack of maintenance, guidance and rising air pollution. 'Yeh toh roshni ka sahara tha. Par ab pehle jaise nahi chalta. (This was our source of light. But now it doesn't work like before,' he said. Aligarh/Bulandshahr, Aug 17 (PTI) In a dusty brick kiln colony on the outskirts of Aligarh, 32-year-old migrant worker Kamal Singh stands beside a lifeless solar panel mounted on his hut. As India expands its renewable energy footprint, stories like Kamal have revealed a troubling gap between solar adoption and solar maintenance. Many migrant workers across the dusty interiors of western Uttar Pradesh — Hathras, Bulandshahr, Aligarh — embraced solar as a lifeline to meet their energy needs but are now finding themselves disillusioned. 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But this knowledge hasn't reached the brick kiln workers of western Uttar Pradesh, who often rely on second-hand information or trial-and-error methods. With little formal training and no local technicians to guide them, families clean panels with the same cloth and phenyl solution they use to mop floors or dust it the way they do dusting at home. Some lean directly on the glass surface while scrubbing, unaware they may be damaging the very panels they depend on for electricity. In these informal settlements, where electricity theft, outages, and diesel costs once made solar seem like a breakthrough, the lack of aftercare and support has quickly turned innovation into frustration. 'I saved Rs 3,000 on electricity last year. But now, the panel stopped working properly. No one ever told us how to take care of it,' said Kishore Kumar, a migrant construction worker in Nanau village. Others tell similar stories. 'We bought it thinking it would help during nights as we were either dependent on oil lamps or pilfering electricity, but it became more headache than help,' said Sangeeta, who migrated from Bihar's Gaya to work in a brick kiln in Nanau village of Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh district. Experts agree that while solar systems are marketed as low-maintenance, they are not maintenance-free. 'Within 90 days, performance drops by up to 35 per cent if not cleaned,' said Jain. 'In rural, off-grid areas, the panels often face poor air quality, dust, bird droppings, and no guidance on upkeep. After a year or two, many just abandon them,' he added. Shopkeepers in surrounding areas like Pilakhana and Bijauli also report declining use. 'Earlier, families came to us to buy DC fans and LED bulbs for their solar setups,' said Virendra Singh, who owns a shop in Pilakhana. 'Now some of them come asking for kerosene lamps again.' The problem isn't the technology but the lack of education and support. Like Jain said that solar panels do not need complicated maintenance. 'But users must know not to rub too hard, not to use saltwater, and to avoid leaning on them. Even small cracks or residue can ruin them,' Jain said. When PTI reached out to the shops selling solar panels, the shopkeepers said that they themselves are not sure how to ensure effective maintenance and just tell the people to wipe it properly with wet and dry cloth. 'Like we do dusting at home,' said a shopkeeper in Bulandshahr. Air pollution is further making the situation worse. 'In Delhi and surrounding regions, performance falls by at least 15'20% during peak pollution. And this isn't just about fog'¦it's the dust, the particulates, everything in the air that blocks sunlight,' said Jain. Researchers at IIT Delhi's Centre for Atmospheric Sciences (2001-2018) found that particulate pollution reduces direct sunlight radiation (called atmospheric attenuation) and causes soiling (i.e. particle deposition). As a result, solar panel efficiency in India declines by approximately 12 per cent for fixed panels and up to 41 per cent for dual-axis tracking systems. In the eastern and northern power grids, reductions in received sunlight range from 12-16 per cent. For families relying on solar for basic needs — charging a phone, running a light or fan — such a drop makes a system nearly unusable. Indrajit Singh, Managing Director of the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA), acknowledged the issue. 'We've focused on expanding solar access, but now we are scaling up training and 30,000 Surya Mitras are being trained in UP for installation and maintenance,' he said. 'We've also started pilot programs with women's self-help groups in rural areas to take on local repair and upkeep,' he said. So far, over 5,000 individuals have been trained and 3,000 vendors registered, according to Singh. 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To buy this panel, we made sacrifices'whether it meant cutting back on better food, medicine, or even sending money home. So when the panel stops working, it isn't just a financial loss'it shatters our trust in the system,' said Kamal. (This content was developed and produced under an arrangement with Internews' Earth Journalism Network). PTI UZM NB NB This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
