Karkidakam and the Memories of a Lonely Past

IT HAS been raining all day and night for more than a week now. It is a wonderful experience to listen to the song of the rain, the incessant pelting of rain in the grass, in the paddy, in the rocks and everywhere coupled with the croaking of frogs, the muted noises of birds…

People say the northern parts of Kerala received one of the heaviest rains in recent years in the past few days and as I travel on the city roads and elsewhere in the villages, I see most of the roads inundated, the vast stretches of empty lands on the sides of the new bypass full of water, the Connolly Canal overflowing into the roads and the whole city looking like a vast expanse of water with hundreds of high-rise buildings jutting up like a ship’s mast and the small huts and lonely houses often partially submerged in rising waters, their occupants seeking asylum elsewhere.

The monsoon is a season of nostalgic memories, colourful experiences and immense pain and miseries. It is a season of desolation for those who are trapped in the islands surrounded by rising and flowing water; of heroic acts by those who reach out to them to rescue them to safety; of apathy of the government which often wake up to the miseries quite late and the bold initiatives of local people who always come to the aid of neighbours trapped in their lonely houses surrounded by their flowing household articles and struggling domestic animals…

People talk about the charms of the rains and I have seen many friends from other parts of the world coming to Kerala during monsoon to enjoy the lush rain in all its glory. I did realize that there is something charming in this misery when I was away from my home, living in a small room in Hyderabad where you have little rain and again in Delhi where at times the roads are flooded and then you find not even a rain cloud for months together. Then you start thinking about Kerala, where it comes regularly every June, raining off and on till August when Karkdiakam will give way to the sunny Chingam, the month of Onam, the festival of spring.

Now these are the early days of Karkidakam; the time of penury and hard life for the poor folks; the time for rejuvenation and ayurvedic treatment for those with wherewithal; and the paucity of food in rural households and the special dishes that mothers prepares using leaves of yams and tubers in the yard and the seed of jackfruit, as there is nothing else to eat at home. That used to be the past and I know that must be the reality for many Malayali families even today.

Expectations for the Future: Introducing a Young Artist

THE ACCOMPANYING painting of a bright, cute little girl with her pony tails was done by a bright, cute little girl of five called Saranya on Christmas Day.

When I saw her busy with the mouse, I thought she was again at the comics or racing games which are popular with her generation. In fact one of my major preoccupations as an elder citizen in the household during the school vacation is to sort out the occasional incidents of flare-up between the brother and sister on who to take control of the mouse and the game.

But when Saranya called me secretly and unveiled before me her new work of art, I was thrilled. I really liked the painting, and of course I felt a little important in the family circles, being the first person to be invited to witness her work of art. She has also confidentially informed me that when she grew up, she would want to be an artist.

It was really surprising. As far as I know there is none known as an artist in the entire family and I am sure she has never had any major encounter with works of art or artists in her little life. She lives in a small house on the banks of Kallai river in the ancient part of this third world city and the river and the street that leads to the river are reminders of past glory as Kallai river, once upon a time, was a great centre of timber trade in the world. Now what remain of this past splendour are the ramshackle saw mills on the river banks that resemble ancient cranes from the Dinosaur age looking for a catch in the water. The people live a hopeless life; they have lost their old means of livelihood and nothing promising is unfolding before them.

The river looks more like a ditch, with its muddied pools and encroached banks leaving little space for the water to flow into the Arabian Sea and often it appears like a river lost in its tracks, a confused and dejected river not knowing what to do and chose to remain static. It is a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

And if you had happened to walk on these parts, you would surely have come across dozens of people with elephantiasis, the swollen legs that look like that of an elephant, that was the mark of these regions only a few years ago. Things have changed now, thanks to the new drugs that have come to the market which are freely distributed among the public in the coastal regions.

The buildings in these parts of the city look very old, and indeed they trace their history to an age when the Arabs used to come and settle here for conducting their businesses as trade with the Zamorin's land was once monopolized by Arab traders. Hence the traditionally Muslim parts of Kozhikode city like Kuttichira overlooking the river and the sea had many ancient joint families settled in huge and sprawling buildings which are now being pulled down as families divide and new structures come up in place of the old ones.


It is in the midst of all these symbols of tradition and modernity that Saranya grew up but her world seems to be quite different, quite optimistic and romantic. When I look at the paintings she did, often on the computer and sometimes on paper, I realize that technology has done an immense contribution to this new generation of artists who are now growing up. Even a decade ago, her artistic efforts would have surely earned her a good slapping because instead of the virtual space on which she works now, she would have definitely defaced the walls. The defaced walls have nipped many a young talent in the bud.

But technology, especially the digital world, has changed all that:The children are now enjoying a new world and the opportunities the digital world opened up for them are immense. I know there is still a digital divide, there are many kids who are still denied access to this world, but the gap is narrowing and the world is definitely becoming a better place to live.

As the new year dawns, I do really hope and pray that our children shall inherit a better world.

Down Memory Lane: MGS Narayanan on Discovery of Cera Inscriptions

THE BEST time to visit a Devi temple is the Puja season when they are decked up in memory of Durga's epic fight with the asura Darika, which culminates in the victory celebrations on Vijaya Dasami day. It is the time when people in most parts of south India take their little children for initiation to letters which is celebrated grandly in most of these Devi temples during this season.

So I was at the Panniyankara Devi Temple, Kozhikode, yesterday, the day of Maha Navami. It is an ancient temple situated on a small hillock on the banks of Kallai river and is a beautiful place to spend your time. It was the second time I was going there, the first time being many years ago when one of my children had the initiation ceremony there.

But last time, I knew nothing about this temple. This time, when I went there I was aware that I was in the presence of a deity that was perhaps one of the earliest in Kerala's known history. This temple's history dates back to the days of the Cera kings who ruled from Mahodayapuram from ninth century AD, and was most likely in existence even during the days preceding their rule.

Dr MGS Narayanan who has done some major works on this period in Kerala history had written extensively about the temple and about two granite inscriptions he had discovered from its precincts which are now preserved at the History Museum at Calicut University, where he had served for a long time.

MGS happens to be a person close to me from the mid-seventies when I was a volunteer at the 1976 Indian History Congress session that he had organized at the university. He was the head of history department there and also a well known authority in medieval Kerala history. I talked to him today once again, about his major discoveries that shed light on a less known period in our history.

It was some time in early seventies when the temple authorities digging in the area for a new mandapam in front of the temple, discovered a granite inscription, which was brought to his attention by a sister of former Parliament member K P Unnikrishnan whose family belongs to Panniyankara.

This inscription related to a land transaction for the benefit of the temple by a Cera king of 10th century. Later a second inscription was also recovered from another part of the temple which belonged to late 10th or early 11th century, again a land transfer deed for the temple. Both inscriptions are very important as they prove that Ceras who ruled from early ninth to late 11th century from Mahodayapuram had control over this region. It also proves that this Devi temple preceded even the origin of the city of Kozhikode, which is traced to 12th century, and the Samuthiris (Zamorins) who ruled it after the fall of Ceras.

MGS felt the history of the temple and the inscriptions that recovered from there were very important. They prove that many of the mythical stories that we read in the Brahmanical chronicle of Keralolpathi, which claims Kerala was reclaimed by Parasurama for them, were not without any basis. For example, the arrival of Samuthiri to the north from his original seat of Nediyirippu near Kondotty is described in the chronicle. It says the conspiracy to open the local ruler Porlathiri's gates from within to allow entry for the intruder Samuthiri was hatched at the vathilmatom, the door place, of this temple which was the only public place available in the region at that time. And of course the conspirators lost no time to put their plans into practice, thus helping the inauguration of the long reign of Zamorins in Kozhikode.

As the Samuthiri shifted his seat to Kozhikode and launched forth his rule, one of the key officials in his establishment was known as Pallimaradi, or the Eradi -official- in charge of guarding royal doors. Who could say the Samuthiri did not learn his lessons from history?

What Onam Sale Statistics Tell Us About Life in Contemporary Kerala?

Kerala's liquor sale and consumption break record this Onam season:news

THIS ONAM week’s most interesting news came in the form of statistics. Yes, dry statistics about sales. Sale of liquor vis a vis sale of food articles in the state’s major public sector outlets for the two, namely the Kerala State Beverages Corporation and the Civil Supplies Corporation respectively.

According to official figures, the sale of liquor in Beverages Corporation outlets in the two weeks up to Onam was to the tune of Rs. 145 crore, while that of food items was around Rs. 200 crore in Civil Supplies shops. Both did register some increase but in the case of liquor the increase was to the order of a staggering one third compared to last year’s sales. Those who know about the business say that if you add the massive sale in retail outlets like toddy shops, bars, and plain hooch, etc, the consumption of spirits in this Onam season would prove to be phenomenal.

No wonder one could see huge crowds around the Beverages Corporation outlets almost every time of the day during the past weeks and I have never seen such crowds even outside the cinemas where a Mammootty or Mohanlal blockbuster is freshly released.

What does it say about us?

Well, one thing it tells us is that the present-day Malayali would not let go of his bottle of rum or brandy even if his daily bread is not forthcoming. Watching the milling crowd around liquor outlets, one can safely say that they do care for their daily drink much more than their daily bread. Most of them are comrade workers, hugely addicted to the one passion that keeps them going. Perhaps revolution does not give them any real kick nowadays.

Chakka and the Life of Malayalis: From Dinner Table to Folk Songs

URAVU, AN indigenous technology center in Wayanad, this week organized an exhibition of chakka (jackfruit) delicacies at a village near Kalpetta. There were as many as 58 items on display, making use of all parts of this summer fruit that grows in abundance in all parts of Kerala. Normally, the external skin called karimullu and the inner core known as madal are discarded but I found that even these were not abandoned and delicious items like thoran, upperi and pickle, important dishes in a traditional Malayali meal, were prepared out of these parts.

It appears that traditional dishes are making a comeback and indigenous skills and resources are now being put to effective use with the help of innovations in technology. Quite a number of rural based non-governmental organizations and technology institutions are making an impact and one can see the changes they bring about, at the annual display of rural wares put on show during the IRDP mela that the government organizes every year during Onam season.

Thus, chakka appears to be making a triumphant come back to our dinner table. It was all but abandoned as rural economy grew and people’s income increased in the past few decades but thanks to recent innovations, they are becoming fashionable once again. I have seen quite a number of chakka dishes in all parts of Kerala like chakka varattiyathu, chakkakkuru upperi, chakka moloshyam, chakka pradhaman, chakka payasam, idichakka thoran, erissery, ihstu, chakka ada, etc, but when Prof. RVG Menon recently said that he had tasted a chakka wine, developed at the IRTC (Integrated Rural Technology Center) he heads, I was excited. I have seen wine made out of coconut but I never knew even the lowly chakka could be wine worthy! He says it was delicious.

But chakka, like coconut, had a dignified place on the Malayali menu and lifestyle for long. That is why we have so many stories, songs and other folklore around chakka. The famous among them, I think, is the story of the guy who brought down a chakka: It fell on the back of an unsuspecting rabbit going by and the lucky chap got rabbit meat for dinner!

And we Malayalis got a saying too: Chakkayittapppol muyaline kuttiyapole…
So every time we climb a jackfruit tree to bring down a chakka, we expect a rabbit as a bonus.

And here is a song that describes a summer evening beautifully:

Chakka manga kalam
Anthi monthi neram…

The season of chakka and manga (jackfruit and mangoes), when the sun sets…

From Kannur, Prof M P Chandrasekharan sends a folksong that is popular in those parts. Here, I quote:

Makane, ini nee chakka kakkan poyitename
Kuru ninakku, chulayenikku, pondi nintammakku
Madalum koonjalum karimullum ninte muthiyammakku…

Here is a glossary as some words are known only in the local dialect:

Pondi: The soft skin between the kuru (seed) and chula (flesh)
Koonjal: Central core
Madal: The collection of all the waste
Karimullu: External skin
Muthiyamma: One of the grand mothers. (As the song is from the dad, it is to be presumed that he refers to his mother-in-law as the boy's grandma.)

As Monsoon Comes Calling: The Story of a Frog Meeting with Global Market

KERALA HAS a vast folklore relating to its abundant monsoon, and these popular stories, anecdotes and little couplets keep changing from place to place according to the local dialects.

One of the popular songs goes as follows:

“Andippekka, thondippekka,
Venalkalathu Vangiya Katam Veeettitha…”
“Tharam pillare, tharam pillare…”

This is a dialogue between a mother frog and kids as monsoon hits the land and the fields get immersed with water, all the little holes in the earth gets filled and life once again blooms all around…

And the frogs celebrate the onset of monsoon with a cacophony of noises, the little ones’ shrieking noise drowned by the rough and deep noise of the bigger ones and then crickets taking up the music continuing all through the night as rains keep lashing everywhere.

This small folk song, collected by my friend K P Devadas from Kadathanadu near Vatakara, tells the story of a small loan the mother frog had taken during the summer season. The children are asking for repayment of the loan and she tells them to wait, she will surely repay once the rains come.

It is not surprising that frogs have a prominent place in these folklores because it is the frogs who herald the onset of monsoon as they launch themselves on a long session of various ragas as they excitedly confront their mating season. The vast paddy fields and the greenery gave them a most hospitable habitation and all parts of Kerala were home to a variety of frogs. Then came a season of exporting frog legs to western cuisines and very soon these harmless beings were wiped out from many parts! Before civilization and global trade came looking for them, frogs mainly had some snakes to worry about, as the local people considered eating frogs infra-dig.

Of course, the gluttony of the west and those who followed the western tastes were not the only reason for the genocide of frog population in Kerala landscape. The changing patterns in agriculture, with the practice of using pesticides, contributed to the decimation of frog population from our fields.

And now that has started showing. In all those years when I grew up as a child in the village where we used to live in a house close to a paddy field, I had never experienced a mosquito bite. But not so any longer. Mosquitoes are aplenty even in our villages and recently when I spent a night at my ancestral home I realized how much the world has changed; and along with it, my sleepy village too. It was the mosquitoes which came like attacking choppers that reminded me about the way my village has changed. Or how it has been able to catch up with the progress of civilization!

Food Crisis Hits Kerala: A Summer of Discontent in God's Own Country

Facing an acute food crisis, Kerala seeks higher rice quota for its public distribution system, but the Union Government refuses to budge.

SUMMER IS the festival season in Kerala. As April comes with its scorching heat and the ripening fruits, farmers are busy harvesting paddy in what is known as puncha season and by the time Vishu celebrations arrive by the middle of the month, granaries are full and every face radiant with a happy smile…

Well, to set the record straight, this is how it used to be, when the summer harvest festival is celebrated on the day of Utharayanam, or the northern solstice, the day sun starts moving to the northern hemisphere.

But this season, instead of celebrations what one comes across is the heart breaking stories of farmers committing suicide, even as the paddy in their fields, ripe for reaping, remain uncut. In the past three weeks there were three reports of rice cultivators taking their life in various parts of Kuttanadu and Kottayam, the two main rice growing areas in southern Kerala, where an unprecedented crisis has gripped the farm sector. Simply put, it is a crisis of shortage of man-power to carry out the farming operations of harvesting and threshing on a time-bound basis as they need to be completed before the summer rains hit, on the one hand; and the unwillingness of the farm workers and their powerful trade-unions to allow the machines to take over, taking into consideration the potentially huge losses faced by farmers.

Farmers in south Kerala say the 83-year old Eeeravettikkttu John, who hanged himself on April 5 as he failed to harvest his paddy, had faced immense financial losses as most of his crop remained in the fields. Earlier, two others also had committed suicide in the same area where the harvesting should have been completed weeks ago. Now what remain in the fields are broken stacks of paddy, most of the grain lost and destroyed in untimely rains. Even the hay appears to be useless, unfit as cattle-feed.

The present tragedy of farmers in Kuttanadu is a man-made tragedy. It is one of the most fertile areas for rice cultivation and the yield is excellent and one can go up to three plantings a year. Around 30,000 hectares were sown in Kuttanadu this summer harvest season and as rice cultivation is a time-bound, labour intensive operation, shortage of labor has always been a big issue. The farm-hands are well organized and they are politically active as the heirs of many revolutionary struggles from the days of Punnapra-Vayalar uprisings in the forties that gave deep roots to Communist party in these farming regions.

In those revolutionary days, workers and peasants marched together, but now they are finding themselves at loggerheads. The area under rice cultivation has been going down alarmingly, making cultivation a loss-making affair, and the number of active farm-hands has also dropped much faster. The result is acute shortage of farm-hands in the peak season, making use of machines inevitable. But the farm hands’ unions refuse to accept it and insist that they should have a monopoly on all farm operations. They say they were not opposed to the use of machines per se, they cold be used in emergency situations, but they insist that such use should be cleared by their unions to avoid job loss. It means that every farmer, in case he finds no farm-hands to work his farms, has to apply to the trade unions for permission to bring in machines.

As usual this year too there were disputes and haggling over the permission to import machines into Kuttanadu, the farmers insisting on their use and labor unions refusing to accept their demands. Every year it is a committee chaired by the district collector which
settles these disputes and finds a solution to avoid crop loss.

But this year rains came a few weeks early and that unsettled every calculation. Thousands of hectares of ripe paddy remained in the fields and were completely destroyed. According to the State Government, the total loss of crops could be around 30,000 hectares all over the State, the deadliest hit coming to Kuttanadu, Kottayam region. The total losses, according to figures submitted by the State to the Central Government, were around Rs. 200 crore.

The government swung into action, but quite late. The authorities made every effort to bring in harvesting and threshing machines to Kuttanadu from Tamil Nadu in the past few weeks, but most of the machines are now busily engaged in fields of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, where it is the peak of harvesting season.

As frantic calls were made to Tamil Nadu for more machines to be made available for Kerala, the machine owners there refused to oblige. They said when they had sent machines weeks ago, they were stopped and sent back by the unions in Kuttanadu. “Why should we sent the machines there when we have much work here itself and also in other states,” they ask.

But the pro-CPM farm-hands’ union, KSKTU (Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union) refused to accept responsibility. “We have not stopped any machine coming here,” said KSKTU state secretary C K P Padmanabhan. He, however, accepted that there may be some stray cases where such incidents had taken place as farmers forcibly brought machines to deny work to farm hands.

“There is a clear calendar for sowing and harvesting which has been in practice for so many generations,” said K P Devadas, an expert on Kerala’s farming calendar and weather cycles, who pointed out that as the monsoon hits Kerala first, it has to sow first and reap first. Once this calendar is upset, the entire farming operations could be upset. He felt it was wrong to accuse the early rains for this season’s tragedy as summer rains, quite unpredictable by nature, were experienced even by mid-March even in recent past.

The cycle of accusations and counter-accusations continue unabated, even as the rice production in the state goes down in an alarming manner. According to the State Department of Economics and Statistics, there has been a drastic decline in both area under rice cultivation and its annual production. According to the recent figures announced by the Government, the drop in area under rice cultivation was a whopping 63 per cent in a 44- year period from 1961-02 to 2005-06. The rice production which stood at 13.40 tonnes in 1981-82 had gone down to 6.30 tonnes by 2005-06, registering a decline of around 50 per cent in 24 years.

Still, demand for rice keeps rising as rice is the staple food for Malayalees. The present annual demand is to the tune of three million tonnes a year and as the rice supply has declined from its own fields, the state has been depending largely on imports from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other states. Now the Central Government has reduced its rice quota by around 80 percent owing to poor off-take from PDS. With the steep rice in food prices in markets all over the world, the price of rice a kg has shot up from Rs. 14 a few months ago, to Rs. 21, sending alarm signals.

Then came the statement from Kerala’s Food Minister, CPI’s C Divakaran: “The shortage of rice is going to be a perennial problem. So why not think of changing our food habits”, he said and suggested meat and eggs as an alternative. As the CPI leader found himself at the receiving end for his innovative suggestion, some commentators even comparing him to Marie Antoinette, the French queen who wondered why people can’t take cakes if bread was not available, beat a hasty retreat and blamed the Centre for causing the shortage.

The saddest part of the events of this summer of discontent in Kerala is that all these years, farmer suicides were confined to its eastern hill belt, where cash crops, mainly dependent on the global market are grown, is now spreading to other parts too. Rice had been a stable crop, though with reduced income for farmers, but there has never been any case of rice growers taking the extreme step. Now in a tragic turn of events, even Kuttanadu, the rice bowl of Kerala, joins the trail of farmer suicides that link the entire rural India, in a sordid drama of unhappy peasant lives.

Vishu and the Solar Tradition in Indian Astrology

Vishu, a time of celebrations, dates back to the Gupta period in Indian history.

A FRIEND, John Samuel, wrote to me from Thailand that on the day of equinox, when the sun starts moving north, the Thai people celebrate their new year Sonkran, just like we Malayalees celebrate Vishu. They too have kanikkonna during this season, and kaineettam, with exchange of gifts among the near and dear.

In Assam, they have Bihu, the New Year day on the day of equinox, and in Bengal they have Baisakhi. In Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, we have similar celebrations on the day of Vishu, or the day of utharayanam, when day and night are equal, a universal New Year day and a day of celebrations.

Vishu marks the day of medasankranthi, or the day sun enters the medam rasi from the meenam rasi. In the solar calendar, this is the point of New Year and hence it is the auspicious occasion for starting agricultural operations, beginning of the sowing season, settling accounts and paying the taxes to rulers.

It appears that the solar calendar became very popular in India during the Gupta period, mainly from the time of Aryabhata, in the third or fourth century AD. It was Aryabhata who calculated the year according to the solar movements and his Aryabhateeyam is the most important astrological work of this period. Later on Bhaskaracharya wrote two books known as seminal works in Indian astrology.

In Kerala, it was Sankaranarayanan, the court astrologer of the second C’era ruler Sthanu Ravi, who gave the greatest contribution to the science of astrology. His guide to the ancient Indian texts on astrology, called Laghu Bhaskareeya Vyakhya, was written in 869 AD, completed on the 25th year of Sthanu Ravi’s rule, as mentioned in a conversation between the ruler and courtier referred to in the books. Historian Dr MGS Narayanan points out that it was Elamkulam Kunhan Pillai, eminent historian, who came to the conclusion that Sthanu Ravi’s rule started in 844 AD based on this reference in the book.

Sthanu Ravi was a ruler who held control over most of Kerala from his capital near the modern-day Kodungallur. It was evident that his court was a centre of great knowledge and scientific pursuits as it was this deep south kingdom which continued to the great Gupta tradition, at a time when their rule had been eclipsed in the north.

There is reference to the Vishu day's unique solar position, even in Mahabharata. Bheeshma, who can fix his own time of death, waits in his bed of arrows for the day of utharayanam, an auspicious time to die. There is a similar reference to the equinoctical change in Viushu Puranam too, a text that could belong to the Gupta period, say historians.

Later, this tradition and pursuit of knowledge spread far and wide, as Jains and Buddhists travelled to various parts of South and South East Asia, taking the solar calendar the culture of Vishu even to distant lands like Thailand.

Another Season of Tragedy Hits Kerala’s Rice Cultivators

In Kutttanad, farmers have to request powerful trade-unions for allotment of farm-hands.

SUMMER RAINS are not unusual in Kerala. Farmers know when the rains could come and they always had their own traditional contingent plans to save the crops. Yet, in the past few days rains have played havoc in the rice bowl of Kerala, Kuttanad, and other rice growing areas like Trissur, Kottayam, Palakkad and some parts of Malabar.

The government in its initial response, has said that in Kuttanad alone losses to the farmers were as much as Rs. 16 crore while it is around Rs. 11 crore in Trissur. The total loss all over Kerala is now being assessed and when all the figures are in, the losses could run into a substantial amount this season.

It is a heart-breaking situation for peasants in Kerala. The state’s agricultural sector is now in deep crisis and in the past few years, hundreds of farmers have committed suicide as they were trapped in a vicious debt crisis. Even the Indian Government took notice of this serious situation and had announced a series of measures to help save the farmers from Vidharbha to Wayanad, known as the peasant suicide belt in the country.

But the tragedy of Kuttanad farmers this season is different, it is mainly a man-made crisis thanks to over-politicization of the farm operations. In the summer puncha season, farmers have to harvest their crops before the summer rains set in, and hence the summer schedule is always a hectic one. This season, they had planted rice in around 26,000 hectares in Kuttanad, and in the past few weeks harvesting was over in as much as 15,000 hectares. What was left for harvesting there was an area of around 11,000 hectares.

But the farmers were facing an acute shortage of farm-hands as the few weeks in March are critical for their operations. The farm workers are highly organized and the Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union (KSKTU) which owes allegiance to the CPM is quite strong and they do not allow any type of machines for harvesting, threshing and other activities. The Government also has put severe restrictions for bringing in machinery for farm operations. This season as the farm-hands shortage hit the operations holding up harvesting and other activities, peasants had been requesting farm-hands’ unions for permission to make use of machines, but they resisted and physically stopped them from being used in the fields.

The result was a delay in harvesting operations. Even the rice that had been harvested lay in the fields when the rains hit suddenly, flooding the entire region. Now the peasants accuse the farm-workers union of delaying the operations and the unions deny they were responsible. They claim that only where the peasants forcibly brought in the machines that they used force to stop them…

It is a sad drama indeed, where the farmers who invested so much of their money and effort are not able to harvest their crops because farm-hands are not available and still they can’t use machines instead. It is a perfect case of dog in the manger, it neither eats nor does it allow the cow to eat…

This has been going on in Kuttanad and other parts of Kerala for decades now. No machines, say the left politicians and workers unions. When they ask for supply of farm workers, they are asked to wait: there is a system where workers are allotted to each farmer by the trade union office. And often rains don’t accept this schedule fixed by politicians and it plays havoc. Net result has been that many harried peasants left their traditional vocation and there has been a drastic decline in Kerala’s rice cultivation. It has now reached a nadir and then comes the sharp rise in food prices…

And how do the Kerala politicians and Government officials respond to this rice shortage? They accuse the Federal Government of not providing sufficient food supply to the State!