Till I left Kerala, my beloved motherland, for my postgraduate studies in 2005, I thought that it was the most wonderful land on earth, and that Malayalis constitute the most wonderful community on earth; what an immature thought it was! Of course, everyone has the same or similar feelings about his own birthplace. But, this proves to be wrong when you start observe other communities and cultures objectively. Every community has its own strengths and weaknesses. I'm aware of the general weaknesses of Mayalalis. However, the object of this note is not to elaborate them, but, on the contrary, to elaborate its most important strength, the negative effects of it, and what I feel about the contemporary life in Kerala. I must hastily add that I've no intentions to be exhaustive, or sound like an expert. I just scribble down some of my personal observations, that's all. And, since I'm still living outside, and do not continuously follow every news coming from there, my views are that of an outsider.
The strength of Malayalis: The foremost strength of Malayalis is their general awareness: political, social, cultural, national and international. I am sure that people of no other state can claim this. It comes because of education: Kerala theoretically has 100% literacy rate; truly this must be 99%. Almost all malayalis read newspapers everyday. They are aware of every political issues in Kerala, India and outside. You can hear people talking about "globalization", "free markets" etc. even in small tea shops; this is a clear mark of distinction of Malayalis from any other people in India. In other states, in my experiences and interactions, even the well educated does not know that he is living in a particular economy called capitalism, let alone about globalization!
But..., this is a big but, everything has its negative effects also. Since Malayalis have better general awareness, they are too lazy too. They don't want to produce the necessary things in their own land; they want Telugus to provide them brown-rice (without brown-rice, Malayalis can't live!), and Kannadigas and Tamilans to provide vegetables and fruits. Even a number of spices like red chillies are imported from the neighbourhood states. Onam is Malayalis' most prestigious festival; they decorate homes with flowers on this special day. They want flowers to be imported from Tamil Nadu. Even though water is abundant in the state Malayalis need to buy electricity from the central government and Tamil Nadu. This shows the lack of efficiency of governance and efforts from the Malayali community as a whole to improve living conditions in the state!
My View on Contemporary Life in Kerala:
Work/Business: Agriculture was strong at a time in Kerala. But, as time went by, they got more and more educated, became aware about the system, and learned how to earn more with less effort. Then they gave up agriculture, and started concentrating on consumer based business and services. This is the reason why they have to wait for the Andhra truck to come to eat their favourite brown-rice, or for Tamil truck for vegetables. This is a negative effect of social awareness. And, the technically educated youth relies only upon the IT industry. Now, they want such industries in the state also; they blame the political parties for lack of enthusiasm. Where is the enthusiasm of the people to produce something of their own, at least food?
Politics (the left-wing): The left movements have always influenced political events in Kerala. Even the right-wing Congress party is left in Kerala. Until recently, the competitions between these two major political forces had contributed to the state tremendously, but sadly, no more! Now, left seems to have become more right! And, they seem to offer no more competition! These are my observation as an outsider, hence open to challenge by any one. The recent tussle between the two "groups" inside the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has caused to lose peoples confidence in that party, and the left-wing in general. I don't know where it is going, whether they can overcome this situation and regain the faith of the people. I'm worried about the left-wing because of its influence on me; I always side with the left-wing, if not a left party!
Political Activism: Kerala has always witnessed various political struggles. In the past media as well as the political parties took interest to educate people regarding various issues. Malayalis were at least considered to be highly reactive. Now also they are active: active to get more and more comforts, to drink more and more alcoholic products, to celebrate every banal occasions, but not for improving the situation they are in. If you go to Kozhikode (my own place) most of the roads are in a bad shape. While Malayalis are worried about lack of shopping centers and IT parks, they do nothing to improve the roads, for example. They believe everything will be done by the government. Who is the government? You! the people. There are no strikes to improve the roads, education, etc.
Media (News): Another problem I am concerned about is regarding the media. The media in the state had been very proactive in the recent past, but, again, no more! The mainstream, and most serious Malayalam news paper is "Mathrubhumi". Nowadays, this news paper is only interested in the so called back-door affairs of politics in the state. Whether the news they give is correct or not is another issue. But, why should they be so much concerned with all these junk? It no longer covers most of the national and international issues, why? The visual media is too ugly to talk about! They produce news every single minute and broadcast. People are bombarded with so many unnecessary information every minute so intensively that they are unable to distinguish between what is news and what is not. Most important issues are clumsily dealt with, and most banal are exaggerated. They start by addressing important issues, turn them into gossips and speculation, make them just meaningless debates between the political parties, and, finally, reduce them into nothing---this is called reduction ad absurdum. Every news becomes an absurdity and create, eventually, no effect!
Media (entertainment): Again, regarding audio/visual media: they are sneaking into our life spaces more and more. Most of us are interested in movies and songs. But, why should we always think about them? Well, this is what our media needs presently. In FM radios, in reality and other kind of TV shows, the topic is movies and songs! Your favourite (is it?) VJ or DJ or whoever talks at length about the movies in the past, the new movies released recently, or the future movie projects and educate you the whole day. For them every movie is lovely, beautifully taken, well directed, contains sterling performances! Of course, if you watch those movies you would start crying thinking that you could have better spend that money in a hotel, at least your appetite could have been satisfied. And, we have songs---the movie songs. Why should we listen to them, however lovely they are, for twenty four hours a day? Or, why should we listen to our favourite music 500 times a day? This repetition kills your time and ability to savour it in the back of your mind: it kills your creativity and imagination. Summarizing, entertainments and the need for them take over your time and life, work has become less important, only a means to gather money to spend for entertainments!
Movies: The contemporary movies competes to imitate those movies from the other prominent industries of South India like Tamil and Telugu as well as the Bollywood. I am not talking about plagiarism. That's OK as long as you adapt the story to the Kerala setting; and other languages have copied Malayalam movies many more times than the other way around! I am talking about the imitation of style of direction, technology, action, songs, and visual effects. Why do the contemporary directors want to make the Malayalam movies look and feel like a Tamil/Telugu/Hindi movies? One will imitate the other only if one has no innate character. The Malayalam film industry has proved in the past that it has its own character and originality. Since the beginning they had good movies which were remarkably distinct from other states. Where is the talent going? They say they have to satisfy the audience. This is the direct insult of the audience; they mean that the taste of the audience is mediocre or becoming mediocre. Take good, original movies; the taste will follow! Modern vs old movies: I don't believe that the past was glorious and the present is bad. Rather it is evolutionary. Present life is much better than the past in many ways. However, most of the present movies lack originality and quality compared to some of the the past ones at least in case of Malayalam movies; that is, number of good movies is larger in the past compared to the present. Recently, in an interview, the great actor Mammootty said, he enjoys everything contemporary and new rather than old. At least in case of movies and their quality, I have to disagree with him despite my great admiration to the actor. And, I believe that this temptation to imitate is also a part of the "globalisation"; rather, this is a "local globalisation"!
A remark I must add here is this: recently I read a Malayalam movie critic saying that Tamil movies are becoming better and better compared to Malayalam movies, and Malayalam film makers should learn from Tamil. He cited "Subramaniapuram": this is a proof that we are lacking talented film critics also. Subramaniapuram was a good film compared to many other Tamil movies, but compare it with "Amaram", "Venkalam", "Bharatham" or "Oru Vadakkan Veeraghatha", or at least with "Palunku", "Kazhcha" or "Bhramaram". I believe, in terms of artistic quality, Tamil movies are yet to become comparable with Malayalam movies despite the fact that Malayalam movies are degrading. Tamil movies are ahead Malayalam movies in terms of technical perfection and variety. Malayalis can argue that the audience and market is smaller compared to Tamil, and, hence, budget is smaller, which forces the film makers to rely less on technical perfection.
Law and order: Last week the high-court of Kerala observed that the goons and gangs have become so powerful in the state and criticized the government and the police for lack of effective action. One does not have to know the high-court's observation to understand this; just look into the recent news. Every day, a case of hacking by goons, or the so called "quotation" is coming out of the state, particularly, from the south. The north was infamous for this, and those were, by and large, part of political fights, between the party members, although they used goons for this. However, the recent cases are quite disturbing. They are aimed at common people. Of course, many a time, these "common people" have some political affiliations, too. But, the recent cases include assigning goons and gangs for inflicting violence and vengeance. One peculiar case was a mother settled in Australia, arranging goons to kidnap her daughter who got married without the mother's consent! There are similar cases; just read the news paper. The most prominent case, which the media has focused on, and which they seem to reduce to absurdity is the recent case of the murder of Paul Muthoot. The police, according to the media reports, has some nexus with the goons as some politicians have. This will also reduce the credibility of the police force in the state. Again, there are no strikes to improve these situations; there are some political show-offs every day, that's all!
Conclusion: I just pointed out what I observe about my state in the recent past. And, I have been critical and negative in doing so; I am also responsible for what Kerala is now. Maybe, my short summary would be like this: Malayalis are facing a lot of challenges from within and outside, from social degradation to destructive influence of the entertainment media on the individual; by this I mean destruction of individuality and creativity, not of morality---that is a different matter, which I am too immature to deal with. My suggestion for a solution to Malayalis will be to stand up to these challenges boldly, criticize ourselves affirmatively, and make changes, rather than idly sitting watching the TV the whole day, or reading some junk "arogya masika" (health magazine), which only make you a moron. It may seem impossible, but it is possible.
These are my views, and my views only about Kerala. This is not a comparative study because I don't know much about the situations in the other states; maybe they are even worse, or maybe they are better!
Sandeep Palakkal
The strength of Malayalis: The foremost strength of Malayalis is their general awareness: political, social, cultural, national and international. I am sure that people of no other state can claim this. It comes because of education: Kerala theoretically has 100% literacy rate; truly this must be 99%. Almost all malayalis read newspapers everyday. They are aware of every political issues in Kerala, India and outside. You can hear people talking about "globalization", "free markets" etc. even in small tea shops; this is a clear mark of distinction of Malayalis from any other people in India. In other states, in my experiences and interactions, even the well educated does not know that he is living in a particular economy called capitalism, let alone about globalization!
But..., this is a big but, everything has its negative effects also. Since Malayalis have better general awareness, they are too lazy too. They don't want to produce the necessary things in their own land; they want Telugus to provide them brown-rice (without brown-rice, Malayalis can't live!), and Kannadigas and Tamilans to provide vegetables and fruits. Even a number of spices like red chillies are imported from the neighbourhood states. Onam is Malayalis' most prestigious festival; they decorate homes with flowers on this special day. They want flowers to be imported from Tamil Nadu. Even though water is abundant in the state Malayalis need to buy electricity from the central government and Tamil Nadu. This shows the lack of efficiency of governance and efforts from the Malayali community as a whole to improve living conditions in the state!
My View on Contemporary Life in Kerala:
Work/Business: Agriculture was strong at a time in Kerala. But, as time went by, they got more and more educated, became aware about the system, and learned how to earn more with less effort. Then they gave up agriculture, and started concentrating on consumer based business and services. This is the reason why they have to wait for the Andhra truck to come to eat their favourite brown-rice, or for Tamil truck for vegetables. This is a negative effect of social awareness. And, the technically educated youth relies only upon the IT industry. Now, they want such industries in the state also; they blame the political parties for lack of enthusiasm. Where is the enthusiasm of the people to produce something of their own, at least food?
Politics (the left-wing): The left movements have always influenced political events in Kerala. Even the right-wing Congress party is left in Kerala. Until recently, the competitions between these two major political forces had contributed to the state tremendously, but sadly, no more! Now, left seems to have become more right! And, they seem to offer no more competition! These are my observation as an outsider, hence open to challenge by any one. The recent tussle between the two "groups" inside the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has caused to lose peoples confidence in that party, and the left-wing in general. I don't know where it is going, whether they can overcome this situation and regain the faith of the people. I'm worried about the left-wing because of its influence on me; I always side with the left-wing, if not a left party!
Political Activism: Kerala has always witnessed various political struggles. In the past media as well as the political parties took interest to educate people regarding various issues. Malayalis were at least considered to be highly reactive. Now also they are active: active to get more and more comforts, to drink more and more alcoholic products, to celebrate every banal occasions, but not for improving the situation they are in. If you go to Kozhikode (my own place) most of the roads are in a bad shape. While Malayalis are worried about lack of shopping centers and IT parks, they do nothing to improve the roads, for example. They believe everything will be done by the government. Who is the government? You! the people. There are no strikes to improve the roads, education, etc.
Media (News): Another problem I am concerned about is regarding the media. The media in the state had been very proactive in the recent past, but, again, no more! The mainstream, and most serious Malayalam news paper is "Mathrubhumi". Nowadays, this news paper is only interested in the so called back-door affairs of politics in the state. Whether the news they give is correct or not is another issue. But, why should they be so much concerned with all these junk? It no longer covers most of the national and international issues, why? The visual media is too ugly to talk about! They produce news every single minute and broadcast. People are bombarded with so many unnecessary information every minute so intensively that they are unable to distinguish between what is news and what is not. Most important issues are clumsily dealt with, and most banal are exaggerated. They start by addressing important issues, turn them into gossips and speculation, make them just meaningless debates between the political parties, and, finally, reduce them into nothing---this is called reduction ad absurdum. Every news becomes an absurdity and create, eventually, no effect!
Media (entertainment): Again, regarding audio/visual media: they are sneaking into our life spaces more and more. Most of us are interested in movies and songs. But, why should we always think about them? Well, this is what our media needs presently. In FM radios, in reality and other kind of TV shows, the topic is movies and songs! Your favourite (is it?) VJ or DJ or whoever talks at length about the movies in the past, the new movies released recently, or the future movie projects and educate you the whole day. For them every movie is lovely, beautifully taken, well directed, contains sterling performances! Of course, if you watch those movies you would start crying thinking that you could have better spend that money in a hotel, at least your appetite could have been satisfied. And, we have songs---the movie songs. Why should we listen to them, however lovely they are, for twenty four hours a day? Or, why should we listen to our favourite music 500 times a day? This repetition kills your time and ability to savour it in the back of your mind: it kills your creativity and imagination. Summarizing, entertainments and the need for them take over your time and life, work has become less important, only a means to gather money to spend for entertainments!
Movies: The contemporary movies competes to imitate those movies from the other prominent industries of South India like Tamil and Telugu as well as the Bollywood. I am not talking about plagiarism. That's OK as long as you adapt the story to the Kerala setting; and other languages have copied Malayalam movies many more times than the other way around! I am talking about the imitation of style of direction, technology, action, songs, and visual effects. Why do the contemporary directors want to make the Malayalam movies look and feel like a Tamil/Telugu/Hindi movies? One will imitate the other only if one has no innate character. The Malayalam film industry has proved in the past that it has its own character and originality. Since the beginning they had good movies which were remarkably distinct from other states. Where is the talent going? They say they have to satisfy the audience. This is the direct insult of the audience; they mean that the taste of the audience is mediocre or becoming mediocre. Take good, original movies; the taste will follow! Modern vs old movies: I don't believe that the past was glorious and the present is bad. Rather it is evolutionary. Present life is much better than the past in many ways. However, most of the present movies lack originality and quality compared to some of the the past ones at least in case of Malayalam movies; that is, number of good movies is larger in the past compared to the present. Recently, in an interview, the great actor Mammootty said, he enjoys everything contemporary and new rather than old. At least in case of movies and their quality, I have to disagree with him despite my great admiration to the actor. And, I believe that this temptation to imitate is also a part of the "globalisation"; rather, this is a "local globalisation"!
A remark I must add here is this: recently I read a Malayalam movie critic saying that Tamil movies are becoming better and better compared to Malayalam movies, and Malayalam film makers should learn from Tamil. He cited "Subramaniapuram": this is a proof that we are lacking talented film critics also. Subramaniapuram was a good film compared to many other Tamil movies, but compare it with "Amaram", "Venkalam", "Bharatham" or "Oru Vadakkan Veeraghatha", or at least with "Palunku", "Kazhcha" or "Bhramaram". I believe, in terms of artistic quality, Tamil movies are yet to become comparable with Malayalam movies despite the fact that Malayalam movies are degrading. Tamil movies are ahead Malayalam movies in terms of technical perfection and variety. Malayalis can argue that the audience and market is smaller compared to Tamil, and, hence, budget is smaller, which forces the film makers to rely less on technical perfection.
Law and order: Last week the high-court of Kerala observed that the goons and gangs have become so powerful in the state and criticized the government and the police for lack of effective action. One does not have to know the high-court's observation to understand this; just look into the recent news. Every day, a case of hacking by goons, or the so called "quotation" is coming out of the state, particularly, from the south. The north was infamous for this, and those were, by and large, part of political fights, between the party members, although they used goons for this. However, the recent cases are quite disturbing. They are aimed at common people. Of course, many a time, these "common people" have some political affiliations, too. But, the recent cases include assigning goons and gangs for inflicting violence and vengeance. One peculiar case was a mother settled in Australia, arranging goons to kidnap her daughter who got married without the mother's consent! There are similar cases; just read the news paper. The most prominent case, which the media has focused on, and which they seem to reduce to absurdity is the recent case of the murder of Paul Muthoot. The police, according to the media reports, has some nexus with the goons as some politicians have. This will also reduce the credibility of the police force in the state. Again, there are no strikes to improve these situations; there are some political show-offs every day, that's all!
Conclusion: I just pointed out what I observe about my state in the recent past. And, I have been critical and negative in doing so; I am also responsible for what Kerala is now. Maybe, my short summary would be like this: Malayalis are facing a lot of challenges from within and outside, from social degradation to destructive influence of the entertainment media on the individual; by this I mean destruction of individuality and creativity, not of morality---that is a different matter, which I am too immature to deal with. My suggestion for a solution to Malayalis will be to stand up to these challenges boldly, criticize ourselves affirmatively, and make changes, rather than idly sitting watching the TV the whole day, or reading some junk "arogya masika" (health magazine), which only make you a moron. It may seem impossible, but it is possible.
These are my views, and my views only about Kerala. This is not a comparative study because I don't know much about the situations in the other states; maybe they are even worse, or maybe they are better!
Sandeep Palakkal
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