Chapter 2 : The Tale of Thalanayar

Place : Thalainayar (Nagappatinam District, Tamil Nadu)

Date : 22nd July, 2013

         Thalainayar is a Town Panchayat in the district of Nagappatinam (For people who remember the Tsunami of 2004, Nagappatinam district had the maximum number of casualties in Tamil Nadu.) This is a story of a tiny village in this Panchayat, Santhantheru, whose residents have no food, no drinking water and absolutely no money. This village gets flooded for three months every year and the residents are put up in a nearby school, where close to a hundred families live together with inadequate food and space. The floods take away both the lives and livelihood of these poor people who rely totally on agriculture for their food. 

 "Once a year, our village gets flooded. The houses get washed away, there will be snakes moving around and dead bodies floating around us. We will not have time for anything, we just pick up our children and swim to the nearby school where they would put us up for three months." - says Lakshmi, a resident. The normalcy with which these words were uttered is quite haunting and their situation, almost unimaginable.

    

Ploughed land waiting for rain

     Most of the agriculture done in this part of Tamil Nadu is rain-fed and yes, it seldom rains. When it does rain, the rain water and sea water together displace the entire village. The village does not have any irrigation facilities and laying bores is meaningless because the groundwater is mostly salty. There has been very little farming in the past ten years and as a direct consequence, there has been very little money as well for the past ten years. To add salt to their wounds, the village has been converted from Village Panchayat to Town Panchayat (because of the growing size and population) which implies that they don't get the benefits of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and hence, no alternate source of income. Just to put things into perspective, the average annual income of a family here is Rs. 10,000 (that's around $166.66, less than a dollar a day!).

      Although the households don't have food or water, each house has a color television, thanks to our politicians. Lakshmi makes a very valid point when she asks "What's the point of a TV? Can we eat it?" Typically, a family runs on the very little money the woman makes. In spite of the lack of funds, the men drink alcohol with whatever money they earn. "Once they see the money, they forget that they have families and that they have to bring home some money. Their priority is to drink, with even the little they make" say Shanthi, who has quite visibly been affected by an alcoholic husband. It is not much of a surprise that the political parties buy votes with a few bottles of liquor in rural Tamil Nadu. Democracy is neatly mixed, bottled and sold. 

The women's "support" group

    There is a Women's support group present in Thalainayar, whose main job is to provide loans for women and help in improving their living condition. "We provide awareness to women about hygiene and provide loans upto Rs.6,000 for women to help them build toilets in their houses." says K. Dhanabagyam, a field agent in this organization for almost ten years. Just when you think there is some hope left in this village, she says "We charge an interest of 26 per cent on these loans." TWENTY SIX PERCENT!! These villagers have no means of livelihood, meanwhile this organization is sucking the blood out of them. When asked why they charge so much (Banks offer loans at 6%-10% interest), she says, "With us, there is not much hassle and no waiting time." Lets call a spade a spade, this is merely a business, not a support group. They do not provide awareness on health or usage of sanitary pads or equality. Just out of curiosity, I asked the women of Santhanatheru if they think they are equal to men. There was a long pause, some giggling and then, a subdued response, "Men and women here live in peace."

     In spite of all the difficulties, the people have made sure that their kids go to school. The village school has classes only upto eighth grade, but they are determined to send the kids to the nearby town for further studies. A few people have managed to send their kids to college as well and try to make a living out of the little money their kids send from the cities.  The "Midday Meal Scheme" is quite successful here and is keeping the kids at school. In the wake of recent controversies surrounding the meal program, this particular village and its people (especially the teachers) have made sure that the safety of the students is their top priority. 

The privileged masses of India is not aware of the difficulties faced by the bottom 22%. We read about "them" in the newspapers and see "them" on television. For us, "they" are merely a statistic. But to see these guys in flesh and blood and hear their problems is an extremely moving (even haunting) experience. The villagers are quite convinced that we will never understand their problems. Maybe we never will. But lets at least start trying?

The residents of Santhanatheru, Thalainayar

Chapter 1 - An attempt to discover India

This is my entry for “Travel That Moved me” contest, in support of Rang de, conducted by desi Traveler .

Place : Aalapalayam (50km North of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu)

Date : 25th June, 2013

Barren, uncultivated land

In the past few months, I have often asked myself the question "What do I consider to be a privilege in my life?" The answer seemed to be obvious "food, shelter and education." Now that I think about it, this might have been a very shallow response from a guy sitting inside an AC room, oblivious to the actual hardships of the world. How about eating your food without the stench of an exposed drainage that runs around your house? How about a house whose roof falls on your head with every rainfall? How about the absence of an avenue to dispose your dead ones? 

The wells have dried up

A village which relied on agriculture about 15 years back, has gone completely barren. An entire generation of farmers, like the profession, has become weak and fragile. Lack of rain and the ineffectiveness of a corrupt Bureaucracy has landed these helpless people in their current predicament. The local body, namely the Gram Sabha, is the organization that has to make sure money from the State Government reaches these unfortunate souls. But corruption in every level of our bureaucracy has hampered our growth and sustenance, in some cases even mere existence. Farming has taken a back step in this village, mainly due to the lack of rain and irrigation facilities. Wells are the only other source of water and most of them have dried up. Furthermore, the cost of cultivating a piece of land (say 5-6 acres) costs about a lakh and half in Indian rupees and the farmers barely break even if they don't incur losses.

The dairy tyrant

So automatically, the people have started looking at alternate modes of income, like selling milk (from the very few cows that they own) and construction work. "The local dairy mart buys milk from us at Rs.18 a litre and sells it at Rs.28. When I went and asked the guys for a raise of Rs.2 per litre, the guy in-charge reduced the price to Rs.17.50 out of anger" says Muthusamy, a former farmer. "I have now decided to give up selling milk as well, as I incur a loss on that as well." 65-year old Muthusamy, like his brothers, owns a land of 6 acres which lies barren and uncultivated presently.

Women employed under MNREGA laying a mud road

 The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) has ensured that most of these guys have at least 100-150 days of employment in a year at a wage of Rs.140 a day. "Its easier than farming and pays the same. So people don't want to do farming anymore." Says Selvi, Muthusamy's daughter, who has completed her B.Ed, but has not been able to find a job. The average savings of a person in the village is a staggering low figure of Rs. 4000.

Open, stagnated sewage line around the house

The tiny graveyard

Every house in the village has a color television (thanks to Karunanidhi) and a mixer/grinder (thanks to "Amma") although there is hardly any electricity. "Every man in the village has a cell-phone, TVS-50 and a color TV" says Selvi. Under the present regime, rice is given for free in the Ration shop. She says that during Karunanidhi's regime, a couple of street lights were installed  (which are clearly hidden from plain-sight) and a road was laid. So they keep voting for the DMK party. "All I got under Amma's regime was my hip surgery" laughs Muthusamy. A Tasmac is closer to the village than a departmental store. Hospitals are even farther. Most houses don't have toilets or a bath, the village doesn't have a common toilet or a bathroom. The worst part is the houses that are surrounded by an open, stagnated drainage (sewage line) which automatically attracts flies and mosquitoes. Also the stench, oh my God, the stench! Its inhuman for people to eat, sleep and live with coagulated sewage a few feet away. Another common complaint is the absence of a graveyard for the village. The people have dedicated a very small piece of land (fits 4-5 bodies at most) for this purpose where they burn/bury the bodies. "It is extremely inconvenient. We have begged and pleaded in the Panchayat, but they don't seem to care. We don't have place to bury the bodies, and when it rains, we just leave the body out in the open and go back to the huts" sobs a woman who recently lost her husband.

The village is a good 3km inside from the main road and there are no street lights present, which means after sunset, people cannot walk safely on the streets. There are some more villages further inside, which don't even have roads leading to them. Add to this the lack of adequate public transportation to get to a nearby town, it presents a very grim situation. A situation which is extremely difficult to imagine and even harder to digest.

Muthusamy and his family                      

These people need our support, they need a more humane form of existence. I would like to strongly urge the reader to give a moment of thought about the privileges we have in our life, which we take for granted and sometimes even abuse. Mr. M.K.Gandhi once said that India lives in her villages. A careful observation or even a mere glance suggests that, today, India and her people barely survive in her villages. Lets shrug off our laziness and do whatever we can, in our limited power, to help the people, our fellow human beings.

TAMIL NADU UNDER ARREST

For all that is right and wrong in the world, fair and unfair, true and false, there is one singular thing which is always unbiased. FACT. It is an established fact that the Al-qaeda is an Islamic organization, that most members (if not all) are Muslims. Now here is a point which is lost, NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS, MOST AL QAEDA MEMBERS WHO HAVE BEEN CAUGHT ARE MUSLIMS. It is a very important distinction that has been lost among the handful protesting Kamal Hassan's "Vishwaroopam". The movie has nothing to do with Muslims living in Tamil Nadu. The movie is based in AFGHANISTAN, for crying out lout.

Now, Tamil Nadu has been the most secular of states in India and there is absolutely no denying that. These radical fundamentalist parties which have shown their ugly side, have cropped up very recently. It may be the Puthiya Thamizhakam, Hindu Mahasabha, Shiv Sena or the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, it is extremely important to note that not one of these parties have improved the living conditions for people. These parties have become popular by just opposing anything that "hurts" their sentiments. And the Government has always entertained their inability to take any imagined offence by restricting the freedom of expression of the opponent party. May it be M.F.Hussain, Salman Rushdie or Kamal Hassan, justice has been denied to them and is an undeniable truth.

Article 19 (1.a) of the Constitution of India says “All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression.” This means the protestors have all the right to protest the movie, as much right as Kamal Hassan has in making and releasing this movie. However Article 19 (1.b) of the Constitution says “All citizens shall have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms.” Throwing petrol bombs into theaters, tearing down screens, burning images of the artist, etc is in clear violation of the constitution and law. Has there been adequate action taken to quell these violent acts? No. If a Government is scared of riots, then it should prepare itself to suppress the riot, not suspend constitutional rights.

Now the TMMK. There have been so many “Kazhagams” of late in Tamil Nadu, that it is really difficult to keep track of what they stand for. This one is the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam. This party has not had a voice in the governance of the state till January 2013. A little investigative research (Wikipedia) would show that the TMMK has been an avid supporter of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which in turn is directly linked to Indian Mujahideen (remember 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts?) and Al-qaeda (Needs no introduction). The leaders of the TMMK themselves have been arrested in connection to the 1998 Coimbatore bombings. But the Tamil Nadu Government has given this extremist group recognition by backing its’ claims and taking the onus upon itself to go as far as obtaining a stay order on the High Court order to release the movie. So clearly the buck does not stop with the TMMK protests.

So is there a political underlining to this entire drama? DMK patriarch M.Karunanidhi latched on to the opportunity to blame his opponent, Chief Minister Ms.J.Jayalalithaa, saying that the latter is against Kamal Hassan because the veteran actor supported P.Chidambaram for Prime Minister, at a recent book release function. Other sources indicate that the TV rights for the movie went to another channel (Vijay TV) though the ADMK-supported channel bid for it. So that might have made the Chief Minister angry. Of course, all these are speculations; if there is any truth to these, then “Rajnikanth” save Tamil Nadu. But the very fact that the Tamil Nadu Government has ignored the orders of the Censor Board, High Court, The Constitution of India and the requests of the Central Govt and above all the People (who have come out in huge numbers) to lift the ban on the movie, indicates that either the Chief Minister is ready to go to any extent to play Vote-Bank politics or she is ready to cater to a group of minority radicals to prove that her state is secular.

Either way, this episode has managed to defame the moderate Muslim community of the state and has taken away secularism from Tamil Nadu, where once, the Pakistan team had a victory lap after their victory over India. All that remains now is Pseudo-secularism and a sinking feeling of injustice done to one of the greatest artistes of the state.