Weekend snippets from Kerala.

Kerala continues to baffle me with the type of incidents that seem to be taking place very often. Has the malayalee become more of an introvert and thereby become heartless? I think we’re slowly living up to the reputation of ‘God’s own country’ inhabited by ‘devil’s own people’.


1. Violence in Kannur.

As the first phase of elections to the local bodies has been completed, there have been reports of widespread violence in the northern most district of Kannur(Cannanore). The district boasts of a communist influence but of late, especially against the backdrop of the last Lok Sabha polls, the Congress seems to be gaining ground. This has caused enough heartburns amongst grassroots workers and the resultant tension is all the more palpable.

The paradox is that Mullappally Ramachandran , the MoS for Home Affairs in the union cabinet is ready to depute central forces for bolstering security but Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the state’s Home Minister and a CPM man, says that his police force is adequate but the stories about their errors and omissions keep piling up. Sadly, mindless violence has become the order of the day.


2.And again in Naadapuram.

Naadapuram is poised to go to polls tomorrow and it happens to be a Muslim dominated area. There has been poll related violence with opposing sides hardening their stands. Thankfully, the government has taken quick and effective steps to bring the situation under control but how I wish that the concerned people had taken the intelligence reports seriously, much before!


3.Do we have a heart at all?

K Ayyappan, the poet had died the most unfortunate death on a street of Thiruvananthapuram when he was hit by a vehicle, last Thursday. Since he was a loner, his body was being preserved in the morgue of a hospital in the city. Initially, it was announced that his funeral would take place over the weekend with full state honours. But the joke is that the ceremony has been postponed till the last phase of elections is over as all the ministers are busy. What a shame and what gross disrespect to a departed soul?

I hang my head in shame because as a malayalee I must share the blame for being disrespectful to a corpse along with all those heartless guys who took that unfortunate decision.