God's Own Country, Devil's Own People

"There was no space in hell, so we came back - FUMS".

This is what was (is) written on the blue cupboard in room no 5, Agate Hostel. FUMS stands for F@#$%d Up Mallus, thats what we the 2001 batch called ourselves. Well this arrogance you can see in most of the Mallus, whichever part of the globe you find them. Be it a Mallu living in Kannanmoola or Koramangala, in New Jersey or Tripunithara New Town (if there is somethign like that). They carry this air of being the most notorious as well as the most well-heeled section of the society they live in.

It is true that there is no rural area in Kerala, every adult in this state can write and read, the most number of Skodas get sold in this state, in human development index the parameters are comparable with any developed European country etc etc. But so does the state top in suicide rate, educated unemployed people and most number of people suffering from mental illness etc etc. Somehow the positives outweigh the negatives.

I have not seen a more politically motivated state. Now being the election time, there are news floating thick and fast on the latest controversies, scandals, seat adjustments, chat show with your area candidate etc etc. My family has an inclination towards the left and though I criticise them at home, I wuld prefer the LDF to win than the UDF. At home I have heard the latest crtitcism of the incumbent Chief Minister, be it his policies or him secretly fillinh his Swiss bank accounts with Treasury money. This is an interesting case of some really non-political way fighting elections. The lady in question is a firebrand SFI activist who got injured in the police attack against students last year. She was the face of that protest.

And to top it I went and saw a political movie in the afternoon. Had gone to see another movie, saw the crowd outside and decided to see a movie in more peaceful surroundings. And I dont rememeber how many political movies I would have seen in Malayalam with some reference to the current political scenario in the state. Most of the actors have brought to life a lot of characters from the political scenario. I have see a lot of movies with the heroes being the brave Communists and the villains the British or the corrupt Congress. I wonder why there are no movies with any Congress hero!!! My favourite political movie in Mallu is still "Lal Salaam", with Mohanlal playing the character of Netturan.

I think education can be linked to awareness and that is proportional to the news-saviness of this state. I have not seen people in any other state discussing Politics and Football in tea shops, trying to watch the 6PM, 9 PM and 12 Midnite news of 2-3 different channels. I want to vote in this election and this would be the first time I would be participating in the election process of my country. I wonder why they have postal ballots only for the Military. A good percentage of the educated youngsters in this counry are not in their home-state/city and hence lose out on voting.

Lal Salaam.