GUNTHROAT

Kerala is like the mega serials which are popular here. Not viewing multiple episodes will in no way affect the understanding of the story. Life in here is so predictable(Its very notorious for being the nightmare of IT professionals working around the country. The most non vibrant city in the country is thankfully mine). Kerala is famous for its reluctance to join the new india bandwagon. When sprawling flyovers and highways are coming up all around the country we still have the worst roads. I must confess that i found it like defending the devil when I had an argument with my cousin ( who happen to cater a strong dislike towards this place) over the future prospects of my state. Why we couldn’t live up to the expectations of the country? We were expected to have a growth comparable to the west or the asian tigers after our remarkable achievements in health sector and primary education. I will try to put down my analysis for this pathetic performance of kerala.

1. Today morning my mother(who happen to be a teacher in a govt school) got a call from a parent . She asked whether there would be regular classes today. She said a student had committed suicide and thought classes would be cancelled as usual. I am not blaming any political party for conducting bandhs or hartals. It is the aspirations and wishes of the public that these outfits are fulfilling. Keralites hate to work in kerala( cliché statement for many keralites). I remember my father regularly checking the health of prime ministers and presidents in the hope of getting a holiday in case they die( though he was the hard working type when in service unlike me). These days general strikes have become more like onam and vishu with channels broadcasting the latest movies and liquor outlets running out of stock on the day before hartal. Recently we made the hartal protesting the Amarnath issue a grand success with as much zest as Kashmiris themselves. I remember days of strike against power tariff hike by the youth wing of Marxist party ( with ubiquitous vandalism of this outfit). Now it is the turn of congress party with surcharge increased by 50ps for every unit. What amuses me is the deafening silence of the youth wing that vigorously opposed previous hikes. The bottom line is why stall the production in the state if both parties know that hikes are inevitable.
2. There is a story about Lalu Prasad Yadav when he was the chief minister of Bihar. He was visited by an angry group of villagers who complained about the pathetic condition of roads in their villages. Lalu answered by saying that these roads are useless for ordinary peasants like ‘us’ as we use bullock carts! The same attitude reflects in the attitude of mallus in their attitude towards roads here with a small difference. What difference does it make to me if a I am going to gulf next year( Bangalore these days). Places like Trichur( which used to have prosperous industries) are fast becoming holiday homes for retired people. The most profitable business here is shockingly real estate(which results in lazy millionaires).
3. We fear foreign aid and investment as it is another form of masqueraded east india company with the horn of imperialism. I wonder if ever that is the case don’t we have the power and smartness to make these investors toe our line like what we did with smart city (I appreciate the CM for being smart in this case)

I can unequivocally say that if we change,all the political parties will change( though they don’t wish to). If we stop celebrating strikes, if we stop yearning for holidays, if we stand together against bad roads and poor universities our state will grow. If not we can blissfully read newspapers in Chayakadas( with our version of an issue) and migrate to gulf afterwards to do our traditional job of serving the world.