Nidheesh M K Profile picture
Aug 10, 2019 14 tweets 4 min read Read on X
#KeralaFloods Saturday: Water receding in parts, including from Kochi airport, but floods far away from over. Rescue and relief operations going on across the state. CM says: 80 landslides. 42 deaths, 11 in Wayanad alone. 108138 from about 30000 families in relief camps.
CM: In Wayanad, rains have reduced, but it is supposed to intensify after noon. 24990 families are in relief camps. Banasura Sagar dam shutters will be opened after 3pm (Saturday). Will release water moderately, but people on both sides of the river bank should be vigilant.
Kerala to airlift food supplies. CM: In Malappuram, 200 families and some officials are stuck. There is no difficulty for getting food supplies now, but we are expecting trouble over the coming days. Bcoz the connectivity is cut. We will need to airlift food using helicopters.
Wayanad's peril: 11 killed, 24990 families displaced (official figs as of Saturday first half). Banasura Sagar dam to be opened after 3pm. Roads, the only connectivity there, flooded across the dist. A fresh landslide reported in Rannimala. Rahul Gandhi to reach on Sunday
Dam stats. CM said that Idukki dam was 98.27% full on this day in 2018, now it is only 35%. Likewise, Pampa dam was 99% full last year on this day, only 60.62% now.
Lavanya, eight months pregnant, rescued from Attappadi. Incredible! Image
When the story gets personal. Just spoke to my aunt in Kerala's Clt, whose neighbourhood is flooded. She broke down over the phone, asking if she'd lose her house. She built that house selling appams. Woke up 3am everyday, toiled until the day break. Did we fail her as a society?
#Kerala needs to do some plainspeaking. We need rainfall predictions for every valley, hill& river— not the dist& state avg dolled out— the geo is that diverse. In Clt (on red alert) my house has power 24*7, no flooding. But relatives in low lying areas just kms away are flooded.
People need to be told about floods in their vicinity, and moved to camps, days ahead. Not after the rains begin. This is easier said than done. It's hard to convince abt leaving her livelihood behind& move to a camp, unless perhaps it's the impact can be demonstrated in advance.
We need a task force to implement env codes (there's no shortage of laws), master plans for dists (there isn't any now), and a dept of climate change that has some teeth, that can issue punishment. Alas, wouldn't dams be better managed by one center for all?
These does not exist not just in #Kerala but across India. But when we brought land reforms in 1957, build public schools, hospitals, literacy campaign, decentralisation, panchayati raj insts, Kudumbashree, where these heard of anywhere else? When did we stop pioneering in ideas?
Banasura Sagar opened. Tens of thousands evacuated in advance. A fresh landslide reported from Malappuram's Kavalappara-Bhoothanam, where rescue operations have been underway after one of the biggest landslides in this monsoon.
Rains would be lesser on Sunday, except in Wayanad, Kannur and Kasargod which will be on red alert. Image
#KeralaFloods2019 46 deaths, 1.45 lakh displaced: data from disaster management cell (Saturday, 5.30pm). Image

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More from @mknid

May 24
Anasuya Sengupta, who grew up in Kolkata and studied at Jadavpur University, has become the first Indian to win the Cannes Best Actor award.

"The Shameless," directed by Konstantin Bojanov, seems like a film mainstream Bollywood wouldn’t dare to finance or act in.

It looks🧵 Credit: @cup_o_t on IG
at the harsh reality of a Delhi brothel, through the eyes of a woman on the run, acc to reports. The movie faced endless delays& financial nightmares before #Cannes2024.

Bojanov told The Hindu: “There were points when I nearly gave up on the film”. Tanmay Dhanania, one of the
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May 8
About fifty years ago, he was a man in a remote part of Kerala who had nothing to lose but his farmer father's dozen ducks.

He exited a US class action lawsuit in 2019 for $37 million.

Years ago, this is how I began my pitch to an editor to do a profile about him. A 🧵
I was fascinated by him.

In 2003, he formed Believers Church, where he was practically the Pope.

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Aug 15, 2023
A story about journalistic curiousity, epic homes and 2000km bus rides to work.

Years ago, I came across this data: 7-9% of Kerala's middle- and low-income workforce disappears during Bihar's Chhath festival. After months of my editor pressing me to write about this, I dove in🧵 Image
It was relatively an easy story. As a Malayali, this was my lived reality. Migrant workers were everywhere in Kerala, from your neighborhood tea chettan to carpenter to fishermen to front office staff. They were so common that Churches held Sunday masses in Odia, Hindi etc. But
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Mar 7, 2023
Ordinary people who stand up for liberal causes despite opposition have my admiration. Here's one such story. C Shukoor, who made you laugh in #NnaThaanCaseKodu, is remarrying his wife of 29 years, Sheena, on this Women's Day. Why? It's political defiance to a 7th century law.
Under Muslim Personal Law in which he married first, his daughters will receive two-thirds of his money. The family's men would get the rest. Shukoor, a practicing Muslim, believes Islamic law as applied in Prophet Mohammed's day should not influence his daughters' inheritance.
He's remarrying Sheena Shukoor under the Special Marriage Act on Women's Day as a solution. He says it's not money but about respecting Article 15 of the Constitution, which says the State shall not discriminate any citizen on the ground of gender.
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Sep 14, 2022
When an expat Malayali called home his parents ystdy, they had an obvious matter to discuss— the death of French filmmaker Godard. Why?

His father, a 70s Kerala film society product, had named him after Godard. His brother was named Fellini (who is a Malayalam filmmaker now) 🧵
Who was Godard for Keralites?

Half a dozen Malayalam books, several regional film fests (there was one even in Dec in Kannur)& vernacular magazine covers were dedicated to him. Radical Left film society devotees of 70s-80s pride themselves in saying, there is no God, only Godard
He’s venerated for showing what he showed in movies like Hail Mary. In Kozhikode, we were brought up on a steady supply of Godard diet by the likes of Chelavur Venu (a leader of film society movement). It was a pleasure to bunk classes for it.
Read 8 tweets
Jul 15, 2021
Modern Malayalam movies wouldn't have been made without the suffering of coastal towns like #Beemapally in Trivandrum, which partly inspired #FahadFasil-Mahesh Narayanan's #Malik. It was also where modern Kerala had its worst bloodletting. It is quite a story.
Thread
Let's begin with Beema Beevi, believed to have magical powers to heal the sick& related to Prophet Mohammed's family. Her son Maheen Mohammed converted lower caste Hindus to Islam. A Hindu king killed him in a bloody battle. Unable to work through her sorrow, she died soon.
2/n
Her followers immortalized her by giving her name to the town and building Beemapally Dargah Shareef—an architectural marvel, an imp pilgrim center, and also a big tourist attraction in Trivandrum. The annual Uroos there is celebrated to commemorate her death anniversary.
3/n
Read 20 tweets

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