The landslide followed a night of heavy rain— flooding residential areas, pausing vehicular traffic, and threatening to disrupt Kerala's covid-19 response in nearly every hilly dist. Rescue ops are hit with access difficulties and climate adversities, says Raju. #KeralaRains
Although it has not suffered such a shock before, the landslide region, #Rajamala area in Idukki, was witnessing torrential downpour of more than 30 cm for the last two days. A temp bridge that connected it to the outside world also collapsed in the rains. #KeralaRains
Pettimudi estate in Rajamala, where the landslide has hit, is on the tail end on the way to Eravikulam National Park. It is one of the hardest areas to access in #Kerala, with narrow, unpaved roads deep inside the forest. Also, one of the least developed in terms of healthcare.
*Major
The tea estate labourers, who populate the place, and tribals from Edamalakudy, Kerala's only tribal panchayat deep inside the forest, are at the forefront of rescue ops now. An NDRF team is rushing to the place. 2 medical teams are already in nearby towns, two are on their way.
Local reports say the landslide is likely to have occurred as early as 4 am, but the scale of the damage was only revealed later in the morning when some of the rescued people reported it to the nearest forest officials, walking kilometers away.
Kerala had witnessed a major tragedy in the previous monsoon rains too. In 2018, it witnessed the worst flooding ever, killing 483 people. In 2019, a landslide in Malappuram district resulted in the death of 49 people. livemint.com/mint-lounge/fe…
Another team of NDRF, based in Thrissur, will soon reach Idukki, says CM Vijayan.
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🧵
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
further research stunned me: 1 in 4 adult males in Kerala were interstate migrants. Kerala employed 2.5 million people from Odisha, Bihar, Assam, UP, etc. Soon, they'll be 5 million. We published Great Indian Migration: Kerala's Silent Revolution. However t.ly/Xg9KX
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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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
This is a decisive mandate in favour of Pinarayi Vijayan and his CPM-led government. It’s imp should be viewed in the context that no sitting CM in Kerala was able to get such a result in last four decades.
In fact, so confident was him that he had started work on his swearing-in ceremony yesterday itself. Vijayan 2.0 should take this as a mandate to provide a strong govt. His calculation, but, on the new alliance power by bringing Jose K Mani to the fold failed. Mani is trailing
Raghuram Rajan (in a webinar today): Young people without jobs can be diverted to be this and that for a little while. But they are going to come to the streets if we don’t create jobs. We can use social media, fake news to divert things. But eventually, it is going to fail
On Atmanirbhar Bharat: I don’t know what it is... I want to believe it is the variation of the same (Make In India) theme... (But) if the focus is on import substitution by erecting tariffs then I think it is a direction we have tried before and failed.
On Rating agencies: We can’t be wedded to rating.. I’m not someone who dismisses them.. Part of the prob is we are very good at overspending money in good times...What's the worst if rating agencies downgrade us.. Our prob is money coming in, not money going out..