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

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.

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

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.
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The trend is evident- a red wave is sweeping across Kerala. LDF has 91 seats out of total 140 as of now.
UDF has 47 seats, and NDA has 2-3 seats.

How to read this? Thread

#keralaelections2021 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.

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.

We see that YouTube, FB etc have created a place for misogyny to hide and thrive. We name it. But we don't stop it. Three women in Kerala are done with being polite. Ystdy, they barged into a lodge from where a man was posting vids like "do feminists wear underwear"& punched him. The women are on the pg 1 of probably every newspaper in Kerala today: dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi, activists and former Bigg Boss contestants Diya Sana& Sreelakshmi Arackal. They threw ink& itching powder at him, and created a spectacle by live-streaming the whole thing on FB.

PR Krishnakumar of Coimbatore AryaVaidya Pharmacy has passed away. We shared a puzzling bond; one that had no reason to exist other than his curiosity to connect with young people. It also belied my youthful rage that all great men are ego-maniacs. This is how we met: Thread My father used to have a low-profile work under him in the Coimbatore AVP temple. Once, dad spotted Michel Danino's name in the temple premises and told someone that he had seen this name in a book on my table. Krishnakumar overheard my dad. He asked to meet me.

S.India's small factories are struggling to unlock w/o migrant workers.
Employers are doing everything they can to return migrants.

Some are booking flights. Many are booking buses. Everybody is praying for the return of the trains.
livemint.com/companies/news… I spoke to southern small-biz employers— from Perumbavoor to Tirupur to Peenya—who spent Rs.6k-10k to return their workers from North& North-Eastern states. They offered free flights, buses, accommodation& food.

Shows the hidden costs of not having a public transport.

#AirIndiacrash: 17 dead, rescue operation completed, says #Kozhikode collector Sambasiva Rao: "Rescue operation is completed and all the passengers are taken into safe custody. Out of 190, 110 people are admitted into 7 hospitals in Kozhikode. In that, 11 deaths occurred." 1/4 Collector: Remaining 80 people are admitted in Malappuram hospitals. In that, 6 deaths occurred. (the patients are being admitted to 13 hospitals). Most of those in the front rows seem to be severely injured... (Of the patients) there are a few serious cases also

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An Air India Express evacuation flight from Dubai with nearly 150 passengers skidded off on the runway while landing at Calicut International Airport, according to initial reports. 180 passengers, say some other reports. No official confirmation on causality or injured yet

At least 13 bodies have been recovered from the landslide hit #Munnar's #Rajamala Pettimudi Estate, 16 people said to be rescued& 66 reportedly still missing, as of 4pm.
Meanwhile, 4 districts issued red alert. Evacuation begins in places that are on an edge. #KeralaRains Received from a news group. Locals at the forefront of rescue ops.

Majority tragedy in #Kerala as Munnar labour camp hit with a landslide: 5 said to have died, 10 rescued so far, scores are feared trapped.

Forest min K Raju says the fatalities could increase. About 20 families, nearly 80 people, are feared to be trapped. First visuals show rescue workers walking through blackened thatched roofs that have touched the ground in the soil collapse. #KeralaRains

manoramanews.com/news/breaking-…

Kerala's controversial gold smuggling case, the first in the country where a consignment of gold was seized while moving through a diplomatic route, will be taken over by National Investigation Agency or NIA, citing implications to national security. Foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said: “The Customs Authorities, following established protocol and procedure, have seized a consignment sent from abroad in the name of an official working in the Consulate General of the United Arab Emirates in Thiruvananthapuram."

Malayalam news channel 24-News drops a bomb in #KeralaGoldSmugglingCase. The channel airs a sound clip presumed to be of Swapna Suresh, a prime suspect, speaking from an unknown location. She claims total innocence, alleges that she has become a scapegoat in a political drama. "I had met several top politicians. But they were for my official role. I don't know anyone in the government (personally). They would not remember UAE consulate secretary. Please don't kill me like this," she said, about being rumoured to be a power broker.

Today, 10 years ago— TJ Joseph lost his right hand to fundamentalists. It was a defining moment in Kerala’s tryst with extremism and free speech. I had written about him, as a tale of what you can say in a country which doesn’t promise you absolute freedom
livemint.com/Leisure/4yef4a… He ran from city to city to dodge arrest. But since he could not show papers revealing his identity, he was rejected by motels everywhere, until finally—and rather ironically—he found shelter in a Muslim-run lodge in Palakkad district

Comedy drama that is Kerala politics:

If Jose K Mani, the estranged ally of Cong in Kerala, joins NDA (and even becomes a union min?), he'd be using for bargain his Rajya Sabha seat, which, he was gifted by the Cong. If he joins LDF, they'd have one RS seat more than Cong Kerala Sujith Nair writes about more trivias in his Manorama column today. If the RS polls happen before next yr's assembly polls, Left is in for a jackpot of 7 seats based on their assembly strength. Cong will be reduced to just 2 seats— lower than even BJP's 3 RS MPs from Kerala!

The pregnant #elephantDeath in Kerala may have accidently fallen victim to a trap set for killing wild boars. Now why do people set such fruit bombs for killing wild boars. In search for an answer I checked the legal way to kill a wild boar. It's laughable. Thread The existing law for killing a wild boar is based on a 2011 order, senior journalist KA Shaji, who has covered Kerala's wildlife thoroughly over the years, told me. What does it say? From what he said, it is practically impossible to do it the legal way.

29/May: One more covid-19 death (9 in tot) in Kerala, 62 more patients including two cabin crew of Air India, one health worker and two prisoners.

1,150 recorded cases, 577 active cases, 565 recoveries. Ten more people cured. Deceased: A 65-year old returnee from Kuwait, hailing from Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district, was undergoing treatment at the Kottayam medical college hospital.

28/May: Biggest daily-spike in Kerala till date.

CM: 84 new cases& one death (a Telangana native who mistakenly reached Kerala via train). 3 people recovered.

Except for five people who were infected via contacts, all others came from outside the state. Kerala CM: 31 fresh patients came from overseas, 48 came from other states. The person who died was supposed to travel to Telangana, but on 22 May he boarded the wrong train from Rajasthan& reached Tvm.

State's tally: 1058 total cases, 8 deaths, 526 active cases, 525 recoveries.

23/May: Biggest single-day spike in Kerala's covid-19 cases: 62 new patients. Beats ystdy's another major spike of 42 new cases.

Active cases now 275, from just 16 till 8 May. Worse, 13 new patients infected through contacts, 7 were health workers. But majority of the fresh cases, 49, are imported ones, says the health dept. 18 of them returned from overseas, 16 from West Asia alone. 31 patients came from other states—13 from Maharashtra and 12 from Tamil Nadu.