Dr.C.J.George FRCS
My roots are in Kerala one of the southern states of India, which boasts the highest literacy in India. In this blog, let me expose the way of life in india, particularly in Kerala. Within weeks India will be overtaking China as the country with the largest population, according to the latest UN projections. Compared to other leading nations, the GDP of India is much higher. India is also not behind when military power, advancement in technology, life science and civilisation are considered.
Normally I go to India at least once a year, but this time I could not go there for the last 4 years, because of the covid travel restrictions. Normally I stay in India 15-20 days only , but this time I stayed in India for 56 days because I had to arrange the wedding reception of my son . My retired status also persuaded me to spend more time.
In this blog, I shall bring out aspects of life which stand out in the region I was born and brought up, and I think many readers might share my appraisal of Indian way of life. Let me summarise that there was no much change since I visited there last. The outlook and attitude of Keralites stand still as rock. Most Keralites,are not independent minded, when it comes to social habits, environment and hygiene. But they are keen on emulating western fashion. If a Keralite acquires some wealth, the first thing he would do is to construct a huge house in their locality as the next door person or a friend does.
The striking aspect in an average Keralite’s life is their stringent adherence to their religion.Most Indians are blind followers of their religious leaders. They impulsively obey what the religious heads order them to do. This habit is not just confined to Muslims and Hindus, but also to Christians. Recently I noticed all parishioners assemble in one house and a priest conducting holy mass. Years back, it was taboo to hold mass any where except in designated altar of the church. It is customary for the head of catholic clergy to emotionally blackmail parishioners, for not obeying his orders, the blackmail includes excommunication. This has far reaching ramifications, including not burying dead bodies in the church cemetery.
In other faiths too, Keralites believers are like in a hypnotized state even in this day and age.In Hindu religion, pujaris or thantris are in charge of leading the religion,who forbid women in child bearing age visiting certain temples. A lot of Hindus still believe in superstitions,black magic and rituals of sacrifice which emanated from Hindu mythology. In extreme cases human beings are sacrificed for the prosperity of an individual or community or to get rid of ill luck. In Muslim religion, imams or mullahs too wield power to keep women under the command of men. I found few people challenging the nasty excesses of religious heads. In a nutshell most of them are like cattle led by a shepherd, when it comes to religion. Political parties of all colours, cash in on this weakness!
In the state of Kerala, especially Thrissur corporation roads are conspicuously appalling on many counts. The roads are with full of potholes as the government give public work contract to sham companies, from whom they receive a kick back. During my stay, I did not find any effort from the side of government to repair the roads. The irony is that either side of these roads with trenches, there are palatial houses. These wealthy people struggle to navigate along each potholes sitting in their expensive Porche, Jaguar, Mercedes and Audi. Previously car travel between Thrissur and Ernakulum was about 90 minutes, but now it has increased to nearly 250 minutes due to sheer traffic and number of vehicles on the road. During monsoon, Kerala gets torrential rain, and the roads then turn into a stream as there is no proper drainage system.
Lack of master planning in Kerala cities is very striking, as roads are very narrow and invariably it becomes impossible for on-coming vehicles to cross each other. There are no pavements or side walks for pedestrians. I do not know why those reasonably rich people construct houses on the either side of such narrow roads. Unlike in the UK, people construct any type and size of houses on either sides of roads, destroying the character of the town. People also can easily set up shops, garages and factories in the residential areas.
I did not have much opportunity to go to government offices this time, but I have heard about staff taking up duty very late and leaving early. As cronyism is common in government offices, customers cannot effectively complain against a staff. However,I encountered an unpleasant experience with a ticket counter staff, when I found the staff on mobile phone talking loudly and laughing. I asked him to stop talking and serve the people as he was getting salary from the government. He pretended not hearing to my comment and after a few minutes he started serving customers, without any apology. Now I am aware that social talk during duty hours was a norm and not an exception in Kerala. Therefore discipline and decorum in government offices have deteriorated since my previous visit.
I have been to botanical gardens in Ooty, where there are many varieties of plants which reminded me of its hey days. The up keep of the gardens was poor and the customer service was not up to the mark. Although India boasts digital payment, in most of the places the staff at the entrance do not accept any form of payment other than cash. Hygiene in hotels especially in Tamil Nadu was appalling and still their water has a saltish taste. The government banned sale of drinking water in bottles smaller than 5 litres.One should be weary of consuming fruits bought from roadside vendors as they are displayed where house flies and insects are rampant. Whilst I was in Kerala, I watched TV news of several death due to food poisoning. Still enforcement by public health officials is tardy as restaurant owners regularly bribe food inspectors.
In the beginning I touched upon the over-population in India, and as a consequence of which even in private hospitals, public transport and in entertainment venues one can see huge crowd jostling to get in. This is a fertile ground for spreading communicable diseases and epidemics. In our flat on the seventh floor, I have not seen any mosquitoes, but in open areas of hotels and houses, mosquitoes come out as bees and bite people.This also aids in spreading various viral and parasitic diseases. In my childhood I remember, municipal workers spraying anti mosquitio chemicals and getting rid of stagnant water. In my flat, ants and cockroaches disappeared after application of certain pesticide.Current Indian government forbid destroying the increased number of stray dogs which was once robustly done by municipal workers in 1960s. The consequence of which increased the incidence of rabies and stray dogs mauling people.
Although there is some reduction in plastic rubbish strewn on roads, there is no reduction in other forms of litter on the road. Most people have not still learnt the habit of putting rubbish in the bin. This is entirely due to ‘copy cat’ phenomenon of average Keralite and the lack of government enforcement. Same is true when one observes driving without observing basic traffic rules like stopping and looking,keeping left on dual carriage way, and over taking dangerously. Although bank ATM machines ask if customer require receipts, they seldom dispense one. Most Keralites feel guilty in asking receipts even for large amount paid in cash for buying ornaments, facilitating black money. invariably, government officials do not reveal their names, and would not put in writing why they took an unfavourable stand. Some of these tardy practices exist to help the officials take bribes.
While a lot of habits have not changed in India, or got deteriorated, the successive governments took a bystander approach. In my view the government enact laws only to ease the administrative burden, but not for common good. However I have seen a number of refined things in everyday life in Kerala. The most important is the ease of getting a tradesmen for a particular job. Searching on google, one can easily get drivers, AC gas fillers, household workers, handymen, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, painters who are thoroughly verified. They do work professionally on time, and few have defrauding tendencies. Unlike here, in India filling station staff fill the fuel and online payment can be made, by touching the card reader while sitting inside the car. Unlike previously, power cut is very uncommon in India. Health care system is far superior in India than in the U.K.Although food and general grocery items are cheaper in india, the quality of food is not as good as in the UK.
In this blog I impartially analysed the pitfalls in the way of life in my sojourn in India and compared it to my previous visit. Basically I find that Keralites are not independent in their thinking. Most of them do exactly what others do, for example buying a manual car instead of an automatic in this day and age. Automatic cars would profoundly ease their driving experience in traffic jams and pot holes. I also find fault with successive governments who are reluctant in enforcing law. I am sure, the way of living in india is unlikely to change as the widely travelled (US, EUROPE, GULF) government ministers who are well aware of the benefits of an orderly disciplined system do not legislate to change the system.
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