Who will rule Kerala? The coastal voters have a decisive role in answering this question. And among these voters, there are more women than...
Who will rule Kerala? The coastal voters have a decisive role in answering this question. And among these voters, there are more women than men.
During election campaigns, most roadshows, rallies and so on are organised in the coastal areas. Every time, without fail, the political parties arrive with grand promises. But once the elections are over, they disappear into thin air, say the fishers.
“Are we not humans too?” Benedict Mary said, weeping. “Should our children not have secure lives? The government must help us. This – this living inside a school isn’t sustainable. The government must give us at least two cents (less than 900 square feet).” She has been living for the last seven months in the relief camp in St Roch’s Convent school in Valliathoppu, Thiruvananthapuram.
Kochuthoppu is one of the fishers’ villages that lie between the celebrated beaches of Shankumugham and Kovalam. That was the location of Mary’s home, a house called Karunai Illam. In the last week of August 2020, Karunai Illam’s foundation collapsed into the sea. Around 15 houses were destroyed that week.
At the same time, Covid-19 was spreading like wildfire along Thiruvananthapuram’s coastal regions. In the middle of the pandemic, Mary and nearly a hundred others became refugees...
