If you happen to visit Kerala and find men — young and old, educated and uneducated, blue and white collared — lined up in military discipline in front of a store that fills the state’s coffers (read Kerala State Beverages Corporation), you should guess it is ‘hartal’ the next day; not just that, women and children throng the towns to rent pirated CDs to watch favourite movies, and mobile inbox would be flooded with happy hartal messages. These are the harbingers of a hartal day.

You can go around asking the literate Keralites why the hartal and who called it. In all probability, you may not get a proper answer except reactions like, “Wish it was on a Friday or Monday!”(In Kerala, extended weekends come at least once in two months). It pains me to find that the literate State of India is also the most lethargic.

I remember hartals ‘organised’ even by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad over issues such as land ownership in distant Amarnath being a success. The fact that it was a protest called by the right- wing and that BJP workers in the State are not large in number did not deter the hartal spirit. The neighbouring BJP-ruled Karnataka didn’t even know that it was supposed to be a national shutdown, and it continued working.

Every hartal day creates a huge loss for enterprises like the Cochin Shipyard. Hence, Kerala remains a non-investment friendly State with minimal job opportunities, and most 20+ Keralites do not work in the State simply because there is no work there.

Secondly, respect for women and their safety is abysmally low. Beyond seven in the evening, women cannot be found in public transport buses. Having lived in Tamil Nadu for the past two years, I find it safer to travel alone in Tamil Nadu than in Kerala. The number of molestation and rape cases reported is very high. The boozing habit of men in the State adds to the woes. Drunken men beating up their wives is commonplace in rural Kerala. The meagre household income is blown in toddy shops, leaving the women and children in dire conditions. The obsession with dowry and gold to be given away to the girl during marriage is another social stigma. A girl is only as good as the sovereigns of gold that her father can afford.

Thirdly, the real estate boom (read nexus between politicians and builders) has given way to concrete jungles where once paddy saplings swayed. Rapid urbanisation has occurred, malls and flashy retail outlets have mushroomed across the State, thanks to the high purchasing capacity of the non-resident Keralites.

Loss of agricultural land and sand mining are important consequences of this haphazard development. Poorly developed roads deserve a mention here. The approach road to the residential colony where my uncle resides in Gujarat is two times wider and better lighted than NH 47 in Kerala.

The problem of waste management is another issue. There is a dumpyard for garbage en route to the Kochi airport from the heart of the city and the stench emanating from here causes even bus travellers to puke. You can catch the stench one km away from the site! Disposal of hospital waste in water bodies and the non-segregation of waste are other examples.

Lastly, Kerala is deeply entrenched in the caste system. We might have been the State which launched liberation movements and gave birth to souls like Sree Narayana Guru, but from politics to day-to-day lives, the average Keralite is obsessed with his caste. Religious fundamentalist organisations play an influential role, so much so political leaders bow down to them during policymaking debates. Religion and caste are more of an identity than faith in Kerala. Tension erupted in a small town called Perumbavoor, where a cow was slaughtered allegedly by a non-Hindu near the premises of a temple. The “religious wings” of major political parties capitalised on the incident and politicised the issue, polluting social harmony.

Kerala is definitely a serene and literate State with better human development indices than most others but we have our own unique set of problems, which are mostly a product of the attitude or mindset of Keralites.

(The writer’s email is gomathy.aiyer@gmail.com)