Along the road we came across Anju and Annson. They were waiting for their parents to arrive back from work. Their Mother works with the Public Works Department and their Father is a tailor.

They were painting on, and colouring in little faces to empty eggshell cases. We admired their creative handy-work only to find the eggshell faces pushed towards us as a gifts ? mementos of our brief time in Idukky. They are ampngst the most prized possessions we have gathered so far. But, it's become quite a task to keep them fully intact!

 

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The Newspaper Enthusiasts
Vattamedu, Idukki

In every shop, teashops (chaikadais) or restaurants people are reading newspapers. Each village appears to have access to five or six different newspapers. Newspapers are aplenty – mainstream newspapers, political party broadsheets to tabloids (minus the 'editorial on Page 3 popular in the UK). Many people we saw appeared to read several newspapers – perhaps, the staple of party newspaper followed by a mainstream newspaper. Discussions that follow in the teashops could rival that on TV chat shows! 'Deshabhimani' (The Patriot) – the Communist Party broadsheet and 'Veekshanam' – the Congress Party organ and Janmabhoomi, (the Birthplace) – the BJP's paper and Chandrika (the Moon) of the Muslim League have assured readerships. For the less politically charged reader, the diametrically opposite analysis of the same news in each of these papers could provide much amusement. On top of this, the mainstream newspapers such as Malayala Manorma (the largest selling newspaper in Kerala with a readership of over 10 million!), Mathrubhoomi (7 million) and Kaumudi compete for mindspace. Local, national, international events, and graphic descriptions of murders and suicides vie for the attention of the Malayalee reader. In football crazy Kerala, World Cup countdowns are slowly spreading across the pages. English Newspapers such as the Hindu and New Indian Express are also popular, but more so in the towns than in the villages. In politically conscious Kerala, newspapers are indeed a favorite pastime. No wonder, that Kerala has the highest penetration of newspapers in India. Kerala apparently has 1576 newspapers and a readership of 70% according to the National Readership Survey of 2002 ! Interestingly, despite the popularity of TV channels, newspaper readership in Kerala remains high.

Peter, Desmond and Robin

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