Tamil Nadu is a land of comedies. No story ends without a happy ending unless you are a marginalized person living on the edges of the society. On April 22nd the farmers of Tamil Nadu has protested against the Modi government drinking urine to exhibit the plight into which they have fallen. They have started off the protest four days ago eating rats to symbolically say the famine times are there and they deserve a loan waiver and help. The farmers whose plights are neglected by the government and the society have no other recourse but to go for the bizarre to invite attention. In a land where the yogis go naked and perform bizarre poojas, even such demeaning things may not catch the attention of powers that be. For the farmers it is life and death but the Tamil Nadu government is also not sitting idle to help them. On the same day, a venerable minister of Tamil Nadu has floated thermocol in the dam bed to stop evaporation of the water. It is a ten lakh project which may evaporate without succeeding in the endeavor.
We would think Kerala where every politician is trolled and best known for their satirical versions in TV lampoons are far behind in such comical deals. Recently the state planned to go for cloud seeding which are practiced somewhere in the world. in Tamil Nadu where it was practiced has not resulted in water and surely it would have created a big hole in the pie of the government. Somehow better sense prevailed and it didn’t happen in Kerala. Now the electricity board is planning to cloud-seed the land around the Idukki dam where the water levels are lower and may not last for this summer.
It is said that cloud seeding and thermocol use has been found successful or there are so many research papers supporting them. I doubt it but I am not a person to question scientists but one thing is certain. They may not have the common sense or their experiments are conducted in a different milieu. Kerala which has a recurring weather pattern except for certain aberration do not call for thermocol or cloud-seeding experiments at least now.
Unlike Tamil Nadu which does not have much rivers and water is a rare commodity, Kerala is blessed with rivers and good monsoons. Should we go for the comical but try to make use of our potential as a big catchment area of heavenly showers? Why can’t we store them, why can’t we have judicial use of water?
But for water and the land, we may go for the most comical of the things as we do not know when all good things would come to an end.
Today the petroleum minister offers petrol on call to home. But any government which has vast wherewithal with them could offer such a bonanza of water for all. Perhaps they would hand over plastic buckets to store water as has been done during the emergency to control the population or real thermocol to keep water from evaporating. Hope water would be there.
Or isn’t better to ask faith groups like Spirit of Jesus to pray for us and give a cross for all instead of water?
P.S. Joseph is a former Editor at India Today Malayalam
