God's Own Country

In Kerala, it is easy to orientalise.

It is also easy to ponder Marxism and God, red flags and Syrian churches line the streets.

She had written it as so:

"Marxism was a simple substitute for Christianity. Replace God with Marx, Satan with the bourgeoisie, Heaven with a classless society, the Church with the Party, and the form and purpose of the journey remained similar. An obstacle race, with a prize at the end." - God of Small Things


An "underclass revolution", women's emancipation, and redemption from caste-based discrimination - such were the hopes, no? But now it is about the SEZs and the call centers and the development of the IT sector and the torture of human rights defenders.

As we carve out little but growing parts of India where the Constitution need not apply for the sake of foreign investment, we throw away a little bit of our sovereignty for the sake of development. We uproot and displace but legitimise by aggravating communal conflicts, "well, they were fighting anyway!" we say.

In Kerala, upon the waters at Kovallam beach, in a state so politically engaged with a strong human rights movement, it is easy to question rhetorically.