This year 2020 has been unlike any other. It has impacted every single person in the World one way or the other. Every one of us has been pushed out of our comfort zones and forced to do things just so that we can survive this tumultuous year. On some level, the pandemic has been a sort of intervention the World needed to get it's act right. Though some might argue that nothing much really has changed and that we continue to live the rat race, the truth is that it has definitely let us look at things from a different perspective.
The fact that a lot of people of my generation have been in Kodagu because of the pandemic has given a fresh impetus to the fight to save the cultural and ecological legacy of Kodagu. Traditional festivals have been celebrated with all its pomp and glory, practices that were long forgotten has seen a resurgence with the old and the young guiding and working with each other to make things happen. Some mandhus were reopened after a long time during this Puthari, Karano kodpa was held with all its glory despite fewer people attending it due to the pandemic, elected representatives stood up for the younger generation who walked up to the birth place of our mother, Kailpod was celebrated in individual houses and for once whatsApp forwards was about the significance of the festival and not just about pork and alcohol. On the ecological front, though one cannot deny that a lot of land has been converted in the recent past to make layouts; we have also seen volunteers and organisations taking part in afforestation drives or conducting random clean up drives in different parts of Kodagu and irresponsible citizens being pulled up for throwing garbage by alert citizens. While a lot of it has been in the works for quite some time, this pandemic has made the process a lot more inclusive than what it would have normally been.
There has been positives in the economic front as well. Be it artisanal coffee or nicely packaged bird eye chilli or products manufactured by women self help groups or home chefs with their bakes & pickles; all of them have started to get their share of the spotlight.
All of the above will not be much if we do not take control over our immediate surroundings. Gandhiji rightly said that the strength of India lies in its villages. As we end this dramatic year, we have a chance to take that control that we have always been talking about. As a new set of office bearers take over the Panchayats in each of our villages, it's time for us to let go of our egos, our political ideologies and work with our Panchayats to ensure that we protect, preserve and propagate the rich cultural and ecological legacy that our ancestors left behind for us.
We often complain of not being politically relevant as a district since we have only 2 MLA's and a Half MP but each of us belong to a Village or a town in Kodagu. These Panchayats are there because of us and not the other way around. Let us start participating in local governance and ensure that our Panchayats implement all schemes effectively. Let our elected representatives understand that we will not be taken for a ride anymore and that they can't play us against each other for their personal benefits. Instead, let us make our villages self reliant through the proper implementation of all schemes and programs; be it good roads, Swacch Bharath programs or power and water supply to name a few. Let the tourism policies be decided from the village level by the active involvement of the people of the village instead of big resorts and real estate mafia dictating terms on what should be done. Let the Panchayats be empowered enough to stand up for the citizens of the Village against man- Animal conflict or crop loss due to natural disasters or disastrous weather patterns or helping farmers get Minimum support price for their produce.
Let each of our Panchayats also show that they respect the land. Let offices and equipment be decorated on Kailpod, let Sankramana be a day for the Panchayats to show that they respect the land of Kaveriamme by keeping botthus all around the Panchayath and let the offices and surroundings be cleaned and painted before Puthari. In other words, let our Panchayats be a reflection of the original inhabitants of our land. After all, each of these festivals are about the land more than anything else. This coming year is an opportunity for us to take back control over Kodagu and it's needs and what better place to start it from than our own Villages.
The Prime Minister has been advocating for "Atmanirbhar Bharath" which is all about empowering us at the local level. Let us be "Vocal for Local" by ensuring that policies that affect Kodagu be decided by us from our Villages rather than vested interests dictating terms because of their political affiliation at the State level. Let the Government machinery from the District Administration to the Panchayat officials be under pressure to protect the interests of the original inhabitants of the land.
Let the year 2021 go down in history as a year where our ancestors are proud of all of us and the future generations talk about the year that saw Kodagu taking control over its destiny.
"Tomorrow hopes that we have learnt something from yesterday"- John Wayne
Happy New year 2021.
22 comments:
Very motivating Mach!
Brilliant Machu.Keep up the good work. Wish you Godspeed
Thank you Raja Mama.
Thank you!
Bulls eye! This is the true spirit of the first three words of our Constitution "We the people.. " and the practical application of the Gandhian utopia of Gram Swaraj.
Well said Machu. No point in blaming others, we make our destiny. Locals definitely need to be more vocal.
Very well written mach👏🏻👏🏻
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and may 2021 bring in a lot of love Cheer and happiness in everybodys' lives. May your predictions come true.
Thank you! I wouldn't call it predictions. Rather a hope that mindsets change
Yeah. We keep saying we are a participative democracy and restrict that to only voting in elections
Agreed. We need to take more control over our destiny.
Thank you! But please don't Sir me ;)
Thank you Kuttu bava
Amazing Machu Congratulations
Machu...well said and written as always!
Thank you.
Thank you
Great write up Machu!Yes,we are doing good on the cultural front, but we need to do a lot more to save the landscape of our tiny homeland, and time is running out!
Thank you.
True. I belive that we need an anchor point. And culture is a great starting point.
I'm very much impressed by your ideas. If we succeed we would show the way to the rest of the world. When British took over coorg we were a deregulated state with thakkas continuing with the administration That shows we are capable of better administration on our own,Even before reorganization of states unfortunately they did not allow our independence.
At present, the legal way to do it as per the Constitution is through the Panchayat. While Thakkas are a part of our Culture, it's important that we understand that we need to be a part of the system.
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