Question

Chemmanam Chacko is a master satirist who has fought many a battle with the system through his writings, laced with scorn and sarcasm. He says, ‘Socio-political sphere is much meek and limited compared with earlier times. Society has changed, and, with it, have the mass sensibilities.’ Consider his poem ‘Rice’ as a satire on the farmers who are forced to switch to cash crops when the market for food crops fell. Prepare a write- up

Answer 1

Chemmanam Chacko is very right in observing that society has changed and with it the mass sensibilities have also changed. Chacko was born in 1926, when Kerala was very much an agricultural land. People cultivated mainly food crops. Hardly anything was brought from outside. This situation continued until the 1960s and 70s, when there was an exodus of Kerala people, especially the youth, to the Gulf Countries, America and Europe.

In most families in Kerala there will be at least one member who will be working abroad. These people working abroad send money to their parents and relatives at home. Soon the Kerala farmers stopped working hard on their farms. Often they left them without cultivating because money was coming from outside and they could buy their food.

Many farmers started cultivating cash drops, especially rubber. As we saw in the poem, rice cultivation is inconvenient and non-profitable. We all have heard the saying that Indian agriculture is a gamble on the monsoons. Once we change into cash crops we are not so heavily dependent on the monsoons. But crops like rice heavily depend on the rains. If there is too much rain, there is a problem. If there is too little rain, there is a problem. If the rains don’t come in time, there is a problem. So rice farmers started shifting to cash crops. There were many promoters, including the government, who encouraged cash crops.

The glitter of money was very tempting to our rice farmers. Farmers can’t go into the fields well-dressed and they can’t even keep their body clean all the time as they have to work in the muddy fields. Their love of luxury also made the rice farmers either quit or shift to other cash crops. The results are obvious. Kerala State has become a Consumer State. Today we get our food grains, vegetables and fruits from neighbouring states. We can’t blame the farmers. We all want to catch the fish without wetting our fingers. Hard work is no more considered a virtue. One who makes quick money will be considered a successful and smart person. No wonder, the farmers also want to be smart!