[<<When the flood hit Kerala last week in all its fury, the 500s were there at the right time with the right equipment and with the right expertise. To them the flood situation was child's play compared to what they are used to in the open seas in their dinghis. (It was this community that had the highest casualty when the Okhi cyclone hit Kerala last year.) Last week they worked day and night and snatched many lives from the claws of certain drowning. There was a video that went viral of a certain Jaisal KP, a fisherman from Vengara, who lay in the water as stepping stone for women and children to climb into a boat - I do not know for sure whether this Jaisal is a 500. Anyway most if not all those that the 500s saved belong to the Eastern region of Kerala populated heavily by High-caste Hindus and Christians, high castes who looked down with contempt and disdain on these fishermen. News videos showed many of the fair-coloured high-caste women clinging in a do-or-die embrace for their lives to theses dark-skinned pariahs. These fishermen saved lives without any consideration for caste or religion - the sea-shore where they come from was not as much affected by the flood as the mountainous areas east of the sea and so their own folks did not need as much of theri service as others did.>>]
Pariah heroes of Kerala Xavier William (An atheist) There are many subsects among the Catholics of Kerala. I belong or rather belonged to the Latin Catholic sect which consists of converts from the fisherfolks along the coast of Kerala. According to a story I read, a few centuries ago the Hindu fishermen on Kerala coasts were attacked by Muslims at sea and the Hindu king was helpless against such attacks. So he sought the help of the Portuguese. The Portuguese promised to help on condition that they were permitted to baptise these fishermen. The king conceded and that is how we Latin Catholics came to be numerous along the coasts of Kerala. There were Christians in kerala as far back as 4th century CE. They are called the Syro-Malankara rite since they use Syriac in their liturgy. Though they despise Hinduism they do not lose any opportunity like our Sanghis to boast that they are descended from the High Caste Hindus. Consequently they look down on us Latin Catholics who have a fisher-men lineage. They would not marry from or into our families. To confound matters further, the Latin Catholics themselves are further subdivided into two sects called 500s and 700s - I belong to the 700s. The 500s are converts from the dark-skinned sea-going fisherfolk whereas we 700s are converts from the more fair-skinned back-water fishermen. We look down on the 500s just as the other Catholics look down on us. In the past the discrimination was so 'UnChristian" that we even had separate cemeteries for each sect. The discrimination still continuous though at a subterranean level. When the flood hit Kerala last week in all its fury, the 500s were there at the right time with the right equipment and with the right expertise. To them the flood situation was child's play compared to what they are used to in the open seas in their dinghis. (It was this community that had the highest casualty when the Okhi cyclone hit Kerala last year.) Last week they worked day and night and snatched many lives from the claws of certain drowning. There was a video that went viral of a certain Jaisal KP, a fisherman from Vengara, who lay in the water as stepping stone for women and children to climb into a boat - I do not know for sure whether this Jaisal is a 500. Anyway most if not all those that the 500s saved belong to the Eastern region of Kerala populated heavily by High-caste Hindus and Christians, high castes who looked down with contempt and disdain on these fishermen. News videos showed many of the fair-coloured high-caste women clinging in a do-or-die embrace for their lives to theses dark-skinned pariahs. These fishermen saved lives without any consideration for caste or religion - the sea-shore where they come from was not as much affected by the flood as the mountainous areas east of the sea and so their own folks did not need as much of theri service as others did. Now some some Malayali Sanghi from HP has posted abuse on these fishermen calling them contemptible pariahs. I may also mention in this regard that the Catholic church in Kerala also were far in the forefront of this rescue operation in Kerala compared to other religious or political or caste organizations. In fact the Catholic Church has the best organisation and infrastructure in the world to cater to such emergencies and disasters. It is a pity that this church with so much potential for doing good is built on superstitions. But would so much good be possible without so much evil that is the church? I have no answer. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
