COLACHEL
WAR COMMEMORATIVE SEMINAR SERIES
MUKKUVAR:
HISTORY, LIFE, FUTURE
The
Process and Development
Vareethiah Konstantine*
(11th Sep. 2010).
'A race of people is like an individual man: until it uses its own talent, takes pride in
its history, expresses its own culture and affirms its own selfhood, it cannot
fulfil itself.'
-Malcolm X
Every great journey in history have begun with a
small step. Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat history, goes a
famous saying. At this point of time and space, we, the ethnic group called the
Mukkuva, are making a humble yet well conceived initiative: to learn
our history. For everything there has to be a first step. I tend to reflect over
the origin of this effort- serial seminars on Mukkuva history.
The Thoothoor Island- Unique and Special
The Thoothoor Island has to its credit, many
firsts, which I keep recording consistently in my writings. This small island
of eight plus coastal hamlets (of Tamil Nadu) has set examples to the rest of
the Indian coast of how the concepts of
development can become a reality.
I have been watching with great interest this small
coastal strip for the past over 30 years- the developments on many fronts-
sports, education, arts, occupational mobility, entrepreneurship and conflict
resolution; its dialect, culture and the exceptional fishing skills of its
people.
Despite my academic limitations (perhaps due to my
non-humanities background) I got absorbed into this sea of Mukkuva culture. I
must thank a great soul- Mr. Albert Joseph
(of Erayumanthurai) with whom I came in contact some 20 years back.
Recently I had a couple of sittings with Mr. Issac (of Martandanthurai), a
voracious reader and thinker; and two other community leaders of our time Mr.
M.Giltus (of Neerody) and Poet Geeyaar Thuthur.
I have had the privilege of working
with Mr. S. Rhymond (of Eraviputhenthurai) though for a short stint; of having long and sustained interactions
with men like Pulavar Saviour Bastin (of Chinnathurai).
In one such interaction with Mr. Issac and Pulavar
Saviour I happened to make a reference
to Late Mr. Joseph, the co-founder of the Coastal People's Organisation (CPO).
He was indeed a visionary, a trade unionist and an indefatigable social
activist. He was the man behind the Magna Carta of the CPO, which are coming to
reality today one by one. Suddenly the thought of two other great names crossed
my mind. I couldn't resist tracing the nativity of these three great souls. The
late Fr. Francis Borgio Peters was the visionary who founded St. Jude's College
Thoothoor and the late Fr. John Lopez served at Colachel as its Parochial Vicar
in the sixties when he took great pain to purchase a piece of land for
establishing a school for his people. All three of them hailed from Pulluvila.
Their socio-political background had something in common; they must have had
some kind of exposure that inducted them into 'institution building'.
Pulluvilaians are best known as the Jews of South Travancore. Wherever they had
been, they left their stamp. Intelligence, erudition, political acumen and vision
are among the trade marks of their culture. There must be something unique
about this soil which is a prospective area for anthropological and historical
research...
The Thoothoor soil is unique in another sense. This
small strip of coast land with the Arabian Sea, Ananda Victoria Martandavarma
Canal, The Poovar Kayal and the Thengappatanam Kayal as natural bounderies, is
pernhaps the most enlightened (in its class ofcourse) of the entire Indian
coast. This island is blessed with a
think tank. The elites here are a force to reckon with. They can hardly be
influenced by gratifications. These people were instrumental in resolving deep
crises and grave conflicts. They continue to provide some kind of collective
guidance, an ideological leadership to this ethnic community especially in
conflict situations. There have been calamities, infighting, deep divides,
issues and communal conflics now and then. Yet, this region has proved itself
to be a healthy exception to the fisher folks' chronic dependence on Church in
Travancore and Pearl Fishery Coasts. This nurses a hope in me that the
Thoothoor island could set an example worth emulating; a light house for the
eastern and the western coasts that professes the same Catholic faith for
centuries.
In 2005, closely after the tsunami disaster, I
chanced to interact, among others, with two great personalities- Rev. Dr.
Francis Jayapathy s.j., and Professor Vethasagayakumar. The former had been
organising special consultations and conferences at Carmel School Premises
(Nagercoil) on the lifestyle ecology of fishermen and records on the Neidhal
Thinai in literature since the Tamil Sangham Period. On and off I had also been
invited to contribute in many fora- cosultations and the so called unconferences
organised by literary groups, rights activists and change agencies as a voice
from the fishermen community.
During the years 2005- 2006 I, along with Rev.
Joseph Justus, a secular cleric from Kottar, embarked on a mission: documenting
the impressions of officials, NGOs, clerics and lay persons on the post tsunami
reconstruction. To me it was an exciting travel into the culture and life of
the coastal ethnic groups of Kanyakumari. It threw light on my own ignorance
over my own community and challenged me to go for a deeper understanding...
One month after the release of this work as an
edited work entitled 'Aazhip Peridarukkup Pin' (After the Tsunami Disaster) on
the II Anniversary of tsunami, Prof. Vedhasagayakumar called me over phone and
gave me a crtical, comprehensive review of the work. The essence of his
interactions with me and the seminal point that emerged in the Carmel
transactions were essentially the same: 'The coastal community must put in
writing its life, lores and its past without loss of time. For such writings
alone could initiate a dialogue with the land based communities and in doing
so, the fisherfolks could bring themselves closer to their counterparts....'
Nearly for an year Prof. Vethasagayakumar had been
mounting pressure on me to identify a few young thinkers from the coast with
flair for writing and organise them. His idea was to expose these youth to the
world beyond the Church. There were ofcourse a few I could spot out, but I
found their dialect and outlook strongly accented with the dogmatic,
prescriptive diction of the Church. At one point of time I was startled to find
the 'catholic cleric' inside me who tends to dogmatise, prescribe and impose
sanctions on fellowmen. To begin with, I felt, I must get rid of this 'cleric
in me'. I hasten to add that my point is
not to negate the teachings of the Church, but to travel beyond the Church.
After all, beyonding is what religions are meant for.
Against this backdrop I began to meet select young
people (gender neutral) from my coast and impressed upon them the need to
stretch one's learning beyond the Church, to converse with men of letters, research and activism. We christined this
small team of ours Kanyakuamari Coastal Artists' Collective' (KCAC). The preliminary
gathering took place at Colachel on December 27, 2007. Every month then on we
invited a distinguished writer/ social science researcher beginning with Joe D Cruz engaged ourselves
in dialogue. Besides literary subjects, we had been handling topical issues of
time relevance like fishing and mercantile harbours, Coastal Management Zone
Draft Notification, mid sea killing and torture of Tamil fishermen, Fisheries
Bill etc..in our regular meets. We appealed to Prof. Vethasagayakumar, a well
known Tamil literary critic, to guide us
and he heartily agreed to. We appealed to Rev. Dr. Francis Jayapathy to provide
us some space in Carmel School premises for our
literary meets and that too was instantly granted. Later I was to
realise that such a collective was his dream too. Over 20 sessions and two
anniversary special meets now, the collective has come a long way and has
blossomed out as a state level movement- the Tamil Nadu Pudhuvai Coastal
Artists' Collective (TPCAC). About this period we felt it was time the trainees
are moved from the nursery to the farm- to reach out to the excluded and
marginalised fellowmen in the coast.
In the mean time (10th August 2008), at the
instance of Mr. Melvin Vinoth, a veteran Latin Catholic activist from
Valiathura and a close associate of mine, the KCAC arranged to pay Homage to
the Mukkuva Warriors of the Colachel War (1741 AD) on the 267th Anniversary, in
association with the Coalchel youth . It was suggested by many speakers that
the ColachelWar history must be reconstructed and the history of Mukkuvars must
be researched, published and be included in the school curriculum. In
furtherance it was decided to hold seminars on MukkuvaHistory. How ever, our
attempt to organise one in 2009 couldn't take off. The KCAC felt that such a
programme must be secular and politically neutral while at the same time all
efforts must be directed towards political empowerment of the coastal
marginalised communities. Some of the conceived objectives of these
transactions are:
· Educate the younger generation the
value of traditional wisdom of fMukkuvas
· Rebuild the long forgotten tradition
of the ethnic groups through listening to the elders
· Provide a platform for the elders to
relate their past and expertise
· Reconstruct the ethnic history, lores
and customs
· Document the culture, heritage, arts
and life style ecology of the Mukkuvas
The Colachel War Commemorative
Seminar
The Seminar with the theme 'Mukkuvar: History,
Life, Future' was conceived by the Tamil Nadu Pudhuvai Coastal Artists' Collective.
The iedea of organising a seminar commemorating the 269th Anniversary of the
Colachel war sparked from Mr. Melvin Vinoth. This seminar took place at
Chinnathurai on 25th July 2010. The All India Catholic Federation (Trivandrum)
and theenthurai.org (of Thoothoor youth working in U.S.A.) were the
corganisers. The attendance was qualitative and rich. Eighty three select
participants from Trivandrum to Kovalam (Kanyakumari) attended. Mr. Melvin
Vinoth spoke on Mukkuvar and the Colachel war while Dr. J. Albaris enumerated
the hidden history of Kanyakumari Mukkuvas. Pulavar Saviour Bastin presided and
Poet Geeyaar Thoothoor and Mr. Leo Pereira of Shangumukhom also addressed the
audience. Earlier, Dr. Vareethiah Konstantine briefed the gathering on the rationale
and scope of the seminar. Mr. John Fredy Simon (of enthurai.org) proposed the
vote of thanks. Books on our coast authored/edited by Dr. Vareethiah
Konstantine were presented to the guests byenthurai.org; The participants were given a copy each of the
book on Fisheries Bill (2009) and a reprograph of an article titled 'The
Socialhistory of Kanyakuamari Mukkuvar', both by the same author.
The response to the first seminar was overwhelming.
It centred around future programmes.
· Continue similar meaningful and
futuristic interactions among the community (Mrs. Stellency, M/s J. Michael
Nayagam and C. Berlin)
· Bring out publications on the
transactions in such seminars/ meetings (Mr. S. Varghese).
· Publish the transactions of the
seminar in journals/ periodicals in order to diseminate the knowledge of
Mukkuva history (Capt. J. Michael Nayagam)
· Take the message to the women folks
in our hamlets, especially to the headload fish vendors (Janet)
· This forum must equip itself to deal
with matters of concern to fisherfolks like ensuring right price for the catches (Franklin Gomez,
Trivandrum) and timely relief for loss of life at sea (Jeesal Mary,
Eraviputhenthurai).
· Document our history as we are in a now-or-never situation (Adv. Tamil
Selvan, Mondaikaadu Puthoor)
· Establish a Journal on Coastal
heritage; Establish a Historical Reseach Centre and a Coastal Heritage Centre;
Establish a mass media/ Folk arts unit to propagate our heritage; Conduct
another seminar for the elites and activists from the Thoothoor island on a
title like 'Our dream village' (Dr. P. Selvaraj)
The event has served as a launch pad for continued
activities on the subject matter.
The publication work connected with the seminar is
in progress. The proposed volume is to include some relevant writings of Fr.
Pancretius and Dr. Vareethiah Konstantine, besides the presentations and
responses in the seminar.
The Seminar Series
Inspired by the overwhelming response, we planned
to organise a series of seminars. Attempts will be made to organise one
programme at each of the eight hamlets in collaboration with one or more local
secular agency. Every programme will centre around a different group of people
from the community-
· Senior elites' meet
· Senior fishermen meet
· Senior headload fish vendor Women's
meet
· Mechanised boat fishermen's meet
· Marine Entrepreneurs' meet
· Scientists and Software Experts' meet
· Academics and Activists' meet
· Performing Artists and Folklorists'
meet
Some Healthy Practices
As an end result, we fervently hope, some futuristic ideas might emerge for
the community to build on. The programmes so organised need to be apolitical,
secular and free from fiscal constraints. We must build on our human resources
and never on 'funded projects', we
believe. For, the hundreds of crores of rupees pumped through the NGOs could
hardly bring a change. The ideal thing is to convince the beneficieries to bear
the small cost of these events. The idea has begun to pay dividends. The First
seminar (at Chinnathurai) was partially supported byenthurai.org; the second
event at Eraviputhenthurai was jointly sponsored by the Educational Development
and Charitable Trust, Chinnathurai and theKamalappan Development Trust,
Eraviputhenthurai; for the third event proposed at Thoothoor (Senior
fishermen's meet), the Nethaji Library Thoothoor andthoothoor.com have come
forward to host. People are craving for a change and they are willing to
support any constructive effort they believe will benefit the community. They
need to be convinced of the sincerity of purpose, transparency, consistency and
people's participation.
Senior Elites' Meet
On 5th
September 2010 theSenior Elites' meet was organised at Eraviputhenthurai
(St. Catherine Hall) chaired by Mr. M. Giltus (Neerody). Poet Geeyaar Thoothoor, Pulavar Saviour
Bastin, M/s S. Rhymond, M. Jerabin, I.Oliver Joy, M. Vincent, A. Vincent, M. Clasayyan, A.
Mariadasan, A. Jenas, George Miranda and Stanislaus Anto also adorned the dais.
Local programmes in three hamlets partitially impeded the attendance (53
participants). Pulavar Saviour Bastin (Educational Development and Charitable
Trust, Chinnathurai) honored the dignitaries with shawls. Dr. Vilfred Kamalappan (Kamalappan
Development Trust, Eraviputhenthurai) presented
books on our coast as mementos to all the guests. The welcome address by Pulavar Saviour Bastin was
followed by an introductory note of Dr. Vareethiah Konstantine.
Mr. Giltus recalled in his presidential address the
ace strategies of conflict management of yester years. He paid rich tributes to
the senior leaders of the past. Mr. S. Rhymond consistently presented the
history of formation of Fishermen societies in Thoothoor island three decades
ago and the development these societies brought here. Mr. Oliver Joy and Poet
Geeyaar Thoothoor touched up on some aspects of Mukkuva history refering to the
previous seminar. Mr. A. Mariadasan spoke on the current trends of occupational
mobility in Mukkuva community and the career development in the past. The
meeting came to end with Capt. Michael Nayakam's vote of thanks.
One step ahead with books. . .
Reading and writing are two simultaneous processes
inevitable for upward mobility in any oppressed community. As for the so called
elites, there is little reading outside curriculum. The habit of reading needs to
be inculcated in the young minds. At TPCAC, we make it a habit to popularise
and present books on our people written by our people. In place of a garland or
a shawl, we make it a point to present such books to honour the dignitaries. We
arranged book stalls of Kaaalachuvadu andThamilini at the II anniversary of the
Chennai Residing Mukkuvar Welfare Society last January; another stall at the II Anniversary of the Kanyakumari Coastal Artists' Collective
at Carmel School Premises in March 2010. It would be nice to consider putting up book stalls during festivals in
our hamlets among other arrangements.
Before I conclude, I would like to gratefully
record here the valuable role of some agencies in these efforts.
Theenthurai.org,thoothoor.com andvallavilai.com carried this programme to our
people away and abroad as well.The transactions are uploaded in their sites.
The Bharathavar Malar (Mumbai) and Alaivaaikkarayil (Thoothukudi) brought the
message to the people in their journals; the local agencies made this effort
see the day light with their sponsorship/ hosting/ participation. The Tamil Nadu Pudhuvai Coastal Artists'
Collective (TPCAC) consciously divides its time and resources between literary
meets and documentation and meet-the-people programmes. My friends at TPCAC
deserve high appreciation for the clarity of vision and deep commitment to the
cause of educating their brethren. There are well wishers, too many to list
here, who show keen interest in initiatives of this kind. A salute to each of
them.
We look up on the senior elites and fishermen leaders to teach and guide us, to relate their experience and expertise, that the generations to come may make fewer mistakes. After all, we are fellow humans sharing the earth with generations past, present and future.
-------------
*Associate Professor at St. Jude's College,
Thoothoor and State Coordinator, Tamil Nadu Pudhuvai Coastal Artists'
Collective. Contact: vareeth2021@gmail.com
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