To be a critic or not

I have been watching this debate from the sidelines for a while now. I am not jumping into the fray at this point to pick sides. I am not here to defend MC. He is capable of doing that on his own. But I want to talk about what I understand to be the purpose and message of this blog.

First, because I want to preempt any criticism that I'm an NRI so I don't know what it means to be a Keralite, I'm going to state that part of my livelihood is in Kerala. You might ask, does that mean you live in Kerala? No, but I have lived here and visit Kerala very frequently. Just because I find opportunities to work overseas as well does not mean I am any less capable of talking about Kerala. That bit was for those on this board who think "Non-resident Keralite" stands for "Non-Keralite".Pick issues with what I have to say, not where I come from.

Second, as a Keralite, I am used to being the recipient of a great deal of admiration for Kerala's achievements. And I am proud when I hear it because it is an uplifting chapter in the story of India's general social stagnation. But no one on this board or anyone still alive is directly responsible for this success. Oh yes, we have teachers, a newspaper savvy public, ambitious parents etc, but these are all the products of an infrastructure that was laid down more than fifty years ago. So what, you might say, we are still the most literate state in India! Well, the thing is, once you become literate, you should cease holding yourself to the standards of less fortunate states. You should hold yourself to the standard of self-progress. Put very simply, have you expanded the opportunities in your immediate environment to grow? I believe the answer to that for the past few decades is a resounding no.

It is one thing to be proud of a reformist past and another to be a reformer. MC is not claiming to be a reformer. As he has made it plain, he is just a commentor. But he is not resting on his laurels either. I would take that perspective any day to any Keralite who is wilfully blind to our political stagnation. I don't think DOC has ever pretended to be a "get your Kerala news here" blog. If that's what readers want, they are better off going to a newspaper. What MC has done here is to carve out a little niche to bring up Kerala's problems and to take our leaders to task. And that is still a just cause. I can tell you from experience too, I hear a lot less praise about Kerala than I did in the past. Literacy and healthcare are growing in other states. And others are becoming better informed about Kerala's poor political culture. Pretty soon, it will be no miracle to be a literate, healthy, non-violent and civilized state in India. When that happens, I would be disappointed if it weren't Kerala because that would mean we squandered our head start.

Third, we have a long list of social and economic problems. Which state doesn't, you might ask. But that is the wrong question to ask. One should ask, why do we have them at all? Why is it that even when we are a largely educated population, we still cave in to the threat of a hartal and stay at home? Why is that many of our college campuses, not all, are still beset with political violence? But most importantly, are we asking the right questions? That is, should we even be concerned? To me, the single most glaring example that some things are wrong in Kerala was last year's Onam. While hired hands went around town curling their moustaches and enforcing a city-wide ban, state-sponsored stores made a killing at the expense of the consumer. I seriously wondered (to myself mostly, because the people around me have been rendered numb to all this from age), are these hartals conducted for the benefit of opposing "imperialism" and the thousand other causes we have been told, or for the people who exploit the cracks in the systems that is our public food supply? Do not tell me we have the most efficient public distribution system in the country. Tell me if we have an efficient public distribution system to begin with.

Fourth, this blog's title. I had my personal debate with MC a while back over the blog's title. I would still like to see it changed, but it is merely a superficial concern. So superficial that I have left it to him to decide. I still write here, because you cannot judge a book by its cover. Isn't that the main criticism hurled against so-called money-grubbing NRIs? That Kerala can't be judged by its cover...that you have to live there to experience it. I believe that applies to everything. Just because our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters toil away in other lands doesn't mean you somehow forget that once upon a time, there were no jobs in Kerala but government jobs. Just because we are the healthiest and most literate state in India doesn't mean we sit on our laurels and don't criticize our leaders when they fail to provide us with more than literacy and healthcare.

It is human to idle, human to criticize, but divine to reform. Do we have any angels on this board? I don't think so and I don't think any of us should stop being just critics till one of us shows the way.
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