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Keralan Society
That
the children
ask
for pens makes a comment on Keralan society.
The
state has the highest literacy rate in
India — said to be over 90 percent and
still climbing
— as well as India’s lowest birth rate, highest
life expectancy,  least
inter-religious quarreling, highest per-capita
income, highest percentage of population owning land, amng
other social superlatives. The citizens of “The Land of Green
Magic” are justly proud of their state, and unabashed
boosterism is rampant.
There
have been Christians
in Kerala for virtually the entire 2,000 years of the
religion’s history (beginning with the arrival of the
disciple, Thomas). Jews have been on the Malabar Coast half a
millennium longer, although many relocated to Israel when the nation
was
founded six-plus decades ago.
The
maharajas
of Kerala had a very egalitarian approach to the populace, in contrast
to other parts of India, which is just another of the factors that make
Kerala such a mellow place.
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Keralan
Society
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Children are walking to school in the Mattancherry area of Kochi.