Gods' Own Country !

No, we haven't put the apostrophe in the wrong place. This blog is an inward look at the Malayalee, from a Malayalee perspective.

For those yet to come across us, half of us inhabit a small State called Kerala in South-West India. The rest of us are all over the world.. Go up Mount Everest, and the story goes that you will be welcomed with three yards of boiled sweetened tea, served by our resident tea house (chaaya kada) on the top of the world.

Our Tourism Industry happily refers to Kerala as God's Own Country. Lush tropical forests, coconut trees lining our beaches, green rice fields, rubber plantations, cardamom, cashew and tea estates, rain on demand, sunshine on demand, truly the Tourism Industry chose an excellent slogan.

We are a diverse culture, with a slim majority of Hindus. As you know, Hinduism offers you 330 million Gods. Some 30 million of them are the Malayalees themselves. We arrogate to ourselves the right to sit among the gods, since our beloved King Mahabali sacrificed himself to appease the (then) jealousy of the gods.

In subsequent posts, we will bring to you facets of the Malayalee that may be recognised by those who have lived here, worked here, visited here, or through some unfortunate circumstance, has met one or more of us.

Welcome to the abode of the gods. No, it isn't Mount Olympia, it isn't Valhalla, it isn't even the Himalayas. It's this eden called Kerala, and a true Malayalee's heart beats here, wherever he or she (or it, as many malayalees might say) resides.

You will also be introduced to the more interesting aspects of Malayalam - to our knowledge, the only language that is a palindrome in itself. It is built from a mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil, and Yinglish and Chinese, and Portuguese and Double Dutch, not to mention sundry other Indian languages.

We hope you find us interesting. Beware, gods are demanding creatures. They are miffed if ignored. Read on, as we go on...

We sign off as good Mayalees should -

Malayalee and Sons (and Daughters) (and ammas, and appans and chechis and chetans, and ammaiammas, ammaiappans, valiappans and valiammas, elayappans and elayammas, and Chandu)