Karedu is a Panchayath in Olavapadu Mandal (block) of Prakasham
District of Andhra Pradesh. It is 5 km
away, east of the Nellore - Ongole Highway.
The nine major villages of Karedu is closer to the Bay of Bengal with
about 15,000 households.
The People
The fishermen are called Machikarulu, both the Tamil speakers who
are about 300 families and the Telugu speakers who will come to over 1,000
households. Yenadi and Yerukula are tribesmen who live in 7 villages and one
village respectively. Mathikas and Malas are part of Scheduled castes; Yadavas,
Pathmasali, Gowdas, and Chakili are considered to be backward classes. They are
the working class and labourers. Reddys and Komutulu (Vaisya) are well-to-do
families. Reddys are landowners and agriculturists while Komutulus are the
business people. Brahmins are called Archakulu and constitute about 50 families
only. Though each of them has a traditional job of their own, most of the BC
and SC people are wage earners.
Literacy
There a few who are educated and employed but most of the older
people are illiterate or uneducated. Education is free in Andhra Pradesh by the
government which will pay full scholarship of the fee for all those who obtain
an income certificate. Getting an income certificate is not difficult in AP! Though
children go to school the educational standard is too poor. I met a young boy and asked him,
“What is your name?”
“My name is Varun”, he responded. Varun was studying in class five.
I opened a simple text file on my mobile and asked him to read; he
could not. I typed his answer “My name is Varun” on the text space for him to
read. He could make out only m- y and nothing more!
Fishermen
Folks
I thought about making a quick visit to Pattappupalem in Karedu, the
fishermen village. The road is almost like an embankment, on the left, barren
sandy land and on the right the habitats of the fishermen folk, mostly concrete
houses, said to be rebuilt after the Tsunami. There are foot paths and vehicle
wheel tracks leading to the beach which is about 500 meters away. The beach
looked serene and without any living creatures around except the sand crabs
chasing to their holes population as you walk through the beach. There are a few motor fixed fiber boats resting on
the shore. A bit far away, there were three men struggling with their nets. The
catch was not encouraging; they were picking away a few of the tiny fishes got
hooked on to the net. Many fishermen go over to Chennai (300 km away) to join
boats that go for deep sea fishing.
The sun is setting and the view from the beach is
awesome! It is time for me to move on. The herdsmen and women are returning with
their flock. Empty lunch boxes and water bottles were still hanging from the
bamboo rod on their shoulders.
Kindling Lives in Karedu
The people of Karedu need to be enlightened
before darkness pervade the villages. Like Karedu, there are many more villages
on the coast as well as inland. The monsoon had failed here for the last five
years in a row, say the people. There is almost no agricultural activity here,
leaving no labour opportunities for the poor. Many families have moved out of the region in search
of job elsewhere.
The view of the sunset from Karedu beach is awesome! The people of Karedu need to be enlightened before darkness pervades the villages. They should become literate and delivered from poverty and superstitions. Their living conditions can be improved. How beautiful it would be if some of these herdsmen also become shepherds of people!? Can some of their fishermen also become fishers of men?
- Philipose Vaidyar
