Karedu is Calling

The Sun is becoming hotter. Herdsmen and women are moving out of the village with their flocks – sheep, goats and buffaloes. Lunch pack and a bottle of water hang on the tip of the bamboo rod balanced on their shoulder. They are gone for a day in search of greeneries in spite of the failing monsoon, to graze their animals. These are Yadava people, one of the 12 people groups who live in Karedu.

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

https://sites.google.com/view/philipose-vaidyar