Editor's note: Backstory is Onmanorama's special year-ender video series. Here, our reporters recall their memorable experiences in 2019. Watch all videos here.
In the run up to the Parliament election in 2019, I travelled to fishing villages in Thiruvananthapuram to meet women and understand major election issues. During the video-recorded discussion, they complained that the government has been ignoring their very existence. They said the scenario was different when Kerala was hit by floods a few months ago. At that time, everybody praised people from fisher villages for their exemplary rescue operations.
The women touched upon many livelihood and political issues, including Cyclone Ockhi, coastal erosion, trawling ban, future of their children and Sabarimala.
What surprised me was their disdain for the Sabarimala agitation. They said it was a non-issue for people like them who find it hard to get three meals a day.
Those fearless women actively participated in the discussion. They even asked me not to edit out their reactions from the video.
As I was returning home, I saw a fisher family having lunch near the Veli beach. A man asked me, “Can we expect something good for our community? We will vote. That's our right. But will we be forgotten as usual?”
The question hit me like a bullet. It shattered me. I did not know how to respond.
The question still reverberates my mind when I read news reports of devastation caused by sea erosion and other livelihood issues from the fisher villages. I ask myself. “Are they forgotten as usual?”
(This story was first published on Deccember 20, 2019.)
