Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

difficult to assemble the old people on the occasion of Ramadan fast, which had started
by the end of October. Despite these difficulties, 56 karanavakkoottams were held in the
block area during October- November, and one among them had to be reconvened on the
demand of the participants.
In the original scheme of the project, we had planned yet another phase, that of an
institutional survey, in which we would study the schools, mosques, Madrasa, Yatheem
khanas, temples and other institutions of historical importance. But time was running out,
and we had received the message to wind up the project. Hence, we decided to drop the
last phase. We also realized that consolidation of what we had collected was not easy. We
were banking on the service of a large number of people who did the compilation part
effectively, though analysis was a different issue altogether. We also realized that their
lack of expertise had an institutional basis. They were being used for a large number of
surveys and other forms of voluntary labour, but they had not been any training on the
techniques of their work, and they had not been associated at all in any analysis, which
would be done by team of ‘experts’ who might not have been in the field. Our research
team is an enthusiastic group, but not an ‘expert’ team, and we have been treading on
unsure paths, using methods which are not legion in a standard creation of a database. We
decided to use the rest of the time frame of the project to compile and consolidate our
information, and this report is the result. It should be mentioned that the present report
does not contain the results of the socio-cultural survey which we have called
jivitharithipathanam (study of lifestyle), and would incorporate the testimony of the
karanavakkoottams only partially. The report will be heavily based on the first part, that
of walking and the primary and secondary sources on the region.