Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

problem in such colonies also. This problem generates local disputes of a serious nature.
One such case is that of the colony started for leprosy patients in Parappanangadi. The
colony has a harijan colony adjacent to it. People of the leprosy needed a path to carry
their dead, which could be built only through the harijan colony. Originally there was a
footpath which was used for the purpose, but the demand to widen the road was objected
to by the people of the harijan colony, which resulted in clashes in the area, and needed
the intervention of the District officials. This kind of problems are not surprising, as the
coast is densely populated, and when the colonies were conceived , adequate care was not
taken to ensure all the facilities. One should also remember that the colonies are not
parambas. The houses do not have courtyards, and have one or two wells made by the
Panchayat, and in some colonies some of the inhabitants have made their own wells.
Similarly many houses have attempted to fence their plots and transform them to
‘modern’ exclusive houses. In several colonies, a large number of the inhabitants have
sold their houses, so that very few of the original settlers are now left.
More than anything else, housing emerges as the expression of the affluence of the
inhabitants and their cultural tastes. However, it is clear that the financially affluent
households whether traditional or the newly rich have better choice of cultural tastes than
the downtrodden. The numerous mud-plastered and plastered sheds are products of
expediency, and do not display their taste. The affluent households try to demonstrate
their taste through application of colored tiles on walls, carving their base pillars, or
applying multi-colored emulsion paints on their walls, and try such forms as the
traditional charupadis and carved and decorated railings. However, a vast majority of the
houses display uniformity of taste created by mass production, with very little variation in
the interior or style of construction and hence the ostentation and taste has to be limited to
the exterior.