Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

The equally important feature is that the nature of transformation, now going on
everywhere in the field area, has not benefited the poorer classes to any extent. They are
either huddled in traditional parambas or ‘modern’ colonies which are mostly areas that
are ecologically deprived, and there is little effort to transform their habitat. Often, the
distinction between the large, multistoried, concrete paved gulf house with tiled walls,
artificial gardens and sometimes a tube well and the colony where twenty or thirty houses
are clustered in the same area, without any of these facilities is drastic. The common
point is in the colony there is very little vegetation due to lack of space, and in the gulf
house, there is no vegetation because of too much of space is occupied by the house! The
tube well and the concrete courtyard of a large house, on the one hand takes away the
ground water, and on the other hand, does not allow the surface water to be stored in the
region, whereas the nearby colony is dependent on Panchayat water, and has no storage
facilities for surface water. Spatial considerations of this kind are thus important criteria
to assess the living standards of the people.
Religious Public Spaces
Walking also yielded information on the expansion of public spaces. Public spaces, in the
conventional sense, were two. One was the market place, or the space that was capable
becoming a potential exchange center, such as junctions, tree shades, athanis,
thanneerpandal or ambalam(where fresh water is provided to the travelers) and so on.
They were areas where people gathered, where exchange of goods, and information took
place. Second public space was the religious one, including kavu, mosque and the temple.
They were spaces for prayers, rituals and also for social communication and exchange of
goods. Market places have been discussed before. The field area abounds in religious
spaces belonging to different communities. The most commonly found are the kavus and
mosques. We have already discussed kavus in relation to the ‘divine spaces ‘in the