LIGHTING: Burner lamp, that
emits and shapes the flame, with a costly shade used to adorn the main table in
the ‘Pumukham’, bower, and at the
dinner table. The lighted lamps illuminated the rooms and the varnished walls
adequately. The other lamps were brass oil lamps or lanterns run on kerosene.
Candles were lit only for an emergency. I noticed that chain smokers used to
carry match-box or gas lighter, which used to be a very rare imported
commodity.
‘Appachan’ used to keep a long
torch with five batteries for use in an emergency. The electric power supply,
Edison’s incandescent bulbs and the fluorescent tube lights illuminated our
‘Mana’ and its courtyard only by the 1970s.
Kumaran Chittel did all the electrical wiring and fittings and
corresponded with Kerala State Electricity department. A lot of electric
appliances and gadgets came into the market. Having a motor pump, fans, refrigerator,
grinder, mixer, oven and a lot of other things became status symbol of
aristocracy. I remember the electricity bill was less than one hundred and
fifty rupees in 1970s. The electric power and the appliances made people
lethargic and pleasure seeking. Year after year more and more electric goods
were flooding the market. Various types
of advanced grinders, mixers, fruit juicers, ovens and microwave and air-conditioners
stormed the market. The media exploited the public and decided the brand which
they should buy and use. There was a great display of luxury by people in the
upper social level. At the other end the poor were suffering. The commercial
banks too exploited the situation by advancing loans with prohibitive interest
rates and encouraged the impecunious customers to buy and use modern electric
appliances. Both the central and state governments too made huge margins
through excise duty and sales tax levy. Many of the loan defaulters were pushed
into debt traps and then dragged into litigations in courts. Now, when these
gadgets have become indispensable to the common man, the State Electricity
Board has changed their stand by hiking their tariffs. These made the common
man helpless as he has already become a slave of these luxuries. The common man
can’t bear the brunt of paying the exorbitant electricity charges demanded by
the Electricity Board.
The
high cost in the production of electric energy in Kayakulam power project is
attributed as one of the reasons for the prohibitive charges levied by the
Electricity Board. Huge investments were made from the government exchequer to
build this project without considering its viability. If a private individual
had to venture out on this project he would have become a pauper. The concerned
officials and the ministers in charge of electricity and finance are personally
accountable for their failure.
I
would like to voice a few suggestions to save electrical energy. This will
lessen the burden on the consumers. Suitable and correct research should be executed
to reduce the transmission loss. The government should create awareness among
their employees and the public; a conscious effort to avoid the usage of electricity
unnessarily should be given adequate propaganda. The vigilance department
should be alerted to take stringent action against theft of electric power. The
Electricity Board should curtail unnecessary expenditures. A tariff hike of 2% may be imposed on industries
like - Aluminum Company, Kalamassery Travancore Electro-Chemicals, Chingavanam and
such others who consume large quantity of electricity; as it is a major component
in the manufacture of their products. Moreover, let the computers reduce the
number of staffs in the department. These would help the government to refrain
from burdening the trivial consumers. Beware, the welfare of the subjects is so
significant and when it is neglected; they will definitely turn against the
administration.
Why
the electricity department wants to keep the monopoly on generation,
transmission and supply of electricity. Let the private sector generate
electricity from bio-gas, sunlight, lightning and thunder, wind, tide or other
sources for their useand encourage the young scientists to find new sources.
The state needs only a power of check and control.
HEATING: Till 1980s heating in
kitchen was a laborious process. The women folk of this Island depended on the coconut
tree, the heavenly tree, for firewood. They used to collect its roots, trunk,
bunch cover, waste bunch, leaves and coconut shell and other waste parts. They
would dry it and keep it safe in a shed for a rainy day. A lot of women from
the neighbourhood came to our house to buy firewood.
During
rainy season, I noticed Mariakutty; our maid-servant would blow-hard air with a
pipe in the fireplace to fire them up. Sometimes she would pour little kerosene
to fasten the lighting. I noticed that Mariakutty’s clothes were always unclean
with the smoke and dirt and was unpresentable. I knew that a few match-boxes
would be available in every kitchen. The cooking gas (LPG) connections, gas stove
and cooking ranges were made available from 1980 onwards to the Islanders and
it was, no doubt, a blessing. It reduced the workload of women. The electric
stove and oven are now replaced by induction cooker and microwave. What is the
next product?
Now,
poor heavenly tree has been deserted by all; no climbers; no tillers; no buyers
for coconuts and nobody want any part of it. What a strange fate of the coconut
tree and its farmers!
LPG
has replaced the traditional firewood which used to be the cooking medium of
all people. The LPG has now become indispensable even to the common man. The government
along with the oil companies has unscrupulously resorted to capitalize by
enhancement of its price. I am astounded to note that the oil companies are
charging higher rates for the domestically produced gas and oil at par with the
imported gas and oil. This unfair and improper practice is real loot on the
public. By doing so, they are inconveniencing and burdening the consumers which
would have an adverse impact on the ruling front.
Excerpts from
MEMOIRS
An autobiography
by
Joseph J. Thayamkeril
Lawyer, Kochi, Kerala, India.
josephjthayamkeril.blogspot.com
josephjthayamkeril@gmail.com
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