Knowing More..... Party Food!
Whoo! it's been a while since i've written a piece on one of the T-shirt icons on the Karimeen Inc. T-shirts, and there's been a good reason for it...i was doing a bit of reading. Being a person who lived in Kerala only after turning to my teens, it matters to me, and i'm sure, my readers as well, that I get this right! So here we go.....
Today's write-up is on a group of icons that most Keralites will have a connection to, and ALL Keralites know... PARTY FOOD!
Now, as the name may sound odd to some, let me explain... it is not about food you bring to a party! Party in this case refers to the Communist Party of India, which is sometimes colloquially referred to as simply 'Party', or collectively with other left parties, the LDF.
Now i'm sure most people outside this region of the world connect Communism with Che Guevara, Castro, Stalin, Chinese leadership, and the authoritarian rule, bad human conditions, suffering, blah blah. Well, all of that may be true, but in a rather interesting twist, the Communist Party in Kerala was a cultural revolution that turned a rather backward thinking society to an expressive and well-read, cooperative society. So in order to make sure you don't correlate horrific soviet conditions to what Kerala may look like, let me give you some history on the Party in Kerala.
Back in the day, most of the land in Kerala was owned by feudal Namboothiri lords, and they acted pretty much like the modern equivalent of 'rich scumbags' i guess. They considered themselves superior as they were brahmins (upper caste) and looked down on the lower caste society, who worked the fields. These landlords would ill treat and use the women to their liking, and killed or beat down other low-caste workers who spoke up or tried to stop them. Picture the movie 'Twelve Years A Slave', but Indian upper-castes as the whites, and the lower-castes (Dalits) as the blacks.
Out from this darkness emerged people like E.M.S Namboodiripad, P Krishna Pillai, and many others. They rallied up the poor and oppressed to rise up to the elitist rulers and brought Communist ideologies to the forefront, eventually making Kerala the first place in the world to democratically elect a Communist Party into power!
In power, despite their aversion to bring up proper industries, which still tends to be the case with Kerala not being as industrial as neighbouring states, they did bring about a rise in literacy and gender equality, making Kerala a place with literacy levels, human mortality levels, and gender ratio levels of a 'first-world country'! Along with ideologies from revolutionary thinkers like Narayana Guru, Chattambi Swamikal and many others, the Left Party reduced caste differences and religious differences. Kerala is today a unique mish-mash of religions and beliefs, but everybody gets along in peace, which can't be said about other parts of India, where communal fights still happen.
OKAY! so now enough of the history lesson from me! I think i've rambled enough, and you guys can read more about this and the Kerala Model of development on the net.
Now, let us look at the two icons that seem to have no connection at first to the hammer and sickle. I mean, what the hell do lentil fritters and tea have to do with Communism?
Well... as it turns out, Parippu Vada (lentil fritters) and Kattan Chai (Black Tea) tend to be almost an official food and drink for the Left party, so much so, that Kerala pop culture has shown the connection in many movies in a subtle manner! The movie Sandesham is a good example of this, and i'm sure a true blooded Malayali will see the humorous connection of Party food!
The T signifies our love for political satire. Even though the Left declares countless strikes and harthaals, and even though we tend to make fun of their follies, most of us Malayalis in our hearts, lean to the Left, and so does everybody's heart in real life right? And of course, not to forget our love for good food. I mean, who can hate on Parippu Vada? They're goddamn awesome!
I do admit i forgot to add a fourth icon to this T-shirt which was suggested to me by some of my friends and family, and that was the Dinesh beedi! Let's say we may see that on a Karimeen Inc. T in the future!
Disclaimer: I do not own the photos in this blog, with exception to the karimeen inc. Party Food icons
