Making protests heard higher up

If there’s one thing you’ll find in abundance in Kerala, it’s coconut trees (well, also beaches and hartals and fish fry – but coconut trees win hands down any day)

This is one tree that is often called a ‘kalpavriksha’, or a wish fulfilling divine tree, as every part of the tree – from the nuts to the roots – can be put to good use in different forms. Anyway, all the history aside, the coconut tree is the prime source of livelyhood for many a daily wage laborer in Kerala who earns a living out of plucking coconuts. Given the number of coconut trees there are, the number of such ‘coconut pluckers’ is not insignificant either. In fact, they even have a union of their own (like anything and everything else in Kerala) – the Kerala thengu kayatta thozhilali union. The group has their own set of problems, and they recently decided to organize an assembly march to voice their protests, and press upon the government the need for a monthly pension for coconut pluckers. T. Sudheer Kumar, an enterprising member of the union somehow felt that the march alone might not suffice. They needed to be heard, and heard well.

The Kerala assembly building is one that is well patrolled by several layers of security personnel and police officers. After all, it is the hub of all decision making for the state, and the policy makers themselves need all the protection that can be provided. None of this perturbed Sudheer. He climbed coconut trees for a living, and nobody was going to stop him from climbing one more – even if the said tree was rooted inside the assembly complex, cocooned by security. He somehow managed to sneak in despite the heavy security, and promptly proceeded to climb a coconut tree and planted himself comfortably atop it. He must have done a pretty good job of it, as nobody noticed his presence until he decided to shout slogans high up from his perch. A situation that must have amused onlookers initially soon took on a serious tone, given the lapse in security while the assembly was in session. For want of a better solution to the problem, fire tenders were rushed to the spot, and police officials and safety personnel tried to convince him to return to solid ground. Sudheer obviously did not oblige.  The youth from Kannur had come to protest, and protest he would.

Engaged in such a ‘lofty’ protest, it couldn’t be that his voice would go unheard. Soon enough, legislature secretary Mr. Saragadharan himself turned up to try persuade Sudheer to make the descent. They assured Sudheer that his grievances would be heard, and even threw in an audience with the chief minister for good measure. Sudheer, the oh-so-skeptical Malayalee, refused to budge. Further proof that nobody can get a Malayali to stop protesting – especially slippery politicians. However, being the true blooded worker and union member that he is, he softened his stand once leaders from his union arrived at the spot. It eventually took some time of negotiations and pleading by the union leaders to convince Sudheer to climb down to safety. Not sure if he intended to take his protests to new heights in such a fashion, but at the very least, he has certainly managed to get people to look up to him, we’re sure!

The worst affected by this incident will probably be the officers manning the security cordon at the assembly building. Not content with scanning crowds on terra firma, their new orders will probably have them routinely monitoring nearby tree tops too!

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