The Deluge That United

Kerala floods washed away social barriers as people across faiths and castes helped each other survive

- Minu Ittyipe

BlaspheMous as it may sound, for a brief while, during the great flood, it seemed as though God had abandoned Kerala. The flood’s wrath didn’t spare temp­les, churches or mosques—a few even crumbled and fell. and as the furi­ ous deluge loosed itself, destroying all in its path, religious rituals were dis­rupted for days. a strikingly positive narrative, however, emerged from the midst of the destruction and sorrow.

Kerala has never been torn asunder by riots, but a simmering, low-grade animus between communities keeps its social mosaic under strain. And recent years have not been propitious times for social harmony, with embittered attitudes visibly increasing all around.

Then came the flood. Thrown into the swirling waters together, reduced to mere humans seeking survival, scores shrugged off their religious prejudices and reached across caste barricades to save one another. The crisis struck around Onam, a pan-Kerala festival with unifying tendencies, and perhaps fittingly it saw people rescuing a lost sense of harmony and collectivity from the material wreckage.

Ambili, 47, and her husband Kutty krishnan had recently rented a one- storey house in Elookara, Aluva, near Kochi, and hardly knew anyone in their neighbourhood. But as the waters rose on August 15, neighbours Ashraf and Shani asked them to come over to their two-storeyed house. That invitation to sleep over saved the Kutty krishnans and their daughter. Next morning, they found the water level riding over one metre, threatening to submerge their house across the road.