COIMBATORE: The only access to Kalithimbam, a village inside the Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary in western Tamil Nadu, from the nearby Thalavadi town in Erode district is a dirt track that runs through a green patch frequented by elephants and tigers. Few people other than members of the Oorali tribe, who lives here, would risk the walk until a decade ago, since sandalwood smuggler Veerappan lorded over the forest. The trek remains the same though the brigand was shot in 2004. But the social landscape of the village has changed in a radical way since. It's no more Veerappan, but Cupid who lords over the village.
Many households in Kalithimbam, which doesn't have electricity or other modern facilities, have daughter-in-laws from other communities other than the Oorali tribe. Many young men from nearly 300 families in the village travel to cities like Coimbatore and Erode for work and fall in love and marry girls who they meet there. The marriages take place at the local temple with the consent of family and village elders.
Suicides shock villagers into acceptance
Since January this year, nine love marriages have been solemnized in Kalithimbam. The village also has no opposition to their girls marrying outside the tribe though there has been no such alliance yet. At a time when the rest of Tamil Nadu is witnessing a ganging up of non-dalit groups against inter-caste marriages, Kalithimbam takes pride that it has over 40 daughter-in-laws, born in dalit as well as backward communities.
This wasn't so always. The change in mindset came about two years ago after a series of suicides by young men, whose families had opposed their romance with girls outside their tribe. "The suicides shocked our village. Why should we allow our children to die just because they find life partners outside the community? Now the village is conducting each and every marriage with celebration without considering whether the bride is from the tribe,'' says B Geetha, a woman political activist in the village.
All the villagers then took an oath not to oppose "love marriages". If the bride's family opposes the romance, village elders take the responsibility to persuade the girl's family and solemnize the marriage in front of the Perumal temple in the village.
R Ruseeswaran, vice-president, Thalamalai Panchayat which includes Kalithimbam, puts the transformation in perspective. "We have to understand the realities around. After completing education, children move out of the village for jobs and the chances of falling in love with those from other communities are very high. In an age in which mobile phones rule the roost, it would be foolish to oppose love marriages,'' he says.
Mahalakshmi and Maheswari, two women who came to the village as brides, vouch for the change in the village. Mahalakshmi, from Ghermalam, a village in another part of Dhimbam-Thalavadi hills, had met Marimuthu, a truck driver, at a temple festival. Hailing from different communities, they married last year. "My family had opposed the alliance but elders from Kalithimbam convinced them. Now, everyone is happy,'' she says. Maheswari romanced Govindasamy for eight years before getting married. "We promote love and there is no space for hate. Me and my husband are working under the rural employment guarantee scheme and we always help those who are in love and want to get married settle comfortably,'' says Maheswari.
P L Sundaram, a CPI MLA who represents Bhavanisagar constituency which includes Kalithimbam, describes the village as one that "recognises pure love". "The village elders tell the boy and girl to wait if any of them is minor. If the love affair involves a student, the elders put the marriage on hold till he or she completes the course," he says.
Sundaram adds the villagers don't accept dowry. That's quite an achievement for a village, where most of the elders work as farm hands and the youth in cities as drivers and factory workers.
Village in Veerappan country says no to caste in marriages
This article
Village in Veerappan country says no to caste in marriages
can be opened in url
http://newssubstantiate.blogspot.com/2012/12/village-in-veerappan-country-says-no-to.html
Village in Veerappan country says no to caste in marriages
