I grew up in Chennai, a huge metropolis, but almost all the summers of my childhood were spent in a village about 250 kilometers south of Chennai. We have our ancestral home there - a modest but spacious, mud-brick-walls, red-tiles-on-bamboo affair. expansive plateau in northeastern Thailand, an exceedingly fertile countryside is a cushion for hard times for Southeast Asia’s 570 million people. Laid-off migrant workers in other parts of the world, notably in China, are also reportedly returning home. But one difference for workers in Southeast Asia is that they live in a very accommodating climate. be poor in a warm country than a cold country,’ ” said Jean-Pierre Verbiest, the country director of the Asian Development Bank in Thailand. For this and other reasons, returning to one’s traditional village in the countryside is a sort of “social safety net,” Mr. Verbiest said, although he is not sure what the scale of the exodus will be because links to the countryside are weaker than they once were.
The thing that I love most about the village is the sheer tropical greenery. It is one of the greenest parts of South India, and when you see that much greenery and sun, for some reason it is impossible to feel depressed or unhappy. I remember childhood summers filled with village activities, none of which involved much money (there wasn't much money going around), but loads of fun.
I was reminded of this when I read the NY Times article today In Southeast Asia, the Unemployed Return Home. It is a story about the impact of the global economic downturn, but here are a couple of quotes that caught my attention
Mr. Verbiest is absolutely right: it is better to be poor in a warm country than a cold country, particularly in the lush, tropical countryside. Even small plots of land tend to be extremely productive year-round, and some agricultural activity or other goes on pretty much all the time.
...
I don't want to romanticize rural poverty, and one of my dreams in life is to create sustainable alternative employment in my own village. Huge challenges remain: Recurring droughts alternating with floods, periodic water shortages due to over-tapping of ground water, fluctuating prices for farm produce and finally an indifferent and inefficient government all conspire to make it hard for anyone to get ahead and accumulate much capital in the countryside.
But if I had to be poor, I would rather be poor in that village than any place else.
If I had to be poor, I would rather be poor in a lush tropical village ...
Posted on
3 Mins Read From the bright green rice-terraced hills in Indonesia to this
Jeevan,
Thanks, you are way too kind!PhilH,
Great song! In translation:Take me to the end of the earth
Take me to the land of wonders
It seems to me that poverty
Would be less painful in the sun
Jeevan,
Thanks, you are way too kind!PhilH,
Great song! In translation:Take me to the end of the earth
Take me to the land of wonders
It seems to me that poverty
Would be less painful in the sun
There's great french song just about that: />PhilH.
Emmenez-moi au bout de la terre
Emmenez-moi au pays des merveilles
Il me semble que la misère
Serait moins pénible au soleilYou can see it here:
http://www.dailymotion.com/sea...Cheers
There's great french song just about that: />PhilH.
Emmenez-moi au bout de la terre
Emmenez-moi au pays des merveilles
Il me semble que la misère
Serait moins pénible au soleilYou can see it here:
http://www.dailymotion.com/sea...Cheers
I think it may - to develop something in India (a
case study in itself to test any business being
crash n burn proof with all kinds of things that
go only wrong in India), with no outside funding
from 1996 so far are stuffs heroes are made off.I wish you dream come true someday.
I think it may - to develop something in India (a
case study in itself to test any business being
crash n burn proof with all kinds of things that
go only wrong in India), with no outside funding
from 1996 so far are stuffs heroes are made off.I wish you dream come true someday.
Sridhar...Being from the United States, I have seen the demise of the family farmer, as well as any impetus to be self-sufficient.What is happening in the Far-East can be looked at as a good thing, where personal responsibility and allegiance to the family are time honored institutions.We used to have that here, but the societal engineers have created an entire culture who cannot even open a can of vegetables, let alone grow their own.I am going to share that NY Times article with my family and friends that THIS is the way Americans once were, before we became fat and lazy.A great quote from the article:It won’t take them long to lose their bellies,†said Samer Songserm, the 56-year-old wizened headman of this small village who has counted 10 unemployed workers returning from Bangkok over the past two months.
Sridhar...Being from the United States, I have seen the demise of the family farmer, as well as any impetus to be self-sufficient.What is happening in the Far-East can be looked at as a good thing, where personal responsibility and allegiance to the family are time honored institutions.We used to have that here, but the societal engineers have created an entire culture who cannot even open a can of vegetables, let alone grow their own.I am going to share that NY Times article with my family and friends that THIS is the way Americans once were, before we became fat and lazy.A great quote from the article:It won’t take them long to lose their bellies,†said Samer Songserm, the 56-year-old wizened headman of this small village who has counted 10 unemployed workers returning from Bangkok over the past two months.
Sridhar,I am from Trivandrum. Not sure what its called now but I bet you know what I am talking about.Nice post. I agree.
Sridhar,I am from Trivandrum. Not sure what its called now but I bet you know what I am talking about.Nice post. I agree.
True, but i believe being poor is something you can control yourself.
hardworking changes everything.
True, but i believe being poor is something you can control yourself.
hardworking changes everything.