Rice: Chemmanam Chacko( Questions and Answers)

 

Rice

Chemmanam Chacko

Summary of the Poem

Rice is a poem about the dreams and the reality of that the poet faces. He returns from North India, after four years of studies. He has received his Doctorate in fine arts, as well as ample praise, for his skill in making toys from husk.

On his return, he hopes nostalgically, of eating athikira rice to his heart’s content. It is a dream every Keralite has when they return to their home land.

He imagines his father ploughing the paddy fields, with several oxen, and his little brother carrying tender saplings through the dyke.

When they see him coming, they would stop ploughing, and enquire about his journey. His brother will shout loud, for his mother to hear, of the poet’s home coming. The poet dreams that his mother will be draining the water out of the well-cooked rice, and he is in good time for lunch. He thinks that the train is moving too slow. He asks the train to move a little faster.

The second part of the poem is in sharp contrast to his cherished dreams. He is unable to find his way home as the whole area is covered with trees. When he left his home, there were palm thatched houses on the right-hand side. Now there are only trees.

Arecanut palms, dealwood trees and rubber plants twice his height has covered the area beyond recognition. The place has completely changed. There are no paddy fields and no more shouts of ploughing.

When he reaches home his father is supervising the mechanic repairing the machine for making rubber sheets. His father looks happy and contended. He says that they have stopped cultivating paddy. It was difficult and inconvenient. Only fools turn to paddy cultivation for profit. Cash crops are better. It is happy times.

There is no need for the cultivation of rice. The government gives rice, to those who do not cultivate rice, at a subsidy rate. Just then his little brother returns from ration shop. He trips over something and falls down. The wheat he was carrying is scattered all over the yard.

The poet is dumbfounded. He had run away from wheat and chapattis of North India, and here too, he will have to eat the same.

Just then an airplane roars overhead drowning his brother’s loud cries. The poet says that, it is the chief minister of Kerala, rushing to the Central Government in Delhi, to demand for an increase in the quota of rice and wheat.

The poet is sarcastic, when he asks, if we could get some husk too, from the Centre. He could make toys with it.

Chemmanam Chacko

Chemmanam Chacko, born on March 7, 1926 and died on August 14, 2018, was an Indian satirical poet from Kerala. He worked as a professor at Mar Ivanios College and the Department of Malayalam, University of Kerala. Chemmanam is famed for efficiently utilising satire in his poems as a means of social and political critique. His poetic style has often drawn comparison to the early Malayalam language poet Kunjan Nambiar.

Introduction to the Poem

In 1967, he wrote Nellu which cemented his place as a satirist among Malayalam poets. There was a great famine in the state. In contrast people were warming up towards cash crops like rubber, with active support from the government.

That was how we started to rely on government ration of wheat and macaroni, made out of tapioca.

That was the background of this poem. A translation of this poem, made by K. Ayyappa Panickar, appeared in the Oxford Collection of Indian Poetry.

He won several honours, including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi and Sanjayan Award.

Rice:  Question and Answers

1.     Of all the memories of his homeland, the narrator thinks of “rice” first. What does this show? 

Rice is the traditional food of Keralites. Wherever they are they prefer rice above any other dish. The narrator who was in North India had to be contented with chapatis for four years. He would like to have a full meal of athikira rice on returning home.

 2.     What are the memories of the narrator about the paddy cultivating season?

 The narrator remembers his father, in his handloom dhoti stained with yellow mud, ploughing the paddy field with several oxen. He also remembers his little brother carrying tender saplings to be planted in the field.

 

3.     The narrator wants the train to move a little faster. What does this tell us about his feeling for his native village?

 The narrator is very eager to reach his village. He can’t wait to reach his home and eat heartful meal of well cooked athikira rice. In a direct address to the train, he asks it to move a little faster. The figure of speech used in the phrase “O train” is apostrophe. Apostrophe is a figure of speech in which the speaker address someone who is not present, dead or to an inanimate object.

 

 

4.     What changes in the native village does the narrator notice on his return?

 When the narrator left his home for North India there were palm-thatched houses across the paddy field. Now there is nothing except trees. Rubber plants, twice his height, and arecanut palms have replaced the paddy fields where “modan” and “vellaran” verities of paddy grew. There are also no shouts of ploughing. Dealwood trees grows in a corner. Farmers cultivates cash crops instead of traditional food crops like paddy. As they earn more profit and have little inconvenience they are satisfied and contented.

 5.     Rubber plants have taken the place of paddy. What does it imply?

 There is a change in the attitude of farmers. They have much little inconvenience and more profit. Commercial crops like rubber, arecanut and dealwood trees have replaced paddy cultivation. There were a lot of labour problems in Kerala’s farming sector and now they prefer cash crops for food crops.

 6.     “Only fools turn to rice-faming for gain”. Why does the father say so?

Rice farming is unprofitable. It is a risk. There are a lot of inconveniences associated with rice farming. Cash crops are more profitable.  Father earns more money and is satisfied with rubber cultivation. Cultivating paddy means trouble and loss. Only a fool resort to rice farming.

 7.     What does “ship of the sky” represent?

 The aeroplane (airplane).  

 8.     “Can we get some husk from the Centre, too to make toys with it?’ Bring out the satire in these lines?

 Chemmanam Chacko, the poet, is a master satirist in Malayalam literature.

He uses satire in his poems to attack social foils and foibles just like Kunjan Nambiar (One of the ancient triumvirates of Malayalam poetry along with Ezhutachan and Cherusseri), the inventor of Ottamthullal. The state of Kerala now depends on the Central Government and other states for their favourite food rice. The farmers have gone for cash crops and profit. As the government encourages faming of cash crops and supplies rice through ration shops at a subsidy rate the attitude of farmers has changed. The narrator who took a doctorate in making toys with husk now can’t make toys as there is no husk available in Kerala. He is sarcastic in saying can we get some husk from the Central Government.

 9.     Why does the narrator feel confused as he walks home?

 The narrator used to walk to his home through the dikes and he could see the home from far away. Now the paddy fields have been replaced by tall rubber trees. There are no dikes. He can’t see his home or the way to his home from distance.

 10.Why does the father wear a contented look?

 The narrator’s father wears a contented look as he has less trouble in growing rubber plants and earn much more profit. Cultivating paddy was troublesome and inconvenient.

 11. Why did the farmers in Kerala abandon paddy cultivation?

 The farmers in Kerala abandoned paddy cultivation since it was inconvenient and unprofitable. There were also labour problems and labour unrest in Kerala. Rice farmers were not allowed to use modern technology by the labour unions. They were against the use of tractors for tilling the fields, sowing and reaping machines.  The labour coast was also very high. Rain and drought could also ruin the crops at any time. The introduction of commercial crops that could give more profit and less trouble attracted traditional rice farmers. The government too, favoured cash