Rice
by Chemmanam Chacko · translated by K. Ayyappa Paniker
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This satirical poem by Chemmanam Chacko contrasts a man's nostalgic expectations of his village with the harsh reality he finds on his return. In Part I, the narrator returns home after four years of research in North India, where he earned a doctorate for making toys with husk and grew tired of eating chapaties, longing eagerly for a meal of native 'athikira' rice. He fondly imagines the planting season: his father in a mud-stained dhoti ploughing with oxen, his little brother carrying saplings and shouting 'Mother, brother's arrived!', and his mother draining the well-cooked rice; impatiently he urges the train to run faster. In Part II, reality shatters these dreams. The paddy fields are gone, replaced by rubber plants, arecanut palms and dealwood trees. His father, now proudly setting up a rubber-sheet machine, declares they have stopped growing rice because 'only fools turn to rice-farming for gain', since the government gives rice to those without paddy fields. His brother scatters the household's ration wheat, and overhead a 'ship of the sky' carries the Chief Minister to the Centre to beg for more grains. The poem is a biting satire on the reckless shift from food crops to cash crops that has made a rice-growing land dependent on others for its very food.
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'Rice' by Chemmanam Chacko, translated by K. Ayyappa Paniker, is a satirical poem in two parts that contrasts nostalgic expectation with disappointing reality, mourning the loss of paddy cultivation in Kerala.
Part I, Homecoming dreams
The narrator returns home after four years of research in North India, having earned a doctoral degree for making toys with husk and grown 'bored with eating chapaties day after day'. He longs eagerly for a meal of native 'athikira' rice. He imagines the planting season vividly: his father in a mud-stained handloom dhoti ploughing with oxen, greeting him; his little brother carrying saplings and shouting 'Mother, brother's arrived!'; and his mother draining the well-cooked rice. Impatient, he begs the train to run faster so he can reach home and eat his fill.
Part II, The changed village
Reality shatters his dreams. Where palm-thatched houses once stood, there are now only trees. Rubber plants, 'twice my height', stand where paddy was once sown; the whole field is planted over with arecanut palms and dealwood trees, confusing his path home. There is no bustle of men, no shouts of ploughing.
The father's pride and the satire
Inside, his father proudly watches a machine being set up to make rubber sheets. With obvious pride he says they have stopped working on rice: 'It was quite inconvenient. The farmer gained nothing, / only fools turn to rice-farming for gain.' Rubber is 'better money', and the government gives rice to those who don't have paddy fields.
His little brother, carrying the household rations, trips and scatters the wheat across the yard. Overhead a 'ship of the sky' (aeroplane) roars northward, carrying the Chief Minister 'off like an arrow to the Centre / to clamour for more grains'. The narrator bitterly wonders whether he can get some husk from the Centre too, to make toys with it, a sharp satire on a rice-growing land now begging others for its food.