The Sea and The Man

                                                                                           By Dr.Sreenivasulu Dasari.

For the sea and the man, it is once again an era of peaceful co-existence.

The sea that keep snuffing out life along the coast due to sudden occurrence of catastrophes is once again providing sustenance to myriads among fishermen community.

The fishermen along the coast line put out to the sea as usual without being swamped by the scare of yet another tidal wave. The fishermen villages goes by names of “pattapupalalu” and “pallekarla gramalu” standing for lane of sharks, sharks and whales rarely come their way.

The writer happened to be Collector of Prakasam District two decades back. Thick of August,1996 storm that hit the coast, he took charge of the relief and rehabilitation measures. He kept on his live contact with local fishermen since then.

Tidal waves of Tsunami (2004), Neelam (2012), Hudhud (2014) and the recent Kyant and Vardah (2016) that ravaged

coastal belt did not have any mercy to fishermen of ‘Tenkayachetlapalem’ in ulvapadu mandal in between Kavali and Ongole towns. The visit of this author to this ‘Pattapupalem’ this week presented a picture of then and now of the living pattern of the locals. The habitation truly goes by the name with coconut groves in and around stand as witness to the time tested successive disasters.    

The Community have no indelible marks of the past dark days. No regrets too. They are happy with the “Pandus” and “magas” and “gurkas” and “tekis”. Of course, these high value varieties of fish are rare now a days contrary to bountiful decades back. The present generation is satisfied with low value ‘Korameena’, ‘peetalu’ and ‘Prawns’. The scientific reasons for the dwindling wealth of sea need to be explored and explained yet.   

Now-a-days they listen to A.I.R. weather bulletins with a pricked up ears. When the sea is rough and the gales are high, they return to the shore swiftly. More the technological

advancement, lesser the accessibility to them due to non-affordability among locals.

The tidal wave has not wiped out the faith of the fisherman in their ancestors’ wisdom. “When the gale starts from south – east and then from north-west, a tidal wave is inevitable”. Fifty five year old Pamanji polisetty, community president of three fishermen villages, recalled that the storms were always along predictable lines that hit their villages adversely.

When the catches are poor despite good weather, they consult the “piest” of their community and fix a “muhurat” afresh for putting out to the sea. An animal or two are sacrificed. They go to bed in a mood of inebriation only to get up early next morning and start on their voyage. Modernity has not brought out any attitudinal change excepting material comforts among them. Traditional belief is ultimate. “culturallag” is the root cause of for this obtaining predicament says Kotangari Koteswra Rao, the priest of the village.

In every fishermen village, ‘Ramulavaari’ temple in the midst with ‘Ammavari’ gudi, being the gram devata, in the same precincts is a common traditional feature. Ramnavami is a major festival. Other local fairs and ceremonies revolve around village devata/diety. Both the temples have a common priest among men. When this author moved the idea of having a women priest for village goddess, the villagers responded positively.

It has been going on for generations. They used to put out to the sea in steamers on Monday and return on Saturday, in time for the Sunday market in olden days. With the increasing motorized and mechanized boats and spread of communication net work, the routine is changing fast. In smaller boats fitted with engines, the younger generation make it a day or two catch or hunt.

The boats are berthed along a canal, about half a mile away from the village or agrounded on beach sands normally.

       The locals are demanding a fishing harbor in Ramayampatnam with bucking ham canal linking to it now in abandoned state re-

vived in terms of their securely carrying out their activity. “The need of the hour” says Bala Murali Kotangiri, a thirty year educated but engaged in traditional fishing, the son of the village priest.   

The owners are few and the kalasis many. The owner engages the kalasis by paying them advances up to Rs.5000. Rice, tamarind, oil and chilli powder and one or two vegetables besides water are loaded on to the steamer. Alternatively, a family consisting of 4 to 5 members too operate a boat. Women are allowed nowhere near the boats when they start, for there is the belief of the catches being adversely hit if the shadow of a woman in periods were to fall on them.

So fishing is an all-male job. One of the kalasis looks after cooking. Some others take up spreading nets. And they keep a watch by turns during nights. Rowing is fading away from traditional sight.

The nets should sweep the sea-bed if the fish are to be trapped. The night watchers ensure that the nets are in positions. The fears of poachers from neighboring states disturbing and over powering the activity continue to dominate their minds. Small fish eating away big fish, after all.  The catch is collected early in the morning. The fish are sliced, salted and stored. The process goes on for six mornings. The catch is brought to the shore on the sixth evening and carted out to the fish market in the vicinity of nearby towns. The tradition no more continue. The activity is slowly attaired by modern gadgets. Drudgery has comedown in a way.

The revenue sharing is unique. The expenditure incurred by the boat owner initially on maintaining the crew aboard the boat is first deduced from the total revenue. Of the remainder, half is set apart for the boat owner for sparing the boat and the nets. The rest is shared equally by all those who man the boat. A kalasi gets daily wage besides free food on board. All in the past. Now it is equally shared by the crew members after deducting half of the revenue by boat owner.

 The catches depend on the weather and their value on the market forces. When the catches from different villages along the coast are heaped up in local markets. The buyers

indicate the price they are prepared to offer and strike deals. The buyers come from nearby towns. The market price of a variety like “Pandus” used to range between Rs.35 to Rs.60 per maund (12.6kgs) earlier. In the changed scenario, the boat owner telephone to the prospective buyers who come to the village and negotiate the price and collect on the spot.

When the men and boys are at sea, the women folk supplement the family’s income by attending to manual labour like transplanting or harvesting of paddy or repair of canals. When the catch arrive, the women used to take over the market merchandise in olden days by carrying head load of harvest and sell in non-fisherman villages or local markets. No more is the practice prevalent. The mahila thrift groups known as ‘Podupu sanghalu’ are thriving to meet their micro-credit requirements. The family as a whole look to women for source of funding their consumption needs. A visible impacting feature of house-holds is a heartening change. Dependence on shavkars and middle men reduced to a considerable extent. Yet, there has been little change in their living pattern. Girl child early marriage is again a depressing feature in depicting their social life.

The Government and other social service organizations have more than made up for the losses of both boats and nets despite repeated ravages of cyclones. The mud and thatch houses swept away in the past have given way to pucca R.C.C. homes. Re-location of the habitation to a safer zones is a great sigh of relief now. The remains of old houses stand on beach front with coconut plants in plenty signify the bygones.  

Now the boats and nets are more in number and bigger in size and better in make. The fisherman set off from nicer homes to return with bigger catches. Electricity, Water supply and roads have taken away monotony from their dreary existence.

But all these modern trappings have not made a dent in their traditional system of justice dispensation by the elders of the community. Twelve leaders elected by the 12 muthas in the

village and the president, the secretary and the treasurer chosen by the entire community act as elders. They are known as ‘Kapus’ in pattapupalems. These elders, who receive no honorarium, adjudicate on all issues ranging from assaults to marriages/divorces. The complainant has to deposit smaller sums with the cashier and lodge the complaint. In earlier days, it used to be Rs: 25. The elders fix a day to hear all complaints and decide issues. Penalties ranging from 500 to 1000 rupees are levied on the guilty.

In olden days the village elders used the penalties as also the revenue from other sources to advance funds to the needy. Loans at the rate of Rs.100 each were advanced to some members. The beneficiary agrees to repay the principle and the interest decided in bidding within a year. A man who borrows say Rs 100 has to repay about Rs.150.

The community makes a sort of levy on all village transactions. The elders say that a buyer used to pay five paisa per maund of fish, five paisa per bag of salt, Rs.10 per boat or a big net bought, the village arrack dealer used to pay about Rs.300 per month. The right to impound stray cattle is auctioned and the amount credited to the community. This practice was prevailing three decades back.

Gone are the days. Although it is increased now to multifold, all search revenues are utilized for un-productive purposes like celebrating community fairs/festivals with pomp and show. Consumption expenditure is on the raise especially on liquor. Traditional beliefs, customs and traditions continue to dominate their living pattern at the cost of basic community needs.

There has been no change in the lives of commoners. Despite occasional disasters bringing untold misery to their very basic survival, relief and rehabilitation measures too are stepped-up matchingly. Handful of fishermen families, who could catch-up with modern education and employment opportunities, have been prospering to show case to others.Vayila Yanadi, a progressive youth, is occupying a higher post as asst commercial tax officer among them. He is striving hard to net work and educate and employ the village youth through a social organization named as Pattapu Development EducationalForum. 

“Because she named his son as a yanadi, her progeny survived” says proudly his seventy year old mother VayilaJalamma in her customary belief. ‘Yanadi’ in local parlance meaning Venkateswara Swamy (Lord of seven hills).

In retrospect, it could be perhaps said without exaggeration that the magnitude of the destruction is matched only by the scale of relief provided to the survivors in terms of physical advancement. The psychological rehabilitation continue to be a major challenge especially among the children and disabled elders.

(The writer was formerly      Collector of Praksam District and Director of State Ports of AP at Kakinada)

                                              

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