The scene is ICC Twenty-20 World Cup Cricket Final at Johannesburg, South Africa in the year 2007. India is taking on Pakistan. India batted first and scored 157 runs for 5 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Now, Pakistan has reached their final over. They have only 145 runs with the last pair of batsmen at the crease. The hard hitting Misbah is to face the bowling of Joginder Sharma. The batsman on the other end is Asif. Pakistan has to score 13 runs form the last over to win.
The first ball of the over is a wide. So, one
run is added to the Pakistan score to make it 146. Now they have to score 12 runs from 6 balls (it has become a 7 ball over due to the wide ball). The next ball is a dot, producing no runs. Misbah hits the next one to a six. Now, their target is 6 runs from the remaining 5 balls. Misbah gets ready for the next ball. Tension mounts. Everyone watching the match bites their nail. Ah! Misbah hits the ball hard and everyone thinks it will be another six to seal the match in Pakistan’s favour! But it was not to be.A reporter wrote about the situation in a newspaper next day- “but nobody thought of the fact that there would be a Malayalee in every nook and corner of the world. And here, in this cricket field, there was one in the form of Sreesanth, playing for India, who caught hold of the ball, getting Misbah out.” Thus India won the match and the T-20 World Cup.
The news reporter was humorously referring to the nature of Malayalees in general. Malayalees (because their mother tongue is Malayalam) also known as Keralites (because they hail from Kerala, a State in India) are said to be present in every part of the world. They never hesitate to migrate to any other place, be it in some other State in their own country or somewhere abroad, in search of greener pastures. Wherever they go, they are quick to attain the goodwill of the natives, with their attractive behaviour, honesty, efficiency and hard working nature. So, I am proud of being a Malayalee myself.
You may be remembering a recent incident in the Philippines, where an Indian detained by terrorists had a lucky escape. His wife was a Filipino girl and that was how he got there. He
is also a Malayalee (or Keralite) and he has come back home. God bless him!Kerala is a small State in the southern part of India. Malayalam is the language here. But most of them opt to educate their children in English medium even at school level. So, Malayalees in general are able to handle English fairly well. The people of Kerala are known for the importance they give to education, hygiene, cleanliness and healthcare. The health standard of this Indian State is at par with that of some developed countries in the West. These may be some of the reasons why they are well accepted in all parts of the world.
There are a lot of people from my place, Tiruvalla who have migrated to foreign countries like the Gulf countries (the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait etc.), the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada and almost all the other countries, to earn a better living. This is the case with the entire State of Kerala. The majority of these people are in the Gulf countries. They are working in almost all the fields like nursing, construction, business, industry and what not! Many have risen to the top levels also. They send huge amounts of money home. And this money plays a vital part in propping up the economy of Kerala.
Now, a strange thing has happened. Living standard in Kerala has risen considerably. So, nobody is interested in taking small jobs. Non-availability of labour in different fields like agriculture, small industries, construction etc. became a real problem here in Kerala. Someone had the smart idea of importing cheap labour from other Indian States like Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Odisha etc. to Kerala to overcome the crisis. Now, we can see labourers in large numbers from these North Indian States everywhere in Kerala. Here in Kerala, labourer’s wages are very much higher than in North Indian States and so, they can earn more than double what they may in their own States.
Ironically, while Malayalees have migrated to Gulf countries in search of their dream jobs, these people from North India are making Kerala their own ‘Gulf’ in a way.
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