I had been planning to visit this place for over a month, but never had the time. So I let this plan be aside for sometime, just waiting for right time for it to pop into my life. Just after some days of writing blogs, The location – KASIMEDU popped into my mind. I believed that place had a story to tell. So this time, without any excuse I decided to go ahead with my plan.

Kasimedu is located at a distance of whooping 40 km from my place. But luckily, with my friend I reached this place prior to sunrise. That’s one part of time where you could see the amazing pre sunset glow in the sky. I was awe struck after seeing thousands of boats parked at the place. I wanted to take a closer shot of the sunrise, so I kept walking inside Kasimedu to it’s end and waited there. The place was already crowded by locals.

And it happened. The Sunrise. The sun came out from the clouds, like an angel illuminating the entire sea. The scene suddenly became golden, and I couldn’t ask for more from the mother nature. But what we give back to nature is what saddened me in like 5 minutes later. The way we polluted the shores of Kasimedu was shocking. Not only locals, but people who visit the place contribute to it in a greater amount. As heard from the locals, The place has become a tourist place no different from Marina in the past few years. Plastic pollution in such places is not only a threat to us, but also to the creatures of the sea. Whatever we possesses is from nature, and what we give in return is not what it deserve.

So, after witnessing a fulfilling sunrise, I went inside Kasimedu to know more in detail about the place. That’s when I spotted someone cleaning the boat while others were just loitering around. I went to talk to him. That’s when I met Ezhumalai.

Ezhumalai has been sailing boats for the past 15 years. 8 years working as boat driver in Goa, he came to Kasimedu and settled with his family. He stopped sailing boats since his arrival here, stating the fact that the waves will be too rough and vigorous to manage here. He is the care taker of the boat and also known as the “Check list guy”. He checks whether the boat is filled with all essentials, the engine is in proper condition, they have enough food supplies.etc. Since it was the strike period (Every year, Fishermen prevent themselves from going fishing, by government order for 2 months for better breeding of fishes and other creatures). So during this period, he usually sleeps in the boat to prevent people from stealing stuff from it. As it was strike period, the fishermen will have lots of financial crisis and a lot of robbery occurs in order to escape from them. He also showed me the place where people sleep during travel, next to the steering wheel. 12 people sleep in that place, where hardly 4 can only fit. Finally before leaving, I posted a question “Evlo na irukum indha boat, oru 1 latcham?(How much this boat costs, a lakh?). That’s when he smirked a smile and said, “1 latchama. Thambi, andha blue colour la kayir suthi iruke . Adhuve 8 latcham pa. Motha boat 1 kodi(Brother. The blue colour thing with rope alone costs 8 lakhs. The entire boat costs a crore). And that point shook me from top to bottom.

This made me realize that 90% of the fisherman doesn’t own a boat and work for a owner. This owner guy, is obviously a big shot and takes the majority of the share, without taking any risk and only because he has the money to buy a boat. But everyday, Ezhumalai takes care of the boat like his own, striving hard to make a living out of it.

I almost left the place, when I saw a group of people drinking something from a drum. That’s where I met the Rajan of the group, Mr. Sukumar.

Mr. Sukumar is the leader of the group. He has been fishing for the past 35 years, and he is still doing strong. He came into fishing, just after 8th with his father. His family has an entire history on fishing, and no one can separate them from it. He worked at many places in and around India, and even in the Andamans. He even worked as a Ship Sailor for almost 2 years, and then quit it to come back to Kasimedu. When asked why, he replied, “Idhan pa en edam. Idha vittu na enga ponalum, thirumba ala adicha mari inga vandhu vilundhuruven. Kappal la vela senjen. Otha avan enna solradhu na enna kekuradhu nu inga vandhuten. Inga nan dhan pa Raja. Epome Raja”(This is my place. Wherever I go, I come back to this place. I worked in a ship. But, left it and came back here. Because, I’m the king here). That’s when I saw the Rajan inside Mr. Sukumar come out like a glance. He owns the place. He owns his set of people. But what shook me was even he doesn’t own a boat. Fishing, being his family business, even he doesn’t own one at present.

In between this, Velu and Desappan explained to me about what they were drinking. It’s basically a recipe of rice mixed with a powder, which is allowed to settle for 4 days after mixing(Sunda Kanji). It’s the favorite food for each and every fisherman, in and around Kasimedu. It’s slightly alcoholic. But that’s what is keeping them active for entire day he says. They usually drink 2 cups prior to fishing and 2 cups after fishing. It’s the prime meal for every fisherman. Velu also stressed the hardships every fisherman face throughout the year. They go in fishing for like 15 days straight, and rarely return early when their requirement is fulfilled. He also added the troubles they face at the Andhra border, like the Rameshwaram fishermen face at Srilanka. Many have lost their lives due to GPS, RADAR and ECHO failure, which are the navigation systems they use to navigate themselves back to the shore. But, with the modern technology, the rate of deaths have been greatly decreased. That’s when I asked “Epdi ivlo kashtathulayum velaiku poreenga?(How are you working, behind so much troubles?)

That’s when Desappan replied, “Inga lam boatu otu na dha ambala. Oru kudumbathula oruthanavadhu boatu otiye aaganum”(Whoever rides a boat is considered as a man here. Every family should have a man who rides a boat). Also Velu added, the fights you see in movies are just 10% representation of what happens in this place. People still fight to death here and their deaths are far brutal and horrifying than what you dare to think. Sukumar also added the financial crisis they face in this 2 month period, where they have to pay school fee for their children, have to spend for vacation, any family gathering, family function, medication. etc. People couldn’t lead a peaceful life at such place. They work hard, struggle hard and die hard in the wrong hands. Nothing is going to change in their lives. Nothing is gonna change after the blog. But after speaking to them, I respect the effort they make to make a living. A kid, coming out from such a locality will definitely face a lot of back logs in his life. But how the society accepts in this life is what that nearly matters. A 9 to 5 IT Professional have less risks about life and more income than a fisherman. So can a fisherman quit his job and do something else? No, he cannot. Because he doesn’t know anything else to do. Unlike other state, Fisherman from Kasimedu are born as “TAMIZHAN” and die as “TAMIZHAN” at the borders and not as “INDIAN”.