Home Vegetables

Homely Vegetables

During my stay in Kerala, I had the unique and rare opportunity of taking food prepared with home grown vegetables free from chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides and preservatives. The vegetables available in Kerala markets are imported from other states mainly from Tamil Nadu and they are highly poisonous. The quantum of pesticides used in those vegetables is many times more than the permissible limits. No wonder, the incidence of dreaded diseases are increasing at an alarming rate. My village Edapal which is having a population of about 32000 is having more medical shops and hospital beds than Dilshad Garden, the population of which may be around 3 times that of Edapal.

People of Kerala have to blame themselves for this pathetic and horrible scenario. Malayalees in Kerala are lazy and lethargic and they are very averse to manual labour. Consequently whatever land they are having remain uncultivated and barren and they prefer to buy everything from market. However, the moment they cross Kerala border, they become sincere, hard working and are also prepared to do any paltry job.

Many people lament that cultivation is not economical. Labour rates in Kerala are the highest in India and even an unskilled labour get Rs 800/= per day for about 6 hours work. If you are cultivating for selling, profitability is an important factor.  However, if you are cultivating for own consumption, profit is not a significant factor because life is not a business. The cost per unit of the homely cultivated vegetable may be more than that of the item available in the market. But there is no comparison in quality and the same quality of vegetable you can see in dreams only and not in market. Even if you are prepared to pay many times more than the market price you will not such quality vegetable anywhere. The fundamental question is whether you want to become a victim of dreaded diseases or want to stay healthy by consuming pure and hygienic vegetables. Few hundred rupees saved by doing cost benefit analysis will have cascading effects and consequently result in spending lacs of rupees for treatment in multi specialty hospitals, in addition to spoiling your body and mind and thereby ruining your life.

Choice is yours, whether to eat poison and spoil your life or eat pure and hygienic vegetables and lead a healthy, happy and peaceful life.