Naadu (Homeland)

‘Naadu’, is a fragment of my personal journey growing up in a small town as a vulnerable little girl. It left a void in those uninspiring years with a lot of empty spaces and is still haunted by prolonged silence when I often question life around that period. ‘Naadu’ explores remnants of my childhood memories of growing up in/around Beypore, Kerala. It tells a story of one-sided dialog, stereotypical perspectives, and the unwanted weight of society. In this story, I touch on the paradoxes of being out of place while in a familiar space, feeling at home while wanting to run away and a constant longing to visit the vestiges of my childhood again. A visual representation of a slow yet almost stagnant meander.

I see an almost true reflection of myself in the young girls I see around Beypore today. Carefree and unaware of what this society costs them and their potential. They’re not curious about the outside world this society forbids them from seeing, for they don’t know what they could have seen. A mundane routine that is so religiously followed that anything outside of it is uncomfortable, but what is more uncomfortable? Between a routine, we didn’t ask for and a routine so familiar there isn’t anything else. It’s a land I fondly remember and cherish for its nature and people. But that is not to say that one must overlook the almost tangible walls they build around children to substantially limit their growth and mould them into the belief system of someone else. I wonder if the norms that were once what unified the lands haven’t progressed with the ever-changing times? Do they stand still, forced into the lives of little people that never know how fruitful things can ever be?