Alcohol is the main villain in ruining the harmony in poor families throughout Kerala. It plays a great role in peace breaking too in the State. The sale of India made foreign liquor is controlled and regulated by the State government through numerous sales outlets. Before raising the shutters of the sales outlets serpentine queues can be noticed before every outlet irrespective of village, town or city. That too most disciplined queues as against noisy queues for other purposes seen. Government gets handsome revenue by way of excise duty at the peril of poor families. Liquor prohibitionists random make noise but government is bent upon increasing the revenue. 

Many villagers are lottery addict. There are people who spent about 75 per cent of their daily wage earning on lottery. Almost all lottery addicts are from the lower strata of the society and less educated. Due to the addiction many families have been driven to poor standard of living and debt trap. Different types of lotteries are galore in the State. Kereala State-run lotteries and other States-run lotteries vie with each other to maximize the sales to the peril of poor people. Incidentally, Kerala is the initiator of lottery in India.

Everything including wife and earnings from Gulf lost Anil is struggling to survive against many odds. Prior to going to Gulf he was working as an electrician under a contractor in the village. In Gulf he was a restaurant employee. The restaurant was run by a colleague in the electrical work in the village. On his forced return from Gulf he got a poorly paid job with which he was not at all satisfied. He has now decided to engage in the learned profession of electrician as self-employed. Villagers have offered their cooperation to entrust job works when arise. If he sticks to it he can earn money as opportunities are aplenty in the villages where house construction is booming.

Belonging to a poor family Shajan earned money for a comfortable life through hard labour. His ambition was to build a medium type RCC house in place of the tile roofed small house he lives in. He fulfilled his dream. His self-satisfaction and joy were reflected in the house-warming. He invited over 500 people to treat them to a sumptuous feast and it was the biggest in the village held for house-warming.

Mother of Raghu and Sasi, Devaki, around 65, is illiterate. In many families illiterates are considered to be trouble triggers either due to inferior complex or sheer arrogance. When Raghu married many thought seeds of discord is sown in the family. Nothing of the sort happened. After a while Sasi too married and no visible sign of discord surfaced in the family. Both the daughters-in-law exhibited admirable coherence like the brothers. Devaki played her role well without creating any pinpricks. Their’s is an ideal family in the village worth emulating.  

Once a well to do family of Madhavan since died with sufficient income from coconut is struggling to meet the ends. His two sons, school drop outs, did actually create the present pathetic situation. They never took interest in maintaining the property properly. As a result, coconut yield dwindled to a bottom level. The old aged mother lost command over the sons. Though both the sons go for casual works the family gets no financial assistance from them as the amount they get speeded to liquor shops. Their life is a warning to the youths in the village. Many elders caution their wards not to be like them.