Chinnathambi, Arunachalam and Thenan just called us to share some honey which they had extracted from a hive under some rocks, whilst clearing part of our land. Talking to them, looking at how they function, I wonder about their lives and the lives of the next generation of villagers which seem to be headed in a "townu" direction.

They are responsible for every facet of their lives: We seem to have passed on the responsibility for many (important) things to institutions.
They build their own houses: We delegate that to architects, contractors, masons and "coolie aal".
Their babies grow up in their grandparents' laps: Ours, increasingly, go to creches
They educate their kids: We pass that work on to schools.
They grow their own food, and have various remedies for many common ailments: We buy food (and, increasingly nowadays precooked or semi-cooked food), and pass the responsibility of our health onto hospitals.
They are born at home and die at home. Increasingly many people in towns are born and die in hospitals.

But, now, many of the next generation, are passing on the responsibilities:
From their panchayats to the police station and the courts
From their medicine men to the hospitals
From their families to the hired mason and carpenter
From themselves to the government schools.

Increasingly youngsters are getting alienated from their culture. They are moving from a culture of self-reliance to a culture based on money.

If, like us, they "sublet" the important work of Roti Kapda aur Makaan, what will occupy them? What occupies us?

One thing that I need to learn is to extract honey from a hive, for the next lot of workers I hire may not be able to do that!