KRISHNAGIRI: A family in Ettipalli village, 7 km from Shoolagiri, near Hosur, on the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway in Krishnagiri, is important for political parties as the family has more voters than others in the village.
“People give importance to us during elections because our family has the highest voting population, compared to others in the village,” said Mr C. Basavappa, 80. The eldest in the family that has 35 people who dwell in a single house as a joint family, he added, “
Ettipalli has 230 voters who live in 50 houses, but we, 35 people, live as a joint family and 30 of us have voting rights.”
The octogenarian explained about his house that looks like a big marriage hall, “The place we live in was constructed by our ancestors over more than10,000 square feet with eight big rooms, halls, verandah, storeroom for grains and a single kitchen to cook food in.”
The family has seven ration cards with different names mentioned as the family head. The cards were agreed upon after ‘doddavaru’ (elder) Basavappa, who is the authority to take decisions on family matters, approved, following a request from officials who were unable to print all the names on a single card.
“We were upset when the officials divided our family in the ration cards. They gave us seven cards in which some of the younger people were mentioned as the family head against our custom, but we have to accept this after officials pointed to the lack of space to print our names on a single card,” Mr K. Munusamy, 35, said.
The Hindu undivided agrarian family has 150 acres on which mango, coconut and other horticultural crops, as also vegetables, are grown for their livelihood. Marriages take place within the family and no outsider is allowed to become a new member of the family as bride or groom. No marriage halls are booked for wedding which take place in the open space in front of the house. Two or three marriages are solemnised in one muhurtham.
Family members alone can participate in the wedding as they have no custom of inviting outsiders but the young people in the family now bring their friends and other people living close to them.
“Marriages happen within the family and only in a few cases are outsiders accepted as bride or groom; they are allowed to live separately after the marriage if the couple prefers the nuclear family system or the newcomer feels uncomfortable staying with us,” said Ms B. Boddiamma, 75, wife of Mr Basavappa.
Though the older people in the family are illiterate, the younger ones have been educated. The family finds that farming is in trouble due to the failure of the monsoon and other issues including low price for their produce.
“Our elders ask us to study because they believe that education is important for survival in this competitive world, though our family has property worth several crore rupees,” said P. Sarnya, 20, who studies B.Sc. computer in a private college in Thiruchengode of Namakkal district. The youngest is M. Manish Kumar, who is one-and-a-half years old.
