Nale aanu, Naale aanu

Nale aanu, Naale aanu   

        Till the late 1990s, the heading of this blog used to be heard across Kerala, particularly in crowded bus stands. The English translation is “It is tomorrow, It is tomorrow”. The ‘it’ here refers to draw of lottery tickets and finding out who the winner is.

       It seems most of the malayalees are firm believers of luck. Why else will we have so many lottery agencies across the state? Even the state government (a rare scenario again across the country) owns a lottery establishment. There used to be a time when this business was so good that ambassador cars used to go around making the above announcement.

        The lotteries gain attention especially during festive season. For instance, there are Onam bhagyakuri (lottery’s Malayalam) , Vishu bhagyakuri et al. I think the politicians should adopt this naale aanu naale annu as their tagline since it is also reflective of the development opportunities which the politicians promise but never bring in to the state.

       When one talks about Kerala lottery, one cannot help but remember the laughter-riot sort of a scene from the movie 'Kilukkam' between Revathi and Innocent where in he says 'Adichu Moleeee...'