I wanted to put this here on tumblr too. there were many famines during british rule since most of our land was being used to grow crops for the british raj. this meant most of the food and other resources kerala had were not being given to its people, and we suffered for it. it disturbs me to think that this history was so thoroughly wiped out that most people think kerala was one of the few places that was almost entirely unscathed during british rule.
also, I would not have looked into this history if someone had not pointed out a recent study claiming that the reason type-2 diabetes is so common in south and centra asia could be because of the famines during colonization. since my family has a history of type-2, it led to me finding out about this. I would never have known otherwise since most history sources don't mention kerala whenever they talk about famines in india.
