Today it is a pejorative term referring to a person who commands no respect or a piece of land up for grabs. But p oromboke , originally, was an extent of land reserved for community for grazing of cattle. This invaluable piece of land also serve to drain floodwaters during the monsoon. Riding on this age old definition of the term and in an effort to revive these lands for their original purpose, carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna has released a video singing paeans to the poromboke against the backdrop of Ennore creek and the wetlands associated with it.
“Though the video was recorded for the specific purpose of protecting the Ennore creek, its objective is to retrieve the original meaning and value of poromboke ,” explains Mr. Krishna. He has rendered the song in a full-fledged concert pattern settting it to Ananda Bhairavi, Begada, Hamira Kalyani, Devagandhari, Salaga Bhairavi and Sindhu Bhairavi and embellished it with swarm singing.
A poromboke is classified depending on its location - lakes, grazing, and natham areas. “The land is taken for granted and encroached upon. It has fallen prey to the real estate business. Destruction of poromboke lands has prevented the rain water from draining and caused flooding. And we are not yet ready to wake up to the danger,” adds Mr Krishna, who joined hands with environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman, a volunteer of Vettiver Collective. The music was scored by violinist R.K. Shriramkumar.
The song poromboke unakku illa; poromboke enakku illa poromboke oorukku ; poromboke bhoomikku ( poromboke does not belong to you; it does not belong to me; it belongs to the village; it belongs to earth) was composed by Kaber Vasuki.
“Cooum as a river is dead. Let us at least save Ennore creek. We cannot afford to lose our water bodies, wet lands and salt pans in the name of development,” appeals Mr. Jayaraman.
Mr. Krishna explains that even though the song questioned the “Made in India” slogan, it did not refer to any particular party. “The idea of development at the cost of social and environment degradation is questionable. In Ennore fly ash is a 24-hour hazard. People suffer from lung disease and fish and other species contain toxins,” he said.
