Pattanakkad, Oct. 31 -- A few hundred metres away from the government lower primary school in Konattussery stands the unfinished house of Rejimol MR, a coir worker. It stands just beside her husband Sunil Kumar's decrepit ancestral home. Surrounded by swamps and paddy fields, it is perhaps not the best place to build a house, but it is the only land they own. With Kumar being deaf and mute since birth and unable to contribute a steady income, it is Rejimol's modest daily incomethat sustains the life of the couple and their two young daughters.

With her husband's ancestral house certified by local officials as unsafe and slowly but surely crumbling to earth, Rejimol and her family have long dreamt of moving to a new home. That may soon re...