India, July 1 -- Being born and having lived in Kerala for 37 years, I often feel like laughing when home is described as "God's own country". This is how advertisement catch words infiltrate, invade and come to possess our minds. This decorative catch word was first used by Kerala Tourism's advertisement campaign 15 years ago by, ironically, a Uttar Pradesh based Kerala cadre IAS officer - his name was Amitabh Kant.

We Malayalis lap up every honour, earned or otherwise, but are notoriously reluctant to recall perceptive albeit unflattering remarks made by distinguished observers. About 120 years back, Swami Vivekananda, while travelling through Travancore princely state, was horrified by the caste hierarchy in the province. He was so mo...