The newly acquired skills in Malayalam have exposed migrant workers to a wide variety of jobs, mostly in fields that demand direct mingling with the public like restaurants, bakeries, vegetable and meat stalls.
Unlike the Tamils, who were the predecessors in opening up the ‘migrant’ job sector here and quickly picked up Malayalam for easy communication with local residents, because of its close similarities with Tamil, the North Indian labourers were until now, striving hard to learn the language.
According to Shelu, who works with Green Leaf restaurant in Kottayam, learning Malayalam helped him find a better job. “I reached Kerala as a domestic servant. However, after learning Malayalam I managed to get a better job,” 21-year old Shelu said. Karan, who hails from Bhubaneswar and works with a bakery-cum-restaurant at Irumpanam near Tripunithura, and Jeevan, hailing from Kolkata and works with Town bakery, Tiruvalla testify Shelu’s words.
Employers also prefer North Indians to Malayalis, taking into account their efficiency and the need to pay less comparatively. “Though, we do not insist on our North Indian employees to learn Malayalam, we encourage them to do that because it would make their jobs easier,” said N G Biju, owner of Green Leaf restaurant.