Lungi news: fast and sometimes reliable

By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter, Gulf News
Published: September 21, 2007, 23:15

Dubai: The "lungi news brigade" is the most sought-after by people who want to get the latest hot gossip in the neighbourhood.

The members of this brigade are everywhere and it is difficult to escape their prying eyes. They take pride in being the designated sources for many journalists and feeding them information, sometimes exaggerated.

They have their representatives in every locality and their network abilities and their "nose for news" is beyond compare.

Don't be surprised to see direct contact numbers, P.O. box numbers, e-mail and home addresses of some of the prominent social figures or even a minister or his secretary, in their tattered diaries.
The "lungi brigade" includes workers, watchmen and delivery boys working in supermarkets, laundries, cafeterias, taxi drivers, cleaners and also rag pickers. The stories behind how they came to be known as "lungi news brigade" are plenty, but one that they would like best to be associated with is their tradition of a village elder who reads that particular day's newspaper to those sitting around him at a roadside tea stall. That person then initiates discussions on the national, local and international news of interest.

"You will find this exercise of reading the newspaper on street corners and tea stalls in the rural parts of the southern India states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where men and women wear printed lungis (dhoti) of various designs and colours," said Santosh, from Kerala, who works in a cafeteria.

"We speak Malayalam so we are also called 'mallus' by other people. The majority of the 'lungi news' brigade are mallus and we are proud of it. In Kerala we have this interest to start discussions on various topics," he said.

Esmail is a worker from Kozhikode in Kerala and lives in the labour accommodation in the Jebel Ali industrial area. He has the contact numbers of all Asian journalists both in UAE and India, especially those from Kerala, on his mobile phone.

"I give each one of them a miss call and they respond immediately. A miss call to their mobile goes from me only if there is an incident that has taken place like that of a fight among labourers, protests, a particular accommodation going without water and electricity, a road accident in that area."

He is available any time of day and is ready to share information with those who are interested. "I do it for free. I feel happy and feel proud when professional journalists and my own company or camp coordinator relies on me for the latest news in the area or inside the accommodation."

Giving an example, Esmail says if he hears of a Keralite in a traffic accident in Sharjah, he can get all the details regarding the accident victim in just 20 minutes. "I have connections with workers in Sharjah and watchmen," he said with a smile.

He said that he is aware that Keralites are often made fun of because of their sheer numbers. "I don't get upset at all. Keralites are very enterprising people and hardworking."