He does not mind coming back, although he is already 83. Besides secular atmosphere, one other achievement he mentions is the pension for the agricultural labour. Still, one finds under-employment and unemployment among the educated increasing all over the state. Even otherwise, the standard of living is declining. There is no poverty but there is no prosperity either.
People are simple in their living and they dislike ostentation.
But the boom I found a few years ago in the wake of remittances from the Gulf is missing. The state has practically no industry except what is in the public sector. The once-flourishing rubber industry wears a dismal look. The outside competition is not so much a problem as is the labour trouble. The increase in the wages of workers has been a long-pending demand.