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Kannur- a district with hopes for tourists!
Published June 30, 2010 | Kannur, the north Malabar district of Kerala is known as the land of looms and lores. For most Keralites, Kannur is famous for violence and bombs than a serene-beautiful place which offers lots of potentials to the tourism of Kerala.
Kannur in Kerala, is always famous with media for various happenings taking place. Its a place of strategic military importance and famous for its pristine beaches, Theyyam (the native performing art) and the handloom industry. Kannur has many tourist destinations like Moppila Bay, Payyambalam Beach Resort, St. Angelos Fort, Thalassery Fort, Gundert Bungalow, Ezhimala Naval Acadamy, Pythal Mala, Pazhassi Dam, Parassinikkadavu Snake Park and many others. The district is also blessed with hill stations, rivers, backwaters, historical monuments and religious centres.
Lately, Kannur has drawn attention of many tourists worldwide with the plans of setting up an International Airport here. The proposed Airport at Kannur is to have international standards of safety and comfort. If this will happen, Kannur can bring in many more developments and can draw more tourists which will in turn benefit the tourism industry of the State.
Another factor that will create more inflow of tourists to the state and district is “Ayurveda“. The Kerala unit of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the health department has entered into a partnership to set up an Ayurvedic Village in Kannur. The CII is planning to cultivate precious herbs and medicinal plants in the village with the help locals here.
Ayurveda and its treatments have gained great popularity among foreign tourists and, Kerala as a state with Ayurveda has lots of scope in this. Soon, the other districts of Kerala with tourist potentials can also expect a speedy development, as there is a master plan for cities in the state has been planned.
Farm Tourism- New trend in Kerala tourism to return to nature!
Published June 23, 2010 | Farm Tourism is a new trend in Kerala’s tourism sector. Kerala, being an agriculture dominated state, has tremendous potential for developing Farm Tourism in a big way without much additional investment. Even though farm tourism is an integral part of Eco Tourism, there is a slight difference between both of them.While artificially created landscapes are part of Eco Tourism – gardens, pond etc, the goal of Farm Tourism is to show the curious tourist about Nature in her pristine purity.
Farm Tourism preserves the environment. Chemical Farming is also prohibited, as no processes which damage Nature is allowed. Organic Farming and its development give tremendous impetus to Farm Tourism. Reports state that Kerala has 30.22 lakhs hectares of gross cropped area which is 56.78% of the State’s total geographical area. More than 1/3rd of the cropped area contains plantations of Tea, Coffee, Rubber, Pepper, Cardamom and Ginger, and another 1/3rd of this area is covered by Coconut plantations. The State has about 350,000 lakhs hectares of land under paddy cultivation.
The tourists who come to Kerala expects to see the real beauty that lies in the rural part of the state. But what happens often is, they return without seeing it. They have read about Kerala as true traditional and cultural state with families based in love. But they don’t get the opportunity to experience the village life and to live within that atmosphere. Most tourists come from cultures which does not give much importance to family attachments & village or Rural Life. In villages people live in harmony with nature which is otherwise not possible in big cities where people are always business minded. You get fresh air & fresh water in villages in contrast to polluted air and polluted water in cities.
Farm tourism gives ample opportunity for tourists as well as locals, who wish to enjoy nature. The various schemes underway are intended to prepare the Farms/Plantations of Kerala to receive tourists by presenting a positive image of the farm and of agriculture as a whole, in view of revitalising the agriculture sector of Kerala through tourism.
Eco Project at Gavi to woo more tourists to Kerala
Published June 16, 2010 | 
The Eco Toursim Project launched at Gavi by Kerala Forest Department, is an added advantage to the Kerala‘s tourism sector. The project is sure to draw more tourists, especially from European countries. It is mainly intended at nature lovers and adventure tourists. Gavi Eco Tourism package include elephant safaris and trekking in the deep jungles of Gavi near Munnar, which is otherwise not open to the public.
Gavi, recently have had a gradual increase in the tourists inflow since ‘Alistair International’, the world acclaimed tourism major listed it among the leading eco-tourism centres and one of the must-see places in India. The Gavi Eco project highlight the involvement of the local folk in activities as guides, gardeners and cooks. This will provide a livelihood for them and as well, help to create awareness on conservation of nature. 
The nature loving visitors can enjoy trekking, wildlife watching and outdoor camping in specially built tents and go on night safaris. Whilst wildlife watching, you might luckily spot certain rare species of animals like Nilgiri Tahr and Lion-tailed Macaque, and if you are a bird watcher, the great pied Hornbill, Woodpecker, Kingfishers etc. If you are healthy and have keen interest to go on a trekking, take a short trek along the hill to the Sabarimala Ayyappan Temple. Make sure that you don’t miss Paradise Cove at Ninnumulli. The placid waters of Gavi and Kochupamba lakes can engage you in boating and canoeing. The road leading to Gavi is picture perfect with tea plantations, and En route to Gavi are the places of interest like Mundakkayam, Kuttikkanam, Peermedu and Vandiperiyar.
Gavi is surely a place that should not be missed in one’s lifetime. Gavi is pristine, and it belongs to the wild. Every visitor should keep in mind that they are responsible for their intentions and actions, which will have a bearing on the upkeep of Gavi for a long time to come.
Kerala's Snake Boat Cruise in Thames River – Will they make it this year?
Published June 9, 2010 | A proposal brought by the global Keralites association – Keraleeyam, which has its roots in Britain, to showcase Kerala’s Snake Boat Race before Queen Elizabeth on London’s Thames River next month seems to be lagging due to the insufficient funds for the transportation of the crew and the boat. 
The organisation-Keraleeyam brought this proposal with an interest in showcasing the race as part of a trial run of the inaugural ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. Queen Elizabeth II is expected to watch the event on July 8th. The Kerala State Govt. had sanctioned a sum of Rs.1 Crore for the event, but this seems to be insufficient. The organisers have made superstar Suresh Gopi the brand ambassador for the event. Suresh Gopi and his Fans Association have agreed to collect a sum of Rs.20 Lakhs which is required to be paid for the Shipping Corporation only for the transportation of Snake Boat to London. Money is still required for the remaining funds and visa for the 120 oarsmen. Kerala have sought the financial help from the Central Government towards this purpose. “If we can’t make it happen this time, we will do it next year,” says the unchallenged actor Suresh Gopi.
The length of a snake boat made out of ‘anjili wood’ varies from 120 to 140 feet. If the snake boat finally makes it to London, then after the event it would be gifted to be placed in a museum there.
The Snake Boat Race, which is part of Kerala’s culture and is annually conducted as Nehru Trophy Boat Race is an event that have raised interest and spirit of Keralites as well as foreigners. The origin of the race dates back to 1952 when an impromptu event was conducted in honour of the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was visiting the state. Nehru was so thrilled by the performance. On returning to Delhi, Nehru donated a silver trophy- a replica of a snake boat placed on a wooden abacus with an inscription and his signature. This trophy is given away every year to the winner of the boat race held at Alappuzha.
If this cultural event of our small state Kerala could make it to present for the trial run next month, it will be something that we Keralites can take pride of.
Changing Kerala and the Malayali
Published June 2, 2010 | What drew my attention was an e-mail forward I got about a paper advertisement for coconut tree climbers for an Agri farm in Thrissur. The advertisement offered experienced coconut tree climbers a salary of RS: 7875 per month. This advertisement is said to be the first of its kind in the history of Kerala. It shows nothing else but the pitiful situation Kerala faces today in labour. People have started giving advertisements for labourers – same jobs that were considered menial. 
Kerala has turned out into a state, where people are getting more self conscious by abandoning menial jobs for status-oriented ones outside. Keralites now more like to say they are engineers, doctors, Nurses, and doing the jobs that would give them some pride in telling others. The new generation don’t like to follow the footsteps of their parents or in other words, they don’t like doing the jobs their parents followed traditionally. The coconut tree climbers are the ones who are fast facing extinction on the job scene. Since the job requires some risk and is paid very less, the people who were traditional coconut tree climbers seemed to have withdrawn from the scene. In the same way many other jobs which are paid less and gives no pride as is perceived, are facing considerably less workforce.
The people in Kerala have changed a lot and so are their habits and lifestyles. People are lazy or find it too hard to do even the household work that were once never an issue. The household works like cooking, cleaning, washing and looking after kids all have turned to be a cumbersome tasks for the most today, in-spite of the assistance of all those home appliances. The Keralites who today gives advertisements for rubber tapping, baby sitting, housemaids and home nurses, in future may give ads for cutting and shaving or even to pick a leaf from the courtyard.
As Malayalies, each one of us may wonder at this situation. If we could change Kerala this much, we can also change ourselves to a hard-working generation by at least doing labour for our own households. What do you say?
Want to live longer?
Published May 27, 2010 | Now, what I am going to reveal you is a ‘public secret’. If you are a person who wants to live more and that too with good health, you have only one option – choose to live in the countryside. This is based on a recent research conducted in London by Office for National Statistics (ONS). The research report states:
“Living in countryside will make you live longer. Those born in village and dispersed areas could expect to live longer than those in town and fringe areas. Even the poorest people fared better in the countryside. Rural poor men lived for a year longer than their urban peers.”
The difference also examined among the older, wealthy migrants from the cities had demonstrable health benefits compared with the life of their urban peers, living in more crowded, less green spaces and served by more pressured public services.
Now, speaking of our Kerala, It’s a state with green luxuries and is now turning to a state that may face extinction on the same. The hot weather Kerala is facing today despite many showers of rain is an after effect of deforestation done by man to nature’s greenery. The cities are getting crowded and more polluted and, every morning we spot a new building sprouting up on another side of the city.
The accommodation business is now foreseeing a new possibility into the countryside building resorts in acres of land. Another painful factor is that the people living in countryside sell out their land for the price that do not even comes close to 1/4 of the price of land in a city. The people living in countryside find it very difficult to maintain acres of land that consists of coconut trees and other crops that are sources of income.
Despite of all this, it’s a fact that people who live in a city are now more on to buying lands in the countryside to spent their holidays. We can reduce global warming and the scorching heat of Kerala if each one of us can contribute by planting more trees and not allowing cutting trees that are already there. Let us also take care to protect the land we have in countryside and live longer!!!
Life inside China Walls
Published May 19, 2010 | A slice of my School life..
You might be wondering… have I been to China to live inside the China walls. Sorry friends.. I am planning to describe my life inside the campus of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kasargod, and spread across 30 acres protected by a wall like in China. For your information, this school is located almost close to the Mangalore borders. If you haven’t heard of Navodaya Schools, I’ll make a brief explanation about it. 
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are Indian schools for talented children and form a part of the system of gifted education. In Kerala, we have Navodaya Schools in all the 14 districts. The objectives of the scheme are to provide good quality modern education to the children predominantly from rural areas, without regard to their family’s socio-economic condition. For more details refer to wikipedia.
If any of you have studied in Navodaya vidyalaya you will know how life goes inside (Now, things must have changed a lot for sure). “It was a prison and we were prisoners,” so I say and some other students (may be or may not).The imprisonment is for 7 years (from 6th to 12th). The main reason why we say this is that at our time, we couldn’t go out except to go home and that too was like once in a blue moon, as we say – for Onam, Christmas and for the summer holidays. Except this we had no contact with the outside world.
Once we return from the holidays, the far away sight of the School’s water tank would make us distressed and gloomy and, a day is needed to free ourselves from homesickness. Once a month our parents are allowed a visit and we used to await their coming like the hornbill which yearns for the rains. All the communication between us and parents were done through letters, like the things to be brought when they visited. Though, not everything was communicated through this method. It was the time we, especially the Navodaya Students utilized the Indian Postal Service.
Now, this is only one side of our Navodaya life…
To describe the other side of life inside the Navodaya Campus is a joy! We were a big family of over five hundred members. Inside the campus we are all one. If it’s Christmas, it’s Christmas for all… So are Shivaratri, Vishu, Onam, Pooja, Holi, Easter and all other Indian as well as Kerala festivals. Every celebrations and festivals had a spirit of oneness.
But this spirit of oneness is divided only when our Annual Days, Sports Days or a competitive spirit bonds the houses (each student is given and is divided according to a house like Ganga, Kaveri, Yamuna & Krishna). I excelled in many sporting events so did every student in the School.( I think my secret behind in achieving many prizes for running competitions…Shh…. is nothing but the 500 metre distance from our study hall to Dining hall 
). The united spirit during sports days, picking flowers to make ” Pookkalam” (flower carpet) for Onam, and various other inter-house competitions… all were real great fun and something that makes me smile when I think of it even today. I think, the life I described here is too little to know about Navodaya. Because it is something that I am unable to fully express out here.
But I’ll tell you, it is in here I learned about many things of life, music, art, traditions, festivals, languages and people. The schools are what that makes us out as a person. If the student is able to realise his/her potentials, the school system is a success. And, it is this realisation what makes one child the citizen of tomorrow.
To bring out good citizens for tomorrow, we need to do only one thing – give our children good and proper education while standing united in the spirit of being Indians first.
Photo Taken from the Official Website of JNV Kasargod.
Film Review – Katha Thudarunnu (The story Continues)…
Published May 12, 2010 | Sathyan Anthikad has set a trend with his series of family entertainers and, “Katha Thudarunnu” is his 50th film in this series. Like his other films, Katha Thudarunnu also strikes the hearts of many family-entertainer loving film audiences of Kerala. 
Katha Thudarunnu narrates a story that surrounds the life of a single mother Vidya (starring Mamtha Mohandas) whose life turns to complete helplessness once her husband Shanavas (Asif Ali), (whom she dared to live with despite objections from both the families and religion), gets killed in an attack by the quotation group. It was then that the autorikshaw driver Preman (Jayaram), who lives in a colony, came to the rescue of her and child. She finds new meaning to the life once she starts feeling the love and care of the people living in the colony. Her life turns around completely once she completes the MBBS degree that was stopped with her love marriage, with the help of the poor people in the colony. And, the story continues with here off to Kuwait with Preman awaiting her return.
While the events in the film, Sathyan Anthikad has tried to showcase the various aspects of the life, politics, religion, exploitation of women, quotation gangs and robbery.
Mamtha has been given a strong character as a single mother, who overcomes her ill-fate and is able to cope up with every condition that life brings in. The child actress Anikha has successfully enacted her role as the little daughter.
In this film too Sathyan brings in some of the actors, who played lead roles in his previous film “Bhagyadevatha.” Another thing Sathyan Anthikad has brought to the scene is the Star Singer contest and the hopes of the poor parents which in turn raises the waves of laughter among the audience.
So the film takes us through various events that let the audience to shed some tears and also raise some laughter. The songs are written by Vayalar Sharath Chandra Varma and are given its life by the great Ilayaraja. The song ‘ Aaaro padunnu.. ‘is sure to catch the attention of music lovers.
So in total, I think Sathyan Anthikad has been successful with his film ‘Katha Thudarunnu‘. This film indeed gives some hope to the Malayalam film industry which suffers from poor stories and other crisis.
"Where are you from?"
Published May 5, 2010 | Answering a question about my hometown
“Where are you from?” – This is one of the many questions I have faced repeatedly in my life and have answered. If I feel that the querier is not a person whom I should answer sincerely, then I will say “Kannur“, even though I am from Kasargod (because anyone will more likely know Kannur than Kasargod). You might be thinking what if it is a person who have read and heard of Kannur from news, the first thing comes to mind are Bombs and violence than a serene- beautiful place shoring with Arabian Sea, and many small rivers and breathtaking greeneries.
If you say that you are from Kannur, a person from Ernakulam might ask you – “Kayyil Bombundo?” (Do you have bomb). So, if the person asks me such a question (I am at risk), then for sure I have to tell him or her that I am not proceeding to explain, actually..I am from Kasargod. Alas pat comes the reply. “Oh, the other end of Kerala, soooo far! “ Oh God! What answer will satisfy the person, I wonder. Now, I will reply – “not the end but exactly near the borders of two districts.” Finally!
But, it’s a bare truth that I have to travel to my hometown soooo far away (approximately 10 hours), that it seems the same to me. Travelling Back and forth is a day’s (24 hrs) venture. Since I feel that travelling in train takes more hours, and makes me take 2 more buses to finally reach home, I prefer a bus journey (one straight bus) unless it is an off-season for festivals.
Like any home loving person, I too love my hometown where I can breathe in the fresh air fearing no pollution, drink fresh water from the well and, sleep peacefully without AC or mosquito nets.
Almost a half of the Kasargod District is green and the other half is at its driest during summer which turns into a beautiful place with green grass carpets and violet flowers (Kakkapoovu) popping up, once it is the turn of the monsoon season. The district attracts many visitors from around the world to the famous Bekal Fort built by Tippu Sultan. Various parts of the districts especially Bekal Fort and around are famous through various films in Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam (Bombay, Vadakkunnathan, Madhuranombarakkattu and many others to list). So, I can be proud of my native district. 
I hope, I have managed to convey a small introduction to the Kasargod district at the other end of Kerala.
Hartals- Do they do any good?
Published April 28, 2010 | Another day of hartal has passed, as usual hitting the normal life of the Indian Citizens especially the people of Kerala. It was a dawn to dusk hartal called by the Left parties and its allies against the Centre’s economic policies. This time the hartal activists turned out to block trains at major places of Kerala, which badly hit the rail traffic adding more disruption to the normal life. Here the Court orders and rules has no value and, the Kerala Govt. which supported the Hartal gained nothing from it. It is only the people of the state who suffered and who will continue to suffer if the hartal activists continue to be like this. 
It was in 2004 may 29th, The High Court full bench ordered the Govt to make sure that Hartals should not hit the normal life and, if necessary the Govt. can seek the assistance of army to ensure this. What people saw yesterday was a complete negligence of these orders. The hartal activists stopped private vehicles, stoned a few and attacked even Ambulances and people who came to work at banks and post offices. This time hartal activists concentrated more at stopping rail traffic, and they supplied food for the supporters in front of the travellers who were hungry and thirsty inside the blocked trains.
At the same time there were single protests against hartal saying the hartals creates bad reputation to the country. For the past years the hartals did nothing good to the people of country, but helped the vested interests of the major political parties and they gained nothing for the people if they say it is all for people.
Have your say about hartals. Do hartals do any good to the people?
Photo Courtesy: The Hindu