Last Sunday (May 24, 2009) saw the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket championship which had to be moved to South Africa due to security concerns (as it coincided with the Indian elections). The stars of the show were definitely the players but coming a close second were ZooZoos - odd-looking characters created by a Malayali (from Kerala) filmmaker Prakash Varma for Vodafone. Here's an example of one of the ads:
You can find all of the ads on the Vodafone site as well as ringtones, wallpaper etc.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Beach works
Since shortly after I arrived (February 7) work has been happening on the beach. The idea seems to be to extend the width of the paved path that goes the whole length of the beach - but this is only the cosmetic side of the renovations. What is really happening (or so the media says) is that rocks and cement are being buried beneath the sand so that the beach is not eroded so drastically when the monsoon starts. Except for a JCB to dig the trench in front of the existing path and trucks to deliver rocks to the site all work is done by hand (or rather by head).
Workmen (there have been no women on this worksite that I have seen) carry HUGE rocks on their heads, cement is mixed by hand and the working attire is lungi (the simple piece of cloth that Kerala men wear on their lower half - ladies can wear it too), usually a bare chest or workworn shirt and flip flops. Safety be damned!
Work has pretty much stopped now (May 31st) which is a relief as I was very worried that someone would be killed by a pile of dirt collapsing on top of them as they laboured thigh deep in dirty water. The monsoon-ruffled sea is now rushing right up to the sea side of the 8-foot high hillocks of soil and must be destabilizing them. A few more days and I expect all the workers will be gone and the beach will look something like its old self again.
Here is an overall view of Lighthouse Beach (the most southernly beach). The scale is deceiving because there is actually about an 8 foot gap between those hillocks of dirt and the existing path - in this gap is where the workers are placing 3-foot square cages of chicken wire filled with soccer-ball sized chunks of rock. Then cement and smaller stones and finally the originally removed sand are placed on top.
Here's a closer view - the building with the orange and yellow fence in front is the German Bakery - definitely the "trendiest" eating establishment on the beach.
Looking towards the lighthouse end of the beach.
This part is nearly finished. If you were to go through the doorway in the upper right hand corner of the picture and up the hill you'd be at the lighthouse.
Looking away from the lighthouse - the JCB is in front of the German Bakery.
This has been a mammoth task from a stone mason's point of view.
The man at the top of the picture is preparing cement by hand - I did not see a cement mixer being used at all on this project.
Workmen (there have been no women on this worksite that I have seen) carry HUGE rocks on their heads, cement is mixed by hand and the working attire is lungi (the simple piece of cloth that Kerala men wear on their lower half - ladies can wear it too), usually a bare chest or workworn shirt and flip flops. Safety be damned!
Work has pretty much stopped now (May 31st) which is a relief as I was very worried that someone would be killed by a pile of dirt collapsing on top of them as they laboured thigh deep in dirty water. The monsoon-ruffled sea is now rushing right up to the sea side of the 8-foot high hillocks of soil and must be destabilizing them. A few more days and I expect all the workers will be gone and the beach will look something like its old self again.
Here is an overall view of Lighthouse Beach (the most southernly beach). The scale is deceiving because there is actually about an 8 foot gap between those hillocks of dirt and the existing path - in this gap is where the workers are placing 3-foot square cages of chicken wire filled with soccer-ball sized chunks of rock. Then cement and smaller stones and finally the originally removed sand are placed on top.
Here's a closer view - the building with the orange and yellow fence in front is the German Bakery - definitely the "trendiest" eating establishment on the beach.
Looking towards the lighthouse end of the beach.
This part is nearly finished. If you were to go through the doorway in the upper right hand corner of the picture and up the hill you'd be at the lighthouse.
Looking away from the lighthouse - the JCB is in front of the German Bakery.
This has been a mammoth task from a stone mason's point of view.
The man at the top of the picture is preparing cement by hand - I did not see a cement mixer being used at all on this project.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Dr. Tharoor versus Gordon Campbell
I am overjoyed to report that Dr. Shashi Tharoor has won in the Trivandrum constituency. He has won by a wide margin (80,000 votes or so). His first symbolic act, before counting even started, was to tear down his own election posters throughout the city (this was widely reported in both the English-language and Malayalam newspapers). Truly it seems like a new day dawning for Trivandrum, the state of Kerala and India. Also very happy with the outcome is Ajay who runs the fascinating Trivandrum Rising blog and is one of the members of the Trivandrum Development Front that will hopefully be working with Dr. Sharoor in charting a course for Trivandrum's future.
There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth here in Kerala about the poor turnout for this election with a state-wide average of 73.33% being bemoaned as quite low. But compared to the other place on earth that likes to think of itself as God's own country (am I the only British Columbian that remembers us referring to our province this way?) this is stunningly good. I was horrified to read that voter turnout in BC was only 48% for the May 12th election. Shame (although of course I can hardly talk since I didn't vote either).
And what about our premier - hard to see how Gordon Campbell in any way measures up to Shashi Tharoor - previously with the UN, prolific writer, founder of the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, fluent in English, French, Hindi and Malayalam etc. etc. Of course there are no mug shots of Dr. Tharoor to be found in #1 spot when you do a Google image search for him :) so I guess perhaps GC has greater notoriety.
There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth here in Kerala about the poor turnout for this election with a state-wide average of 73.33% being bemoaned as quite low. But compared to the other place on earth that likes to think of itself as God's own country (am I the only British Columbian that remembers us referring to our province this way?) this is stunningly good. I was horrified to read that voter turnout in BC was only 48% for the May 12th election. Shame (although of course I can hardly talk since I didn't vote either).
And what about our premier - hard to see how Gordon Campbell in any way measures up to Shashi Tharoor - previously with the UN, prolific writer, founder of the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, fluent in English, French, Hindi and Malayalam etc. etc. Of course there are no mug shots of Dr. Tharoor to be found in #1 spot when you do a Google image search for him :) so I guess perhaps GC has greater notoriety.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Great Indian Mobile (non)Toilet
There are always lots of curious sights in India but here at Kovalam Beach one of the weirdest (in my humble opinion) is the abandoned "mobile" toilet (see pictures below - the first two are overall views then a couple of "close ups"). This particular mega-portapotty is located at Samudra Beach (about 2 km north of Hawa Beach) outside the fenced compound of the Kerala Tourism's Hotel Samudra. There are two more of these behemoths at the base of the hill that leads from the bus stop outside the Leela Hotel compound down to the northern end of Hawa Beach.
The one that I've shown you photos of at least makes some kind of sense since, in the picture below, it appears that there was some kind of a plan to connect the toilet van to a water supply and waste treatment scheme. I can't think what else this complex of tanks and pipes is if not sewage/waste water treatment although it does seem rather an odd thing to have so conspicuously on the grounds of a hotel. The two that are abandoned at Hawa Beach (one of two beaches at Kovalam Beach itself - I don't really consider Samudra as part of Kovalam Beach) must have been EXCEEDINGLY difficult to bring here (considering that the only two approaches to this location are hills and the only one wide enough to bring one of these down is referred to as cardiac hill by tourists since it is very steep). Also there is no water supply nearby if they were going to be "plumbed in".
So whose brilliant idea was it to bring these three vans here and why go to all the work of bringing something so large and difficult to move to a location only to not use it and have it decay and rust so pathetically. My (completely cynical) guess is that it was a responsible tourism kind of initiative (to keep people from answering the call of nature among the coconut palms or on the beach) that lacked funding and commitment for follow through and once the units made it to their locations nobody really cared whether they were actually set up and used. I'd say that people just washed their hands of it but that wouldn't have been possible in this case as there was no water available :).
The final picture below is where I think, based on the smell (this particular feature is not yet available on Blogger - perhaps in 2050 a scratch and sniff version will be available), people may currently be attending to their toilet needs.
The one that I've shown you photos of at least makes some kind of sense since, in the picture below, it appears that there was some kind of a plan to connect the toilet van to a water supply and waste treatment scheme. I can't think what else this complex of tanks and pipes is if not sewage/waste water treatment although it does seem rather an odd thing to have so conspicuously on the grounds of a hotel. The two that are abandoned at Hawa Beach (one of two beaches at Kovalam Beach itself - I don't really consider Samudra as part of Kovalam Beach) must have been EXCEEDINGLY difficult to bring here (considering that the only two approaches to this location are hills and the only one wide enough to bring one of these down is referred to as cardiac hill by tourists since it is very steep). Also there is no water supply nearby if they were going to be "plumbed in".
So whose brilliant idea was it to bring these three vans here and why go to all the work of bringing something so large and difficult to move to a location only to not use it and have it decay and rust so pathetically. My (completely cynical) guess is that it was a responsible tourism kind of initiative (to keep people from answering the call of nature among the coconut palms or on the beach) that lacked funding and commitment for follow through and once the units made it to their locations nobody really cared whether they were actually set up and used. I'd say that people just washed their hands of it but that wouldn't have been possible in this case as there was no water available :).
The final picture below is where I think, based on the smell (this particular feature is not yet available on Blogger - perhaps in 2050 a scratch and sniff version will be available), people may currently be attending to their toilet needs.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Frenetic Festivals
It seems like there is a different festival - Hindu, Muslim or Christian - taking place somewhere in Kerala every single day. No matter the religious background they all seem - to a tourist at least - to have several common characteristics. Lots of noise, lots of light and the attraction of hordes of vendors selling all kinds of geegaws.
In a discussion with a few non-Indians who have houses here (one American and two Brits) they equate some of the festivals to psychological torture with highly amplified music (Indian music is an acquired taste for most non-Indians and that is at a normal volume) that goes on day and night for up to ten days continuously. And lest this be thought of as foreign hyperbole I can confirm that there are articles where local people complain of noise pollution from temples in the paper at least once a week.
Besides pongala I've only been to a single festival during my time here - this at a small temple near the tea shop where I get my breakfast. Frankly I found it rather dull after a while as it consisted of a single priest stepping (I wouldn't really call it dancing) around and around the elaborate construction shown in the photo below. Apparently at the end of his circambulation he turned in to Kali and that was probably worth seeing but it was hot and I ran out of interest.
Below this paragraph are photos of strings of lights, speakers, fluorescent tubes and amplifiers stacked up at the main Kovalam Beach bus stop waiting to be taken - probably on somebody's head - to whichever temple festival they've been hired for.
In a discussion with a few non-Indians who have houses here (one American and two Brits) they equate some of the festivals to psychological torture with highly amplified music (Indian music is an acquired taste for most non-Indians and that is at a normal volume) that goes on day and night for up to ten days continuously. And lest this be thought of as foreign hyperbole I can confirm that there are articles where local people complain of noise pollution from temples in the paper at least once a week.
Besides pongala I've only been to a single festival during my time here - this at a small temple near the tea shop where I get my breakfast. Frankly I found it rather dull after a while as it consisted of a single priest stepping (I wouldn't really call it dancing) around and around the elaborate construction shown in the photo below. Apparently at the end of his circambulation he turned in to Kali and that was probably worth seeing but it was hot and I ran out of interest.
Below this paragraph are photos of strings of lights, speakers, fluorescent tubes and amplifiers stacked up at the main Kovalam Beach bus stop waiting to be taken - probably on somebody's head - to whichever temple festival they've been hired for.
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