Kerala Musings

Kerala. Green and beautiful. I went twice in the recent past to villages spread from central to the southern part of the state. I was filming for a documentary on the issues facing children. No actually, the issues connected with children that the new leadership of the panchayats who have been voted in recently.

Was interesting as usual, the variety of people I met. The new leadership. Some dynamic, full of optimism and energy. With a vision. And some clueless limp types who seemed to be surprised that they had a job to do!

I met someone who till recently was a porter who carried loads on his head. Today, as a Panchayat President, he has a cellphone with which he is in touch with all his officers and contemporaries in neighbouring villages. He is learning how to use the net and he is a man who knows every detail of what is happening in his charge. His panchayat has put in the resources to renovate the local school. Now the children have classrooms instead of all of them being packed into a huge hall. They have temp teachers who will come and take their classes should their teachers be absent for whatever reason. The panchayat provides supplemental English classes at another school in the area.

I met a community development society president who till recently was a housewife. Today they run a community farm and aid several small enterprises like tailoring units and a leather bag unit that have been set up by members who have got loans through them on soft terms.

I met a bureaucrat who comes to work every Sunday for at least half a day. When the rest of his office (he heads the office!) holidays.

These are the people who will transform my country one day. These are people who make me feel good about our collective future.

The process of tying up with people who work at the grassroot levels for filming is interesting too. Having to figure out the local vested interest and politics and get at the facts that are behind the propaganda.

But the evenings when the filming for the day was done, were great fun too. A senior local journo who looked after all the setting up of shoots in the villages knew the best places to eat (or drink) I went with him and the client – who was one of the best client reps that I’ve had the pleasure to work with) to a village home where we drank fresh toddy with a particular type of mango pickle.

One of the days we were there, we woke up early to shoot a sequence where a toddy tapper climbed a tall palm (he literally seemed to run up the tree) and poured out the fresh stuff off the earthen pots that had been tied into collect the sap.

Needless to say, we had a couple glasses of the stuff directly as the man came down!!

And the food! Ah the food!!! Fish, and exotic meats (I shan’t say more) for a song at the best of places. Washed down with chilled beer.


Eventually after the shoot was finished, we went down to Kovalam beach and a little beyond. There are several beaches actually. Almost all overrun with hordes of tourists, so we took a couple of pictures and exited hastily.

We went on to a Ayurvedic Treatment centre and met the son of the founder there. He claimed that they were the first place that started popularising Ayruveda all over the west. Neat place. All ethnic and what not! With a super secluded beach below it’s slopes.

I dreamed what it would be like to take time out and get pampered with massages and generally staring out at the sea as the sun set!

Well… One more place visited by the reluctant traveler (me).


Foot note: The film is done. Relatively painlessly and the clients love it. Yesss!!