Tourism in Kerala
Day 1 of our MBA Tour began in Kerala – "God’s own country" as the locals call it – and with a focus on tourism, we set a course for the region's backwaters.
Sealed inside our new, air conditioned bus, it was difficult not to feel awkward at times. Many locals appeared to be struggling in poverty, and living in conditions we found hard to understand. Yet they seemed happy to see us, many waving and smiling warmly.
We saw many grand churches, which stood out for their size and almost gleaming cleanliness, in contrast to the dirty, cobbled together dwellings around them.
Our guide told us they are funded by "NRIs" – non-resident Indians. We wondered how much money locals contribute too, out of their poverty, and if the churches’ wealth impacts attendance.
As we travelled, it soon became clear life here is oriented around the water – commerce, tourism, military, recreation, bathing, irrigation and more. Yet to us this critical resource appeared forsaken.
It felt good to give custom to a houseboat. We wanted to support the locals, who were again friendly and attentive. But this too brought some awkwardness.
Not unlike tourists who pay to spectate upon the Vietnamese of Halong Bay, our boat trip at times felt voyeuristic. And if our patronage was helping the locals, it was difficult to see how, beyond the family who owned the boat.
The boat tour showed us just how closely agriculture, personal life and tourism are intertwined – all in a water source that’s increasingly polluted. Where we hesitated to even get our shoes wet, the locals were washing their faces. If adjustments were being made to either minimise pollution or avoid the contaminated water, we couldn’t see them. It raised the question, how sustainable is a local economy dependent in so many ways on a single natural resource.
Stepping off our 21st century bus, we got into a rickshaw. Sitting on each other’s laps to fit in, neither we nor the driver could understand each other. Not knowing where he was going in no way slowed his alarming pace.
After circling Kochi for far too long we gave up and got out, scared, deafened, unsure how just NZ$2 for such a long ride could be fair wages. We walked the rest of the way to our restaurant.
We were out of our depth at dinner, but soon had several waiters doting on us, providing a level of care and service we hadn’t experienced anywhere before. Here we could see a more widely spread benefit from the tourist dollar, with a near 1-to-1 worker-to-customer ratio. As with every meal so far, the food was amazing, even if at times we didn’t know whether we were about to eat dessert or just more dinner!
This day showed us a mix of beauty and desolation, ancient and modern practices, confident men and subdued women, great wealth and desperate poverty, thriving micro-business and abandoned big business, and waters that were at once polluting and life-sustaining. The one constant, the one thing that never stood in contrast, was the people – always smiling, always warm, and always so kind to us.
We were left with a sense that unlike America or Europe, where the tourist goes to interact with their architecture, monuments and pretty scenery, in Kerala you interact with its people. Maybe it’s not voyeurism after all, because unlike those other places, India is not its infrastructure or beauty, India is its people. We are better off for having met them.