A parting glass

Long ago, Thomas Carlyle, told, " A man must get his happiness out of his work. His first of the many  problems is to find the work he is meant to do in the world. Without work he enjoys he can never know what happiness is." He then went on to coin his famous phrase, " Know thy work and do it." 

2020 took that joy out from us yet we believe we are blessed to be alive at the end of it. As the year take its leave, we rise our parting glass as a friend and brother, 

"Thank you for the lessons, 2020!"

Farm tourism around Munnar in trouble

Farm tourism that grew around Munnar and it's tourism is in trouble in these covid days. Farmers in places like Anchunadu, Marayur, Kanthallur, Vattavada had started growing fruits like apple, orange, plum, peach, guava, mosambi, passion fruit, tamarillo etc. and they used to get vistors to their farm even during off season. The farm fresh fruits were a delight which fetched some additional income for the farmers. The tea companies had let their workers grow oranges which went well for the tea shrubs growth, these oranges though small are very sweet and were a favourite among visitors. 

Solanum Betaceum  (Tamarillo) by C.T. Johansson

Licensed under a  CC BY-SA 3.0 License

The organic Marayur Jaggery which was made around the sugar cane fields of Kanthallur and Marayur has also lost its market. The worst hit, perhaps, among all are the strawberry farmers of Kanthallur and Vattavada, the flight restrictions have slowed down the export of these highly perishable fruits and no agents are turning up for their purchase nor do the farmers have the means to preserve them, pushing the farmers of the Devikulam taluk into deep trouble.  Strawberries need special care and attention unlike other fruits. Government's strawberry park in Munnar barely have any visitors during these slump months.

Low margins of OTAs

Online Travel Agents (OTA) offer discounts, cashbacks and flexible travel booking to survive the blow dealt by the pandemic. Needless to say the "offers" are squeezing their margins. 

Recently we saw EaseMyTrip, ClearTrip (airline ticketing agents), MakeMyTrip, SOTC, ixigo, Thomas Cook (wholesome trip providers) offering 50-60% discounts. These deals were possible only because all the key partners across the industry like carriers, hotels etc., who were also badly bitten by the pandemic induced slump were offering big discounts to survive. 

Though these offers had some positive impact mostly it was never more than 65% use of inventory. 

In airline ticket booking where 20% of the margin is linked with volumes there was not much to feel happy about especially when there were hardly any margin earlier too, as India is a low cost driven market. 

Hotel bookings are running at one third of the last year's, as guests are waiting to confirm the booking using the flexible booking option. 

Though the reliable McKinsey report on OTA says their structure and the variable costs involved help them to absorb the fluctuation it should not be forgotten travel industry, in general, is margin and volume driven without both they cannot offer the key partners a contract or commission for the services. 

With the changing situation let us hope a service provider will also find it convenient to stick to an OTA brand than a one sided chase by the OTAs to find and keep a service provider. 

It's Rubber, again!

 The rubber planters of Kerala are breathing a huge sigh of relief. After 7  years of misery the rubber price has gone up to Rs.165 per kilogram. During these years the price has gone so down, out of disappointment arising out of the inability to sustain the plantations many planters have cleared their plantations and sold the trees to timber traders and as firewood. The new surge in price is giving hope to the survivors. 

The big question that is playing on every planters mind is quite obvious, is this boom sustainable? The pandemic effect is certainly playing its part, delay in the shipment of the imported rubber, rise in shipment rates, non-availability of the shipment containers etc. has forced the local manufacturers to go back to the domestic rubber suppliers. Above all, the international rate for the rubber has gone up, at present the going rate at the Bangkok Market is Rs.186.90 per kilogram. 

The government decision to place tyre into restricted category list of import has helped the local suppliers as tyre manufacturers are the premium customers of the planters and they had a free run to import cheap raw rubber from the south east Asia all these years. Successive extreme climatic conditions, the attack of fungus and its fast spread has destroyed many a crop around the world which had a negative impact on the availability of rubber in the world market. 

With everything said, the experienced planters are limiting their sales keeping an eye on the international rubber price, knowing very well from their experience when the world market price is riding 15 to 20% above the local price they expect the local price to go above the global price within   a short time. 

Let us hope for the best for our planters as their surplus in the good years have flowed into tourism and have played its part in the infrastructure and destination development of Kerala.

Honey, a produce of the tribe

Those of us who favour and work for the promotion of tribal tourism and a better market for the produce of tribal communities will not be surprised by the sting report produced by the Centre for Science and Environment which states the wide spread sugar syrup adulteration of honey. Ten out of the thirteen popular brands which have been tested are selling impure honey whose content has sugar and honey syrup imported cheaply from China by the commercial manufacturers. 

Traditionally, honey is associated with health and wellness and is consumed by a large percentage of our population whose commercial value is the prime concern of the market sellers. Surprisingly, Food Safety Standards Authority Of India (fssai) who certifies the quality of food products sold in India is not applying the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) test which they use for honey exported for international markets for locally supplied forest produce. This lapse give the registered commercial companies a golden opportunity to tap the market to their own advantage. 

Ideally, the honey requirement of the nation ought to be met by the tribes who collect it. The tribal welfare department and trifed (Govt. Marketing agency for tribal produce) are trying to help and promote the produce of our indigenous people, so that they too make a decent living. 

Kangris of Kashmir

As soon as the winter arrives in Kashmir, tourism news is full of pictures of the snow in the valley. The social aspect of how the local people cope with negative temperatures for a couple of months is even more interesting. 

Of all the heating devices available, kangris have a mass appeal. It is portable, less expensive and most importantly it keeps one warm both indoors and outdoors. Kangris are basically clay pots with six inches (half a feet) wide mouth where charcoals are fed and burned. The local artisans have made a pot holder with twigs with handles that can be easily carried around. 

While outside the Kashmiris hold it inside their knee long coats (Pheran) which both men and women wear in winter or they hung it on the hook if they are inside the house. The whole fill weighs around quarter of a kilo of charcoal along with the kangris itself is good to go for a 4 to 6 hours. 

The cost of the Kangiri can be anywhere between 70 to 1500 depending on the intricacies of artisan decoration of the wicker around the pot. 

Towards the end of winter the Pandit Brahmins hold a festival and pooja at the end of which the clay pots are smashed in thanksgiving for a safe winter. 

Happy Birthday Kerala

November First. 

Some interpretations...

 ADULT: 

A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

BEAUTY PARLOR: 

A place where women curl up and dye.

CANNIBAL: 

Someone who is fed up with people.

CHICKENS: 

The only animals you eat before they are born and after they are dead.

COMMITTEE: 

A body that keeps minutes and wastes hours.

DUST: 

Mud with the juice squeezed out.

EGOTIST: 

Someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.

HANDKERCHIEF: 

Cold Storage.

INFLATION: 

Cutting money in half without damaging the paper.

MOSQUITO:

An insect that makes you like flies better.

RAISIN: 

Grape with a sunburn.

SECRET: 

Something you tell to one person at a time.

SKELETON: 

A bunch of bones with the person scraped off.

TOOTHACHE:

The pain that drives you to extraction.

TOMORROW: 

One of the greatest labor saving devices of today.

YAWN: 

An honest opinion openly expressed

An online collection of alternative interpretations.

151st Gandhi Jayanti (Birthday)

 Easy to trust and follow wholeheartedly.

A non-violent intellect who was one of the biggest readers of his times who wrote well too. 

Come and see

The invading armies of Germany had destoryed many of the former Soviet Countries. The  book ''The Story of Khatyn and other war stories”, co-authored by Ales Adamovich, tells us what happened to the 628 Belarussian villages which were set ablaze and its entire population killed by the merciless racist German invaders. Ales Adamovich has written the screenplay with Elem Klimov who is also the director of this brilliant Russian world war movie (1985) which is produced by Belarusfilm and Mosfilm Studios. Aleksei Rodionov, the director of photography, has framed the movie to make it look so real accompanied by heart wrenching music of Oleg Yanchenko, together they have succeeded in giving the movie the unreal realistic feel of an epic.

The 13 year old, always smiling, Flyora (played by Aleksei Kravchenko) wanted to join the partisan forces just like every able bodied man of his village had done to fight the Germans who proclaimed the villagers, lesser humans than the Germans, did not have the right to live in this world. To back their claims they were invading countries and killing everyone whom they were defeating. In those days one had to report with his own arms and baggage to be enlisted into the partisan army. On the insistence of a younger friend who had found a gun from the grave of a dead World War 1 soldier on the village beach, Flyora was digging up the beach looking for a gun. He finally managed one but was severely reprimanded by his elderly uncle for digging up on the beach which was under German air surveillance. To make matters worse the two boys were spotted by the German reconnaissance plane standing on the beach armed. Soon, the German paratroopers arrived at their village.

Against his mother’s wishes Flyora joined the partisan army and left the village happy and proud. He was enlisted and taken to the base camp where he had the opportunity to meet other fellow soldiers and even became a part of the group photo in his new army uniform and boots. Unfortunately he was left behind by the army when the Commander asked him to give away his new boots to a senior soldier who did not have one. With a girl friend, Glasha (played by Olga Mironova), he met at the camp he returned to his village to find to his horror that his entire village was not only ran over by the enemy but everyone including men, women and children were slaughtered. From then on the life of the innocent young boy turned into one horrific experience of experiencing terror and brutality which the young boy couldn't help but blame himself when he and Glasha joins the survivors who have escaped to an island where he meets his severely burned uncle who was set on fire by the Germans who still reprimands him, "Didn't I tell you not to dig on the beach...".  Flyora’s emotional war experiences make this movie one of the greatest war films ever made.

The director Elem Klimov wrote the screenplay along with Ales Adamovich and masterfully recreated the entire series of events close to the original using real time experience for film shooting. The burning of the church, the dead cow scene at night with shots fired, everything was set in reality to film the movie and the director managed to frame the real expression from his actors with the aid of real background.

The movie won a grand prize at the 1985 Moscow international film festival and was shown to schoolchildren over the years to tell them about the horrors of war and help them understand the importance of not having another world war. 

For certain, the movie will leave you spellbound! Flyora and his times will stay on in our minds for a long long time making us wish that there won't be another world war.

A link to the movie with English Subtitles: 

Come and See

Innovation during Pandemic

Tourism is one of the worst hit industries during these pandemic era. Many entrepreneurs have gone bankrupt and many careers have been thrown under the bus. 

Inspite of everything Aveda Resorts & Spa at Kumarakom, in Alleppey district of Kerala has found a way to do something that would generate some income to maintain the property, atleast. By June, they knew the lock down is here to stay and the hotels will not be allowed to open anytime soon.  So they decided to turn their awesome 150 metre long swimming pool into a fish farm. 

They bought around 16,000, two months old Pearl Spot ( Local favourite) baby fishes and farmed them in the pool.

Pearl Spot usually take around eight months to reach their full growth/size and the team at Aveda is hoping to harvest them in November and looking forward to sell them both in the local and UAE market. 

The reality of Pandemic is shock and panic which drove many to destruction, the team at Aveda Resort and Spa has found a way to stay afloat. Congratulations Team Aveda, you guys are very inspiring.  

The link:

Aveda Boutique Resort & Spa

Charles Allan

Allan Charles 1940-2020

Charles Allen, a master of British Indian and South Asian history passed away at his home in England on August 16^th , 2020, after struggling with cancer for a long time...Read More

Onam

On this day of our harvest festival, Onam, when every one used to be  blessed with a bountiful harvest and were filled with the happiness of prosperity and contentment, we remember our Great King, Mahabali, who ensured justice & fairness, equality, honesty, work & bread for  all  and wish you a very happy Onam in the age old tradition of our forefathers who lived and died here, in our Kerala! 

May the panic and anxiety of the pandemic do not cast a shadow on our celebrations, let us make the best with what we have and hopefully look forward for a better year to come. 

Picture: picnewposts.blogspot.com

Pandemic and Monetary relief in Tourism

 With the devastating pandemic attack the world tourism sank like the sugar cube in our cup of tea. Lock down and the fear of infection forced people not to travel at all forcing the tourism stakeholders to shut down their enterprises and lay off the employees.

The 20 lakh crore stimulus package announced by the central government in February did not consider tourism for any sort of support though the authorities had mentioned that more package are coming and  some indirect benefits are available to those tourism companies which fall under the MSME category with a 100 crore turn over and 25 crore in outstanding. They can avail an emergency credit to the amount of 20% of their outstanding with a four year tenor and an year of moratorium in repayment. 

Almost six months after that, the Kerala state government announced yesterday Rs. 455 crore Relief package to the Tourism industry. The State Level Bankers Committee has agreed to disperse 355 crores of loans to small and large stakeholders in the Tourism Industry at 50% of the prevalent interest rate. Government has decided to pay the remaining 50% of the interest to the bank on behalf of the Tourism industry as a subsidy from the Government's Plan Fund. 

Under the Relief program nearly 2500 small enterprises will get 1-3 lakhs and big enterprises will get 5-25 lakhs with a moratorium of 6 months for repayment. 

Apart from the enterprises, the Tourism Employees Support Scheme with an outlay of Rs.100 Crore will provide tourism employees who come around  to 50,000 in number  a personal loan between 20-30 thousand through the Kerala Bank at an interest rate of 9% of which 6% will be paid by the Government itself. The personal loan will have a moratorium of 4 months on repayment. The employees will have to submit their application through the Tourism Deputy Director of their respective districts. 

Kerala tourism revenue accounted for the year 2019 was Rs. 45,000 crores but in this pandemic year the industry has suffered a loss of Rs. 20,000 crore with an uncertain tourism season coming up from September to February. 

 

74th Independence Day

A week before the day, monsoon was pulverising us with 260 cms of rain and up in the hill station of Munnar land slide took the whole colony and its people down into the valley. Traditionally, according to our local calendar, the month of "Karkidakkam" is a rainfall of woes and sorrows. The 8 days after 'Panchami' (name of one of the days in the month) the tidal swell won't let Arabian sea absorb any of the river water which means if the rain continues the rainwater is going to flood the low lying coastal land. The "Panchami" day fell on August 8th and we were all screwed up watching cautiously the progress of the rain. Luckily, three days after Panchami, the rain receded. 

As we all know, monsoon worry is not much of a bother when compared to  the rising rates of comparatively slow killing Corona pandemic social spread. The daily fresh infection rate is consistently over 1500 now in our small state in the week leading upto the Independence Day. 

Naturally, the spirit and the morale was down on the Day and we watched the Day's proceeding on TV and listened to the Radio where they aired the Red Fort and local state proceedings. 

The awful "Karkidakkam" with its 32 days bid farewell, yesterday and our favourite month of "Chingam" dawned today with its customary cheerful sunlight and hopefulness. 

Wishing everyone the grace and prosperity of the month, let us try to overcome our pandemic worry, cheerfully.

National Handloom Day

August 7th is appreciated as the National Handloom day, a practice inaugurated by Prime minister Narendra Modi in the year 2015. It was on August 7th, 1905 "Swadeshi" movement, a call to Boycott the use of foreign goods and increase the use of local products was started at Calcutta in Bengal. It is no surprise that the same day was selected to celebrate as the National Handloom Day as it was them who were the worst hit during the colonial days when finished loom products where imported from England and local artisans lost their jobs. 

The famous Kanchipuram sarees of Tamilnadu, the golden silk 'Muga mekhala Sador' of Assam, 'Paithani' weaving of Maharashtra, Benarasi Sarees of UttarPradesh are some of the glorious examples of Handloom. 

For the dying craft of handlooms, mercilessly pushed aside by the power looms need not only our support in terms of purchasing handloom products but also require development of infrastructural facilities like availability of raw materials, accessibility to the market, financial assistance etc. on an industry level. 

Guru Purnima

July 5th, 2020

Remembering everyone from whom we learned something, inside and outside the classroom.

A day to remember our teachers (Guru). 

Village Tourism

Looking forward, optimistically, the Corona free states and those  which have shown considerable efficiency in their health system may see a rise in tourism from a stand still situation.  No doubt, inbound and outbound tourism is not going to revive with visa controls and air travel restrictions still on, there could be a possible increase in tourism with aparticular demand for village and experience oriented tours. With the summer holidays coming, people who are weary after the lock down might want to travel, if the tourism stake holders can woo them to less crowded destinations unlike beaches. 

Social distancing, staying in quarentine have taught all of us a good lesson and chances are local travellers may find experiential tourism a much needed break from the numbness of staying home for so long. 

To attract visitors every suitable localities have to upload short videos on folklores, art forms, cuisines etc on social media and related websites. For that, ofcourse, the local villagers have to be trained on how to make videos and record audios with their phones and how to add sub-titles. 

The government employees who claim the leave travel allowance for the holidays, if they choose, could add some hope and light to tourism villages whose dreams are already shattered. 

Robusta coffee of Wayanad

Italy is famous for its pizzas, wine, gelato and ofcourse coffee among many other food delights. In our state of Kerala, the district of Wayanad produces around 2.24 lakh tonnes of Robusta coffee every year. The Italians use the Robusta for their Coffee and buy from our India and Wayanad farmers around 65,000 tonnes of Robusta every year. With Italy down with Corona Infection, the farmers of Wayanad have lost their hope for the season as such the price was at its lowest in ten years even before the pandemic outbreak.

According to the coffee board of India authorities there are around 59,000 small farmers in the naturally beautiful north Kerala district producing around 58,000 tonnes of Robusta from 67,000 hectares of land. 

All the hopes are now hung on local consumption (1.10 lakh tonnes) by the farmers do not have any insurance coverage. They had insurance cover from weather till 2016, later coffee was dropped from the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana.

Source: The Hindu, 12-04-'20
Wayanad Coffee Farmers

The Will and the Grit

Almost 200 Kilometres everyday, making the best of the coolness of the early morning hours till noon, eating from the Dhabas on the way which were still open during the lock down, Mahesh Jena cycled all the way from Maharastra, where he was working in a workshop, to his home 1700 kilometres away in the village of Bichitrapur in Odissha. There, interestingly, his Covid -19 informed villagers put him under quarentine before accepting him back into the community. Really wish the boy would test negative.

Source:

The Hindu

Heat wave

For a week or so our day temperature was around 38 degrees till it fell to 30 degrees today, following last night's rain. Will the heat  have a remedial effect on the pandemic.

   

Lazarus Saturday

In the eastern tradition of Christianity, the Saturday before Palm Sunday is celebrated as the Lazarus Saturday. It is believed that, Jesus rose to life, the dead Lazarus, on this day before his jubilant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. 

In our Kerala, traditionally, the Christians make dumblings out of Rice, stuffed with grated coconut mixed with Jaggery (local sweetner) and share with the entire family.