Once Upon a Time in Kerala

DAY 8 JAN 14 

When you are excited and at the same time having fun time flys. This is exactly what happened. In a glimpse, I look back and see the day I arrived at Trivandrum airport, and suddenly now it’s the last day of the trip! I can’t believe I have to leave this beautiful, tropical oceanside. Even though everyone is ambivalent at the end of the program, we still have a lot to do. I and a couple of other students spent last night finalizing the final presentation that we had to prepare for today. A lot of work to be done. At the same time, we have a special presenter today. Latha Raman Jaigopal Mr Jaygopal Rao’s wife has agreed to come to share with us, which is a wonderful opportunity to learn and get inspired. But at the same time, some of us are worried about the presentation. 

For the most part, she talked about total water management. How is it so important to have effective use of water, water harvesting facilities, and recycling. Later on, we visited some of the works od by her organization, which were extremely valuable. Walking around the Allepy canal project looking at the graffiti in the walls and talking sustainability is has been the most fun part of the day. 

For lunch and our final presentation, we went to Xandari beach resort, which to my calculation is one of the best beach resorts in Kochi. The hotel management showed some of their most luxurious homes and invited us to stay there next time we came to Kochi. 

During lunch, I found out that it was Professor Rebecca’s birthday today! what a pleasant surprise. As soon as Rebecca went to get dessert, we found a small candle, put it on her chocolate cupcake, and start singing Happy birthday loudly. At this point, the whole class knew that it was her birthday and looking at the candle and this tiny cake she was laughing uncontrollably, which was the most beautiful thing! Later on Omar, Isabelle, and Hailey did a wonderful job of presenting and thus our journey of fifteen days– only eight days for me– came to its end. During the trip, we were instructed to not swim in the sea. The unforgiving Arabian sea tides that could carry the swimmer to the centre of the sea making it almost impossible to swim back to the shore, however, we made an exception to this rule. Almost all of us were carrying their swimsuits with them! Looks like people had naughty plans in heads all along. So we swam the hell out of the Arabian sea until darkness fell upon us. Then we returned to the hotel to pack our bags, and the hard part, say goodbyes. I hate goodbyes. Even though only one student from our group lives in Florida and the rest go to the same school with me, but still having to say goodbye is not good at all. But as all good things must come to an end I would like to end this series of blogs by thanking you the kind reader for bearing with me and sharing this amazing experience. Go Hawks!

DAY 7 JAN 13

It’s such a good feeling when you get to sleep until late in the morning. Today was one of those days. Went downstairs to get breakfast with my homies Peterson and Aymane. No rush. Just the way I liked it. I am told that today we will visit the Thalikulam panchayat. Panchayat is an elective council of about five members organized in the republic of India as an organ of village self-government. The 73rd and 74th amendment of the Indian constitution call for the operation of Panchayats at the grass-root level. They are a very clever way of getting villages to organize themselves and take their matters in their hand. 

Although seeing a Panchayat from up close is a great idea, but now that I got here I think otherwise. There is a special ceremony going on and an overwhelming crowd of people have come. Today around 541 homeless people will receive the keys to their own home! It feels like I am one of them. It feels like I share their joy, and in a way I am! I am very happy today. I hope to do something similar in my own country one day and feel satisfied with my life. 

Filled with a feeling of sweet joy. We first visited a hospital put together by the village panchayat and then went on to visit the Thalikulam Vikas Trust, a public charitable trust founded in 2008 for the development of the village of 30 thousand population. After the introductory speech by the director, we were directed towards a Day Care Centre for senior citizens inside the trust where we were welcomed by two songs performed beautifully by the two senior citizens. To balance the situation we offered to sing one song too. Isabella took the lead and we followed her tune.

Thalikulam Vikas trust got even more excited as we sat down for lunch. They had prepared food in a very unique way. Instead of plates, they brought us large banana tree leaves. After that one by one, they started putting small chunks of fifteen different types of gravy. The presentation and the taste of the meal had now words! Absolutely stunning. This type of meal very local and traditional to the south of India is called the Mother’s veg style meal.

Towards the end of the day, we visited some of the manufacturing sites of the Thalikulam Vikas Trust where some of us bought stuff and then our day came to an end as we were on our way to the hotel.

DAY6 JAN 12

So we reached Kochi last night. Even though we were all exhausted and drained from the long drive yet still I managed to get out of the hotel, which is called Sarovaram, and get myself to a fruit shop nearby to buy a pineapple. The smell of the fruit here drives me nuts. Once again I am late to the lecture this morning. Skipping breakfast I head toward the conference room of the hotel and find myself in the presence of Sir. Jaygopal Rao. He is the co-founder of this amazing NGO called Inspiration. As early as 1988, Jaigopal G Rao started his mission to work and promote sustainability, passionately influenced by his interactions with Laurie Baker. His venture quickly evolved as an NGO called Inspiration pioneering sustainable development. Inspiration combines a team visionaries under one roof. With over 20 years of experience in the field of ecology and economy sensitive designs and constructions, this NGO attracts a wide variety of clients who aspire for sensitively designed habitat and environments. In his talk, Mr Jaygopal talked about the importance of having decentralized governance. He pointed out that many great visionaries like Frank Lloyd Wright, Gandhi, Laurie Baker…etc. all promoted the idea of decentralization. 

After lots of discussions and notetaking, the talk came to an end and the Inspiration people agreed to take us to their projects to see in first-hand how they work and create a sustainable environment. We started by visiting the Port of Kochi and the Xandari harbour resort which is a superb tourist attraction because of its sleek design.

For lunch, some of us decided to not go to the high-end places that we were supposed to but instead, we decided to hit a local joint and get a taste of the local food. Here I found out that some other cool dudes in our group with rebellious nature would prefer to eat with us at a local restaurant rather than following the rest of the group. Knowing that they shared a similar mindset kind of help me get to know them better, and thus become friends with them. After food, we headed towards the downtown area of Fort Kochi where we got to visit a very old Synagogue.

Towards the end of the day, we went to see a very traditional dance performance called Kathakali where through the language of sign Kind Nala was expressing his undying love for princess Damayanti. Kathakali is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a “story play” genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up, costumes and face masks that the traditionally male actor-dancers wear. 

DAY 5 JAN 11 2020

Defining the eastern border of the Indian state of Kerala are the fabled cardamom Hills. In the heart of these mountain and bamboo forest is the silent refuge of wildernest.

Early Morning in the Wildernest is unlike any. The spacious rooms and the sleek architectural design adds a whole lot to the experience. Plus, we were told that if we leave the windows open. Monkeys would come and take anything and everything away. I would not have my phone in the hands of a monkey, last night I made sure the windows were properly locked.

Today was all about sightseeing touring so therefore, we commenced with a boat ride in Paryar lake through Paryar National park, also known as Periyar Tiger Reserve, is in the mountainous Western Ghats of Kerala, southern India. This wildlife sanctuary is home to tigers, as well as rare lion-tailed macaques, and a significant elephant population, sambar deer, leopards and Indian bison.

After the boat ride and the breakfast now we are off to visit Abraham’s Spice Garden. In a documentary published by the BBC “Around the world in 80 gardens”, Mounty Don features this spice garden. It is one of the oldest gardens in the state and also the spices are so spicy. During the tour, Abraham offered a special type of chilli and foolishly me and Liam to a bite out of it. The whole tour my mouth was burning but I had to show courage and not ask for water. I won’t regret tasting it but I would not do it again.

The day ended with a huge spice shopping. I think I got more than I could fit in my bag to take to the US with me. But who knows, maybe I will gift it to someone on the way to the US.

DAY FOUR JAN 10

We are on our way to the city of Thekkady, which is more than ten hours of a bus ride for us. But luckily after five hours, we will reach Allepy where we will experience a boat ride into the backwaters of Allepy to observe its natural habitat. The backwaters have a different ecosystem that the usual lakes and ponds. a. they are far more beautiful than the latter ones. b. its sweet water one time of the year which gives birth to a world of lilies and lily pads and all sorts of other shrubs and flowers, and then the saltwater from the ocean comes in another time of the year, which kills all the plants and provides the water with enough nutrients so that locals could grow rice all year long.

The flora and fauna of this ecosystem truly amazed me. I sat my whole time on the edge of the boat gawking at the backwaters thinking that how could I ignore the hand of the almighty maker in this? How could have such superb, mind-blowing order come from chaos? It’s like saying that there was a huge sand storm that plucked the trees out of their root, and after some time as the result of that sand storm, a giant cruise ship with the most elegant design and carvings and work of art and paintings and all sorts of things came into existence!

Anyways, after the boat ride, all refreshed and with a full stomach, we resumed our journey towards Thekkady. The hotel that we are about to spend the night is called The Wilderness, a project by Inspiration, which is unique in terms of the material used in it and its architecture design. Inspiration is a team of amazing architects led by Mr Jaygopal who are doing tremendous work in Kerala. He is going to present in two days and after seeing this project, I am already a huge fan of Inspiration.

DAY THREE JAN 9 2019

It’s a beautiful morning today. Everything is back to normal. The sound of traffic is annoying as usual, which means that public transportation along with all other shops and offices have resumed working and that indeed is a good thing.

I woke up a little late today. Maybe last night’s dinner was heavier than I thought, but none the less I am rushing towards the dining room for breakfast because today we are visiting a rather unusual place. Kanthari international institute for social change co-founded by Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg in 2007 in Trivandrum, Kerala, South of India, offers a 12 month, scholarship based leadership program for visionaries who have overcome adversity and who are keen to drive ethical social change anywhere in the world. There are many amazing things about Kanthari. First of all, the entire Kanthari campus is designed in a cost-effective and eco-friendly way, which not only offers an inspiring working environment but also inspires the hell out of visitors and people who take sustainable lifestyle seriously. I mean you are the judge. Since the founders of Kanthari preach the gospel of sustainability to the rest of the world, they decided to be the first to live it as well. Hence they built their house and the entire campus from mud and bamboo available onsite! How cool is that! Moreover, the entire campus is off-grid. They harvest the rainwater and filter it for reuse. The Eco-san toilets are linked to a biogas generator that generates gas for cooking purposes and fertilizer for the gardens. No matter the temperature outside. The inside temperature will always be significantly colder due to the amazing architecture of the buildings. I could go on and on but I would have barely scratched the surface so to cut it short, In 2013 the campus was awarded as the second greenest campus in India. One last thing that I cannot resist to not mention is their ginormous outdoor swing, which is tied to the coconut trees. Once you swing on that swing you would not want to swing anywhere else. The whole visit was a rich experience. Learning about how they find social change-maker and how they train them made me interested to apply. Secondly, from the Kanthari shop, Professor Jerry bought me a cool looking handmade bag because I had missed the first few days of the trip!

After the visit, we went for lunch where I got my first glimpse of the tropical beach in Trivandrum. Honestly, now I have developed a genuine longing for it for the rest of my life. We went to Dr Franklin’s Ayurvedic retreat to get a full body massage but I was not in the mood to get naked  so with a group of student we left for the hotel to get complete the assignment and ready for the grand farewell dinner organized by the Laurie Baker Center. Today was our last day in the beautiful city of Trivandrum 

The farewell is sweet. The girls wore traditional Saree and the guys rocked with Lungis and south Indian shirts. The night ended with lots of group hugs and pictures, which I think would stay with me for the rest of my life.

DAY TWO JAN 8 2020

Woke up early today. The excitement is cutting off my sleep now. But today feels different somehow! Could it be that it rained during the night and that the weather is colder? Or is it something else? I was gobbled up in my mind trying to figure out the answers when it struck me. The entire street is filled with silence. Now that is something that you do not see every day! Usually, the sound of cars moving around and the constant honking-culture annoys the alien minds but today was surprisingly super quiet. I decided to get to the bottom of it and found out that the government passed a new piece of legislation concerning various unions present in the country. To protest the government’s decision the entire city was shut down. All the shops were closed. Public transportation was in a complete halt. The state-wide protest acted in our favour. Instead of riding a bus to the venue of our next talk, we walked to it. Although we mistook an old church for our rendezvous point, we did manage to find it, eventually.

We spent the whole day today in the main office of the Kudumbashree, the Kerala State Poverty Eradication Mission, which was launched on 17th May 1998. Kudumbashree means Prosperity of Family. This Mission aims to eradicate absolute poverty within 10 years under the leadership of Local Self Governments formed and empowered by the 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution of India. The grassroots of Kudumbashree are Neighbourhood Groups (NHG in short) that send representatives to the ward level Area Development Societies (ADS). The ADS sends its representatives to the Community Development Society (CDS), which completes the unique three-tier structure of Kudumbashree. Today, there are 277000 NHGs, over 19,854 ADSs and 1073 CDSs in Kudumbashree. What inspired me was the role of women in this movement. Seeing such a huge organization dedicating a major part of its resources towards empowering women in India was a huge eye-opener.

The pencil campaign of the Kudumbashree was another unique way of getting children educated and interested in environmental issues. The Livelihood programs of Kudumbashree include but are not limited to Bud schools. Buds Rehabilitation Center (BRC), collective farming for women, the Goat village…etc. This poverty eradication mission won the national award and is operating in 24 out of 28 states throughout India. The Kudumbashree staff’s commitment and sense of service and care for economic and social development of the society entirely changed my mind about Kerala. I used to think that only people living in the west especially US citizen are more concerned about having a sustainable lifestyle, but now I know better. Thanks for bearing with me as the second day of my journey comes to an end. See you tomorrow.

DAY ONE JAN 7 2020

It’s seven in the morning. After missing eight days of the course and an entire night of flight, I arrived at the SP Grand Days hotel.

I knew I could not rest because it was brought to my attention that in two hours, three amazing personalities are going to give a talk on Media and Decentralization movement in the state of Kerala. Listening to such change makers, people who actually altered the lives of hundreds of thousands of people is such an honour. Furthermore, I got to see other members of my study abroad group who were desperately waiting for their last member to come to join them from Afghanistan. It was such a nice feeling to finally meet them all.

After the talk, and a south Indian style lunch with my awesome group members, we had a site visit to the College of Engineering Trivandrum School of Architecture. There, two groups of amazing 3rd-year architecture students presented their summer projects, which were quite a hand full. Determining social equity-related problems of two small villages, and then coming up with practical solutions to address those problems and understanding that change may take decades to come! These students were sharp as freshly forged Damascus steel knives. You would think one had come all the way from the US to India to see this group of young soon to be architects figuring out problems that even the United States hasn’t figured out yet!

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“What I liked about India as compared to developed countries is that you get to start a project literally from scratch and see it to its end.” Susanna Rachel, one of the students, said“All because of the development that is happening in the country.”

Knowledge is not all that came out of this visit. There was some networking as well. I and Susanna became friends and promised to follow each other’s lives on Instagram to see what’s happening in two corners of the globe, and also promised to visit each other if we come one another’s countries. Honestly!? My first day and already so much has happened. Could the tomorrow and the rest of the days be like this? What other adventures await me? How many change-makers will I meet? How many more friends will I make? My head is filled with excitement as I go to an early dinner with Peterson Wambu, my wonderful roommate from Kenya.

DEC 19 2019

I got my flight tickets and packing done. It’s time to embark on this life-altering journey. However, as the days of the year 2019 is coming to an end, so seems to be my luck 😦

After seven excited hours of flight from Chicago to Paris, I now find myself at the terminal rushing to catch my connecting flight, which will take me to New Delhi from where I will take the next plane home. This is where I get the first blow. With almost no battery on my phone at the boarding gate, I am stopped from taking the plane to India for reasons that I do not understand. Controlling my nerves– in this semi-panic situation– I wait another nine hours and then buy new tickets to home. Lots of drama happened back home too, which involved my Indian visa and Passport being miss placed for a few days at the agency responsible for getting the visa. However, after a delayed flight caused by a snowstorm and a missed Plane in New Delhi, I found my way to the city of Trivandrum in the state of Kerala, India. At the airport, I made a friend! Turns out there’s still some charm left in the air after all. 

DEC 15 2019

The heavy winter air of the City of Iowa City is filled with an incredible amount of pleasant excitement. The time has come! In a few days, that, which seemed almost impossible will happen. I am getting calls from my friends and family from both within and outside the United States. Most are hailing and applauding me while others are asking for postcards. However, what I am most concerned about is whether I will be able to turn this opportunity to my favour and reap the utmost benefits from what is to come. Kinga Nagy, my Hungarian sister is worried if I will stay at that eco-friendly palace with the King Cobra. All the while I am pondering what souvenirs should I get her. All of this is happening because a couple of months ago I applied for a course on a subject that I am utterly passionate about. Professor Jerry Anthony mentioned this study abroad course that he is going to teach in connection with the International Program’s office of the University of Iowa. He is offering a Sustainable Development course, which is taught in the southern state of Kerala, India! Even though I know that I will be super busy learning and compiling knowledge, but he has promised that we will have a good while and also ride elephants!! ”Sustainability and elephants!”, I said, ”now that is a package I simply cannot refuse.”