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Picture: The St.Francis church in Fort Cochin, India.
Vasco da Gama from Portugal is one of the most successful discoverer of the old age. He was the commander of the first ship to sail directly from Europe to India. He died in 1524 in India and was buried in the St. Francis church in Fort Cochin, before being moved to Portugal.
Padmanabhapuram Palace in Tamil Nadu, India, is an architectural marvel well worth a visit. In contrast to many other historic monuments in India, the palace recently got a touch up as it featured in a recent movie, therefore attracting Indian tourists. Upon visiting the palace, three things surprised me: Firstly, foreigners had to pay eight times more than locals (hey, double or four times would have been enough), secondly one had to take off their shoes and walk on the sand (covered with bird droppings!), and thirdly how cooling it was inside the palace. I visited the palace, built in 1601 AD, on a hot and sticky day. Upon entering the palace I was surprised how cool the rooms were, without any fans or air-conditioning. I was intrigued. The secret of the natural cooling of the palace is ancient: it is how the palace is built. The floors are either solid wood or terra-cotta tiles. The walls are made out of clay bricks covered with a mix of coconut fiber, clay and several minerals. The roof is constructed from a wooden frame with terra-cotta tiles. And last but not least, the upper part of the wall that is connecting with the roof, is made from a delicate wooden structure that lets air and light in and provides a cooling draft. The result is that fresh draft of air cools the palace even in the midst of mid-summer heat without utilizing any electricity. Unfortunately this ancient technique is completely neglected today.
Picture: Natural, handmade, stunningly-beautiful and environmentally-friendly building technique.
Picutre: No need to hurry!
I recently took a second class AC train from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to Cochin in Kerala. Two things stood out during the train ride: firstly, it was on time and secondly, it travelled at a glacial speed. I read that the average speed of Indian trains is a measly 80km/h. India tries to modernize its train system but is faced with increasing costs and sinking revenues. According to a newspaper article the National Railway is nearly bankrupt, despite millions of passengers every day.
Picture: Courtesy of some hard work in the Middle East.
Traveling in the southern tip of India of Tamil Nadu and Kerala made me realize how many new, and mostly garish homes are popping up. There is a building-boom going on. The buildings are mostly inhabited by elderly folks as many young Indian engineers work in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Abu Dhabi. Those Indians literally build and operate the Middle Eastern states. And most of what they earn gets sent back home and invested in houses. With approximately 60m Indians working in the Middle East, that means many new houses!
Picture: A traditional building constructed before Middle-Eastern money arrived.
Picture: Soon a new worker might be needed!
Due to a well established education system the southern Indian state of Kerala has one of the highest literacy rates (over 80%). However, graduates often end up working in the Middle East and not in India as Kerala has very limited job opportunities for well-educated workers. Kerala is still very much an agricultural state with very poor infrastructure and very limited manufacturing. This brain-drain has the positive effect of sky-high remittances from the Indian workers abroad that led to a building boom. Driving through medium-sized towns like Trivandrum or other nearby towns gives a typical picture for the Indian economy: a plethora of small shops run by their owners. Once a business is established it takes very little to run as there is hardly any marketing, innovation or management involved. India tends to solve problems by throwing cheap manpower at it, not brain-power. A main reason for this small-business economy is India's poor infrastructure. Getting goods across the country is notoriously expensive and time-consuming as states levy duties and tend to squabble about standards. This is the reason why even today India does not have a nationwide supply-chain, depending on a small-scale economy that hardly needs any highly trained engineers or managers.
If you are young, educated and looking for a job, going abroad is your best bet. For the ones who cannot land a job abroad, the best bet is to extort money and housing from their parents instead of looking for local employment. The parents on the other hand are more and more frustrated with their children's unwillingness to work and support them in old age. So if India does not manage to offer more corporate jobs for graduates, the lack of jobs will put the generational contract between young and old under acute stress as children are not willing or capable anymore to support their parents. The first cracks are already appearing in rural families as sons I met are pressing their parents to hand over house and money.
Picture: Me wondering if I could fit the elephant in a garage at home.
One morning in the lobby of my hotel in Cochin, Kerala, I overheard a young tourist asking about a Hindu celebration involving elephants. Later during the day, while sightseeing in a tuk-tuk, the driver pointed out to a Hindu temple to me that was gearing up for a celebration. I asked him if they have elephants and he said yes. As it was early afternoon there were no elephants there yet. My driver asked some bystanders about the whereabouts of elephants and soon we were zipping past a side-street towards a shady temple compound. The driver parked his noisy tuk-tuk and I squeezed out of the small vehicle. I entered the temple compound and there they were, three massive Indian elephants, chained to palm trees. Marvelous! The mahout, smoking next to the elephant immediately sensed a money-making opportunity and told me to take off my shoes. Barefoot I approached the massive creature which slowly started to kneel down in front of me. The mahout told me to step on the elephant's front leg and with a strong shove from behind me, I sat atop the massive creature. The elephant continued feeding himself and flapping his ears while I gave him a big hug. For a brief moment the world stood still and I couldn't help but grin widely. A truly magical moment that is so typical for India. Incredible India!
Picture: The same elephant but ready for some temple marketing.
Picture: A spice wholesale market in Fort Cochin.
Fort Cochin has been a spice trading port for over 500 years. Later on, spice trading moved to Melaka in Malaysia and further away. Today, there is still a little wholesale spice-trading going on, but the good times are long gone.
Picture: A hearty homemade Indian meal!
According to McKinsey's research institute there is a global obesity pandemic. And it is not only the Western world that is affected. Upon visiting an Indian village in the South I had a first-hand experience at how obesity starts. Every invitation to an Indian home follows the same script. The guests arrive, they sit down and then get force-fed by the hosts. And as Indian food is not about presentation but only about quantity, the hosts will immediately comment on how little the guest eats. So sitting alone at a table and being fed by three to four Indians is not the most exhilarating culinary experience. Force-feeding happens not only to guests but to all male family members as being well fed is a sign of prosperity. Combined with a lack of any physical activity and with not much of fresh, raw vegetables in their diet, the result is obesity with its well-known side-effects of heart-disease and diabetes. In fact, India is a world leader when it comes to diabetes. And for me the only way to survive any Indian invitation is to eat slowly and say no a dozen of times.
Picture: The world's sweetest mango, fresh from a tree in Southern India!
In India I have to be careful what I wish for. Hospitality for Indian families means feeding the guest with all sorts of delicacies. As a guest one has to constantly praise the food presented. But there is a pitfall. One day I got carried away and praised the local mangos in vivid colors. That had the unwanted side-effect that wherever I went from then on, I was made to eat tons of mangos. But it did not stop there. Upon saying goodbye I was presented with ten chunky mangos to take on my train ride. Saying no was very difficult, believe me! It is not only mangos that haunt me. As I once absently mindedly said that I like the Indian chai tea a lot, I had to drink liters of tea every day. The same happened to me with the fizzy 7Up drink. I have learned to watch my mouth in India!
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