We ended up at a fishing village, far off the tourist track. There was a clamour for school pens from the children, which is a fairly standard request. Luckily, we had been warned, and so had plenty to give away. The children get so excited when you give them a pen, it's rather touching... Villages tend to be inhabited on the basis of religion. The village we went to is inhabited by Muslims:
The next village along is Hindu, and one a few miles down the coast is Christian. (The Christian communities pre-date Rome; they are known as Syrian Christians, and still hold services in original Aramaic). I did see some Roman Catholic churches as well. There is complete religious tolerance, and Keralans are very proud of this.
Rather interestingly, Kerala is a communist state. Maybe these are communal bricks?
In 1957, the state had the World's first democratically-elected Marxist government. They have been in power very frequently (but not continually) since then. Of the ruling communist party, about one-third are Hindu, one-third Christian, and one-third Muslim. They consider that their model could be put to good use elsewhere. They might have a point: Along with religious tolerance, Kerala has social issues very high on its agenda; it has the highest literacy rate in India, higher in fact than the UK (according to some sources). The state school system is extremely good, as is the healthcare and dental care.
Begging is illegal, but if you are caught you are taken away, given a good meal, new clothes if needed, and help on how to get a job...
I love it here!
No comments:
Post a Comment