Far away from the maddening crowd of Mumbai lies a land that moves at its own pace. A land that is second home to me and many like me. In spite of being bred in the busy city of Mumbai, I share a special bond with God's Own Country; the reasons being many. Though I was born in Kerala, a major stretch of my life was spent amidst the hustle and bustle of Mumbai. Kerala was reduced to nothing, but a holiday home, or better still a home away home.
Thanks to a large flock of uncles, aunts and cousins our (me and my little brother) trips to Kerala were restricted to social visits, pleasantry exchanges and lots of tea and palaharam. It was only at a later stage of our lives that we started taking these trips all by ourselves. And what it meant was less of polite conversations and more of gallivanting.
It was at this time that we realised that there was something that was going through a slow change in this land that boasted of a large number of naalukettus and ponds. The one that was closest to us and was facing neglect, was the temple pond of Chettarikkara in Charummoodu. It looked like modernisation was not doing much to revive the pond. It had become completely defunct. Sad!!!
Sadder was the fact that this was the plight of most of the ponds in Kerala, a state that could easily boast of 1000 ponds, if not more. Once upon a time an irreplaceable part of the ecosystem of Kerala, today these ponds stare at us, questioning their abandonment.
This picture was taken in Shoranur, part of Palakkad District in northern Kerala.
Thanks to a large flock of uncles, aunts and cousins our (me and my little brother) trips to Kerala were restricted to social visits, pleasantry exchanges and lots of tea and palaharam. It was only at a later stage of our lives that we started taking these trips all by ourselves. And what it meant was less of polite conversations and more of gallivanting.
It was at this time that we realised that there was something that was going through a slow change in this land that boasted of a large number of naalukettus and ponds. The one that was closest to us and was facing neglect, was the temple pond of Chettarikkara in Charummoodu. It looked like modernisation was not doing much to revive the pond. It had become completely defunct. Sad!!!
Sadder was the fact that this was the plight of most of the ponds in Kerala, a state that could easily boast of 1000 ponds, if not more. Once upon a time an irreplaceable part of the ecosystem of Kerala, today these ponds stare at us, questioning their abandonment.
This picture was taken in Shoranur, part of Palakkad District in northern Kerala.
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