Talking of Kerala....

    My sharp turn to the right or northwards, once I reached the southern tip of India, brings me to the home

Line up for the temple--religious high festival.

stretch of my journey--- to my  Mumbai starting point. Before I reach there, I believe that I am going to see a ‘different’ India, in terms of the country from a touristic, & hopefully dispassionate point of view. Already the communist state of Kerala is revealing itself to be different, more prosperous, cleaner and for an old guy, that has been gastronomically challenged these past 8 weeks, offering a cornucopia of food delights. Just today, upon arrival in Varkala (pop. 49,000), I have enjoyed three good meals---pure bliss. The reason of course, is that India’s Arabian Sea coast line is a tourist region---mostly European and a lot of Russians. My seat companion on the 2 hour bus ride from Trivandrum, explained that the activities of the Russian mafia are creating problems for the Kerala and Goa state governments with the reasons cited as being familiar to Western governments that also experience the same issues with this group of gypsy businessmen. Is there an irony here: Russians coming to settle in an area where there is a communist administration in power?

            

Before I go further, I should report that yesterday in Trivandrum I broke a general rule of mine that of not purchasing city tours. In fact, this half-day tour was my first since arriving in India. I saw areas of the fair city of Trivandrum that I would have otherwise missed through ignorance or logistical problems. My very pleasant young seat companion, Keith, an Indo-Australian, was a mine of interesting information--- and to be congratulated on just completing his five year medical degree. The highlight for was to be on the ocean beach

Boiling orange waves.....

of bright red sand, so red indeed, as to make the foam from the crashing rollers, a yellow /orange colour---combine all this with pink skies, as the sun dipped and it created great photographic opportunities.

              Kerala, after just three days, is also registering itself noteworthy for me as being the first Indian state that I have visited, to be clear of wandering bovines and packs of dogs—it just makes sense that with so much chaotic traffic filling narrow roads, that the two only mix with difficulty---besides it is pleasant to walk with less fear of placing ones sandled feet into a pile of poo!

          Much of the Kerala inter-city bus system is government owned and operated—natural in a communist administration, I suppose. I mention this, as my bus ride today originated at Trivandrum central bus station. Viewed from the front aspect, it is a massive

white, marble embellished monument to public transportation progress. Possibly 10-15 storeys high and likely to have been designed to contain a composite of offices, shops and restaurants etc. Upon entering  to access my departure platform, I was shocked to see the interior empty, gutted and derelict. My enquiries, to other passengers, pointed to a mixture of government incompetence and contactor corruption. Sad, but could one say, inevitable where central planning is involved?