Kovalam experiences

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Animal Rescue Kerala
Our reason for wanting to do our bit of voluntary work was that there are a lot of animals in need in India. Obviously, there are also a lot of people in need, but the human species tends to interest us a lot less than animals. Additionally, the vast majority of cats and dogs are strays living off what they can find in gutters and rubbish or what they get from caring humans. The problem is that dogs are often treated badly in India; particularly females. Male dogs are held in higher esteem because they provide both protection as guard dogs and status; especially if they are large in size. Indians are renowned for manipulating dog breeds in order to produce very large dogs; at ARK we saw the largest ever Labrador.

ARK does a good job in sterilising stray, and domestic, dogs in the Kovalam area thereby preventing dogs from reproducing to the same extent as dogs do in Varkala. ARK also vaccinates dogs against rabies. As a result, Kovalam is probably the area in India that has the lowest number of rabies incidents per 1,000 dogs.

ARK relies on the founders' funding, donations, paid and unpaid workers. The unpaid workers, the volunteers, come in two shapes: long and short term volunteers. As short term volunteers it was our intention to contribute with whatever possible. As it turned out, it would be our task to walk the dogs. This doesn't sound of much. Can't everyone walk a dog? The problem was that the walk was a couple of miles on stoney paths and on forest tracks in mosquito infested territory all set in an undulating landscape in very humid conditions. After one round we were drenched in sweat and smelt like dog. The reason for the smell was that we had to pick up dogs, were leaped onto by dogs and touched the most friendly ones that, for some reason, tended to be the most smelly ones. All in all, we had underestimated the magnitude of the task, or we are simple too old for this kind of activity.

There were cats at ARK, in a very big cage, but they didn't seem to get so much attention. Being cat people, we could have spent days with the cats, but walking the dogs, and de-ticking them, seemed to be the most important task. In the end, we lasted three hours. When we came back to Alitalia we discussed the situation and agreed that we had bitten off more than we could chew, and decided not to return the next day.

One of the dogs at the shelter is Malou. She actually lives outside the shelter. She was picked up as a stray with some illness, and got treated at ARK. After successful treatment the staff returned her to the place where they had picked her up. A few hours later they found her outside the gate, and since then she has made the gate her new home. She gets fed by the kind staff and seems to enjoy life by the gate. Also, she seems to be a very nice dog; she'll growl at you when you approach her, but when you sit down next to her she'll lean against you and be very affectionate.
Kovalam beach
After this bombastic failure we were suddenly stuck in Kovalam for three days with nothing to do. At least the accommodation was good.

Kovalam is in three parts: Kovalam Junction and the surrounding areas, Samudra Beach and Lighthouse Beach. We had chosen to stay at Samudra Beach; not only is it cheaper, but it also is a lot less depressing than Lighthouse Beach. When people talk about Kovalam as “Costa del Kerala” it is Lighthouse Beach they are talking about. Samudra Beach, north of Lighthouse Beach, is a lot quieter; the clientele here is mostly middle aged Europeans who are well behaved compared to the youths at Lighthouse Beach.

In between Samudra Beach and Lighthouse Beach is Kovalam and Kovalam Junction. This is where the local Keralans live and spend their days (if they are not working at the beach resorts).

The photo below shows part of the two kilometre walk from Samudra Beach to Kovalam Junction.
The problem with Kovalam and its junction is that it isn't particularly interesting; it is quite small and there are only a few stalls, dope sellers (we were even offered “white powder”) and, most importantly, somewhere to eat.

Food
In Varkala, the food was thoroughly poor. In the beach areas of Kovalam it is worse. Additionally, the prices are extortionate. The only place at Samudra Beach where the food looked appealing was a newly opened pure vegetarian restaurant. Unfortunately, they were only serving North Indian food when we were there, but it wasn't at all bad. Of course, the prices were too high compared with normal Indian prices, but the fact that the food was edible was enough compensation.

The morning after, we went to the restaurant next to Alitalia for breakfast. Everyone around us was having toast and eggs, but we asked for “something Indian”. In South India that would normally mean something with rice, Iddly or Appam, with a Sambhar and/or bananas. Needless to say, all they had were three greasy parathas and a potato masala. It was basically terrible. And we were pretty shocked about having to pay Rs. 210 for it.

We decided that it was to be our last meal at the beach. From then on we walked two kilometres to Kovalam Junction to eat in Flora Family Restaurant.
It turned out to be a nice little place where it was possible to get South Indian food of acceptable quality at Indian prices. Absolutely recommended for anyone wanting cheap, South Indian food whilst in the Kovalam area.

The fishing villages
Though the depressing state of Kovalam wasn't conducive to doing much, we decided to visit a fishing village about 30 minutes walk north of Alitalia.

Fishing in Kerala is still done in a traditional manner: the fishing net is placed hundreds of metres from the shore in a half circle. Approximately 50 men then start to pull the net back to shore, holding on to either end of the half circle. After a couple of hours of pulling, the net will reach the beach. Throughout, a man is positioned at the end of the net, probably controlling some part of the process, and when the net gets to about 50 metres from the beach a couple more jump into the water and make a lot of noise whilst hitting the water. Eventually, the net and the very small catch are landed. It hardly seemed worth it considering that there may only have been a barrel's worth of small fish.
Half an hour later the boat that was used to set the netting arrives back.
Experiencing the fishing village wasn't an uplifting experience. The people didn't seem friendly, and the first people we got into contact with were three fat children, situated next to a stall, who, when they saw us, came running over, pointing towards the stall, shouting “chocolate, chocolate, chocolate”; i.e. they wanted us to buy them chocolate. The dominant member of the group, who also happened to be the fattest and most annoying one, definitely deserved a slap, but Mort restrained himself. After a couple of minutes of having “chocolate” shouted at us we, rather gob smacked, managed to fight our way through the gang, and continued our walk.

We went past quite a few grim looking people. Of course, life in these parts is hard. People make their money from fishing and making coir, the outside of the coconut nut, which is used for making mattresses, rope etc.
Unfortunately, we had to go back the way we came, i.e past Fatty and his gang. But before we got that far we experienced something odd. Three grown up men, probably around 30 years old, were lying next to a hut and one of them shouted “pen” as we went past. Now, this, or the variant “school pen”, is a common expression amongst school children when they pass a foreigner. For some reason they expect all foreigners to be carrying pens to hand out. But this was the first and, so far, the last time a grown up has uttered the word “pen” to us.

A few minutes later we came across Fatty as he was coming out of his family hut. If you have never had an urge to hit a child, or if you, like we do, believe it is wrong to hit children, your views would be seriously challenged if you were to come across this creature. His tactics had changed in the 30 minutes where we hadn't seen him. This time he came running towards us shouting “rupees, rupees, rupees”. We should have asked for a photo.

10 minutes later we saw a group of fishermen finishing off their working day. One of them approached us and told us about the poor catch and started begging for money. How exactly he thought we would be able to compensate 50 fishermen for a bad catch we don't know.

Trucks, touts, communists and water
One aspect of Kovalam that we haven't mentioned is the touts, but they are here in an even larger number than in Varkala. Their approach is similarly aggressive, unpleasant and unavoidable.

The trucks in Kerala, on the other hand, are very good on the eye. We have seen quite a few better than average looking ones, and there is a high proportion in Kovalam. The one in the photo below was delivering water to a hotel. In Kerala there is Government water and cheap water. Water delivery lorries and vans will fill the tanks in hotels and houses with water that is used for cleaning clothes and anything else where they don't have to use expensive Government water.
The Keralan Government for the next five years is communist. They won a landslide victory over the ruling right wing Government in 2006. One of the Government's first actions was to ban the production of Coca Cola, and similar products, in Kerala. The reason for the ban was that large amounts of pesticides had been found in these products. Some people have argued that the ban was unreasonable because the Government water also contains pesticides or other impurities. Of course, this “logic” is faulty. The crux of the matter is that when consumers' buy a labelled product the ingredients on the label should match the actual ingredients. No sane consumer would buy pesticides and drink it. Government water is a completely different product. The nature of water supply is that it is impossible to control it from source to destination. In other words it is very easy for Government water to be contaminated before it reaches they consumer. Unfortunately, the central law courts overruled the Kerala Government, and these soft drinks are again available in Kerala.
Finally, on a positive note, Mort made a little friend in Alitalia: a small female dog came to the terrace in front of the room and lay there for an hour or so until we had to leave. As with many Indian dogs, she was racist: whenever she saw an Indian she started growling.

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This entry was posted by pundabee, on Friday, December 08, 2006. You can leave your response.