World | India
Travel clubs open new vistas for Kerala villagers
Theirs is no flight of fancy and, if all goes well, a group of villagers from Kerala will get to have their first plane journey when they embark on a pleasure trip to the nation's capital next year.
- IANS
- Published: 23:13 December 25, 2007
Kayanna, Kerala: Theirs is no flight of fancy and, if all goes well, a group of villagers from Kerala will get to have their first plane journey when they embark on a pleasure trip to the nation's capital next year.
The villagers from Kayanna, 45km from Kozhikode, just about make do, earning between Rs3,000-4,000 (Dh279-372) per month. They are, however, quietly confident about meeting their expenses, thanks to travel clubs.
Kayanna and the adjacent Koorachundu village are home to more than a dozen travel clubs and tours such as the one to New Delhi are an indispensable biennial event in these villages.
"The last time we planned to fly to Delhi, the trip did not materialise because the plan was not approved by the majority of club members. Next year, too, we will propose a trip to New Delhi by plane. If members approve the plan, we will have no problem in organising the trip," said A.K. Sajeevan, secretary of the Phoenix Family Club at Karikandanpara, a small hamlet near Kayanna.
Multiple memberships
Sajeevan has been the secretary of the club for the last 10 years. The hamlet itself has around four tour clubs and some of the villagers are members of more than one club.
Funded by subscriptions and memberships, the travel clubs are open to all.
The clubs have an ingenious way of raising funds. Each club has around 45-50 members - enough to hire a bus for a trip. The members pay a monthly subscription of 100 rupees for two years.
The corpus raised is invested in some ventures and the profit is used for organising tours. After the trip, members get back their subscription amount.
"Apart from investing the money in small businesses, we also extend loans to club members at a nominal interest rate," said C.K. Narayanan, president of Udaya Club. Narayanan is a construction worker.
"I have been an active member of various tour clubs for the last 22 years and went for about 10 tours. I don't know who started the first club here. These clubs were there when I was a child," said E.J. Shaju, a middle-aged farmer, a member of the Idea Club.
"It is during the general body meetings of clubs that travel plans are finalised," says Sajeevan. "The destination and tour plan will be decided by vote. All the members have to abide by the majority decision."
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