What Kerala can teach the rest of India

For someone who has spent a large chunk of his childhood in Tamil Nadu, I often wondered why we had never visited our neighbouring state Kerala. I had asked my parents about it and the answer I got was that we were meant to go home during school holidays, which in my case is West Bengal.

Nearly half a century later, I finally had the chance to visit ‘God’s Own Country’ and soon discovered why the moniker sits pretty.

Known for its breathtaking natural beauty all around the state – from Kochi, Munnar, Kumarakom to Kovalam, the places I travelled to – what really stood out for me was not the beautiful cobblestone streets and cafes, the mountains and the tea estates, the stunning backwaters or the pristine beaches; it was something else entirely.

Wherever I went, I found the streets clean with no plastic bottles or empty chips packets lying around as is the norm in most other places I have been to. There were huge bottle-shaped waste baskets where people diligently threw their trash and I saw municipality cleaners quietly going about their business of keeping the streets spotless.

Traffic was another surprise. Yes, there are snarls in big cities like Trivandrum, but again, what amazed me was the patience of motorists to let other vehicles go first at junctions that did not have signals or a traffic constable. But the most refreshing part? No one honked unnecessarily.

Coming from a city like Kolkata, I found this quite incredible. In the ‘City of Joy’, honking is the favourite pastime of motorists, and I must admit I too have been guilty of this on a few occasions. Maybe, the Kerala trip will help me develop more patience on the roads.

In the streets of Kolkata, beggars and vagabonds are aplenty. I did not find one in Kerala. While it’s true that the people in Kerala are better off financially than many other states in India – I did not see a single rundown house on my trip – a 98 per cent literacy rate also goes a long way in how people decide to live their lives.

Another thing I noticed was a distinct pride in their tradition – people wearing the traditional ‘mundu’ at restaurants and other social gatherings, offering food on a banana leaf – which reminded me of the West Bengal of old when eating on a banana leaf and wearing the traditional ‘dhuti-panjabi’ was something we prided ourselves in.

I finally realised that while Malayalis may have immense patience on the roads, they don’t have so much when it comes to voting. The LDF-UDF five-year window to perform has ensured that the government in power will have to deliver, or else they are replaced.

I guess, having just two parties in charge for the past 50 years has taken its toll on West Bengal.