Kerala – Gods Own Country – Nature at its Best

When somebody mentions the word kerala, what immediately comes to mind is beauty. That is what you will find in kerala, nature’s beauty at its resplendent best. Kerala is situated on the southwestern tip of peninsular India, bordering the Arabian Sea on the west and the state of Tamil Nadu in the east. Listed among the top ten tourist destinations of the word, kerala draws millions of tourists, both domestic and foreign every year. Tourism is one of the main sources of revenue for the state. Kerala scores high among the other states in the union of India for the quality of life among the people here. Boasting of a one hundred percent literacy rate, the highest among all the states in India, a very low infant mortality rate, high life expectancy and a qualitative standard of life second only to the state of Punjab are the plus points of this beautiful state. A very high rate of suicides, divorces, road accidents and hartals or strikes as one might call it does take some of the sheen away from Kerala’s envious positives.

The language spoken by the people is Malayalam, a language with Aryo-Dravidian origins, a combination of Aryan Sanskrit and Dravidian Tamil and the people themselves are of a mixed stock. Other than Malayalam on can get by speaking English, Hindi or Tamil as most of the locals have a smattering understanding of theses languages, even if they aren’t fluent with them. The two predominant races of India, Aryan and Dravidian, have intermingled over the years in kerala and you can find an assimilation of the cultures of both races here. The climate is tropical with very heavy rainfall in the southwest monsoon season. This combination of blazing hot and humid weather in the summer and very temporal climate in the winter coupled with a very heavy monsoon season, gives kerala an all round green vegetation.

The state of Kerala is geographically a plateau, separated from the rest of India by the Western Ghats mountain ranges. This unique separation has given the state of kerala a culture quite distinct from the rest of India. Demographically, the women outnumber men here and women enjoy high social status because of the matrilineal system practiced here. All three major religions namely Hinduism, Christianity and Islam have an almost equal following with a slight majority being with the Hindus number wise. Though all the religions are spread throughout kerala, there has been harmony and peaceful co-existence among the religions throughout the centuries. Hindus themselves are further divided into sub sects or castes, like the namboodris, nairs and ezhavas to name a few. The main industries found are mostly export oriented with rubber, spices, tea and coffee topping the list. The beauty of the state is simply spell bounding, with the state covered by a plush green top year round, a very long coastline abundant with lush coconut and palm trees, coffee and tea plantations in the cooler climes of the high ranges and a very unique feature of kerala alone, its backwaters. All these factors make kerala, a favorite destination. Well connected by air, road and rail the state is visitable all year round.

The state boasts of three international airports at Trivandrum, Kochi and Kozhikode. Some of the tourist places of interest are its capital Trivandrum, Kovalam beach, Munnar, Thekkady, Periyar wild life sanctuary, Wynad and the backwaters of Alleppey and Kumarakom. The state is abounding with hotels, ranging from budget to seven star and also houseboat accommodations. Apart from nature tourism, one can also find medical tourism prevalent here with a lot of ayurvedic resorts and hospitals offering tourist packages. There are also a lot of places of historical and archeological importance to visit. The state is also home to kalaripayattu, a martial art form considered to be the predecessor of karate and kung fu. All these combinations make kerala, a must see place for an ardent traveler. If only kerala can do away with the frequent political agitations this magnificent state can be truly called as what the tourism authorities project it as “Gods Own Country”.