C - Coir Rope maker As we ride on a scooter on the highway in the afternoon sun, the air is filled with the humidity and salinity of the ocean that comes from the adjoining sea shore that dots the Alleppey – Trivandrum highway in Kerala. After making enquiries at the local tea shop, we take a left turn following the back waters away from the seashore into a mud road which runs parallel to a cobbled waterway. The cobbled waterway is a far cry from the picturesque back waters which house the houseboats that adorn the picture postcards of kerala tourism. This backwater is too narrow for a houseboat. There are smaller boats anchored along the way that would in other times ferry probably a single person or two with space for some luggage on the water way. When the backwaters are navigable they are used to cross from one side to another. Currently they are out of use. The foliage growth in the backwaters is thick and slushy. We are now riding away fro...
Unusual Occupations Unusual occupations is about people that one meets every day but does not quite notice them. Unusual occupations is also about people that one might never get to meet but have heard of them or have used their services. Unusual Occupations features some historical occupations that are dying a natural death due to changes in economic and ecological conditions. Unusual occupations also features ingenious people who have adapted their unique skills to make a living in very different circumstances. Unusual occupations is about people away from home who are out there to make a living so that someone back home gets to eat two square meals a day. Unusual occupations is about all those skilled artisans struggling to make their ends meet working below minimum wages because they do not fathom any other way to make a living. Unusual occupations will feature some stubborn people who ...
Karuppu-than-enakku-pudhicha-colouru ( Black is my favourite colour*) It was never a woman thing. Atleast in the time and place that she grew up. She never imagined she could do it. Worst of all she never thought she would need to do it. It was a do or die situation. She had lost her job. Her job in the city which was well connected by public transport. With the meltdown of the financial markets she knew the jobs in the city were hard to come by. She applied to every job that came her way. She applied to everything far and near. It was when the interview calls came that she felt handicapped. Handicapped, by lack of her driving skills. That is when she resolved to learn driving. Driving lessons did not come cheap. She scraped through her savings to pay for the driving lessons in the hope that she would land a job somewhere. It was not just about the desperation to...
Whoa! That is a fantastic capture!
ReplyDelete