Coimbatore: Manchester of South India

Now its my fourth visit to this city known as "the Manchester of South India". And since it is Manchester of South India so I also came here for Industrial visit all four times as my company have it manufacturing and packaging facility in this city. First thing that strike anybody about the city is the cleanliness. I was surprised to see that we have a city as clean as this in India. Even if you go to poor areas (Jhopad Patti), there you will find clean streets and organised housing. You will not find anything strewn on the streets. I had to think twice before throwing and empty pouch of candies. In any other city you can easily drop it on the road from the car but here if you want to do that you will feel ashamed on yourself so I asked my driver to take the car to sideway so that I can throw it. Such is the impact of surroundings on human behavior.

In my first visit I was accompanied by a team from my company, my boss (Suresh Menon) was also there and he has seen both north as well as south India. He told me on the visit back from the factory that you will not find even a single dented car in this city and my God!!!!!! how correct he was I have not seen a dented car here. May be it is something in the style of the people of this city.

This city has got nine lakes as well which I am sure might have been source of water in their prime days but now they are reduced to just the wetlands. I have seen some of these from taxi while going to office but they are no longer beautiful, however they can be made by spending small amounts of money cleaning them.

People and Culture
There are people from all part of country, in fact I believe it will be most diversified city in TN, even more than Chennai, you happen to see all kind of faces in the market and restaurants. Markets are open bit late in night. Although this city just borders Kerala and a place called VeerKeralam is just outside the city but the culture is completely different. I came here after the stay in Kerala where shops are closed before 9 pm you will not get food after 10 but Coimbatore happened to be sweet surprise. I think in future it might open the gates of TN for broader interaction with rest of the country.

All those stories of people hating Hindi are absurd as I have seen people are curious, they want to learn the things and they want to know more about the world. Its good that they respect their culture and heritage but its the politicians who have played on the psyche of fear. They made people believe that outsiders will come and take over them and dominated them. My personal observation is that they have much more enhanced self respect than many other parts of the country and can not be overwhelmed just like that.

However everything is not rosy. there are some people who can cheat you but they are everywhere in all parts of country and a city or place should not be judged by these people. One similar incidence happened with me as well. I missed my bus to Kochin on one of my visits and next one was after four hours so I went to see movie in nearby Ganga theater. Since it was Rajnikant's super-hit movie "Endhiran (the robot)" and that too in first week. So I got front row corner seat costing Rs 10 (yes!!!!! in south India you can still watch a movie in Rs 10), but the person at ticket window cut Rs 40 and when I asked him he said something in Tamil but did not return the money. One person who knew English said one or two sentences in my favour but after that he also became silent after man at window said something to him in Tamil. Such thing happen all over the world thats as everybody is not good but best thing is that even in first week of Rajani movie there was no black and thats the proof of the level of honesty of people. This honesty and simplicity of the people is what I like the most about south Indians in general.

Climate
By now I ahve visited this city in all major climatic seasons. Its neither cold nor hot. In summers temperature goes up slightly touching 40 deg Celsius while in winters it drops to around 15 sometimes otherwise mostly it remains between 25 to 35 degrees. Hence it is one of the pleasant climates. If you want to enjoy winter then you can go to nearby hill station of Ooty. Overall it has got the potential of being one of the best Indian city. I personally I believe it can be alternate development hub for the state after Chennai (which is already crowded and people tell me that Chennai has got the worst climate of all major coastal cities.

My Lesson Learnt
Like all south Indian cities it also has got a huge temple. Actually south India preserved most of what was Indian culture (Please do not ask me to explain it as it will take several books to attempt that and even then you will be unable to understand), in north most of the cultural institutions were destroyed by invaders. Overall it is one beautiful clean (inspite of absence of proper underground drainage system) and peaceful city. There is problem of drinking water but I believe that can be taken care of if water harvesting and reuse is planned properly as the area get sufficient precipitation. This city is one more of eye opener in my south Indian sojourn. My respect for my country has increased after visiting this city. One lesson that I have learnt in particular is that if you keep you city and neighbourhood clean others will also think twice before spreading the dirt and if you make everything dirty [like you find paan (beetal leaf) peek in many north Indian cities] then others will only add to dirt.

Kerala: Gods' Own Country

Kerala is the one of the most beautiful state in India in terms of greenery as far as I have seen. It is characterized by the good beaches, thick cover of coconut trees on the coastal areas and as you start moving inwards in the mainland, you find that slowly coconut trees are replaced by rubber plantations, as you move further inland flat ground is replaced by rising hills of western ghats and rubber plantations are replaced by tea plantations.

 Similarly climate also has its variance across this land. In the coastal areas climate is always humid, hotter in summer and hot in winter (As I come from north I feel even winters are hot in these parts). When we start moving towards western ghats climate again becomes cooler and more pleasant. Here you can see both the climate in a single day from hot and humid coastal and tropical climate to cool and pleasant climate of hills while travelling for your regular visits.

When I came to Kerala in the middle of 2009 for some personal assignments I stayed here for one month and I instantly fell in love with Kerala. I have never seen such breathtaking greenery for such a long and continuous stretch. I felt closest to nature here, although before that I have been to Himalayas (Kashmir and Devbhoomi Uttrakhand). My company gave me a room in guest house which was facing the sea and was appropriately known as "Bayview", from there living at 7th floor I could see the nearby islands. Next experience was even more fascinating, just imagine I used to go to company office in boat, and I felt wow!!!!!!!! what the fun. After being there for some time I thought Kochin (the city where I was living) could be called Venice of east appropriately and there is a lot of potential for the waterways which can get the city rid of much of its traffic. Just imagine if I go to office on Willingdon Island from Bayview (Company guest house in Fort Kochi Island, where I was staying) in car then it will take me 30-45 minutes and a lot of traffic, noise and pollution. However at the same time if you want to go in boat it will cost u Rs 2 and one km morning and evening walk (if you don't want to walk you can hire auto) and total of less than 30 minutes. May be this boat service is subsidized but if is then it is subsidized for the good. Moreover I do not think that it is heavily subsidized because lot many people travel by it and revenues must be meeting at least the operating costs. Its timings are perfect. I have seen flights, trains, buses and all other means of transportations getting late but this one is one which is always on time that to perfection of seconds forget minutes. And after this I thought that communists have done some wonders in Kerala or may be Keralites because of their high education rates are better organized and more efficient.

By now I have been to only one major city thats Kochin and plantations and estates. Everything is fantastic and beautiful in its own way over here.

There are some problem regarding the labours and unionization. But may be these problems are the part of path of progress. people are paying higher because they can afford to otherwise they would not do so. Moreover these are more of system problems which I believe will be solved by the people as it is most literate state. Politically and socially as well its very different from rest of the country, different means advance here. 

One day I was waiting for somebody at the corner shop near a hotel for somebody. Owner of cornershop happened to be from north India. he said it is a place where you will find even MPs and MLAs walking the streets amongst common men and nobody is bothered. While in North (I do not know much in this regard about other south Indian states) you will find even "chutbhaiyya neta" (small time petty politician) or local thug walking with group of sycophants. 

Life here is really peaceful. I am now working here with the same company and by the time of writing this blog I have already spent some 4 months in this state. You will find more people in the street at 5 AM in the morning than 9 PM. Even in cities people sleep early and they wake up early and go for morning walk.

There are pious people believe in their traditions and values. In fact this feeling for traditional values is far strong in southern half of country than northern half. They follow what they preach. There is no veil system (Apart from Muslims). Position of women is far better than north (where women were reduced to the status of women in Arabian countries) . Here in actual traditions of India women are respected and given their rights in fact I am told in tribal areas (which are not tribal in these of tribal of Chattisgarh, these are well connected) there are still matriarchal societies.

There is religious harmony amongst the people. In fact if you ask first name of anybody you will not find if he/she is Hindu or Christian (In case of Muslims its different). Everybody goes to Church whenever they feel like. But sad fact is that even here Muslims have ghettoized themselves to some extent. Because of spread of education many of them are educated here and some are traditionally well to do. But large part of them is still not part of the society as should be. But in the minds of public there is no animosity towards each other. 

Apart from labour problems everything is just fine in this state. I hope this problem is also part of economic transition phase and will be sorted out when it become necessary. Apart from plantation all labour intensive industries are moving out. IT industry is making inroads. In fact in last year growth of IT exports from Kerala was highest of viz-a-viz other regions. Hence this beautiful state is moving further higher up in economic ladder. It is beautiful, peaceful and progressive.