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Presenting Kerala at its best

Staff Reporter

HIGHLIGHTING KERALA: Actor Mohanlal launches Stark World Kerala in Kochi on Monday. — Photo: Vipinchandran

KOCHI: One who has checked out almost all splendid locales in Kerala, Mohanlal, film star, was the apt person to release a coffee table-cum-destination book on the State.

The 816-page book, Stark World Kerala, packs 1,000 features and 1,300 photographs, giving a thorough look of Kerala's culture, arts, people, festivals, geography, cuisine and interesting places. The tome sells for Rs.850.

Speaking at the launch here on Monday, Mohanlal said Kerala was a land of mysteries, a place which had been attracting people from far-off lands.

"I have travelled the length and breadth of the State, including many remote places. The change in culture and cuisine every few kilometres adds to Kerala's charm. The newly released book will come in handy for people who are yet to reach out to the enchanting places in the State."

Among the writers are Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General of the U.N., now running for the post of U.N. Secretary-General; film stars Mammootty and Meera Jasmine (who recalls her childhood in Kuttanad); M.T. Vasudevan Nair, writer; G. Sankar, architect; Kochouseph Chittilapilly, businessman; T. Balakrishnan, who made his mark as Secretary, Kerala Tourism; Anita Pratap, journalist; and Louba Schild, chairperson of Vijnana Kala Vedi, Aranmula.

Mohanlal has written about his enduring love for Malayali food and the happiness it brings.

More on that can be expected in My Culinary Journey, a book on which he is starting work in October. "It will be an experience of the sheer variety of ethnic food that appealed to my taste buds during shooting stints and tours, from Nagarcoil to Kasaragod," the actor said.

However, the State did have some drawbacks, he said.

"Though the wide network of inland waterways offers tremendous potential for tourism and transportation of people and goods, little has been done to develop them. Tremendous pollution has been caused by tourism and related activities on the Alappuzha backwaters. Many rivers and alluring lands are fast disappearing from Kerala. It is high time something was done to preserve Kerala in all its charm."

P.N. Shanavas, of the publisher Stark World Publishing Ltd., said that many tourism destinations in the country were not well presented.

"Information on the Internet is not always reliable. Thus cropped up the idea for the book."

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