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Kochi is SMILING
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An unprecedented flow of tourists to the State is making Kochi, its gateway, smile. PRIYADARSSHINI SHARMA joins in the celebration of the dollar flow.
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MUTHU IS a busy man these days. As a snake charmer, his business is booming with hordes of tourists lining up all day long for a close encounter of the creepy kind. With his slithering python placed on the shoulders of the travellers, and posing for photographs with them, Muthu pockets a cool Rs. 300 in an hour. Muthu is smiling.
So is Baladevan, who has been stitching suits for `the Europeans' for 40 years. Today, he is very busy indeed, stitching pants, skirts, scarves and parcel covers for the innumerable tourists who have descended on the city. He has to complete orders within four to 24 hours and there is so much to do, so much to make. But Baladevan is not complaining. Baladevan is smiling.
Marcos, the auto rickshaw driver, is smiling too. He, who ferries the globetrotters all around Kochi says, " Though I don't live in Kochi, I have come here during the season to make that extra buck," and reveals that last month his earnings touched a high of Rs. 6,000 and more. "Where we really make the money is in the tips the tourists give us for the service we render and of course there is no time to idle now." Marcos is smiling too.
And there is enough and plenty to smile about. Says a beaming Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Director, Kerala Tourism, "There is nearly 30 per cent growth in international arrivals in the State, which is a record growth in Asia." And the dollars inflow from this surge is filtering down to everyone and anyone catering to the phirangi guests. On an average, sale at the fishing nets are up... .up. The wayside eateries in and around the tourist sites are doing business worth nearly Rs.10,000 a day. Says Shyam Kumar of Idiom bookshop, that has two shops in Mattancherry and Fort Kochi, "Nearly 200 to 500 people visit our stores, which is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Besides we are open on Sundays. Sales are nearly to the tune of Rs 8,000 per day. Shyam is happy too.
But will it be lasting happiness, one suspects. "It is definitely sustainable provided we improve ourselves constantly." Says Mr. Sharma, optimistically. But Anoop Skaria of Kashi Art Café, whose distinctive coffee shop is packed all day long with foreigners, is cautious. Fearing we kill the cash cow he says, "Tourism is so fragile that one wrong move can blow it all up for us. Hence very stringent monitoring of the on- goings must be there. Illicit sex on houseboats goes on, the lowering standards of Ayurveda to cash on in the season is commonplace and the pathetic plight of the fishermen at the fishing nets is of great concern."
Joyson who pulls the fishing nets puts it succinctly in rustic charm: It is ironical, he feels, that the Minister for Tourism is also the Minister for Fisheries. Photographed more than 100 times a day by tourists as the picture-perfect Kerala brand, their livelihood from the Chinese nets is paltry. He fails to understand why the minister in charge of the two portfolios neglects one and promotes the other. "Not true," refutes the Minister K.V Thomas: "I cannot look at the lives of fishermen manning the nets in Fort Kochi in isolation. There are 10,000 fishing nets in Kerala. Of late, they have had some setbacks due to several reasons, but what can possibly be done about the few fishermen here is to consider their nets as a part of heritage zone."
Hotelier-honcho, Jose Dominic of CghEarth is upbeat too, "Yes it is true that the season has exceeded all expectations and looks that it may not peter out till mid-March. But what is really exciting about the season is that there is a very healthy mix of international and domestic tourists. Kochi on its own has turned more into a gateway to Kerala and hence the holidayer sees less reason to be in the city. There is a predominance of international traveller on the beaches, of the domestic traveller in the mountains and a mix of both on the lakes. Hence, Kochi hotels are losing out on guests. But, the city has done better than last year. One thing that puts people off from the city is plain garbage. If we focus on simple sanitation, the city may be more attractive."
Sajeev, front office manager, at Gokulam Park Inn, though happy with the "dollar season," feels that city hotels make more during conventions and conferences for which the city has become a favoured destination too.
With September 11 a fading memory and with, "No SARS, no Iraq War," as Marcos the auto man says, hotels, bazaar, eateries, shops, emporiums, homestays are raking in the dollars.
"I am very happy," says the Minister, sounding amply pleased at the great going of the season.
So cheers to all who made this happen to Kochi and the State, but cheers with what? "What on the earth will happen if a simple glass of wine is had with fish at a mid-level eatery? Till how long will beer be drunk in teacups in Kerala? It is time such regulative measures are re-looked at and the holiday spirit allowed in that glass of beer," says Mr. Dominic, knowing the potential of giving the guest, the foreign guest, the pravasi Bharatiya, a complete holiday. So cheers, for the time being to the spirit of the dollar season.
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