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Back to Mother Earth

Getting out into the green environs, a whiff of fresh air and living like a rustic for a change is exactly what farm tourism is all about

EARTHY Tourists getting down to a real rustic experience at Mala as part of a farm tourism schedule to get a feel of life in rural Kerala

Farm tourism is the latest way to woo the western tourist.

The `organic' tag is intertwined with this, getting more mileage from well-heeled tourists who are now used to eating organic food. Says Francis Paul, who is into farm tourism in Mala, "We have been doing it for the last four years and we can proudly say that we are also practising responsible tourism in different ways. I am not the only one who benefits, but so many people in my village do. There is a 28-member group coming from a university in France and they will stay here for two days, till March 24," he says.

Small groups from different parts of the world have been visiting the village, Parappuram, in Mala, to experience life in natural surroundings. They are brought to the rural area in hired buses and vans. "So, the driver, cleaner benefit," Paul reasons. They are put up in local homes, for a fee. The food is cooked in a single place and a huge `shamiana' is put up, where they are welcomed and served food too. It is local food, not exotic.

These foreigners, who have clubbed their university project with a holiday, look forward to working in the paddy field themselves. "I have taken a paddy field on lease for a few days, for Rs. 500, just to give the tourists this experience. They jump into the mud. No boots, no gloves. There are a few women to teach them to plant rice saplings, old world ploughs with oxen, men with hoes to straighten up the fields, and an irrigation wheel," Paul says. The dress code is strict, this year, he adds: Only long Bermudas and long shirts.

Last year, there were problems in the village when, as the temperature rose they did not quite stick to the dress code. They work all morning and in the evening, they are treated to cultural programmes like Parayanthullal and Margamkali by village artistes. "That is cultural tourism," Paul quips.

After the effort, what happens to the paddy field and the rice saplings planted? "They wither away because it is not the season for planting," Paul explains. Around 65 people benefit in the village when one group comes, he claims.

Different experience

Responsible tourism, as the West sees it, is not harming ecology, not doing anything to offend the sensibilities and culture of the land as well as giving the tourist a taste of the land. Continental cuisine is okay sometimes but what the tourist wants is a different experience to take back home.

Kerala is rising to the occasion with a lot of professional agencies giving the tourist an opportunity to commune with nature and live as one among the locals, far from the madding crowds.

PREMA MANMADHAN

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