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Red flags and egg biriyani

Discovery trail The Swiss media students in discussion friends in Kochi

For Ida Olovsson and Linda Eriksson, perhaps, the best part of their three-year long media studies culminated in a trip to India, Kerala, to be precise! They were not mere tourists on a pleasure hunt but were here for a month to meet and interact with the working class in an attempt to write a dissertation that formed part of their Bachelor of Journalism course at University College of Sodertom in Stockholm. Apart from the fact that they were classmates, both Ida and Linda had one thing in common – both are smitten by the travel bug.

“As we proposed the idea of touring Kerala, our teachers turned supportive and encouraged us to go ahead with the project. During our visit to Munnar we were mainly interested in talking to the plantation workers and employers.

We focused only on Kerala because it’s interesting to see how a state with high social welfare measures takes the step towards economic growth,” Linda prudently places her observations. In Kerala, not everything was fine for Ida and Linda. Their laptop broke once. Luckily that did not affect their travel and study as they had made several backup programmes. “There were occasions when we felt morose, mostly when things were not working and thoughts of our dear ones back home came gushing,” adds Ida with a broad smile. At Thiruvananthapuram, Ida and Linda extensively interviewed people working at the Technopark. The greatest thing that struck them was the kind of high-voltage political activity on the streets of Kerala. “One could see red flags almost everywhere. It seems people in this part of the world are too engrossed in politics which is quite an unlikely sight in Sweden,” reveals Linda. The tourists who were on a quest had prepared a questionnaire to collect a feedback from people whom they met, of which one went like this: “What is your perception of the trade unions in Kerala?” And yet another imaginary one said, “If you looked into a crystal ball and saw the future of Kerala, what would you see?”

On May Day, Linda Eriksson was out on the streets in Thiruvananthapuram and landed up in a ground behind the secretariat where May Day celebrations were on. Finding a new ‘pretty’ face, the women folk around took Linda, almost forcefully, to the dais and she was made the guest of the day. She had to undertake prize distribution (parcels, according to her terminology..!)

The ladies have plans to sell the stories from Kerala to trade union journals in Sweden. And before leaving the two made notes of a number of popular recipes, from savouring the memories of thali meals, masala dosa and egg biriyani!

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