{"id":1866,"date":"2024-12-25T09:55:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-25T09:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/?p=1866"},"modified":"2025-01-03T06:45:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T06:45:35","slug":"kerala-travelogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/travel\/kerala-travelogue\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerala Travelogue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spice jet recently started a direct flight from Pune to Kochi \u2013 which is what tempted to make a short trip to say hi to Manoj Thomas, who was holidaying in Kottayam, 100 km south of Kochi. Nowadays it is fun to use the Compass google app \u2013 it works in the plane! We started by flying over Khadakvasla dam, which supplies drinking water to Pune and continued South East \u2013 flying mostly along the coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My cycling friends had done a trip from Goa to Kochi a few years ago \u2013 and the impression they gave me was about Kerala being one big un-ending village, with houses continuing on both sides of the roads endlessly. So was surprised to actually see huge coconut groves, as the aircraft swooped over their tops and a river to land at Kochi\u2019s new airport, which is about 30 km away from the main city. The aerial view of Kerala made it look very much like a bigger Goa. Green \u2013 beautiful. It rains 10 months a year, all months, except Jan and Feb. I don\u2019t know if Kerala schools give summer vacations during those months!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We skipped Kochi city and went straight down MC Road. MC Stands for Main Central and it is the road that links Kochi to Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala. We continued down the road till Koothakulam, after which started a dizzying series of village roads, which only the seasoned driver of Manoj\u2019s Alto, also called Manoj, could have known about. The terrain is hilly \u2013 we seemed to be traveling a combo of left\/right and up\/down at any time.  The roads are narrow \u2013 and Manoj\u2019s driving skills would have made him a serious contender in the Himalayan car rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why do you think Kochi buses have rear windshields half way down the body?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narrow winding roads meant that the roads were devoid of speed breakers, footpaths, pedestrians, cyclists and roadside parked vehicles. Manoj\u2019s hypothesis was that it has been a long standing tradition to have good roads, starting from the days of the Travancore kings. It continues till date \u2013 probably because people keep governments on their toes \u2013 by alternating the Congress and Communists every 5 years in State elections. Some form of Rightism extends even when the Left rules the state – to pedestrians. The only way for a pedestrian to survive the narrow high traffic Kerala road is by walking on the wrong side \u2013 so that you can see oncoming traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To my mind what makes Kerala unique is not so much its beauty, as its culture. Kerala people are followers of 3 religions \u2013 the Hindus, the Christians dominating districts like Kottayam and Islam, which is popular in the Northern districts. Christianity traces its roots to St. Thomas, one of Jesus\u2019 apostles who landed up 2000 years ago. He is said to have converted 7 Brahmins to start the religion in India! He later went on to Chennai, where he is believed to have been martyred in Mylapore. Amongst the Syrian Christians in Kerala, the tradition is that the youngest son gets the property! Interestingly, among the Malyalee Hindus it is the daughter who inherits property from her mother. The husband moves in to his wife\u2019s house after marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Note the script below the photos  \u2013 Syrian!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We visited a Syrian Catholic church of the Malankara diocese, which was about 500 years old. It was established by the Portuguese traders, with the benevolence of the local Rajah. The temple architecture is an amalgamation of the Hindu, Isllamic and Buddhist styles. You have Minars, dragons and deep sthambs in the church. The roof is a lovely one made entirely of wood, with walls which are load bearing. The external walls of the church are also quite old, with a construction which uses the porous Konkan brick. Inside there was a baptism table \u2013 which was made from a single piece of granite. Also there were paintings of the bishops of the last 200 years \u2013 all with long flowing beards, and with one exception \u2013 all white beards. Interestingly, the last 5-6 bishops were also spectacled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We went on to another church in the neighbourhood, which was newer \u2013 about 200 years old. Was perched atop a hill, so had a panoramic view \u2013 and at one spot a refreshing breeze. This one had tombs also inside \u2013 right next to the church wall. We completed the religious journey by visiting the Juma masjid \u2013 the Friday Mosque. Unlike the church we did not find any people around \u2013 so we were not sure whether to enter or not. Hence the visit was limited to the outside. The mosque was built in traditional Kerala construction style \u2013 and had a lot of taps around \u2013 I guess to wash the feet of the praying fraternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Juma Masjid<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerala is the fabled land of gold. With the Padmanabh temple treasure running into billions of dollars, the current fascination with gold seems to be deeply rooted. The village headquarters of Karukachal has 19 jeweller shops! Land prices in the villages in Kerala run at crores per acre. The high price culture is also found in retail: All prices are fixed. The North Indian bargaining boffin is going to be in trouble here. There are a few pleasant suprises though. In the middle of the Gulf money lavish palaces, you end up finding a few low cost no steel all brick\u2013 Laurie Baker \u2013 type of house. But inside the house you will still subscribe to Malayalam Manorama, with every other ad from an Alukka\u2019s trying to sell gold to you. And in the classifieds, if next to the usual obituaries, you find a husband-wife photo, then don\u2019t worry \u2013 they did not expire in an accident together. It is just the rich Mallu\u2019s way of celebrating marriage anniversaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another paradox to this wealth, is the retail institution \u2013 which is peculiar to Kerala \u2013 Margin Free \u2013 where everything is below MRP. Here is the bill analysis: Savings of Rs. 17.74 on a bill of Rs. 240.76, a percentage which is a shade less than 8 per cent. Not bad \u2013 considering the margins in retail are usually around 20 per cent. In order to make you feel that the margins are actually more, the bill first lists out what is called the U. Rate, which looks amazingly less \u2013 24.5 is the U Rate for a Sprite bottle with a MRP of 30.00. Then surrepritiously the tax column appears \u2013 adding 4.9 to the U-rate \u2013 to give you a saving of only 0.55 on the MRP! We checked into one of the stores to check it out. Very well stocked and in appearance, no different from the Kirana stores of the \u2018bhais\u2019 \u2013 as the Mallus call anyone hailing from the North of Karnataka. They have good checks and controls, where like in a typical Kirana shop items are double checked before dispatch. There are no bar codes, so data entry is manual. For the math though, the shop assistants still rely on the computer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karukachal village is in Changnassery taluka, 100 km from Kochi and 150 from Trivandrum. It is less than 100 km away from most of the Kerala tourist spots: Sabarimala, Tekdi, Munnar. Houses in a Kerala village are never numbered. They have the same surname as the people who live in it \u2013 or maybe vice versa. The love for the surname is also extended lovingly by the Keralite to the buses and trucks that he runs in – Pallikkaparampil for example. Unfortunately the metro Keralite is forgetting his roots by abbreviating the surname out of his name L<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unlike North Indian villages, where the houses are clustered in a central area between fields, the Keralite loves to live on his farm. So does Manoj, with his dad\u2019s handsome Pink House proudly located on the edge of a 1 acre garden. Went on a conducted tour with Manoj\u2019s dad and literally found variety\u00a0 which would put an Amazon forest to shame: Cardamom, Cocoa, Pepper, Pineapple, Rubber, Teak, Mahogany, Rubber, Joyphal. It wasn\u2019t always this way. When Manoj\u2019s dad shifted back to the village from Bhopal in 1993, the entire acre was full of rubber trees. But with rubber tapping being a labor intensive business, and the literate worker in Kerala loath to work on the fields, he decided to cut down the rubber and replace it with teak. The returns will only come 50 years later \u2013 but talk about vision.. Later on he realized that Mahogany is a better RoI crop \u2013 with returns coming in a relatively small 25 years, so Mahogany also got planted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The remaining plants are primarily kept for educational purposes \u2013 so that the grandchildren know what is what. The pineapples unfortunately are eaten mostly by the rats and the crows. Then there is this interesting allspice plant \u2013 a hybrid with a very tangy leaf. This has been promoted by Kerala government \u2013 and is a coveted leaf by the gourmet. Also there is the joyphal \u2013 a great fruit with a delicate net for seasoning, cover for chutney, and a seed which is a cure for indigestion. Interestingly, Joyophul trees have gender \u2013 the males have flowers but no fruit. But the males are required for fertilizing the female tree flowers..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Black Scorpion \u2013 being recycled by ants!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerala\u2019s other agricultural claim to fame, apart from spices, is rubber. Rubber trees are harvested every alternate day by stripping a line along the bark \u2013 and funelling the sap into a coconut shell. The cuts are done around 7-8 in the morning and previous day\u2019s sap \u2013 which by now has solidified is collected when the cuts are being made. There has been an influx of Orissa and Bengal labor into Kerala to replace the educated Keralite, who is loath to indulge too much into manual work. Given the propensity of rain, there is also a protective plastic shield placed above the shell in order to prevent rain water mixing with the sap.  Trees begin to yield after at around 7 years of age and continue to produce sap till the ripe old age of 30. After which they end up as packaging wood. One of the bigger users of rubber in Kottayam is Paragon footwear, which primarily produces rubber chappals \u2013 its hoardings along MC Road claim that it sells more than 10 crore pairs a year! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On my morning walk, I was reminded of the bread sellers of Panaji, who cycle around honking their old autorickshaw type bulb horns, selling\u2018pavs\u2019. The difference in Kerala was that \u2013 one they use a motorcycle \u2013 albeit a bulb horn fitted one \u2013 and two that they sell sea fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerala has been a wonderful gastronomic experience. Starting from the first day at Saravana Bhavan, a local not the Chennai chain, where I sampled Kerala Paratha and ending with the awesome Onam type dinner \u2013 with almost 16 courses \u2013 at Manoj\u2019s house in the evening. On day 2 it was lunch in Kottayam town \u2013 at the Anand Restaurant \u2013 with par-boiled rice and lovely payassam. In the evening we sampled more authentic Kerala paratha with black chick peas and Set Dosas with stew from the streetcarts of Karukachal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One interesting dietary ingredient in Kerala is the tapioca \u2013 the humble root from which the \u2018fasting\u2019 delight \u2013 the sabudana is made. Manoj tells me that in the past, it was not rice, but tapioca, which was the staple food in Kerala. For Breakfast, mashed tapioca with curd chutney. We also had iddiappam and stew and boiled plantain. Desserts ranged from simple heavenly pineapple to Jackfruit halwa to rice balls stuffed with jackfruit. The Dessert feast still continues thanks to a shopping spree at a Karukachal bakery \u2013 where I stocked on the jaggery-banana Kerala Halwa, sweet banana chips, jaggery coated jackfruit chips etc. Diabetes, here I come!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tapioca Plants – the roots are pure carbohydrates!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part II \u2013 Insights from Manoj<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An interesting conversation I had with Bini, Manoj\u2019s better half, or on second thoughts, considering her extras-slim proportions \u2013 better one-third,  was about culture. Bini and Manoj were neighbours in Bhopal, where they grew up. Both set of parents worked with BHEL there. They spoke with parents in Malyalam. But the lingua franca in the Thomas household in Ithaca, NY, is Hindi! Her elder son, Tushar, speaks a smattering of Hindi and understands very rudimentary Malyalam. The younger son, Mrinal, is totally Americanized \u2013 he watches a few Hindi movies \u2013 only with sub-titles. I joked with Bini about how her daughter-in-laws would probably be an American or probably Korean. In response she mentioned that her brother, who stays in Rochester NY, is already married to an American from Massachusetts.. Talk about International Integration!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ithaca is a University town – with Cornell University being its biggest employer. Interestingly, Ithaca is benefiting from global warming. It had only 1 day of snow this year! Cornell is a private university, with the SC Johnson School of Business being one of its most profit making departments. By US standards, the Johnson school is small \u2013 with an intake of about 300 students a year. The faculty group in the school is about 50 strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Professor in a typical US university has a workload of 2 courses every semester. Manoj\u2019s lead course is called Brand Immersion. It is a very intensive course \u2013 with double the credit points of other subjects \u2013 and is offered in the first year second semester. In fact \u2018immersion\u2019 is the positioning that has been adopted by the Johnson school. It means deep involvement \u2013 Hands on Learning. Manoj\u2019s students work on projects in this course, which are typically sponsored by companies. They spend a week visiting with companies to get better insights into the problems they are working on. Assessment is for the team (if peers mention you have not pulled your weight, you don\u2019t get marks)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The School has just got a new dean \u2013 an Indian who is a PhD in Computer Science, who was earlier teaching at Insead. The faculty group usually chooses an insider, but this time they decided that it was time for change \u2013 and have got someone from outside. One great opportunity that is coming up for Cornell is a new campus in New York city, actually an island off the city. Bloomberg, the mayor of NYC, had a competitive bidding for this campus, with Stanford, Harvard and Cornell making it to the finals. Cornell is going to be setting up a campus, jointly with an Israeli university. Another of the things that the dean has put on his agenda is a syllabus revamp. Manoj is planning to orient his course more towards consumer insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is an example quoted by Manoj about what happens when you do research without insights. Land Rover is, even by US standards, an expensive SUV \u2013 costing 55,000 dollars. It is a UK (now owned by Tatas) brand, but with a not very great sales figure. 4500 or so vehicles a year get sold in the US. The company did a consumer focus group which told them that what customers wanted was a lower price. So Land Rover launched a lower end model called Hunter. It flopped miserably. The insight here is that people will never try to tell you that they want to buy expensive products.. Stand back and observe\u2026 Test your inferences. Steve Jobs could see a product or benefit \u2013 and be able to decide whether it would click or not \u2013 without any research. He just seemed to know what customers would want \u2013 and he relentlessly followed up on execution. Also, he set perceptions by pricing higher and then lowering prices for subsequent launches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manoj used an interesting analogy to compare Harvard and Cornell. Harvard is a market leader. And market leadership is a very powerful position to have. But so is \u2018small by design\u2019 \u2013 if you can make a powerful statement about how that smallness helps the customer.. \u2018Custom<\/em>ized.\u2019 Looked like Manoj was implying that Cornell was the Apple and Harvard the Microsoft. But then isn\u2019t Apple the market leader? Interestingly Apple is not a leader in any category that they are present in. (Exception being the tablet, but Manoj assures me that 5 years down the line, they won\u2019t be, as there will be many more players) They are profit leaders, yes, but never volume leaders. And if they were to become volume leaders \u2013 they would just not be Apple\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes this positioning can also be accidental. Why did Kellogg\u2019s become a marketing school? Because of Philip Kotler. A lot of his colleagues, do not consider Kotler a great teacher. I had once met Deepak Jain, who used to be his colleague at Northwestern. When I quizzed him about Kotler \u2013 he said he is there, so what? He is growing old now – but the school won\u2019t let him go. He happened to have written the first basic text on marketing \u2013 and it got accepted worldwide. And he teaches at Kellogg, so Kellogg is the best school in the world for Marketing. Accidental \u2013 but the brand got built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychology is Manoj\u2019s area of focus in research. Most research papers have a model where you pick up a hypothesis and try to disprove it. As Manoj says, you can never prove a theory, you can only disprove it. As Taleb says in his book \u2013 Black Swan \u2013 you keep on looking out for black swans \u2013 and till the time that you don\u2019t find any \u2013 your theory that all swans are white \u2013 is acceptable. But all it takes is one black swan to disprove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And how does one go about framing hypotheses? The usual route is to look at two contending theories and try to falsify one. The other way is to look at everyday judgments and base a hypothesis on this. We talked of one of Manoj\u2019s papers \u2013 People tend to buy more unhealthy food when they use credit cards vis-\u00e0-vis cash. I asked Manoj where did the hypothesis come from? Manoj\u2019s collaborator on this paper had access to a database of supermarket purchases. So they looked at this data as an opportunity. After sifting through the data they looked at trends \u2013 and this seemed to be one of them. Voila \u2013 the seeds of a research paper were found! In schools like Harvard, most of the research is into preparing cases \u2013 but in most other schools this is not the case (sic). Schools look at publishing research as a sine-qua-non. In case a faculty is appointed as Editor of a respected journal, s\/he is actually relieved totally of the teaching load in order to concentrate on the journal. Of course, neither the school or the editors, nor the professors get paid for the papers. It is a chore that must be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of Manoj\u2019s papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n