kandath
Krishnakumar Sreekandath Joined: August 20th 2006
Logged in: October 9th 2007
Logged in: October 9th 2007
After almost quarter of a century in the West and thoroughly fed up of the materialistic rat race, have moved back to my roots to re-discover quality life of our forefathers. An accountant by profession a people's man by choice, moved back to Kerala, India (where I was born and brought up) to work in the tourism area. Currently I am running an international tourism consultancy with special interests in eco, ethical and heritage tourism. I am also involved in a wonderful project where we are working for the less well off and down-trodden people of rural Kerala by organising a self-reliant village in the lines suggested by Mahatma Ghandhi, the father of our nation and one of the most prominent personalities of the 20th century.
Who I'd like to meet:
All those wonderful people (men, women and children) who share the simple philosophy of loving and helping all living creatures around you and respect the earth we are living on. People who can see the beauty around us - the stars in the sky, day and nights, nature around you, big oceans, mighty mountains, vast rivers, colours of the sunrise and the sunset and other simple things God or Nature (whichever way you interpret) has provided are the truly blessed ones. I would love to hear from all of you. Thanq, God bless.
Interests:
Travel, reading and photography. Understanding and helping living things around me is also a very joyous interest of mine. Friends are another interest. The more friends I've the happier I am.!! Please visit my personal website - http://www.kris-sreekandath.com and my webshots picture albums - http://community.webshots.com/user/sreekandath?action=profile to learn more about me.
Heros:
Mahatma Gandhi for his wonderful secular vision for the poorest of the poor of India !!
Travel Blog Posts
Sunset at Muzhuppilangad!
Beaches in Kerala, India are rapidly establishing as one of the most attrative and talked about in the world with its lovely stretches of clean sand, swaying palm trees and rippling waves embracing them. I recently visited "Muzuppilangad beach" in Kannore district in north Kerala. Mind you these ares are totally unexplored, magical and out of this world compared to the well known and commercial ´Kovalam´ beach in south Kerala near the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The one thing I noticed about this beach is its cleanliness. It is stunningly clean and has almost a devine look to it.. Added to this is the fact that it is one of the longest stretch of beaches and the only drive in beach in India. Of the 7 kms of its length one can drive through almost 4 kms. ... read more
Nelliampathy fotos !
I went for a wild trekk in Nelliyampathy rainforests about 54 kms south of Palakkad City in the south western state of Kerala, India. It is a very popular hill station famous for its tea and coffee plantations and excellent weather conditions. It's called as the 'Poor man's Ooty'. It took me almost one hour and a half to get there from Hotel Indraprasta (an excellent hotel) in Palakkad, where I stayed overnight. On the way we passed the town of 'Nemmara, and 'Pothundi Dam', a small irrigation dam which provides water for the rice fields in the surrounding area. After 23 hair-pin bends and really exciting uphill climb I reached my base at Nelliampathy where I had lunch and a change of vehicles as the terrain was really rough for the next phase of my ... read more
St Thomas mount, Chennai, India!
Near the international airport in Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is the small hillock where the apostle St Thomas, the noble missionary and one of the principal diciples of Lord Jesus was assasinated way back in 72 AD. The origin of Christianity in India can be traced to St Thomas Didymas, the apostle. While most of Jesus´ diciples confined their activities to the meditaranian region, St Thomas chose as his field of labor, the distant and little known East, with its strange people and even stranger God´s. He first preached the Gospel in Parthia and then proceeded to the Malabar Coast by sea in the year 52 AD. After establishing seven major Communities of Christians in Kerala, he moved to the Eastern Coast of India and founded a Community in Mylapore in Madras (now Chennai) He ... read more
Fort St Angelo, Kannur !
This is one place on the Arabian coast of India where history has stood still. Approximately 3 kms west of Kannur city is Fort St.Angelo,dramatically silhouetted against the sea, its massive laterite blocks give this fort, built by the Portuguese in 1505, a faintly menacing air. At one time nearly thousand people lived within Fort St. Angelo´s walls, from where one can enjoy commanding views of the sea and of the legendary ´Moplah Bay´. Here the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch, the French and finally the English have fought amoung themselves and against local rulers. We can still see the influence of the British in Thalassery and that of the French in Mahe. They established their supremacy in the region by exploiting the discord amoung local rulers. Portugeuse ruled supreme till 1663 when the Dutch captured ... read more
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford!
I realise fully that I am writing this blog completely out of sequence (writing about a European city along with blogging on Kerala after my re-location to these shores for at least a few years) but my 24 long years at Oxford has undoubtedly made me fall in love with this magical city and hecne these few lines on Oxford! Oxford in England is undoubtedly the oldest university in the english speaking world and has been in continued existance for more than 9 centuries now. As an internationally known centre of education, it naturally attracts students and scholors from right accross the globe. It lies about 90 kms north-west of London. A medium sized city with population totalling approximately 140,000, Oxford is refreshingly different from all other cities I am lucky enough to have visited so ... read more
Self, with a young elephant and his keeper at the sanctuary!
I recently made a visit to an elephant sanctuary, perhaps the only one of its kind in the world, here in Kerala. It is located in Trissur district near the famous Vishnu temple in ´Guruvayur´ and it houses nearly 63 elephants. The elephants of Kerala are an integral part of the daily life here. They are loved, revered, groomed and given a prestigious place in the state´s colorful culturespace. Unlike the elephants in the other parts of India and the rest of the world, here they are considered very beautiful and normally people buy these elephants looking at their ´lakshanam´ (qualities to be considered as good elephant), for example a good elephant should have a long trunk which almost touches the ground, the ideal elephant should be very tall etc. The elephants are also referred to ... read more
Beauty of Kochi backwaters !!
The backwaters are a unique contribution of Kerala to the world and is found no where else. This is a network of lakes, canals, estuaries and delta’s of 44 rivers that flows into the Arabian Sea from the Western Ghats. These backwaters are a self-supporting eco-system teeming with aquatic life. These canals connect villages together and are still used for the local transport. Over 900 kms of these intricate water world is navigable. The largest backwater stretch in Kerala is the ‘Vembanad Lake’ which occupies 3 districts and opens out into the sea at the Kochi port. The Ashtamudi Lake, literally having 8 arms and covers a major area of Kollam district in the south is the second largest and considered the gateway to the backwaters. For this report I am concentrating on the backwaters specifically ... read more
Scene from monsoon hit rural Kerala!
Ever since my early childhood days in Kerala (where I grew up in a rural village) I had been fascinated by the monsoon rains. My long 25 years stint away in Europe added a mysterious touch to it. After re-locating to India almost 3 years ago I now have made it a point to observe this amazing phenomenon when ever and where ever possible. The monsoon rain is something Westerner´s need to experience in order to understand it fully. In the last few years it has become a big attraction for the foreign tourist´s who is visiting Kerala and India. This is what Vickipedia, the famous free encyclopedia on the internet has to say about monsoon: "A monsoon is a wind pattern that reverses direction on a seasonal basis. The term was originally applied to monsoonal ... read more
Government Buildings, Mahe
I recently did a whirlwind trip to the beautiful and magical Mahe, which is a tiny enclave of Ponicherry (on the east cost of India and 630 kms away) with a heavy French influence. In fact this former French town covering approximately 9 kms and have a population of around 36,000 people is an incredibly peaceful place. This petit town is situated on the west coast of Indian peninsula between 11 degrees 42´ and 11 degrees and 43´ Northern Latitude and between 75 degrees 31´ and 75 degrees and 33´ Eastern Longitude, just between badagara and Thalassery. It is 58 kms away from Kozhikode, 24 kms from Kannur and 8 kms from Thalassery and is a busy trade centre. Historical facts points out to Mahe´s interesting past. Originally the name of the region was ´Mayyazhi´ which ... read more
Sunset at rural Kerala!
Classic Kozhikode in north Kerala is the area which the legendary traveller Marco Polo described in 1320AD as the Great Province of Malabar. In fact Chinese were the first to establish commercial contact with these shores and many eminent travellers followed their footsteps. Ibn Batuta(1342),Abdur Razzak(1443), and Anthanaseus Nikiten(1468) were few of them. The remarks made by these travellers confirms the by gone glory of Kozhikode. After the 13th C Kozhikode grew in importance as a port and capital of the powerful kingdom of Samoothiri's or Zamorin's as Portuguese called them. Interestingly Kozhikode has lent its English name 'Calicut' to Calico, the fine variety of hand woven cotton cloth said to have originated from here. It was also Vaso da Gama's (the discoverer of sea route to India) first halt in India. He set foot on ... read more
