Revisiting River Nila in search of music...

Picture:A plaque announcing the inauguration of the foundation laying ceremony by David Stott from Australia.

David is a frequent visitor to India. It's a country that he calls home. Two years ago, David had to 'agree' to 'lay the foundation' of an innovative experiment in Kerala. He inaugurated the construction of the campus dedicated to the memory of legendary musician and spiritual nomad, 'Njaralathu Rama Poduval' who is credited for bringing out the temple related devotional singing style of 'Sopana Sangeetham' out to the public.

When The Blue Yonder designed a musical trail with young musical prodigy Harigovindan, the idea was to give voice to many unconventional musicians of lower strata of the society along river Nila. This half a day experience became an instant hit among travellers from around the world. Conde Nast traveler called our trip one of the '8 Great Trips' that give back to destination based on the content of this experience. As Harigovindan, who took up the role as a key interpreter says, "This initiative gave self-respect to our musicians in the region. It was a wonderful experience to have music-loving travellers coming to enjoy the unique music style of River Nila and its people'.

Harigovindan was 17 years old when his father, Njeralathu Rama Poduval died. Hari used to accompany his father occasionally during his travels and performances at various temples and public arenas in Kerala. Troubled that the “Idakka” that was his father’s life, lying unused after his death, Hari taught himself how to play the instrument to keep the memory of his father alive.

Soon he realised that his father's name and devotional songs were fading away from the public memory. He came across many other musicians whose voice were not even recorded in their whole life time. He had the foresight that a generation might live without ever experiencing all those magical voices. He approached the Government and many cultural stalwarts of the state proposing to build musuems and art school to preserve their voices digitally and give recognition to up coming artists. Other than hollow promises and unnecessary controversies, it didn't result in any thing productive. However Hari fought the system, got attention from the public and international travellers like David Stott.

Lecture demonstration of various drums including Idakka and Chenda at the Kalasramam

Exactly after two years of laying foundation for the music campus, David Stott along with a group of travellers interested in music and yoga came back to River Nila to see the developments in the location. Seeing a fully functional music school and museum with an open air auditorium and audio library, all David could say was "WOW"! This is solely an achievement of Harigovindan though he humbly acknowledges the generous support he received from ordinary public and travelling community for providing inspiration and energy to go after his dream.

"I didn't set this up because I wanted to do something selfish related to my father. I wanted to do something like this precisely for the reason that many such artists memories were fading away from our memories. For those people who spent their whole life dedicated to music and enriching our traditions, this is the cruelest thing to happen. Representing this generation, people like us have a responsibility to respond to our surrounding. This was mine and I am glad I didn't give up'  Hari says.

Picture above:
David Stott and a group of music loving Australian travellers in front of the newly constructed temple dedicated to music. Instead of a conventional idol of God or Goddesses, the temple has the 'Idakka' which was favourite musical instrument of Njaralathu Rama Poduval. What better way to pay respect to a man who spent his life dedicated to music, especially devotional songs?

Networking in Palliative care

18th International Conference of Indian Association for Palliative Care just concluded in Lucknow with a call to explore adopting social media as one of the tool to network amongst peers and share knowledge to bridge islands of excellence.

Delegates from Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Singapore, UK and USA along with their Indian colleagues attended the conference organised by Cancer Aid Society. Two sessions ran by n i i t i consulting on the importance of social media networking for promoting palliative care across the world received enthusiastic response. Except for the handful of delegates using twitter or facebook, rest of them were mostly using email as a tool for communication.

Case studies show-cased on the power of social media ranged from :

• Recent campaign to oust Hosni Mubarak in Egypt  and the role of social media in accelerating the downfall
• How sustainable tourism companies used facebook as a tool to network and raise funds online during the crisis of Cyclone Aila in 2009
• How footprints initiatives get support from innovative micro-funding model of worldnomads
• Real time results of how users of #IAPCON11 manage to network with peers in Australia, US, UK and rest of the world.
• Max Coop - a network promoting 'Open Health through Open Source
• Ushahidi platform on how effectively it was employed during Kenyan riots of 2008
• Nila foundation facebook campaign crowd-sourcing sketches for its publication

While the sessions ignited interest amongst novices to social media, many 'I-have-twitter-but-I-don't-use' delegates were urged to explore the potential of social media, while the 'converts' were urged to build up a palliative care wiki to encourage collaborative content creation about various experiments going around in different parts of the world.

Will be interesting to see some of the recommendations given to set up the next conference in Kolkatta is implemented.

Second part of the workshops specifically involving student volunteers and core team of Institute of Palliative Medicine will be on 19th Feb in Kozhikide. 

Touching the chords of your inner life

pic: @Alvin Vimal

'Kumbhar' in Sanskrit means 'the one who creates'. You see 'Kumbhars' all over India. They create magic out of clay.They are potters of the country. Various reasons including droughts and the urge to travel led many 'Kumbhars' from Andhra Pradesh come and settle down on the banks of River Nila in Kerala several hundred years ago. Like many cultures that blessed the banks of this auspicious river, Kumbhars brought along their rich legends, folklore, skills, lifestyle, language and festivities to this river.

We take travellers from all backgrounds to interact with some of the few remaining potters' communities along the river. Travellers mostly leave exclaiming how magical the experience was! Some of them go into silence as if they are meditating, some of them request if they could try their hands on creating 'something' out of the clay. Once the wheel starts turning, and their hands feel the earth and water, many commented that they are touching the chords of their inner life. They are guided by the 'Kumbhars'- the creators.

The paradox of all this is how 'Kumbhars' are perceived in the Kerala society. 'Kushava' is how a potter is known in Malayalam and it's also used in our day to day life in quite a 'de-meaning' or derogatory way. As a kid, I remember being called a "Kushava" by relatives, when I used to do something really stupid. I am not a historian, nor do I have the knowledge to trace the history and perception of languages and colloquial usages. Wonder how such a beautiful word in Sankskrit meaning a creator, transformed into a derogatory 'Kushava' in Malayalam. Or at least the word 'Kushava' came to be understood.

What prompted to write this much is the news that one of the first potters that we engaged in the village of Arangottukkara stands a risk of not being able to use his hands as efficiently and skillfully as he could earlier. He had a stroke and left side of body including his arm and thumbs are finding it difficult to respond to his 'commands'. From a struggling potter to be someone who could earn a decent living out of local work orders and sustainable tourism initiatives, Gopalan potter has come a long way. However, the recent hospitalisation and lack of ability to work makes his future livelihood uncertain. The Blue Yonder along with it's partner Vayali Folklore Group in Arangottukkara within its constraints are supporting the artist by engaging him in running workshops where some of his relatives are guiding those wanting to learn the art and skill.

Rather than giving a donation or raise funds from well-wishers to support the artists, we are attempting to create an income generation for Gopalan and some other artists by providing them employment opportunities through sustainable tourism.

We are launching a series of 'skill based workshops' in River Nila to highlight the skills and creativity of artists like Gopalan. Please write /call us if you are interested.

Venue : Arangottukara village, Thrissur district in Kerala

Dates : 29-30 Jan 2011

Intake: max 10

Activities: learning workshops in pottery, bamboo weaving and indigenous hand-crafts.

Extra: One can also combine this as a weekend holiday that would include legend trails and folk expressions. Longer duration workshops are also possible.

Contact: info@theblueyonder.com | +91.80.4115.2218 or +91.98860.53286

posted by GP 

World Green Tourism conference in Abu Dhabi

First ever event of the nature and scale, Abu Dhabi witnessed the gathering of global experts at the World Green Tourism conference on 22-24th November 2010. United Arab Emirates isn’t the place that many would relate to any thing ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ considering the opulence and wealth that the region has witnessed.

“Considering the fact that the Emirates subsidises 50-80%of its consumers electricity bills as of now, the reasoning for a green tourism business isn’t much a financial incentive for the hospitality industry. “ says young Jad Frangieh who is the green champion at One to One boutique hotel in Abu Dhabi. On a site visit to the property, he was particularly keen on explaining that “we are not a Green hotel. However, we have decided to join the Green Hotels initiative of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and implement sustainable practices in our properties. It’s high time we that we all wake up and realise that maintaining a green patch of grass in a desert isn’t green and that is in fact the anti-thesis of anything green. We are glad that this conference brought in many innovators and entrepreneurs and practitioners of sustainable tourism”.

Abu Dhabi's electricity rates of 15 fils per kilowatt-hour (kwh) for expatriates and 5 fils for Emiratis are among the lowest in the world. Subash V Puthenveetil, Hygiene and Safety Mangaer from Anantara said,“We are all aware of the fact, there is so much to do in this region when it comes to sustainability. Our management is keen on being the leaders in this segment and we are ready to go with Abu Dhabi tourism in this direction”.

The conference saw experience sharing from regions as varied as Sweden, Thailand, India, Ireland, UK and UAE. Some of the speakers included, Prof. Harold Goodwin from ICRT, Mary Mulvey from Green Box in Ireland, Mansoor Mohamed from City of Cape Town, Arnfinn Oines from Six Senses Resorts and Spas in Thailand. Key note speakers included Bruce Poon Tip of Gap Adventures, Newyork Times Journalist and Author Elizabeth Becker and George Hickton, former CEO of Tourism New Zealand.

Mubarak Hamad Al Muhairi, Director General of ADTA is keen to take the sustainability initiative to a new level. ‘We have launched the pioneering Green Hotels programme, and also have initiated the Environment, Health and Safety Management System covering the entire tourism sector. We have made only small steps, but we are certainly keen on learning from other destinations to become a globally recognized, sustainable tourism destination.’

Organisers have already announced the dates for next GreenTourism conference on 5-7 December 20100 at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi. Prof. Harold Goodwin, Director of International Centre for Responsible Tourism and one of the speakers at the conference said, “For once we are seeing a serious government backed intervention to make the industry more sustainable.”

The Blue Yonder presented two case studies on its experience of working in India in a round table on Green Tourism for Hotels and tour operators as as well as in a session "conversations with industry experts:operating with a commitment to sustainability in the tourism industry.

For more details check World Green Tourism conference site

WTM musings

Four days at the World Travel Market in London can be exhaustive. Meetings, networking, product launches, dinners, drinks and further socialising. It's a world on it's own. It's a place where in the last five years we have come across some fantastic people, who inspired our initiatives, gave us more strength to pursue our dreams, when we thought we had no more energy to fight it out in the tough world of business.

2010 WTM in London was special in many ways. The Responsible tourism networking on the 8th at the 7 Dials club was a super hit. Even when it was organised on the first day, there were many people who rebooked their flights so as to come and attend the event. During the ICRT alumni networking on wednesday I came across a person who said, "Oh my! it was so wonderful, all 23 of us were camping in a room just to watch the pitches of new initiatives". The live feed had some technical glitches. However, I guess the event will be known for the enthusiasm amongst participants wanting to be connected to a network they believe would change the way we understand travel and sustainable development.

The event also resulted in forming new partnerships and alliances. University in Liverpool to ITB in Berlin, to small NGOs and community based tourism initiatives were seen building networks and exploring ways to work together. One of our partners beamed, "Looks like more business actually happens over networking with you guys than sitting in a stand and waiting for buyers to come by". I can imagine that to be quite true. Responsible Tourism Networking simply rocks. Thanks to Sally from Tripbod for the never ending enthusiasm to co-organise such fringe events.

Responsible tourism awards has become a main stay of world responsible tourism day celebrations at the WTM and looks like it's getting tougher and tougher to win an award there. This makes me happy to see two of our friends Ishita Khana and Sam Raphael from Ecosphere and Jungle Bay Resorts in Dominica honoured by Virgin Responsible tourism awards.

WTM sponsored responsible tourism networking also brought together many like minded people and it was wonderful to meet many old friends still working with such amazing passion, that you feel that you have not even touched the tip of ice berg that is sustainable tourism. Catching up with Louis D'Amore (IIPT), Fiona Jeffrey (Just A Drop), Dr. Lars R. Lindkvis (Base Camp Foundation), Justin Francis (responsibletravel.com), Dr. Lotfi Kaabi (Planet Art Exchange) and Luke Ford (Gunyah) was very inspiring. Watch out for these people in the next few months for some really inspiring news.

To see Social Tours, Help Tourism, Ecosphere and The Blue Yonder doing business on the platform of The Green Circuit for me is one of the real highlight of this World Travel Market. Looks like industry is heeding to such initiatives positively. The fact that The Green Circuit stand were always busy with one meeting or the other compared to numerous stands in Incredible India pavillion that was empty might be a message for the future way of doing trade shows. Towards the last day, while rest of the exhibitors were running for their flights or a last minute city trips, the GC partners were seen evaluating the trade show on the spot and planning for the next one. How to forget the wonderful evening spent with the whole team?!

Instead of sharing another positive news in this post as an icing on the cake, I am leaving World Travel Market with a bad taste due to some comments we had to hear from buyers and trade partners and many strangers about the attitude of Incredible India. While exhibitors like Indonesia were going out of their way to promote their local coffee ( probably one of the best coffee I had in many months!) and inviting anyone and everyone to join them, Incredible India caterers were rude, cold and even arrogant enough to refuse drinks or snacks if they were not exhibitors of India pavilion. Apparently they had "instructions" from above that the food / drink services should be provided only to the Indian exhibitors.

The staff at the counter were bluntly refusing tea and coffee to people who come by to take a sip. It was funny to see some of our friends were refused drinks because they didn't look like Indians! (Isn't that sort of racist behaviour as well?). If the catering service was only for Indian exhibitors, why on the earth did they maintain an open cafeteria and ended up gaining bad reputation for a brand that seems to be proud about Athiti Devo Bhava ( Guest is our God!).

Other than the poorly constructed stands at Incredible India pavilon, the ignorance of whoever decided to take such a stand was the most embarrassing momen. Some of us were profusely apologising to those people who brought this to our notice! Not sure if that had any impact to change the negative perception of the tourism department.

Local heroes : inspiring musical trail stories from Kerala

First batch of students getting their training in 'Idakka'

Njeralathu Rampoduval was a very pious man. He had devoted his life in the service of the Goddess in 'Tirumathaam Kunnu', and touched many lives through his melodious music. The depth in his singing, his mastery over the unique percussion instrument“Idakka” and the spirituality he evoked had hundreds of thousands of people in Kerala who listened to him, connect with their souls. It was no surprise then that when he passed away in 1996, Kerala wept as if it's soul was taken away.

His style of singing, a mellifluous blend of tribal, folk and classical styles, called 'Sopana Sangeetham' was traditionally restricted to being rendered within the temple sanctum sanctorum. Njeralathu made it his mission to bring this form of music to the common man and towards the end of his life, 'Sopana Sangeetham' was commonly heard outside the temple sanctum.

Hari Govindan was 17 years old when his father, Njeralathu died. Hari used to accompany his father occasionally during his travels and performances at various temples and public arenas in Kerala. Troubled that the “Idakka” that was his father’s life, lying unused after his death, Hari taught himself how to play the instrument to keep the memory of his father alive. Soon his mastery over the instrument and his renditions of the “Sopana Sangeetham” won him several fans. Six years ago, a group of Nila admirers who had gathered by the banks of the river, urged Hari to recite a few of his father's legendary compositions. I still remember Hari singing for the River Nila, with tears in his eyes into the night. He had composed one particular song about the river on his way while sitting in a bus!

MP Virendra Kumar (MD of Mathrubhumi) paying a visit at the temple with the Idakka. Kalyanikutti Amma is seen 4th from L, in the background is the house she stays and the land she donated

Two years ago, Hari started campaigning with the Government requesting them to provide funds or build a memorial for musicians like his father. It wasn’t uncommon to see talented exponents of traditional music dying in penury for want of patronage. Hari's idea was to record audio clips of these musicians while they were alive so that the new generation could also experience these rare voices and melodies, while giving them an opportunity to perform. He dreamt of a school where students from all segments of the society could come and learn traditional folk music and especially learn to play the Idakka, experience and spread this unique music and folk culture.

Frustrated with empty promises made by politicians and Government officials, a dejected Hari decided to auction the musical instrument of his father to raise funds to keep his memory and art form alive. The reaction from people across Kerala was extreme. Cultural stalwarts were shocked at his decision and accused him of selling art for money without really understanding his objective. But there were others who shared his anguish and deep desire of building a memorial for his musician father and providing an opportunity for similar musicians to have a place in society to be recognized. Many friends and admirers donated liberally and a wonderful campus was born where students from nearby villages come to learn traditional forms of music for free. Hari also built an impressive digital and non-digital archive of traditional music forms and musical instruments and an open-air theatre. The campus also boasts of a beautiful temple where the idol isn't just another stone sculpture, but the Idakka that his father used to play!

Crowd that gathered for the inauguration of the Kalashramam

This campus also has a small house in an obscure corner facing the hillock. This house belongs to Kalyanikutti Amma, a woman in her late 60s who helped Hari achieve his dream when the Government or the rich landlords in the region failed to do so. It was her generous donation of all her land to this cause that helped Hari build this unique memorial of art that is inspiring hundreds of youngsters today to keep traditional art forms alive. Hari didn't forget to renovate her old house within the campus for her comfortable stay.

In its own small way, The Blue Yonder worked in parallel to support Hari through bringing the attention of national and International media to his laudable initiative. David Stott, travel writer, photographer and editor of Foot Prints handbook for India inaugurated the campus, which got it a lot of well-deserved publicity. When James Newton of String Films, well known UK-based filmmaker visited the campus and saw public reaction to this initiative, he had only two words to describe it. "Mind boggling!"

'Njaralathu Kalasramam' (Kala = Art, Asramam = A learning campus), as the campus is called, is where The Blue Yonder organizes the musical trail for our travellers. In addition to experiencing musical styles of central Kerala, our travelers enjoy living in the beautiful campus as well. It gives us immense pleasure that we were part of the journey Hari started, a journey that proves that ordinary people can be the change makers, and accomplish extraordinary feats!

More on how Njaralathu Hari Govindan became part of The Blue Yonder in the upcoming blogs. Watch this space.

To forgive is human, too

Rev.Dr.William G.Sinkford has spoken extensively on Iraq war, marriage equality, immigrant rights, environmental justice and Darfur to name a few isues

A simple search #Koran /on twitter will reveal the amount of venom and hate that is spread online related to the unfortunate and provocative statements from Pastor Terry Jones. The first time I saw a google alert on attempt by the Pastor to burn Koran on 11 Sept, my heart sank. I felt concerned about the humanity. It takes ages and massive steps by leaders and common man to build trust after all those untoward incidents that happened over eons. Once you think slowly things might be getting back to normal, from the middle of nowhere, jokers like Terry Jones turn up to destroy harmony in the world.

The media was awash with stories of Terry Jones. Washington Post few hours ago featured a story on Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer commenting that incidents like attempting to burn Koran to protest would "change the nature of what we can allow and protect." Closer to Sept 11, BBC News said, 'Koran burning would be a disaster.

Editor Vir Sanghvi in his tongue in cheek report in the Hindustan times wrote about 'small-town weirdo to global champion of redneck ignorance' . There were no dearth of news on hate, religous tension, clash civilisations etc. The very next day when the Pastor decided not to burn the Koran, I was invited by my host Joel to attend a Sunday service at the First Unitarian Church of Portland. For the small community of 1500 families, 12 Sept 2010 was special as it was the home coming of Rev. Dr. William J Sinkford .

In his soft but assertive voice, Rev Sinkford reminded the gathering about the importance of the month September. He said that the month was about forgiveness. Especially during the time of people like 'the pastor of a tiny church who decided to burn Koran'. He said, September is not only the month of forgiveness because of Sept 11, but also because this was the month of Ramadan as celebrated by Muslims.

I left the church with goose bumps after hearing the choir singing “Come, come, whoever you are,” words written by Rumi, a Muslim mystic. While the media is busy featuring the 'clash of civilisations', they care not to feature beautiful stories like people behind First Unitarian Church. These people pray everyday for all those people who died in war. They don't just pray for all the American soldiers who died in Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan. They pray for all. For all the human beings who were killed and wounded in the war. How religously some of the church associate peace groups were maintaining the statistics of Iraqi civilian deaths had to be seen to believe.

Mission statement of this distinguished church Portland reads they covenant :

To create a welcoming community of diverse individuals;
To promote love, reason, and freedom in religio;
To foster life long spiritual growth; and
To act for justice.

It's people like this that make the world a better place to live.