THE ADVENTURE…

It all started with an e-mail from Germany. They were looking for a facilitator for a period of two weeks and needed someone who had a general idea about Malabar. They initially contacted our Two Great Tigers in Germany who are helping us in our Project. And the tigers felt that this was an opportunity where we could actually prove our worth.

A very basic outline of the film.

So, how exactly did Along Mekong know about Amartya?

The key words ‘Dhow’ and ‘Uru’ made all the difference. A routine search in Google turned up an article on the famous Sailing Dhows of Malabar that I had written for the site. (Well, all my articles are always spiced up by Catherene!) They enjoyed the style, thought the article was quite informative and were quite impressed with the photographs. Then our e-mail correspondence began, and I finally met Mr. Rolf and Mr. Manfred when they landed in India.

The Journey

Our initial plan was for me to assist them as a Facilitator for two weeks. But they took a liking to our simple and genuine style of work and wanted me to travel with them through the states of South India. To be frank I didn’t know much history but my interest grew as I traveled with them. Starting from Mangalore we traveled through Kerala, Tamilnadu and Karnataka and Goa and completed the first Research Mission in Mangalore covering 5500kms in a Toyota Qualis vehicle.

We decide to meet again in November for the actual shoot. But after a month I was invited to join them for the second leg of their journey, this time, covering North India. This time around, there was more traveling to do and I had the opportunity to visit places where I’d never been. We started from Mumbai and traveled through Ratnagiri, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. From Bhubhaneshwar we took a flight to Mumbai, and then traveled to Surat in Gujarat. We ended our second Mission at Mumbai after logging another 5000kms on the road.

The Learning Experience

During our travels, I happened to meet some of the kindest humans from all walks of life. From the Royal Families to the weavers of Kanchipuram, the Cocoon farmers of Karnataka to the boat builders and spice traders of Kerala, from the people of Tanjavur to the honest men in Mumbai (who were much better than any other!) - I found I had something to learn from all of them.

There was a lot to learn from Mr. Rolf and Mr. Manfred (both are directors and authors) too. Their simplicity and motivation was inspirational. They knew our lazy system very well. But they felt that the Indian systems were much better than others they had encountered in other countries.

They were always kind enough to share all the historic details of the places we visited and also patiently listened to what little I knew. For the first time, I realized that there still are people in the west who have a very close family relationship and a caring attitude towards their kids. After work they would always share stories and anecdotes about their kids.

Both of them were very easy going and hardly ever got frustrated or worried. But I often lost my temper when I saw all that they had to put up with. All tourists and genuine research people were charged $5 and people like me who did not even know basic History had to pay Rs. 5. And yes, there were also people who took their lady love to these historic places as these were a sort of hiding place for them to do nonsense. (This happened in the famous Gingi Fort in Tamilnadu).  

There was big-time exploitation all the way from Kanyakumari to The Goa Check posts. There was also a funny newspaper article where a Central Tourism Minister said that it was ok to charge foreigners 20 times more than Indians were charged for the same facilities. He felt this was an opportunity to take revenge as Foreigners had once exploited our country; and he said it was our turn now.

With this I happened to learn why Sri Lanka does much better in Hospitality and tourism while India lags behind in spite of being one of the most beautiful countries with warm and friendly people. We talk a lot about our Culture’s tradition of Kindness and Hospitality but when it comes to commercial benefits we forget all our ethics.

For the future

Until now the research mission has been completed. It involved a 11,000 kms long trip through the west and the east coast of India covering all the ancient, historical and modern ports of India. The main idea was to find real life portraits in the coast region and also to link them with portraits of traders in the hinterlands.

It was also necessary to visit the existing royal families of India who flourished in Ancient maritime trade Historic Royal families like the Travancore. The film will cover both Historic aspects and will also talk about the present situation.

The Film will extensively cover the Charm of the Arabian sea namely the Dhows Or Machua which were the main sailing vessels during the then  flourishing maritime trade centuries ago. If the Government permits it, we will undertake a voyage between Lakshadweep and Mangalore on a very old Dhow. The Lakshadwwep authorities have expressed a special interest in this project as they think this would be a good tourism and culture Promotion of their magic land.

The basic  idea now  is to get in touch with South Asian Institute of regional studies based at the  Heidelberg University.

To sum it all up

Its a big shame that not many of us understand or know the importance of history. There still exist few Blind men who talk about religion as a main base of Historical Happenings. I think there is only one factor where religion caused a downfall and that was when the Portuguese were flourishing. Their downfall came when they tried to bring the Syrian Christians and other Christian sects under the Pope and in the process they did not look after the welfare of the common People.

During the trip, for the first time ever, I started to gather a genuine interest in History. I learnt that historians always tend to record history with a bias and not with real facts. The more I learnt, the more I realized that history was written by winners.  And for the first time I began to understand the value of this great Nation, its kings and its people. I really felt proud to be an Indian.