Report of a Talkshop Organized school tour to Alappuzha

1. Report of the Allepy Tour Conducted by Talk Shop for Std. VII and VIII students of Chinmaya
School
At 6:30 am, the time we were to set off, we still had a few more students to join us, of course we
were picking up a few students on the way. The question in my mind was “How do you get students
to see afresh something that is so familiar to them?”. Alleppey (or Alappuzha) as it is known in
Malayalam, is the district just next to our own. It is famous for its waterways and ever popular with
tourists who want to take a cruise along its famed waterways. No wonder its called the Venice of the
East. I was under strict orders that i was not to include a boat ride as part of the tour. However the
purpose of a Talk Shop tour is not to see the obvious. Far from it. The students already knew the
Talk Shop, because of other programs we did, and that was a good start. It helped that the school
authorities themselves asked us to design the program, and provided inputs about what they
normally do for a school excursion. That made it easy, we knew what we didnt want to do. Our bus
was rented from the guys who normally arrange the school's outing, so we had their cooperation too.
The trip started from chinmaya school at 6:40 once everyone had boarded the bus. They started with
their prayer song, which is a shloka (verse), they sang while in the bus. The students had brought a
CD called "TOUR MUSIC" which they wanted us to play. As the beat of the high power dance
music came through the bus's music system, it woke up those who were still half a sleep. As I
described the route to our bus driver he looked at me strangely and said, “this is not the shortest
route to the first stop”. I said I know. I also knew that we would have to retrace our route a bit later,
on. But I wanted the trip to begin with Prasadam, sacred food from a temple. As the bus turned onto
a narrow road between green paddy fields, I explained how our trip is through the heart of Kerala,
not its head or its foot. The green fields of Kuttanad, once called the rice bowl of kerala with its
dwindling produce is no longer able to feed kerala. Much of the rice today comes from other states,
like Andhra. I also briefly told them that upper kuttanad where the school was located was known
for its spices that used to come down the hills via bullock carts and get loaded onto boats that go to
Alappuzha and other places. (Our bus had a Public Address system which I could use whenever I
wanted. And the children loved pulling my leg saying I talk too much. Right from the start I said
whoever called me sir, would get his ears boxed! ) We drove between paddy fields that were lit in
the morning sun. As we neared our first stop, Chakkulathu Kavu, I told them a brief background
from http://www.chakkulathukavutemple.org/chakkulathamma.html which I had done my reading
from. The CD we had brought earlier played hymns to Chakkulathu Amma and also spoke about the
story.
When students got down to go around the temple, one of us went to get aravana paysam the
prasadam there,
(find out why its important here http://www.chakkulathukavutemple.org/pongala.html ) and another
person went to see whether the breakfast we ordered is ready. We had ordered breakfast from a very
small local shop, but having eaten there the first day we knew the food was good. Chakkulathu
Amma is a forest goddess (vana durga) and I told the students how proud I was to be part of a
culture that accepts women as so important. The temple is often referred to as the sabarimala for
women, where sabarimala temple ( http://www.sabarimalatemple.co.in/ ) only welcomes male
pilgrims.
Our next stop, Niranam Church, one of the churches established by St. Thomas in AD 52 (I also
mentioned that his visit itself is a subject of controversy). Primarily a hindu school, it was obvious
that this was the first time many of them had set foot in a christian church. I had a chance to explain
that the Eastern Orthodox Church ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_Church )
considers itself prior to the split into catholic and protestant. I also told them that the marthoma

2. church split away from the Jacobite Church. At the church we met a few church goers who were
enthusiastic about the fact that there was a group of obviously hindu looking students who had come
to see the church. This enthusiastic response was there in ALL the places we visited, which made
me think that not everyone looked beyond the obvious.
Next stop was the home, now museum of the great malayalam novelist Thakazhi Shivashankara
Pilla http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thakazhi (well known for his malayalam novel, Chemmeen. The
film adaptation of the movie won the presidents award in 1965). I had asked the malayalam teacher
accompanying us to say a breif introduction about Thakazhi, which she did. The highlight of this
visit was meeting up with Thakazhi's wife who is now 90 years old. She told us how he often played
truant and when he wrote the book chemmeen his sponsors had caught hold of him and locked him
up in a room near Kottayam Boat Jetty, where he finished the novel in one week flat. For the first
time, many of the children saw a Jnanapith Award which was one among many awards displayed at
the museum.
Next stop was Karumadi Kuttan a 10th Century Buddhist statute. It gave me a chance to speak to the
students about the growing popularity of Buddhism and the dissatisfaction with the large number of
rituals in Hinduism, and how Shakaracharya took up the challenge to re­establish hinduism. ( I am
aware that much of this is my own interpretation from many sources, however the talkshop believes
we should not shirk away from interpreting the world as we see it.) The affectionate name,
Karumadi Kuttan, I said, showed how well citizens of Karumadi welcomed a buddha statute and
called it as one of their own. Also mentioned was how 10th Century was an interesting period in
Indian history.
So far on time, me and a staff got off at Amabalapuzha to arrange lunch and the famous
Ambalapuzha Paal (milk) Paysam, the prasadam from the temple. We had sent a person (as per
temple rules) to make the payment two days in advance, so we could get the paysam. We arranged
the lunch, but the temple authorities said paysam may get delayed. And that is where our troubles
began. All in all we were 90 min delayed in departing from Ambalapuzha a thing we could never
make up. But I did get to tell how a king lost at chess with a traveller and how the king had agreed
to pay one grain of rice for the first square of the chess square and two grains for the second and
four for the third until all the squares were done. At first the King felt sad that the traveller did not
ask for more. But soon he realized the power of Geometric Progression
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambalappuzha#Legend_of_the_Ambalappuzha_Paal_Paayasam )
The traveller turned out to be Lord Kirshna Himself, and told the king that he doesn't have to give
all the grains at once, but provide it as payasam for his devotees.
Before lunch, the students took a quick trip to Thottappalli http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9R5ne­BpDvc near where Kumaran Asan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumaran_Asan died in a
boat tragedy. One of the teachers took five min to explain who Kumaran Asan was. Thottappalli has
a beautiful place where the sea almost touches the backwaters.
After lunch we drove straight to Vaylar, the home of an important landmark in Kerala History, the
Punnapra­Vaylar uprising http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punnapra­Vayalar_uprising . We had talked to
the Communist Party office earlier saying we would like to be there and that we would like to meet
someone who could talk about it. It was thrilling to hear eyewitness accounts of those days when
there was carnage at the place in 1946. It brought tears to my eyes, though the interpretation of the
events is still debated. I told the students that Sir. C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_C._P._Ramaswami_Iyer ) who is portrayed as a villain is a highly
decorated officer. I guess his real problem was that he ruled with an iron hand.

3. The gentleman who gave us the eyewitness account also said that he had arranged for us to visit
Vayalar Ramavarma, the poet and song writer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vayalar_Ramavarma .
We had to respectfully decline due to lack of time.
Cocotuft (www.cocotuft.com), a modern coir manufacturing company had agreed to let us pay a
visit to their 100% EOU unit. Being one of the two major industries in the area it was an important
part of our tour. They had been waiting patiently all afternoon, awaiting our arrival. It was a far cry
from the coir cottage industry which provided subsistence living for many of the residents in
Alappuzha decades ago. Fully integrated using an Enterprise Software, the plant manufactured coir
mats in more than 8 locations in the area. As the gates were opened to us, the first thing that greeted
us was a HUGE container of P&O Nedlloyd (http://www.ponl.com/ ). The staff was very happy to
show us around and the CEO said that he was happy to be associated with such an edeavor.
Already 90 min behind schedule we missed sunset on the beach but they did have a nice time
playing football on the beach, and we did catch dinner at Indian Coffee House, an icon in the
cultural landscape of kerala. But not to worry, I did not talk about how AK Gopalan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._K._Gopalan organized the workers of Indian Coffee Board
Association to start the Indian Coffee House.
On the trip back we saw the movie Chemmeen, written by Thakazhi with the immortal songs
written by Waylar. Though most of them had seen it before I had given them a few pointers on what
to look for in the movie. Though students preferred a more lighter movie, I saw many of them sitting
and watching, and singing along with the famous songs. Bringing us full circle to SEEing the
familiar with fresh eyes.
What was our take away from the program
1.I am sure the students have had several experiences that will stay with them for years to come
2.Being an excursion, an important factor is that the children had a lot of fun throughout the
program. I realized that the relationship one builds with them is an important element in fun they
had.
3.I saw how much the teachers joined in the spirit of the program, pitching in with giving short
introductions to even dancing on the bus with students giving them a sense of “learning together”
4.The whole hearted involvement of the community, the people at places we visited.
As the bus drove back to Kottayam, I looked at my watch and wished we could have reached 90
minutes earlier, but as someone said school escursions are NOT supposed to end on time, if
everyone had a good time. I still couldnt help wishing.
Talk Shop Members Involved
1.Ms Anita Sajit (project coordinator)
2.Rajesh Rajappan (Operations and Logistics)
3.Dr. Mathai Fenn (Tour Designer and Guide)