Pollachi, Paradise and Productivity

Pollachi, Paradise and Productivity

We enjoyed our 5 hour train trip from Thanjuvar to Coimbatore – as usual making several new friends on the train. Ravi, our new friend from Whitehorse (thanks to 10 hours on the plane together), was there to meet us. After a late supper, we drove to his in-laws home where he is staying in Pollachi. It was nice to meet his wife, Mala, daughter Neha , their new born daughter and Mala’s parents. What a treat too, to have a home cooked breakfast!

On Tuesday, Ravi hired a car and we all headed for the hills. An hour or so later, we were at Topslip. The elephants and tigers were nowhere to be seen, but we enjoyed some exotic birds and monkeys. A person would need to stay a night or two for any chance of seeing one of the larger critters, but we didn’t have time for that! We had a lunch invitation at Mala’s uncle and aunt’s place, and we wouldn’t have missed that for the world! They live on a 20 acre coconut plantation - a piece of paradise!! Cool breezes swayed the trees as we sipped fresh coconut milk followed by the tender flesh. After lunch, the girls and I sampled betel nut – but I don’t think we’ll be making a habit of chewing its rather bitter juice!

Beneath the coconut trees, vanilla vines wind their way up small stakes. We were lucky to get to see them as they won’t be there much longer. The price of vanilla has dropped about 200%, making bananas or betel nut a more appealing understory crop. The house with its low ceilings, wide porch and cool interior reminded me a little of Karen Blixen’s in Out of Africa. We think we could handle relocating there!

On Wednesday, we traveled east again, to the small city of Karur. Apparently the biggest temple there is like a small version of Thanjavur’s, but we missed it as we were there for a tour of a textile factory or, more correctly, a tour of a series of small factories and workshops. Ravi’s brother Sateesh and their “uncle” Veera are partners in the business and they were wonderful hosts to us. We saw everything from the “order” centre to two manual thread dying workshops, a machine thread dying factory, a machine weaving workshop with 3 large looms in operation as well as an impressive thread-winding apparatus. We visited an embroidery workshop – where computer controlled machines stitch madly, and about 30 workers do final cuts and control quality. We also visited a sewing centre where about 8 women sit in a line, their machines at full throttle, as they work on one or another project. It was great to see a complete absence of children, decent working conditions, good lighting and a positive ambience at the many workshops. If anyone wants to learn about where their kitchen textiles are made, we’ll be able to put on a great slideshow, complete with a couple of movies of the action. In terms of viewing, my favorite was the manual dying workshop where the men worked with great rhythm, expertise, and lots of colour!

Veera was an amazing host! A big treat was being taken for lunch at a (semi) organic foods restaurant run by a service organization that believes that what and how we eat is very important to our health. While South Inidan cuisine is already quite healthy, it was wonderful to taste the health-food non-spicy version. The flavours were delicate and delicious! And it was nice to have a more wholesome vada (a savoury donut-like pastry) and a non-oily pappadam.

A second treat was our breakfast in Veera’s home. His wife, Mani, prepared a fried version of the usual idli (steamed rice cake) with delicious tomato chutney and more. Indian style, we began our meal with a piece of bright orange jalabi – how civilized, not risking being too full to eat sweets!

We feel very fortunate to have found a friend in Ravi – thanks to him we’ve had an experience that is truly off the tourist map.