Washing drying outside a simple home on a dirt street
Kerala,  Monday walks,  Street photography,  Travel galleries

Gallery: a stroll through a Kerala village

January 18, 2022 / 28 Comments

Chowara is a small fishing community in Kerala. While tourism has come to the area, bringing visitors from elsewhere in India and further afield, it remains unspoiled and still focused on that traditional mainstay of its economy, the fish.

Its beach is both ‘seaside’ and place of work, as I described in an earlier post about the Fishermen of Chowara. Above the beach sit a handful of hotels and the small village itself. Our hotel lay right next to the village, so it was easy one morning to forsake the lure of the pool and take a stroll with our cameras. Especially as I’ve never been one to spend my holidays lying flat out baking in tropical sun!

As everywhere in India, in my experience, the friendly locals took no issue with my camera, and several willingly posed. Sights such as a small Hindu shrine, different foods on display in the shops, traditional scales and weights, and the people themselves; all are everyday things to them, and it must seem strange that we find them ‘exotic’ enough to photograph. But then, I am often surprised at the things I see tourists photographing in London, where my everyday is their exotic.

For this week’s Monday Walk with Jo let me share with you my favourite images from that walk.

Let’s start with those tolerant/friendly locals:
Two men sitting on a doorstep
Friends hanging out
Bare-chested man sitting in a simple shop
Friendly shopkeeper
Lady in a white sari standing by a large poster
Waiting – for a lift, I think
Lady in a sari balancing bowls on her head
Off to the beach to collect some of today’s catch to sell
Small boy peeping through an open gate
Shy but curious
Group of women in saris talking together
Time for a chat
Man reading a newspaper in front of a bright yellow building
Today’s news
As elsewhere in Kerala, the Christian faith is strong here:
Large statues of Christ surround by children
‘Suffer little children to come unto me’
Three men outside a purple building with large cross
A chapel – the main church is on the cliffs above the beach
Man in front of a poster with a figure in red robes and cherubs
Infant of Prague poster
But sits comfortably alongside Hinduism:
Outside a Hindu shrine: offerings
Poster of lady in pink sitting on a seated lion
Durga, a Hindu goddess, riding a lion
Poster of small child in traditional Indian clothing
Outside a Hindu shrine: baby Krishna I think
Small statue of a many-armed goddess on a lion's back
Outside a Hindu shrine: Durga again
The shops are practical ones, selling food and household essentials, but there is a money exchange too, a sign that tourists can’t be far away:
Simple shop painted yellow, displaying rope, brooms and tools
Passing a hardware store
Display of brightly coloured toilet bowls and wash basins
To brighten up any bathroom?
Simple shop with money exchanged sign and red shutters
Also useful … but closed!
Orange, yellow and green fruits
Plantains in all shapes and sizes
Old-fashioned scale and cassava
Weighing cassava
Old-fashioned scale and cassava
Traditional scales
Simple twig broom propped in a corner
Keeping the shop clean
Hand-written sign saying that chicken is available
Butcher’s shop sign; the message is clear

I visited Kerala in 2017

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