‘God’s Own Country’ in the Washington Post

One of my co-workers, a fellow Malayali, forwarded me this story from a freelance writer describing a few scenes from a trip with his girlfriend to Kerala, recently published by the Washington Post.

When people ask me where in India I am from and I reply ‘Kerala,’ they are either familiar with it — saying that it is on their ‘list’ of places to visit’ — or they have no idea where it is. If I am near a computer when we are having this conversation, I quickly type Kerala into Google images and let them feast their eyes on its magnificence themselves. If they have never heard of it, by the time they are done scrolling through just a few pictures of the South Western state, they are eager to book a ticket.

Another bonus, it probably receives half the tourist foot traffic of its northern neighbor Goa, or the other major cities, Delhi, Mumbai etc. When I last stayed there, the monsoon was just beginning, but it still had perfect weather and I had nearly the entire hotel where I stayed to myself. There were only a handful of other tourists. However, I also visited in high tourist season and it still lacks the overwhelming suffocation of masses that other Indian tourist spots have.

Being a Kerala tourism worker must be one of the easier jobs in the world. How hard can it be to sell one of the most beautiful places on the planet to perspective visitors?

I enjoyed this article and it made me really miss the land where I began my life. The one thing the article barely touched on was the delicious fare that Kerala offers. Otherwise the writing really makes the place come alive and gives the reader a good sense of the diversity of only just a few cities that he visited.

You should go. Don’t take my word for it. Read the article and then Google ‘Kerala’ to see the myriad of images yourself.

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