Three Weeks to Christmas
Another week has flown by and apparently we are three weeks from Christmas, here in Kerala the Christmas advertising industry has cranked itself up into a frenzy i.e, about the same as it would be at home in the UK in July. As yet there are no Xmas decorations, no 10 ft blow up Santas on roofs, no fiberglass reindeer prancing across the lawns and no supermarket adverts on TV or in the papers. You might think its hardly surprising since this isn't a christian country but according to the last published census 1 in 5 here in Kerala are christian. I think they are still under the impression that Xmas is a religious holy day rather than a booze and food filed shopping spree. How misinformed are they!!!
The "News"
In the UK i hardly ever get or make time to read the morning papers and settle for the TV news, here I eagerly await and read the regional paper every morning. There are two main English language papers the Times of India and the Hindu, we take the Hindu, better coverage of the cricket and we love the Dickensian language. It meets all our needs, its a broadsheet, is 8 -10 pages long and covers local, regional, national and international news and has no coverage of X Factor, what the soap stars are doing or who is bonking who. Its a NEWSPAPER. That said it has some articles which are very strange to western eyes, earlier this week we were treated to the changed regulations regarding the use of elephants in parades. Here are a few just in case you ever need to arrange an elephant ceremony. The elephant must not have killed anyone or gone on a rampage for 15 days if it has then the Forestry Commission must (and I quote) "give the nod" before you can use it in a parade. Elephants must not be left standing on hot tarmac, if transporting an elephant to a ceremony by truck the truck must be no less than 12 ft long, the elephant's Mahout must be properly fed, rested and not be intoxicated. 13 people have been killed by elephants this year in India and three times as many seriously injured which is about par for the course. If you are thinking of staging an event Elephant hire for the day ranges from £150 to £2500 per day depending on the fame of the elephant. Much better value than most so called celebrities or government ministers.
Also in the Hindu this week another forestry worker has been killed by a tiger near Mysore (three in a fortnight) the authorities have now dispatched a team to hunt the animal down so it can be relocated to a tiger sanctuary, as it has now been labeled a man eater. Unlike in the UK animals don't get shot for being animals, its part of life. The Hindu not only published the name of the officer leading the hunt but the names of the elephants they would be using to track and capture the animal.
Today's Elephant related story - never chase an elephant on a motorbike unless you can swim http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/farmer-drowns-while-chasing-elephant-herd/article5416552.ece
In local news the town drug dealer has been arrested (again) in the run up to high tourist season. lets get this into proportion, there was no big undercover sting operation, The Wire it definitely wasn't. The chap concerned is in his early sixties, and sells hash and marijuana to locals and tourists, in the eight years we have been coming here he has always stood in the same spot in the entrance to an ally which is 25 feet from the police station on the beach and as you pass him he mumbles "want to smoke?" Everyone knows who he is and what he is selling but every year about this time he is arrested, sentenced to some time in jail and is back out in time for the post Xmas season.
The Law, Rules and Regulations
As I'd mentioned the drugs bust i thought i'd do a bit about rules, regulations and how they are interpreted and applied here. India loves rules and regulations, there are more rules here than anyone can comprehend or apply. The consequence is no one pays them the slightest bit of notice. This is after all the land of passive resistance, if a rule gets in the way its either ignored or an amount of money changes hands, heads are wobbled and life goes on.
I'll give you an example of how things work to get you in the swing, alcohol and licencing.
Alcohol
Alcohol is strictly licensed here is Kerala, alcoholism is a real problem and like many areas of India the public health agenda is very much to the fore in driving regulation. There are very few places in Kovalam where you can legally buy a drink (limited to a few big hotels) and the very few off licences are state run. If you go to the state beer shop you are officially limited to 2 bottles of beer per person. Once a month there are also state wide "dry days" when no alcohol can be bought. That's the law, in theory. In practice all restaurants sell all spirits, beer and wine any day of the week at anytime of the day. The one concession is every year one restaurant owner gets to go to jail for a month or so and if the police can find it his stocks of booze they are smashed. (there have been occasions when we have had to change our order as the staff couldn't remember where they had buried the vodka) Until this has happened there is an air of expectancy all along lighthouse beach as to whose turn it will be this year. A couple of weeks ago the police mounted a "raid" on all the Lighthouse beach restaurants and we were privileged to watch the proceedings. Here's how it went, 5 or 6 police officers made a great show of meeting at the police station on the beach, they then walked to the far end and began looking for licensing law breakers. It was a total farce, a well choreographed game of hide and seek where everyone knew their part. As they set off along the front mobile phones rang in turn the length of the beach, bottles and beer mugs were whipped from the tables in a Mexican wave of compliance which progressed down the seafront just ahead of the police party, a wave which just as quickly closed up behind them as they moved on to the next restaurant. No one was arrested, the police had shown they were enforcing the law and we got to witness a great game while drinking our gin and tonics.
Have a nice time shopping
K&S
No comments:
Post a Comment