Lakshadweep is a group of 36 islands 300 – 450 km off the south west coast. It comes right on the busy sea lanes from the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Oman to Singapore/ Thailand Malaysia and Australia.To understand the geographic importance of the island group please see map 1 below and the … Continue reading The strategic importance of lakshadweep
Kerala
A story of five ports, India and China
Recent news about China now being only 290 Km from Kanyakumari created a lot of heat and discussion. This post tries to place the news in context. Bulk of international trade moves on the sea, along fixed routes and is made up of container ships and tankers. As can be seen from visual below, they … Continue reading A story of five ports, India and China
Fruit seller on the beach
Continuing with the chronicling of the various bottom-of-the-pyramid entrepreneurs I have come across... This fruit seller was some how different from all the others, the boatman on the Chilika and the Bhelpuriwala on the Ganges. For starters, she was much more colourful, and presented herself much better, like she had just had her bath and was … Continue reading Fruit seller on the beach
The many boats in Alleppey – the Venice of Kerala
In a previous post house boats of Alleppey, I had talked about the houseboats in the backwaters of Alleppey. But houseboats are not the only type of boats to be found here. In this district that is criss-crossed by backwaters, You can literally expect every family to have a boat, much like you expect every … Continue reading The many boats in Alleppey – the Venice of Kerala
The house boats of Alleppey: What to expect
Alleppey in Kerala invokes many different images, the most common of them being houseboats and backwaters. These snaps are from a recent trip to the district. The house boat of today is not what it used to be. The original houseboat of Alleppey was often nothing more than a thatched rood put on top of … Continue reading The house boats of Alleppey: What to expect
the metaphysics of existence 