Memorable Moments: Kerala

On Wednesday morning we woke up on the train to see the sun rising over lush rice paddies and coconut and banana trees as we arrived in ‘God’s Own Country’- Kerala.

Shaina, Lydia, Amber, Chrissie, and Kelly jump for joy by the Arabian Sea

Memories:

     We spent our mornings learning about Economics, the Kerala model of development, and Indian politics from our dear friends at Vichara.

    The following day we went to visit Amma's Ashram. Amma is known around the world as 'the Hugging Saint' who is worshiped as a goddess. This was the second time in ISP history that Amma was at the ashram because she is so busy with her world tours. The students were surprised to see so many foreigners who have come from around the world to learn from Amma and they were curious as to what drew them to her. Adding to the excitement of the trip: there was an elephant at the ashram which some of the students got to feed!

Kara, Shaina, Amber, Chrissie, and Kelly with an elephant at Amma's Ashram

     One afternoon we visited the site where St. Thomas is said to have stepped off the boat and landed in India. What a privilege to sit on the banks and look out to where a man who knew Jesus had once walked. We also visited several churches that Thomas started.

  On our final day in Kerala we went to Fort Cochin for a free day to do the tourist thing. The students could wander off and explore Jewtown, the Dutch palace, a Jain temple, Hindu temples, and the beach. They all got in some good shopping and delicious food before re-gathering in the evening for a Kathakali show. Kathakali is a famous traditional Kerala style of dancing which was quite different from anything we had seen before

Batch 6 with the Kathakali dancers

Transport:

Night trains- We all remember waking up to hear the familiar cry ‘chaaaaiiii, chaaaaaiii, coFFEE, coFFEE!!!!

Party Bus- With the disco lights flashing, wind whipping through our hair, and some loud Hindi music blaring as we all had a party as we danced along.

Camel rides- We arrived at the beach and immediately spotted several scruffy camels with over eager owners. Students jostled on the camels two-by-two down the beach at a trot while I, (Hannah) tried to keep up and jog behind through the sand to take some snaps.

Maaike and Megan riding a camel

Arabian Sea- I’m just going to include this in transportation since all of us who swam got tossed around quite a bit and taken for several ‘rides’ as we were strewn across the sand by the pounding waves!

Boat- I think the boat ride was one of the highlights of the trip because it was so relaxing. The Backwaters of Kerala are called the 'Venice of the East' and boating through them is listed in Lonely Planet's list to do before you die. We thoroughly enjoyed these moments of peace and tranquility.

Boating on the backwaters of Kerala

God's Own Country

This past week we were in ‘God’s Own Country’- the neighboring state of Kerala for classes and site visits. We took an overnight train (first of many) and awoke to see the beautiful sunrise over the coconut trees and rice fields of Kerala!

We spent our mornings in class sessions learning about the Indian economy and globalization from a group of academics called Vichara. We learned how globalization has grown and shaped India over the years and were left with the question if globalization has been beneficial for India?

In the afternoons we had the opportunity to visit some famous sites including where St. Thomas stepped off the boat and some of the churches that he planted.

Sitting where St. Thomas stepped off the boat

 One of our favorite outings was visiting the beach! For most of us this was our first time stepping foot in the Arabian Sea and students happily plunged in…fully dressed in their salwar kameez! You see, in India, a salwar kameez is their bathing suit! Nevertheless, we still had a great time riding the waves and just relaxing in the ocean. We definitely attracted quite a large crowd of curious onlookers!

Swimming in salwars

Kerala is known as the ‘Venice of the East’ because of its abundant waterways. After our beach trip, we were able to take a sunset cruise on the backwaters. We watched as numerous houseboats and fishing boats drifted by and watched the sun set behind the palm trees. India truly holds so many stark contrasts-from the peace and tranquility of floating on the backwaters, to the overwhelming hustle and bustle of city life.

Boat cruise on the backwaters

Another interesting site visit was to Amma’s Ashram. Amma means ‘mother’ and she is known as the ‘Hugging Saint’ who literally goes around the world hugging people. She is behind many humanitarian and disaster relief efforts. This ashram is her central location and people come from all corners of the earth to live here under her. Our students were surprised to see so many other foreigners and our tour group consisted of a young Spanish guy, a middle-aged Chinese woman, and a 30-something German woman, and was guided by Sam from Minnesota! We were able to look around the ashram and learn why they consider Amma to be a goddess, what she stands for, and what these people are doing living there. Still, we left with more questions than answers: What compels a person to come all the way from home to this remote village in India? Why do they not want to leave the ashram? How do we respond to this movement? It was a very eye-opening experience that our students will never forget and hopefully continue to process.

Faith celebrated her birthday in Kerala!

On our last day in Kerala, we were free to do the tourist thing and explore Cochin. Cochin has a fascinating mixture of cultural influences- Chinese fishing nets, Portuguese buildings, burial site of Vasco da Gama, Dutch palace, Jain temple, Brahmin temple, Orthodox churches, and Jewtown! Students enjoyed visiting these various sites and getting in some good souvenir shopping. In the evening we all met back together to see a traditional dance style from Kerala called Kathakali! We were treated to a wonderful mixture of dances and martial arts which was unlike anything we have ever seen. These talented dancers are definitely in a category of their own!

Batch 5 with the Kathakali dancers

Check out more pictures from our trip on Facebook!

Weekend Trip: Kerala

Kerala is fondly called "God's Own Country" by its people, and for good reason. Although it can be fairly humid, Kerala is also lush and green and lined with natural waterways that has earned it the nickname "Venice of the East".

Our focus during our time there was the Indian economy with classes taught by Vichara, a collective of academics passionate about educating people about how the economy, globalization, theology and social justice all tie in together. These are some of the heavy topics that we have all been struggling through this semester - is development and globalization good for India? And how does our faith fit into this picture? 

Sitting in class with Vichara.

We spent several days discussing these issues together with the professors at Vichara and possibly left with even more thought-provoking questions than we came with! But this semester we have also been talking about how we learn to live in the tension, and how to live with the questions that may not have answers yet.

Exploring the steps where St. Thomas was said to have arrived in India.

Our afternoons were filled with field trips to the surrounding areas. Christianity was said to have been brought to India by St. Thomas himself in 52 A.D. so we went to explore the legacy he has left in the area. Our first stop was the steps where he first stepped into India, followed by one of the churches he founded. For several people in our group this was the first time they had visited a site connected with the Bible - what an experience!

Checking out one of the churches that St. Thomas established in India. It is said that he built seven (and a half!) churches.

Next on our list was Amma's Ashram. Amma is a guru, or spiritual teacher, who has a reputation for affecting her devotees spiritually just by hugging them and is also known for her many humanitarian projects. This was a difficult site for many of us. We wandered around the Ashram and spoke to several devotees, many of whom are Westerners, about their lives there. Their stories were compelling and challenging - they spoke of Amma's compassion and how her love for the world had called them to live better lives devoted to the service of others. It was certainly a different perspective and we are constantly encountering this idea of how to live in a world of plurality here in India.

Amma's Ashram, home of the hugging saint.

Lastly, we spent an afternoon on the backwaters! This is one of National Geographic's Top 50 Places to visit in the world, so needless to say we were quite excited. 

A kerala houseboat!

We watched the houseboats drift by as we wound our way around the backwaters of Kerala. In some ways, Kerala reminded us of India herself - a place of both beauty and challenging questions.

Enjoying the sunset on the backwaters!

Kerala: God's Own Country

{Attending a performance of Kathakali, traditional Kerala theater, was a highlight of our recent trip to Kochi last weekend.}

Last Saturday and Sunday, we headed to the beautiful, green neighboring state of Kerala to meet with the Vichara Collective to learn more about the Kerala model of development and the role of deep thought and surrendering our intellect to Jesus. In our time with Vichara, Professor Mammen Varkey challenged us to think critically and openly about many of the basic assumptions we hold about our faith, and Professor John Itty again taught us about economics and development from a different perspective than many of us are used to hearing back home in the states.

We also got to attend a performance of Kathakali, tour around the Kochi Harbor by boat, visit historic "Jew Town" settled by Jewish traders from King Solomon's court, buy some spices and try some beef curry and hot banana chips. In all, our weekend was both informative AND fun- and those are the best kind of weekends to have!

________

You can see more of our photos from our trip to Kochi in our Facebook album here.

Staff Post: Jonathan Pinckney on Development in Light of "Occupy Wall Street"

ISP Staff member Jonathan Pinckney reflects on a lecture last week as part of the ISP Lecture Series, brought to us by Professor John Itty, of the Vichara Collective based in Mavelikara, Kerala. Professor Itty spoke on the necessity of re-thinking the traditional development model, something especially relevant in light of the Occupy Wall Street movement taking part across the states and the west at large.

Professor John Itty addresses ISP and BACAS students on development at the first lecture in the ISP Lecture Series.

Today in the USA economists worry about the possibility of a “double dip recession,” protesters occupy Wall Street – and the bankers and corporate executives who led the global economy to the brink of ruin three years ago are buying new mansions and bigger yachts as their companies record record profits.  Meanwhile today in India the government continues to defend why it considers 26 rupees a day (about 50 cents) an acceptable standard of living for India’s poor – and the increasing number of South Asian billionaires build more and more elaborate mansions with the money which record “economic growth” has provided them. What’s wrong with this picture?  Where did we go wrong when, contrary to the “rags to riches” American ideal, the rich only grow richer and the poor grow poorer? 

   

 To speak about some of these questions for the first lecture in our “ISP Lecture Series” we invited Dr. John Itty, an Indian economist and representative of the Vichara collective to speak about “development” and how it might be more equitably re-envisioned.  Traditionally development has been viewed in terms of simple dollars and cents, or, on the national scale, in terms of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), a measure of the total amount of goods and services produced in a country in a year.  GDP is the benchmark for how well a country’s “development” is progressing.  Countries with high GDPs (The USA, UK, France, Japan, etc…) are considered “developed” and countries with low GDPs (African nations, some Asian nations, etc…) are considered “undeveloped” or “underdeveloped” or, in more politically correct language, “developing.”

The problem with this approach is that it considers the ultimate good in people’s lives to be purely material, purely based on things that one can buy and sell.  It doesn’t take into account any number of things which can define whether an increase in GDP actually translates to an increase in people’s quality of life.  A rise or fall in GDP says nothing about environmental degradation, about education, or about the strength of the family.  Indeed, because of the wider impacts of industrialization and urbanization necessary to increase GDP a rise in GDP may mean that these much more real measures of quality of life are damaged.  And of course the GDP measurement says nothing about who gets the lion’s share of those goods and services, usually the top 1 to 10 per cent of people on the socio-economic ladder.   And because these top 1 to 10 per cent tend to own the companies which sell most of those goods and services, a rise in GDP means a rise in their wealth.

ISP and BACAS students and friends of ISP listen as Professor Itty speaks on how the current model of GDP-based development is unsustainable.

This focus on GDP by the world’s economic “experts” indicates a deeper global cultural trend: across the globe people have been brainwashed into believing in frantic consumption as gospel truth.  Corporate executives and advertising agencies make millions of dollars convincing us, whether we’re in Coimbatore, India or Columbus, Ohio, that what we have is never good enough – that our happiness depends on having a flat-screen TV or an SUV or a house that’s just a little bit bigger than our neighbors’.  But the frank reality is that this is a fantastic con job played on the poor and the middle class in order to line the pockets of the world’s politicians and corporate executives.   A new car or a new house or a new gadget will not make you happier, will not make your society stronger, will not create “economic development.”  And neither will new cars, new houses, or new gadgets in and of themselves make life better for the world’s 1,345 million poor people people who live on less than $1.25 a day, 300 million of them in India.  The more we buy into this myth the more we centralize wealth and power in the hands of the super-wealthy and the more we alienate and dis-empower the world’s poor and middle classes. 

So what to do with this backward way of looking at “development?”  Ultimately, Dr. Itty said to us, the responsibility lies with each of us as consumers, us as the drivers of this economic tornado.  We must detach ourselves from this endless race for more, more, more and instead seek the things that truly lead to a “life abundant.”  We must affirm in our own lives, in our communities, in our churches, that life is more than money, that the underclass is more important than the bottom line.  We must say by the things we buy, the way we live, and the people we vote for that we don’t believe in the corporate worldview that money and possessions equal happiness. As Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount (paraphrasing): “Do not build up for yourselves a high GDP on earth, where economic crises destroy and insider traders break in and steal, but build up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” That’s a message that all of us should listen to; on Wall Street, Washington DC, or the Western Ghats here in southern India; and if we let it sink in its impact on our lives will be revolutionary.