On foot to study Kerala

Kochi, May 31 :After covering 600 km, the entire length of Kerala on foot in 29 days, this development specialist from London, is just not tired.

Peter Dulvey is rather craving to share with the world his treasure trove of knowledge which he had gathered while interacting with people of diverse background, witnessing every event closely and soaking in every bit of Kerala's essence.

While he says Kerala has made it to be one of the most attractive destinations in the world, he also delves on its stupid waste disposal practices.

''We found the aspirations of Keralites high, which can take them further to guide the entire country. The political activism is so dynamic and they have very good social and economic systems,'' Peter told UNI.

Along with Desmond Roberts and Rahul Noble Singh, he embarked on 'heels on fire', an adventure walk from Kasaragod to Kanayakumari.

They set off on May 2 and reached Kanyakumari on May 29, two days ahead of the schedule.

A young veteran of 20 marathons and six ultra-marathons, Peter and his friends decided to learn about Kerala more deeply by beating the heat and dehydration.

Supported by the tourism authorities and companies like Reebok, the entire journey was undertaken to create global awareness on tourism, development linkages and adventure.

Their entire experience on the life of Kerala was documented in their interactive website daily.

''Kerala, the tiny sliver of green and blue on the South Western Coast of India, also known as 'God's Own Country', is stunning in contrast to much of India. It has wet tropical landscape, high social development, political activism and a gentle pace of life.

Yet, the alluring beauty and general level of development does not insulate you from the difficulty of the hilly terrain, the humidity and heat, and the madness on the Indian roads,'' he said.

But what really made the Londoners sad was the flipside of the beauty of the state-- the rubbish-throwing culture rampant in the state. ''We saw a lady throwing garbage through the window with no qualms. Driving on the road was reckless and we saw at least nine accidents a day. And there were less people working in farms, against my expectations. There is no 100 per cent literacy as we had heard before,'' Peter said.

He was in the city along with Malayalam super star Suresh Gopi to take part in a mass run titled ''Run for the Life'' organised by Heart Care Foundation, on the World No-Tobacco Day.

He said in many places people were eager to go to the Gulf countries, soon after their schooling inspite of the State's potential to provide jobs to all.

The dangers of the fast development were managed by Kerala to a certain extent, he explained.

The half-Irish and half-Indian had participated in marathons in Afghanistan, Oman, Jordan, South Africa, Zambia, Ireland, Scotland and Tunisia.

Next month, he will be in South Africa for a 90-km marathon.

He wrote regularly for a tourism magazine and gave an interview to South African radio which catered to about three million people.

He is planning to write books on Kerala.

''At first people were surprised to find a foreigner running on the road. But very quickly they came to know about it and a large number of people joined us impromptu. The high point was when Kerala's former sprint queen P T Usha joined us,'' he said.

Beating the heat and the rain in the last phase, they ran 30 km every day and on the last day, covered 70 km in 10 hours to complete it. During the journey, they played football with children, relished desi-cuisines, visited local libraries, toddy shops, and mingled with the old and young.

UNI