Keralam – A Tropical Paradise - 1

Tourism is travel for pleasure. No matter how often we travel or how many trips we make in a year, we look forward to every journey with full excitement. Even when we are traveling to a familiar destination, we always find there is something new to discover – a restaurant that wasn’t there before, a hidden cave with sandy beach or any well-known attraction that we have never looked before.

Today’s blog focuses on one of the best beautiful places of India – Kerala, historically known as Keralam. Kerala has emerged as one of the best destinations for traveling or vacations. The state is also known as “God’s Own Country” and “Land of Coconut trees”. It has a rich cultural heritage. Its art and architecture, beautiful hill stations, breathtakingly beautiful beaches, and gracious hospitality make it one of the most popular tourist places to visit in India.

The Peaceful Green

Kerala, the green paradise…

The thick greenery greets you everywhere. It doesn’t matter whether you are in the city, town or a rural village, the green flora waves you everywhere. The color green is the color of nature, fertility, and life. It symbolizes harmony, well-being, and growth. It is said to be the color that relaxes a person. Green grass is the most restful among all greens. Discover a dozen incredible shades of green. It will fascinate and delight your senses, that’s for sure.

Land of Coconuts

Coconut plays an important role in the state economy and culture of Kerala. Kerala is named after the coconut tree(‘Kera’ means Coconut tree, ‘Alam’ means Land). This is why this place is known as “Land of Coconut Trees”. Various terms like Copra and Coir are derived from the Malayalam language. 

Here coconut tree is called “Kalpa Vriksham” which means all parts of a coconut tree are useful in some or the other way. Their leaves are used to make sheds, baskets, and doormats; Husk for making Coir; the Shell for making spoons; and Fruits for making hair oil or for consumption. Coconut is a common ingredient in many Kerala dishes and coconut oil is widely consumed. It is used to make dishes such as appam, idli, dosa, aviyal, fried fish, biryani, etc. coconut paste is used for making traditional curry.


Kerala food is a perfect treat for your stomach and there is no better feeling in the world than a plate full of mouth-watering food on your table.

Rubber Plantation

Kerala is the leading rubber plantation state in India. This crop was brought to India during the British rule. Most of the regions in Kerala grow rubber. It has become the main source of income for many households. It can also be said that coconut plantation has been almost replaced by rubber plantation as it gives daily income to the planters. 

To get the sap from a rubber tree, a thin diagonal cut is made to take off a bit of bark. The latex sap drips out and falls into the bucket or bowl tied with it. After around 6 hours, it stops flowing. During this period, a gallon of latex drips out. Then, the next day, another cut is made to get more latex. The collected latex is then dried and held in smoke to make it strong and convert into rubber.

People and Lifestyle

The people of Kerala are the most simple and very down to earth. They like to live in their world of simplicity and originality. They are known as Keralites. Keralites are very protective of their religion and ancient practices. Art and culture are given a lot of significance. They are proud of their culture. The lifestyle of Keralites is uncomplicated and they seem happy with simple pleasures of life. They speak Malayalam. Education is given due importance. They make it a point that the younger generation knows the religious teachings of their culture.

The people of Kerala dress very ordinarily. They do not believe in showing off. The women dress up in traditional dress ‘Saree’ which requires draping skillfully a six-meter long cloth on oneself. The men mostly wear cotton lungi also referred to as a ‘Mundu’.

Kerala is a perfect picture of nature, culture, colors, and education.

A Healthy tradition

Some customs were followed by Keralites earlier. They had a clear concept of how to eat food when to eat and what to eat. First of all, they knew that food should be eaten only when they are hungry. Food was eaten by sitting on the floor because if food is eaten by sitting on the floor, then enough food can be eaten. This position will help the food to reach the stomach correctly. In other words, it was an exercise too.

Banana leaves were commonly used to eat food instead of plates. There were a lot of benefits to this. When hot dishes are served on the banana leaf, it absorbs the nutrients of the leaf. A flavor produced at that time awakens the taste buds of the person having food. Though not every day, but this custom is still followed on special occasions like marriages, festivals, functions, etc. in most of the parts of south India.