The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Tourist spots, backwaters only draw

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Saturday, Jul 19, 2008
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Kerala - Kochi

Tourist spots, backwaters only draw

John L. Paul

Photo:Vipin Chandran

Work hard, party harder: Young IT professionals at work at the Infopark campus. —

KOCHI: Work hard and party harder – the credo of a good share of young professionals, mostly from the high-paying IT sector.

Despite being an emerging IT destination and all the associated frills, Kochi has so far managed to retain her traditional charm. The pub and night-life culture has not set foot here and the city still goes to sleep early. Regular faces dominate the few discotheques and lounge bars here. Same is the case with most coffee-shops, the number of which had increased manifold of late.

But Kochi has its own unique share of entertainment avenues for the young crowd. It has the right and unique combination of beautiful backwaters where boat operators compete to offer packages for anything from on-boat parties and get-togethers to regular conferences in air-conditioned lower deck of boats. It is also centrally located and has a whole lot of idyllic tourist locales in the suburbs – Cherai, Kumbalanghi, Fort Kochi and Mattancherry.

Many are unhappy that Kochi does not have parks and open spaces in residential areas, unlike in places like Bangalore and even Thiruvananthapuram. “The Durbar Hall Ground and the Subhash Bose Park are the only places to go with family, but they are located in the centre of the congested city,” says Swarnima Jayaraj, working with a prominent IT company in Kochi.

“The Marine Drive would have been a good place to unwind, but for slack maintenance and ill-lit walkway. The Mumbai Marine Drive is better maintained. Most young IT professionals from the State go to their native places on weekends. For those from outside the State, it is Athirapilly, Munnar or Wayanad,” she says. Ms. Swarnima wonders why coffee shops are not opening in the city’s fast-developing eastern regions like Kakkanad.

Young and single professionals from outside the State who work in Kochi have much love for the city, which has the ‘right blend of modernity and tradition’. “Most Kochi hotels serve only Kerala food. It would be good if we get more variety food,” says Prasanth Kumar M, a native of Mysore who had worked for two years in Kochi before shifting to Bangalore.

But for this, he was quite at home in Kochi since most Malayalis understand English and Hindi. “The traffic, though chaotic, is better than in Bangalore. But Kochi needs more transportation facilities.

Unlike Bangalore where the number of Kannadigas is falling, Kochi is dominated by the local people. Malayalam dominates the conversation in Kochi’s IT companies, whereas Kannada is sort of unheard in most such firms in Bangalore.”

Mr. Prasanth said that alarmed at the spread of pub culture in Bangalore, the government has imposed some restrictions there. There are many, like 24-year-old Gopakumar M., who says that unlike in places like Bangalore, the work culture in many IT firms in Kerala is just a little better than in government offices.

Having worked for a year in Bangalore, he prefers to debunk the belief that all IT professionals have heavy work pressure.

“A good share of this is hype. But there are many who would not say ‘no’ even if they are burdened with work. With the appraisal system in place, some pretend to work hard, get better rating and thus better salary. But there is little doubt that our work leads to mental drain.

Many also get health problems and a bigger tummy by continuously sitting before the computer.”

This means, the city has to provide more avenues to ensure that youth have better physical and mental health. A few dozen good parks and open spaces will do wonders.

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