An elderly woman in Kozhikode, Kerala, was recently honoured by the Motor Vehicles Department for confronting a traffic violator. The septuagenarian blocked the way as a motorist attempted to bypass the traffic by riding his scooty on the footpath. Then a video of a spotless Kannur Railway Station went viral, prompting some to quip, ‘AI hai’. These incidents came up around the time of my recent visit to Kerala. The trip showed me why God’s Own Country is winning the North-South debate any day, at least as far as civic sense is concerned.
Having been raised in Delhi, my travels were largely confined to the North. Hence, venturing down to the South was nothing short of a cultural shock. And I’m not talking about beef and porotta on most menus there, but civic responsibility, which has become an alien concept for us North Indians.
The North-South tussle isn’t just an academic exercise. It is more than a debate about economic growth and social indicators. It is a lived reality.
One can feel the difference the moment the train enters Kerala—cleaner railway platforms, more hygienic food stalls, orderly passengers, no stench, and, of course, fresh air. Never had I seen people patiently waiting for passengers to get off the train before making their way in. Or not jostling inside the general coach to grab a seat. Behaving this way in Delhi would simply mean missing the train, because jumping the queue comes naturally to Dilliwalas.
Hitting the road in Kerala is another way to witness why the state is ahead of its northern peers. If there is something rarer than spotting a snow leopard in the Himalayas, it’s a two-way road in India where no one is itching to cross the white line, even when one side is choked, and the other is free. In Kerala, however, it’s a common sight.
Helmets dangling from two-wheelers in a public parking lot without being secured with a lock, too, came as a surprise to me. It’s something I hesitate to do in the national capital, given past experiences.
Also read: Kerala, Keral, Keralam. I’m a Malayali and the name change is more annoyance than pride
Can’t ignore the difference
Kerala’s high literacy rate (95.3 per cent)—a statistic North Indians often shamelessly invoke to mock Malayalis—isn’t just on paper. It’s felt every time you board a train, every time drivers promptly make way for the ambulance, every time you see people using zebra crossings, and also when no one is ogling bikini-clad women on the beach.
I spent just four days in Kerala, which some might say is not enough to get to know a new place. But that’s precisely the point. The difference—between how states and their people in the North and South function—is so evident that you just can’t ignore it.
Of course, Kerala is no ideal state. Even if it’s South, it’s still India. Litter is not completely absent from public spaces, and unruly drivers are there too. But people who believe in maintaining order far outnumber them.
What Keralma teaches is that civic sense is not difficult to cultivate. And that it’s not just the delicious food and scenic beaches alone that make the state so beautiful.
North Indians have won the ‘zero civic sense’ trend. Now they need a crash course from Malayalis.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)