Malabar Diaries: The other side of 'idyllic Kerala'

For a non-residents and short-term visitors, the state looks like a real tropical paradise, but there is more than meets the eye.

The drive from the centre of Calicut to Kappad Beach, the spot where Vasco da Gama arrived in 1498, is particularly beautiful in the last few days of April. The colours of the flowers on the gigantic trees are sharper than in other parts of the Malabar-Konkan coast. One sees how this historic city treads in a slow and stable manner in the path to develo…