conversation with mr thomas tharian

Me: Hello, thanks so much for coming to meet us.

Mr t: no problem. so yes, ask me whatever you like, ill tell you.

Me: ok so maybe we can start with a short introduction. What do you do sir?

Mr t:I own a homestay here in fort kochi. After tourism boomed here,we moved to enrakulam and started a homestay here. Its amazing. 5-6 years back there were only 5-6 hotel in fort kochi. Now as you can see, there are big hotels like the harbor hotel, and there are hundreds of homestays.this has been a recent development.We were a family with 7-8 children, so we divided our fort kochi property amongst the children and we moved to ernakulam.

Me:the old harbor hotel used to be a jewish house right?

Mr t: no actually,that one used to be a house of one of the tea company bosses. It was called old harbour’s house. There’s a hotel called koder house now, in earlier times , S.Koder, who was the head of the jews in kochi used to stay there.I remember him being around when I was a small child.Its quite a beautiful building and has now be made into a very high class hotel. You should go and check it out for yourself.even though the buildings have been renovated, they have still kept the old style intact.

Me:What all has changed in kochi since you’ve been around?

Mr T: you’ve been to mattancherry?

Me: yes, we just went there yesterday.

Mr T: mattancherry, not too long ago, used to a filthy area.Now with tourism booming, kashmiris have come there and have started small handicrafts stores there.stragely, this area that once used to filthy has become a treasure island or businessmen.The container terminal that we can see from here has also been a recent development.the prime minister inaugurated it just a year back.now it is competing with the Colombo port, and I think if the govt relaxes the taxes, rules and such things, it will be the premier port in the area. Its going to be the best business. The place is actually called valadpadam, which funnily means paddy field, look what has developed there now.

The Gosree bridges were also a major development in the area. These are three bridges that connect fort kochi, willingdon island and ernakulam. Huge flats are coming up now there because of these bridges.

Me: what did your father do?

Mr T:My father owned a tea company called AVTT( a v Thomas tea company). He came here for that reason.

Me: what are your views on theboom that kochi is going through?

Mr T: I think its great, kochi has developed in multiples.All are literate here. Its very good for business too and its going to get better.

Me:Where did you study?

Mr T: I studied in st john’s de britto school.We were taught by anglo-indian teachers.There was a girls branch too, It was called st marys girls school.The education was very good. We learn good English.theres lots of goof schools like delta study school and chinmaya vidyalaya.Im very proud of kochin.all the communities that live here love kochi,auto walahs love kochi, they charge the tourists highly! Haha. Even the fishermen cater to the tourists. The heritage is well maintained.

Me: are the tourists mainly from other countries?

Mr T:well mostly, but now even state tourism is coming up in a big way.Lots of I.T companies are coming in for trips. The govt too is encouraging them by giving incentives and funds. Actually,the I.T sector is the cheapest manpower youll find in kerala.all of these people ended up going to the gulf to work because bigger companies were paying more there.

Me: our project is probably going to revolve around food.

Mr t: oh, you get lots of kerala speciality food here. All the tourists want to try out our food.Puttu, which is a steamed cake, is quite a hit, and you get it for really cheap on the roadside and you get really expensive ones in the hotels! In my father’s time, our breakfast used to cost 25 ps, We were fond of appam and curry, puttu and such things.

Me: who generally cooks food in the household?

Mr T: women are in the kitchen all the time, while the men go out and work. But now, men have also started going for hotel management and cooking courses and even they are respectable courses because of the tourism sector. Earlier they weren’t considered to be good courses. Parents would want their children to become doctors, or engineers.earlier parents would be shy to tell others if their son was a chef.

Me:its late, you came from ernakulam right now?

Mr T: oh yes, it was a friend’s wedding, im a bass singer, we had a singing session with a choir.you guys should come to the church on Sunday, I sing in the malayali mass over there.

Me: sure!                                            

Mr t: anyway, I have to go home and eat dinner now, let me know how your project goes and call me if you need any help.

Me: sure sir! Thanks a lot!