Kumbalangi

Kumbalangi
village
Kumbalangi Location in Kerala, India Kumbalangi Kumbalangi (India)
Coordinates: 9.88°N 76.29°E / 9.88; 76.29
Country	India
State	Kerala
District	Ernakulam
Population  (2001)
• Total	40,331
Languages
• Official	Malayalam, English
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	682007
Vehicle registration	KL-7 / KL-43
Nearest city	Kochi

Kumbalangi village

Chinese fishing nets

Kumbalangi walk

Kumbalangy is a suburb of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India, located in the district of Ernakulam.

Location and geography

Kumbalangy is an island-village on the outskirts of Cochin city. The village is 16 km² in area. Kumbalangy is 15 km from the South Railway Station and 45 km from the Kochi International Airport.

Population and economy

Nearly 1,00,000 people live in the village.

The main occupation in Kumbalangy is fishing, and there are over 100 Chinese nets in the backwaters that face the village. Groves of mangroves separate the land from the water, providing a breeding ground for prawns, crabs, oysters and small fishes. It is home to fishermen, farmers, labourers, toddy tappers and coir spinners.

An occupation which has seen quite a revival is that of boatmen. The village is well connected by road to the mainland, and the local community did not patronize them very much. However, tourists are keen on cruises. Fisher folk and boatmen also demonstrate various fishing techniques for the tourists.

Model tourism village

In 2003 the Kerala government selected several villages as model villages. The Kumbalangy Integrated Tourism Village project is meant to transform the tiny island into a model fishing village and tourism spot. The panchayat (village council), with financial assistance from the state government, is implementing the project.

"The Kumbalangy project was set in motion in 2003 to help the local people, the economy and the locality through tourism," says M C Sivadathan, President of the Kumbalangy panchayat. "And in order to achieve this, we have done away with many concepts typical of tourism elsewhere. Our idea is to create job opportunities for the villagers, while also ensuring that tourists have a good time seeing and experiencing real village life," he explains.

Currently, ten houses offer rooms to visitors. This facility is generally within a residence, where two or more rooms with attached baths are set aside for guests. The tourists sit with the host family and eat the same food. They can walk through the village, watch fishermen at work, fish themselves, go canoeing and visit the farms. Tourists also find that there is no huge communication gap, because at least one member in a family, if not all, can converse in English.

Artists' village

Under the Kumbalangy project, Kalagraamam, an artists' village, is also being set up. The initial plans were to erect a cottage in the middle of the backwaters. Later, the panchayat members, tourism secretary and the tourism minister all agreed that this would disturb the backwaters ecology. Kalagraamam, therefore, will now stand on four acres of land inside Kumbalangy. It will showcase the traditional fishing equipment and handicrafts of the region.

Pokkali farming

Another goal the project has is to bring the village back to a time when it was more ecologically balanced - about 25 years ago. Towards this, pokkali farming, a crop pattern that alternates between rice and fish (each for six months a year), is being brought back. Mangroves, which were once in abundance in the region, are being planted again. So far, about 50,000 mangrove saplings have been planted in the area.

Infrastructure

The Kumbalangy panchayat is aware that being a tourist destination also brings with it greater responsibilities. "Tourists will not come unless there are proper roads and lights. So, the roads and canals have been strengthened, CFC lamps have been installed, and 600 biogas plants have been set up for waste management. Kumbalangy is also the first panchayat in the state to set up such a waste management system. A park has also been constructed for visitors to relax in. The most remarkable thing about this project is that what we do for the tourists also directly benefits the local population," Sivadathan says.