Villagers in Kerala Weaving Coconut Fibre Into Ropes

We met some lovely villagers on the way to Kumarakom. Suresh our driver, just stopped the car seeing that we were interested as we had remarked about spotting a well. He then drove into a narrow path where we could see coconut coils being made into ropes like frail looking but strong jovial women. It looked like hay to me.

They were so good-natured to just pose for the camera and didn’t ask for a thing in return. The little girl, who was probably a child of a neighbour seemed a bit shy and shell-shocked to see the strange noisy tourists who were dressed funny. I noticed that many little girls in South India have very short hair. This is because they often have their heads shaved in Hindu ceremonies, especially upon birth or when they have survived an illness and want to do a ceremony to thank God.