On a weekday afternoon, Delhi-based travel writer Thommen Jose stood on the banks of the Yamuna and stared at the water. For some reason, he thought of sea erosion. And then, suddenly, an image from the past came swirling up. It was about his 12-km walk along the Kerala coastline, in 2001, during the time he was doing post-graduation in journalism.
“I walked from Shanmugham to Kovalam,” says Jose, during a visit to Kochi. “I followed the coastline. It took me the better part of a day. Along the way I interacted with the local people. At Kovalam I went out on a boat in the high seas with a group of fishermen. We caught fish using nets and smoked a cheroot.”
A few months later, Jose did the walk again. “I grew fond of the journey. But I got a shock when I retraced the path and saw that large slices of the coastline had been eaten away,”
says Jose.
These images sparked an idea in him. He decided to do a walk from one end of Kerala’s coastline to the other—a distance of 590 km. With that in mind, Jose flew to Kochi to do research.
He met with Minister for Fisheries and Harbour Engineering J Mercykutty Amma, who gave him disturbing news. “She said that 50 per cent of the coastline is artificial,” says Jose. “That means, they have built sea walls and groynes (a low wall which juts out into the sea, in order to break the tide, and reduce the ferocity of the lashing) on these stretches.”
It is clear the future is grim. “According to global warming researchers, by 2040, we can sail across the Arctic Circle in a boat because all the ice floes and glaciers would have melted,” says Jose. “This means that the water levels will rise up, and many coastal cities in India and across the world will go underwater.”
To create awareness about the environmental damage, Jose also planned to write a book. But when he approached major book publishers, they only wanted a positive story about his walk. “But that would not be a true account,” says Jose, who already has two road-tripping guidebooks on Agra and Chhattisgarh to his credit.
Meanwhile, if everything goes according to plan, he will start from Kollamkode on January 1, with his camera, laptop, books and clothes.
He is planning to cover 15 km everyday. “I will not be walking continuously,” says Jose. “On the way I will stop and hear stories from people about the impact of global warming.”
And these will be used in his book. “Travel opens your mind and heart, and also makes you happy,” he says.