KOCHI: It was a covenant — sealed with water — between the narrative and the reader that had to be kept. And, when a group of ten women from New York flew down to Kerala last month to experience the life and experiences narrated in Abraham Verghese’s epic novel, ‘The Covenant of Water,’ they could not help but feel the awakening that comes from the pages of a beloved tome coming alive.
The novel by the US-based physician and author, published in 2023, is set in Kerala — in a fictional riverside town of Parambil — and follows three generations of a Christian family.
It was inspired by Verghese’s mother Mariam, who wrote a 100-page manuscript on her family’s life and stories. After the novel was on the New York Times bestseller list for 37 weeks, it gained further traction when talk show host and TV producer Oprah Winfrey bought the movie rights. The visiting women from the Big Apple, aged between 68 and 72, had read the book after it was selected to Oprah’s book club.
As part of their one-week trip, they spent a day at the Madukakkunnu farm, in Kottayam, run by Jose Dominic, a pioneer of sustainable tourism, to experience the cuisine, nature, lifestyle, culture and traditions described in the book.
Minnesota public radio journalist Kerri Miller, who is also the founder of SirenSojourns, an adventure travel company for people who love to read, curated the travel. Miller, who terms herself as ‘chief enthusiast’, said she planned the trip to Kerala along the places mentioned in Verghese’s over 700-page novel after she interviewed him as part of a book tour.
Another ‘Covenant’-themed trip to Kerala is planned for Nov
Miller, however, couldn’t accompany the group since she was denied a visa. “I’m a huge fan of Dr Abraham Verghese and decided the night of the interview with him in 2023 that I wanted to bring a group of travellers to the setting of the book,” she told TNIE via email.
“I chose Verghese’s book because I had interviewed him on stage for a literary series called Talking Volumes. And I absolutely love the book!” she said.
“The setting is so evocative and the sweep of history that he covers is absorbing. I’ve been told that the group loved the experience. I hope to experience it next year if I can obtain a visa. I will come to India with a new group,” Miller said.
She has planned another ‘Covenant ’-themed trip to Kerala this November. SirenSojourns organises tours to places mentioned in best-selling books by authors from around the world.
Dominic said members of the group visited the farm to discuss the book and experience the time frame and culture of the era mentioned in it. “I could relate to the novel and hence was able to provide the group with the experience that they were in search of,” he said.
The women spent a day at the farmstead discussing culture and traditions and tasting dishes like fish moilee, avial, and other delicacies. “They were surprised to know the system of arranged marriage still existed in Kerala. They were unable to comprehend how two persons could meet, talk and then agree to marry within a span of five to ten minutes,” Jose added.
Literary tourism is, however, not something new in the state. Earlier, Aymanam, a nondescript village in Kottayam, was catapulted onto the global stage after Arundhati Roy’s ‘God of Small Things’ came out in 1997. For a period, travellers came from different parts of the world to meet the characters, and experience the cuisine and culture that dot the Booker Prize-winning book. Tourists were spotted with backpacks walking down its dusty roads, seeking boat rides on the Meenachil river and trying out local delicacies.
In 2022, Condé Nast listed Aymanam as one of the world’s 30 best places to visit. In 2020, the state government declared Aymanam a model tourism village and in 2021 it won the World Travel Market’s ‘One to Watch’ award.