A mission to boost tourism in Kottayam has seen street art embedded in the village as a part of depicting the culture and tradition of the place.
A street full of art is being built up in the village of Maravanthuruthu located in the Kottayam district of Kerala as a piece of the Responsible Tourism Mission by the tourism department of the state in order to develop this location as an orderly tourist destination to explore.
The roadway presently contains murals or graffiti depicting the local flora and wildlife, history, folklore, art forms, festivals, and traditional jobs such as toddy tapping on the avenue walls and buildings on each side of a 2-kilometer length of the village's lane.
Mr. Rupesh Kumar K, state coordinator of RT mission revealed such a project to be the first of its type to launch in the state of Kerala in Maravanthuruthu as an effort to increase tourist activities in a unique way. The first stage of the mission has been done by the 50 volunteers who opted to paint 1-kilometer of the stretch working for three consecutive days. The volunteers belonged to the non-profit organization of ‘Captains Social Foundation’. The villagers had to only arrange the paints for the volunteers to do justice to their culture with their skills.
Jasim Ummar, coordinator of the organization commented on the process of this creative project as the artists had conversations with the elderly and local community to further understand and imprint the same stories and history on the walls and buildings. The Panchayat provided lodging for the artists at a school in the local region while the residents joined in to provide food for the artists. As the first phase has been dealt with, in the second phase the remaining 1-kilometer lane will be tackled by the end of the month of September.
Mr. Rupesh K also quoted the possibilities and ideal way this is supposed to be handled as the art street is supposed to lead into a water street where tourists can enjoy boat and Shikara rides among canals and waterways cleaned as a part of this project. The rides will come to a stop at houses showcasing the same thing observed on the art walls such as toddy tapping or art forms like ‘theeyattu’, ‘garudan thookku’, etc. which will provide a direct experience.
As the concept solidifies, more houses will join the movement as well as be transformed into homestays. Certified guides and a local community tour leader will get involved in order to provide more information on the paintings. An amount will be charged by the tourists who will later be given away to houses equally.
Aside from the compound walls of numerous residences in the neighborhood, the artists also painted the walls of an LP school and a reading library on the street. Rupesh noted that street walks and storytelling trials will begin soon.
