Primitive Industry

Everywhere we look industriousness abounds. India is a land of frantic patience. One of the most depressing examples of primitive industry is that of the Coir Factories in downtown Alleppey. Coir is coconut fiber and we Americans recognize it most familiarly as the doormats on which we wipe our feet.

Here is a factory of the most appalling conditions in which women in saris and men in lungis work on ancient wooden and rust looms in dim light filtered through a strata of coconut fiber dust. Dye vats boil in the background and piles of man made coir rope coil like vipers in every spare inch of ground.

We gingerly inch our way deep into the fabric of India with Mrs. Maria Zacharia who is trying to bring attention to the destruction of ancient architecture in the inner city part of Alleppey with its snaking canals and piles of trash and industrious lungi-wrapped Hindus. Mrs' Zacharia tells us that this coir factory is completely employee-owned which explains its inability to pull itself out of the dark ages. "The employees know their rights better than their duties!" chirps Mrs. Zacharia. She should know. Her husband is in the business as well. He sells natural coconut fiber rope to the French for use in oyster growing beds. The highly biodegradable coir is an ideal growing medium for oysters - far better than any synthetic rope.

We see boats carrying loads of cement and sand - obviously hand-loaded - plying the back waters of Kerala. Ginger root dries in dusty warehouses. All work is extremely under-capitalized and therefore extremely labor-intensive. Salaam - our driver - defends this back-breaking situation. "For every machine you employ, you put 100 people out of work!" I doubt it though since many of the equipment is severely worn and many sit on the side of the road with turbaned heads deep inside their mechanics attempting to get another cough of life from the metal.