{"id":2278,"date":"2015-03-24T13:23:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T13:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/?p=2278"},"modified":"2015-03-24T13:23:45","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T13:23:45","slug":"kerala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/?p=2278","title":{"rendered":"K\u00e9rala"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

J\u2019ai pass\u00e9 avec Paul quatre semaines au K\u00e9rala en janvier et f\u00e9vrier. C\u2019\u00e9tait notre premier voyage en Inde.
\nJe savais que nous serions surpris et tr\u00e8s d\u00e9pays\u00e9s, mais la surprise n\u2019est pas toujours l\u00e0 o\u00f9 l\u2019on croit.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nI spent four weeks with Paul in Kerala in January and February. It was our first trip to India.<\/strong>
\n I knew we would be surprised and disoriented, but the surprise is not always where we think.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nous n\u2019\u00e9tions pas tellement loin de l\u2019\u00c9quateur (entre 8 et 12 degr\u00e9s de latitude nord)\u00a0: il fait jour pendant environ douze heures (de sept heures \u00e0 sept heures), et il n\u2019y a pas beaucoup de variation pendant l\u2019ann\u00e9e. Alors que c\u2019\u00e9tait la m\u00eame chose chez nous pendant cette p\u00e9riode, je trouvais cela singuli\u00e8rement oppressant, car j\u2019imaginais que cette r\u00e9gion ne conna\u00eet jamais nos interminables soir\u00e9es o\u00f9 la nuit tombe \u00e0 dix heures.
\nMon corps \u201csait\u201d que quand il fait tr\u00e8s chaud, la nuit vient tard. Nous avions tr\u00e8s chaud et pourtant la nuit venait comme en hiver…
\n\"\"<\/a>We were not so far away from the equator (between 8 and 12 degrees north latitude): it is day for about twelve hours (from 7:00 to 7:00), and there is not much variation during the year. While it was the same in our country during this time, I felt this particularly oppressive because I imagined that this region never knows our endless evenings when night falls at ten pm.<\/strong>
\n My body \u00ab\u00a0knows\u00a0\u00bb that when it is very hot, the night comes later. It was very hot, yet night came like in winter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nous avons choisi le K\u00e9rala o\u00f9 il y a moins de mis\u00e8re que dans d\u2019autres \u00e9tats de l\u2019Inde. En arrivant, j\u2019ai \u00e9t\u00e9 effray\u00e9e par la salet\u00e9, les ordures qui br\u00fblent le long des rues. Mais les gens sont tr\u00e8s propres. Les femmes en particulier, ayant acc\u00e8s \u00e0 plus de diversit\u00e9, sont d\u2019une \u00e9l\u00e9gance extr\u00eame, et je ne me lassais pas de les regarder.
\nComme le dit Paul, ce n\u2019est pas une \u201cmis\u00e8re d\u00e9sesp\u00e9r\u00e9e\u201d. Le plus souvent les gens ont l\u2019air heureux. Je ne peux pas me permettre de l\u2019affirmer, la vie est tr\u00e8s dure pour la majorit\u00e9 des gens. Mais peut-\u00eatre ont-ils plus de raisons de lutter que chez nous, o\u00f9 j\u2019ai l\u2019impression que le pays sombre peu \u00e0 peu.
\n\"\"<\/a>We chose Kerala where there is less poverty than in other states of India. When we arrived, I was frightened by dirt, burning trash along the streets. But people are very clean. Women in particular, with access to more diversity, are extremely elegant, and I could look at them without never stop.<\/strong>
\n As Paul says, it is not a \u00ab\u00a0hopeless misery.\u00a0\u00bb Most often people look happy. I can\u2019t confirm, life is very hard for most people. But maybe they have more reason to fight than here, where it seems that one drowns little by little.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Je ne sais pas ce qui m\u2019a le plus surprise\u00a0: peut-\u00eatre la gentillesse des gens. Sans doute les Indiens aiment-ils plus les Fran\u00e7ais que les Anglais. Je pensais souvent \u00e0 la colonisation, et quand nous avons d\u00e9couvert les plantations de th\u00e9 \u00e0 perte de vue, initiative anglaise, j\u2019essayais d\u2019imaginer la for\u00eat originelle avant le d\u00e9boisement. Cette mesure est \u00e0 l\u2019origine de paysages fantastiques, et aujourd\u2019hui la cueillette du th\u00e9 emploie des quantit\u00e9s de gens. Mais que serait le pays s\u2019il n\u2019\u00e9tait pas pass\u00e9 par l\u2019\u00e9tape de la colonisation\u00a0? La question reste pos\u00e9e, au K\u00e9rala comme ailleurs. \"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI do not know what surprised me the more: perhaps the friendliness of the people. Maybe Indians\u00a0 like more French than English people. I often thought to colonization, and when we saw the infinite tea plantations, English initiative, I tried to imagine the original forest before deforestation. This measure is at the origin of fantastic landscapes and now picking tea employs lots of people. But what would the country be like without the period of colonization? The question remains, in Kerala and elsewhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nJe parlais de la gentillesse des gens. Et j\u2019ai souvent pens\u00e9 \u00e0 ma ni\u00e8ce \u00c9lisabeth, lorsqu\u2019elle est revenue d\u2019un s\u00e9jour au S\u00e9nagal, o\u00f9 elle avait pris pour habitude de saluer tout le monde si elle rentrait dans un lieu public.
\nAu S\u00e9nagal, au K\u00e9rala et ailleurs, les gens sont ouverts, souriants. Sans doute que nous sommes trop ferm\u00e9s – nous, mais nous qui\u00a0? Les Fran\u00e7ais, les Occidentaux\u00a0?
\nJ\u2019ai beaucoup aim\u00e9 l\u2019\u00e9change de saluts cordiaux, qui va parfois jusqu\u2019\u00e0 la poign\u00e9e de main, et qui va m\u00eame jusqu\u2019\u00e0 la s\u00e9ance photo, laquelle peut durer des heures si on laisse faire.
\nC\u2019est chaleureux, c\u2019est sympathique. Les gens \u00e9taient heureux de nous dire bonjour, souvent avec chaleur, parfois avec une fougue ravie.
\n\"\"<\/a>I was talking about the kindness of the people. And I have often thought of my niece Elizabeth, when she returned from a stay at Senegal, where she had made a habit of greeting everyone if she came into a public place.<\/strong>
\n In Senegal, in Kerala and elsewhere, people are open, smiling. No doubt we are too closed – \u201cwe\u201d, but who? The French, Westerners?<\/strong>
\n I enjoyed to exchange cordial greetings, with sometimes handshake, and even the photo shoot, which can last for hours if you let them.<\/strong>
\n It’s warm, it’s friendly. People were happy to say hello, often with warmth, sometimes with a happy impetuousness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dans ce contexte, le poids de la hi\u00e9rarchie est devenu d\u2019autant plus d\u00e9sagr\u00e9able\u00a0: nous avons voyag\u00e9 plusieurs jours avec le m\u00eame chauffeur, un homme plein de gentillesse, attentionn\u00e9. Mais il n\u2019avait pas les m\u00eames droits que nous, par exemple il ne rentrait jamais dans nos lieux d\u2019h\u00e9bergement. Et moi, \u201cje suis si affadi apr\u00e8s la libert\u00e9, que, qui me d\u00e9fendrait l\u2019acc\u00e8s de quelque coin des Indes, j\u2019en vivrais aucunement plus mal \u00e0 mon aise.\u201d Montaigne<\/em> \u201cDon\u2019t worry\u201d m\u2019a dit Sumesh, le chauffeur, quand j\u2019ai compris que le plus souvent il dort dans la voiture. Je n\u2019\u00e9tais pas en souci, j\u2019\u00e9tais dans une grande col\u00e8re.
\nChez moi rentre qui veut\u00a0! En recevant des helpers comme nous le faisons, nous h\u00e9bergeons des gens qui viennent de partout sur la plan\u00e8te et partagent notre intimit\u00e9.
\nApr\u00e8s tout, la France a connu 1789 et mai 68, je me demande si malgr\u00e9 tout ce que je conteste dans mon pays, il n\u2019en reste pas quelque chose. M\u00eame si les comportements en France sont\u00a0 souvent tr\u00e8s conventionnels. Dans mon pays j\u2019ai l\u2019habitude de ces contradictions. Au K\u00e9rala, j\u2019ai manqu\u00e9 de rep\u00e8res.
\n\"\"<\/a>In this context, the weight of the hierarchy has become unpleasant: we traveled several days with the same driver, a man full of kindness, taking so much care of us. But he did not have the same rights as us, for example, he never came into our accommodation. And I, \u201cI am so fervent after freedom, if someone forbade me to go to any place of India I feel uncomfortable.\u201d <\/strong>Montaigne<\/em> \u201cDon\u2019t worry\u201d Sumesh, the driver, told me, when I realized that most often he sleeps in the car. I was not worried, I was very angry.<\/strong>
\n Those who want may come into my home! Receiving helpers as we do, we host people from all over the world and they share our privacy.<\/strong>
\n After all, France experienced 1789 and May 68: doesn\u2019t something remain? – I wonder this, in spite of all that I dispute in my country. Although behaviors in France are often very conventional. In my country I’m used to these contradictions. In Kerala, I missed landmarks.<\/strong>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Riz - Rice<\/p><\/div>\n

Je ne voudrais pas continuer sans remercier \u201cKST Tours\u201d qui nous a aid\u00e9s \u00e0 organiser la plus grande partie de notre s\u00e9jour au K\u00e9rala. Christian et Michel sont fran\u00e7ais, mais tr\u00e8s respectueux de la culture du pays qu\u2019ils aiment et aident \u00e0 conna\u00eetre.<\/em>
\n Bien entendu, ils ne sont pas responsables de ce poids de la hi\u00e9rarchie dans la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 k\u00e9ralaise\u00a0!<\/em>
\n\"\"<\/a> I would not go on without thanking \u00ab\u00a0KST Tours\u00a0\u00bb who helped organize most of our stay in Kerala. Christian and Michel are French, but very respectful of the culture of the country they love and help us to know.<\/em><\/strong>
\n Of course, they are not accountable for the weight of the hierarchy in the Kerala society!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>La premi\u00e8re perte de rep\u00e8re, c\u2019est sans doute le premier trajet en voiture. \u201cPoussez-vous, j\u2019y vais\u00a0!\u201d, ou plut\u00f4t \u201cTuuuut\u00a0!!! Poussez-vous j\u2019y vais\u00a0!\u201d \u00c7a commence comme \u00e7a, chacun force le passage. Les plus gros passent les premiers (Mention sp\u00e9ciale pour les bus, r\u00e9put\u00e9s provoquer de nombreux accidents souvent mortels. Ils klaxonnent pour qu’on les laisse passer, et on les laisse passer).
\nTout conducteur se faufile m\u00eame quand il vient des v\u00e9hicules de toutes les directions. Alors le plus souvent on se retrouve \u00e0 cheval sur la ligne continue en face d\u2019une autre voiture, et chacun calcule s\u2019il doit acc\u00e9l\u00e9rer, ou freiner pour abandonner le d\u00e9passement.
\nIl para\u00eet que notre permis de conduire n\u2019est pas reconnu au K\u00e9rala, et j\u2019aime autant \u00e7a. Je n\u2019ai jamais eu peur en voiture ni en auto-rickshaw, moi qui me mets vite \u00e0 trembler en France. Les conducteurs indiens sont fantastiques.
\n\"\"<\/a>The first loss of landmarks was probably the first time when we went into a car. \u201cPush yourself I go!\u201d, or rather \u201cTuuuut !!! Push yourself I go!\u201d It starts like this, each forcing the passage. The biggest goes first (Special mention for buses, often causing fatal accidents. They honk for other to let them go, and other let them go).<\/strong>
\n Any driver slips through traffic even when vehicles are coming from all directions. So often we are in the middle of the street in front of another car, and each one calculates whether to speed up or slow down to drop the overtaking.<\/strong>
\n It seems that our license is not recognized in Kerala, and I like it. I’ve never been scared, being in a car or an auto-rickshaw, yet I quickly start to tremble in France. Indian drivers are fantastic.\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Plus d\u2019un mois apr\u00e8s ce voyage, il me reste d\u00e8s que je pense au K\u00e9rala une impression de foisonnement, de foule, d\u2019agitation. D\u2019abondance – mais o\u00f9 va toute cette nourriture expos\u00e9e en quantit\u00e9 sur des march\u00e9s tr\u00e8s pittoresques, quand elle est trop fan\u00e9e pour \u00eatre vendue\u00a0?
\nJe pense \u00e0 cet homme \u00e0 qui nous avons achet\u00e9 quelques v\u00eatements\u00a0: il nous a dit que nous \u00e9tions ses premiers clients de la journ\u00e9e, il \u00e9tait quinze heures. Toute la rue proposait des boutiques avec abondance de marchandises, et les boutiques dans l\u2019ensemble \u00e9taient d\u00e9sertes.
\n\"\"<\/a>More than a month after that trip, when I think of Kerala I remember first abundance, crowd unrest. Abundance – but what do they do with all this food in quantity exposed on very picturesque markets, when it is too faded to be sold?<\/strong>
\n I think of the man to whom we bought some clothes: he told us that we were the first customers of the day, it was three pm. In the street there were shops with plenty of goods, and the shops were empty.\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nous \u00e9tions vraiment sur une autre plan\u00e8te. Un autre climat, une autre v\u00e9g\u00e9tation, une autre culture, des attitudes diff\u00e9rentes. Voir grimper le poivrier sur un autre arbre, d\u00e9couvrir la graine de cardamome cach\u00e9e sous la plante, manger le fruit du caf\u00e9ier, voir passer au bord de la route un \u00e9l\u00e9phant et son cornac, d\u00e9couvrir d\u2019innombrables petits m\u00e9tiers qui n\u2019ont jamais exist\u00e9 chez nous, ou qui ont disparu… Je me suis sentie accept\u00e9e mais aussi \u00e9trang\u00e8re, irr\u00e9m\u00e9diablement. Et j\u2019ai souvent pens\u00e9 non pas aux touristes, mais aux migrants de tous les pays et de toutes les \u00e9poques, qui mettent le pied sur une terre dont ils ignorent tout, et d\u2019abord la langue\u00a0: comme c\u2019est difficile de s\u2019expatrier\u00a0!
\nLe K\u00e9rala m\u2019a rappel\u00e9 que j\u2019ai la chance d\u2019avoir des racines.\"\"<\/a>
\n We were really on another planet. Another climate, another vegetation, another culture, different attitudes. We saw pepper climbing on another tree, we discovered cardamom seed hidden under the plant, we ate the fruit of the coffee tree, we saw an elephant and its driver walking on the roadside, we discovered countless small trades that never existed in our country, or that have disappeared … I felt accepted but also foreign, hopelessly. And I have often thought not of tourists, but of migrants from all countries and all ages, who arrive on a land about which they know nothing, and, first the language: how difficult it is to emigrate!<\/strong>
\n Kerala reminded me that I’m lucky to have roots.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
\nJe n\u2019aime pas beaucoup \u00eatre une touriste, et je ne veux pas \u00eatre une intruse.
\nC\u2019est la raison pour laquelle, au K\u00e9rala, j\u2019ai toujours couvert mes \u00e9paules et mes jambes malgr\u00e9 la chaleur, une chose que je ne supporte pas chez moi. Je n\u2019oublierai jamais l\u2019\u00e9clat de rire d\u2019une Indienne en voyant une femme qu\u2019elle trouvait grotesque, rire pas du tout m\u00e9chant, mais je n\u2019aurais pas souhait\u00e9 que l\u2019on rit de moi de cette fa\u00e7on.
\nJe veux \u00eatre \u00e0 \u00e9galit\u00e9 avec mes semblables.\u00a0 Chez moi, je fais comme il me pla\u00eet\u00a0; chez les autres je fais des concessions. Les v\u00eatements que je porte, c\u2019est comme une fa\u00e7on de m\u2019excuser\u00a0: \u201cje viens chez vous, et je fais ce que je peux pour ne pas trop d\u00e9ranger.\u201d
\nMais c\u2019est impossible.
\n\"\"<\/a>I do not like a lot being a tourist, and I do not want to be an intruder.<\/strong>
\n That is why, in Kerala, I always covered my shoulders and my legs despite the heat, one thing that I cant\u2019t bear in my home. I will never forget the laughter of an Indian woman when she saw a woman who looked grotesque fort her, laugh not bad at all, but I would not wish that one laughs at me that way.<\/strong>
\n I want to be equal with my peers. At home I do as I like; among others I make concessions. The clothing that I wear is as a way to apologize: \u201cI come to you, and I do what I can not to disturb.\u201d<\/strong>
\n But this is impossible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Au K\u00e9rala, les gens ont toujours \u00e9t\u00e9 de la plus grande gentillesse avec nous. Cela est confortable et d\u00e9rangeant\u00a0: on nous respectait, on nous \u00e9coutait, on nous manifestait de l\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat. Mais les pr\u00e9venances sont excessives, au respect s\u2019ajoute la hi\u00e9rarchie. Je peux porter ma valise et pousser une voiture en panne, pourquoi pas\u00a0? Et j\u2019ai bien senti que je n\u2019\u00e9tais pas \u00e0 ma place si je faisais cela.
\n\"\"<\/a> In Kerala, people have always been of the utmost kindness with us. It is comfortable and disturbing: they respected us, they listened to us, they showed us interest. But there was too much consideration, I felt the hierarchy. I can carry my bag and push a broken down car, why not? And I did feel that I was not in my place if I did that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Quand je suis en voyage, le plus souvent il me manque quelque chose\u00a0: je me sens passive, consommatrice. Pour avoir un impact sur le lieu o\u00f9 je me trouve, je pense qu\u2019il me faut travailler – je pense que l\u2019exp\u00e9rience d\u2019\u00eatre \u201chelper\u201d chez les autres me conviendrait.
\nJe voudrais \u00eatre valoris\u00e9e pour ce que je sais faire, ne pas subir la d\u00e9f\u00e9rence des autres sans rien faire pour la m\u00e9riter.
\nWhen I’m traveling, most of the time I miss something, I feel as a passive consumer. I think I need to work to have an impact on where I am – I think the experience of being \u201chelper\u201d in other places can be good for me.<\/strong>
\n I want to be valued for what I can do, I don\u2019t want to obtain the deference of others without doing anything to earn it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Il m\u2019a fallu tr\u00e8s longtemps pour r\u00e9diger ces lignes. J\u2019esp\u00e8re qu\u2019elles ne sont pas ambig\u00fces. J\u2019esp\u00e8re que j\u2019ai su traduire mon respect et mon amour pour tous ces gens que nous avons crois\u00e9s, et pour ce magnifique pays.
\n It has been long for me to write this. I hope this text is not ambiguous. I hope I have been able to translate my respect and love for all the people we met, and for this splendid country.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

J\u2019ai pass\u00e9 avec Paul quatre semaines au K\u00e9rala en janvier et f\u00e9vrier. C\u2019\u00e9tait notre premier voyage en Inde. Je savais que nous serions surpris et tr\u00e8s d\u00e9pays\u00e9s, mais la surprise n\u2019est pas toujours l\u00e0 o\u00f9 l\u2019on croit. I spent four … Continuer la lecture →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2278"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2351,"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278\/revisions\/2351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pasassezdetemps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}