Much has been written about the scenic beauty of the South Indian state of Kerala - called ''God''s own country'' - and this
information is available in detail through the internet. Whether it is tourist attractions, shopping, festivals, food, cultural shows, entertainment, places to go, or anything and everything else - you have it there on the net. So what else is there? A place is made up of the
people who live there. And who lives in Kerala? Officially the inhabitants are called ''Keralite'' or ''Malayalee'' - the latter derived from the language of the land, Malayalam. Unofficially they are called ''Mallu''. And what are these people like. There is a report (to be verified) that Bill Gates described South Indians as the most intelligent people in the
world after the Chinese. Keralitiea may not agree with him - they believe they are the smartest in the world! Other Indians believe the Malayalee is too smart for his own good. But they are certainly an optimistic, self confident (over confident?) lot. What is a typical Mallu really like? The following story may help to give an idea: An American was buying crabs in Kerala to ship them to the US. He was surprised to see the live crabs were loaded onto the ship in uncovered baskets. He protested to the suppliers, saying none would be remaining by the time the ship reached its destination. But the man assured him the consignment would reach intact. "They are Malayalee crabs. If one tries to climb up the others will pull him down". Another popular story to describe the Mallu goes like this: When God created the world and was allotting the different lands to the different people, He first selected the Jews – His own people. He knew they would always get his blessings and so gave them the worst land. Then he took the second best people and gave them the second worst land. And this went on and on till only the Mallu was left – obviously the worst of the lot! God found there was no land left so He gave them His own land. And that is how we Malayalees came to be in “God’s Own Country”!!