ALAPPUZHA
Beaches, paddy fields, backwaters, the quintessential kettuvallams (rice barges) and waterfront toddy shops, Alappuzha in Kerala, India has it all that the tour brochure promises.
Alappuzha, also known as Alleppey, is a city in Alappuzha District of Kerala state of southern India.It is the administrative headquarters of Alappuzha District.This town is considered to be the oldest planned town in this region and the lighthouse built on the coast of the town is the first of its kind along the Laccadive Sea coast (reference encyclopaedia of Kerala in Malayalam language)
What it also has – and what is, perhaps, not as extensively documented for the internet generation traveller – is a fascinating history. Its centuries-old international trade connections, early links with the rise of Christianity and political turbulence of the 1940s all make Alappuzha a historian’s haunt.
A group of Malayalis on the internet is digitising these slices of history on to Wikipedia in what could be a first for an Indian city. The Malayalam Wikipedians, as part of the world-wide Quick Response (QR) Pedia initiative, have commenced groundwork on an ambitious project where information on about 150 locations of prominence in Alappuzha will be collected and digitised as QR codes into boards to be placed at the locations.
Full report here ETN
