There are big differences from place to place in India. Kerala – at least this small town – seems a lot better organized than what I saw in Tiruvannamalai. At night sometimes there, I had to close the shutters, despite the 30+ degree heat, because people burn rubbish in the streets, including plastics, which create dangerous fumes. They burn it because the municipality doesn’t collect it. It doesn’t collect it because the officials are corrupt, and, according to my host there’s questionable arguments, because people there are mostly illiterate, don’t understand anything about health or hygiene and have no idea what cancer is. Whereas here in Kumily, they separate the garbage, collect it every day, fine anybody who tries to burn it, and even smoking in public is a punishable offence. The national park is off-limits to anybody who doesn’t have a permit, and they have eliminated poaching of animals and sandalwood trees by placing guards and CCTV cameras everywhere.
