Mint ·
From Vizhinjam to Kasaragod: A 769-km journey through Keralam’s fractured infrastructure
An agonizing 33 km/hr cross-state drive along National Highway 66 lays bare the choked roads, delayed projects, and debt trap threatening Keralam’s economic future.
Thiruvanathapuram/Kochi/Kozhikode: A 14.5-foot slab of concrete from the Government Fisheries L.P. School in Kadalundi, in north Keralam, carries more than just student scribbles and a crude painting of local folklore. It carries the weight of memory. When the unsafe school building was slated for demolition in 2024, New York University’s ‘Wall House’—a global initiative preserving history through architectural relics—claimed the wall to feature alongside 300 others at its Abu Dhabi campus.
Then came the question of moving it.
“The biggest challenge was taking it to the Kochi Port,” Munshid Ali, secretary of the Kerala Exporters Forum, tells me. It was his firm that was tasked with the job.
