For most people around the world, inviting someone to their home is a gesture of friendliness and trust. The reason Mr. Verma invited Liang En at this time was naturally to express his goodwill towards him.
On one hand, Liang En is a renowned scholar, and in the eyes of the class-conscious Indians, he is considered a high-status individual. On the other hand, his jewelry design skills are extremely important to the new industry, making it worthwhile to invest in building a relationship with him.
Especially because the jewelry designed by Liang En previously had incorporated Indian local customs and culture, which is something most non-Indian jewelry designers cannot achieve. This aspect deeply impressed Mr. Verma.
After all, every master has their own ideas and is not short of money. So, no matter how wealthy Mr. Verma is, he cannot find a master who aligns with him.
Contrary to Liang En's expectations, although Mr. Verma's jewelry factory is located near northern Mumbai, this is only because he wanted to be close to the industry's center. Mr. Verma himself is from Kerala in southern India.
Kerala is located in the southwestern part of India, bordering the Arabian Sea to the west and the Western Ghats to the east. It is long and narrow from north to south, wider in the middle. The central part is the Malabar Plain, with undulating terrain, while the south is almost entirely hilly, and the northern coastal area has many sand dunes.
The cities are mostly distributed along the coast. The climate is tropical forest, hot and rainy, with an annual rainfall averaging 2,400 millimeters. The forests cover about one-third of the total area, spanning 15,000 square miles, and the territory has 44 rivers.
Of course, the heat here is not too bad. The rainy season is from July to September each year, and the temperature ranges between 23°C and 31°C all year round. In the entire India, this place can even be considered to have a pleasant climate.
Kerala is culturally advanced, an artistic sanctuary, and the only place that has well-preserved ancient classics such as Sanskrit, ancient Indian medicine, astronomy, and the Yoga Sutras. The population of Kerala is composed of 58% Hindus, 21% Muslims, and 21% Christians.
Unlike the overall terrible illiteracy rate in India, Kerala, with a population of 30 million, 80% of whom are rural, has a literacy rate of 93%, and the local average life expectancy is 77 years, higher than the United States' 76 years.
As soon as they got off the plane, they felt the air here was much better than in Mumbai, with a bit of tropical coastal freshness, without the smell of curry mixed with a pile of rotting items.
After leaving the airport, Liang En and the others found that this place did not look like India at all. It looked clean and tidy, completely different from the messy and chaotic parts of most of India.
Although most of the buildings on both sides of the road were bungalows, and there were even some thatched houses that had almost disappeared in China or Western countries, it looked much tidier.
“Unlike people in other parts of India, people here clearly are alive,” Jeanne d'Arc said, looking at the scenery outside the window. “Being willing to organize their rooms and clean up their surroundings shows they have hope, and that’s what is most lacking in India.”
“Yes, this place can be seen as the least like India in the whole of India,” Liang En smiled and said, “And this mainly has to do with the local environment and the local leaders.”
As a state with a long coastline, it is quite normal for this place to have more open thoughts, representing a greater willingness to embrace modernization.
On the other hand, the left-wing rulers’ year after year of enlightening the people has also played a significant role, making the people here not live like the walking dead, but be willing to create their own future with their hands.
On the way to the target estate, they needed to pass through the city of Thiruvananthapuram. Interestingly, they could continuously see red hammer and sickle symbols on both sides of the road, as well as portraits of Marx, Engels, and Lenin appearing on the buildings on both sides of the street.
If it weren’t for the pedestrians on the road wearing Indian-style clothing, Liang En would almost have felt like he was in Cuba. Although he had never been there, the cityscape of Cuba on TV did look somewhat similar to this place.
“Yes, this place is indeed different from the rest of India,” Fan Meng said, looking at the scenery outside the window. He had done some homework in advance. “The people here have the highest literacy rate and the highest educational level in all of India.”
“The reason for this situation is that the history of this state is not in the same system as that of India. Even the Mughal Empire, which once almost ruled the entire Indian subcontinent, did not rule the land of Kerala.”
“This difference is reflected in various aspects, such as government, customs, and even their language, which is not India’s Hindi, but the local Malayalam.”
However, this difference does not seem to be a bad thing now. At least, because of the stable environment here, this place has become a target for many investments and a destination for tourists, which in turn has promoted local development.
“I think we’ve arrived,” said the driver with a touch of pride in his Indian-accented English as the car drove onto a section of road much better than before. “Now, the land on both sides of the road, including this road itself, belongs to Mr. Verma’s family.”
“This road is pretty good,” Liang En nodded slightly as he looked at the two-lane road. Although this kind of road was relatively simple among roads, considering India’s overall traffic level, it was already quite good.
The most important thing is that building such a road to a high standard is a very costly practice, and for Indians, privately building such a road serves both practical and ostentatious purposes, which is very important.
The practical function is mentioned because Jeanne d'Arc just asked the driver how long this road is, and the driver told her it is 35 kilometers. This land area far exceeds most people’s imagination, making such a road very valuable.
In addition, the driver also told them that Mr. Verma owns an astonishing 3,000 square kilometers of land. Yes, that’s square kilometers, not hectares or acres.
“This is equivalent to the land area of a well-managed duke in our area,” Jeanne d'Arc whispered. In her era, many nobles had their own territories, so she could be considered an expert in this regard.
In the 19th century, the average land owned by each British duke was about 580 square kilometers, so the amount of land Mr. Verma owned was definitely a big number.
More importantly, compared to the barren land on the British Isles, the land here was clearly much more fertile. ——This area combined gently rolling hills and small plains, covered with farmland and woods.
According to the driver, this land grows a large number of cash crops, with the core industries being large plantations including pineapples, mangoes, coffee, tea, and sugarcane. These things bring Mr. Verma a large income every year.
Liang En was quite aware of the income from plantations. After all, he also operated several plantations, so he naturally knew how profitable this industry was. Of course, compared to this true tycoon, his businesses could be said to be insignificant.
This was a piece of land equivalent to a county in China, and anyone who could own such a large piece of land was a force to be reckoned with in any country.
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