A high-in demand naturalist who led tourists on trekking and bird-watching tours, is among those from Kerala’s tourism sector who have joined the manual labour workforce, to make both ends meet post the COVID-induced crisis.

That is the story in long and short of Vaikom native Shyam Kumar, who has joined the largely migrant workforce who are engaged in piling to install high-power transmission towers at Thalayolaparambu to source electricity from Kudankulam Power Plant in Tamil Nadu. “The gruelling work to pile up to a depth of 40 metres begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 8 p.m. every day. And remember, it is labour intensive, as compared to the one using hydraulic rigs which were deployed for piling in the Kochi metro corridor. It was a sudden transition from three decades of employment in a largely white-collar sector which earned me an average of ₹6,000 every day during the tourist season, to one that earned as much over a week,” says the energetic 50-year-old, who is better known as Hari.

Shyam Kumar at his worksite at Thalayolaparambu in Kottayam.  

“The impending September-March tourist season has been wiped out, since nature enthusiasts from abroad and other States, including many famous names, have cancelled their tours to Kerala, and locales like Andaman and Nicobar Islands where I used to lead trekking groups. I took to this job over a fortnight ago, after spending sleepless nights, having nothing to do except worry about the future. Moreover, my elder daughter’s marriage was fixed for December. The new job has given me a sense of surviving the odds that were stacked against me and a few lakh tourism professionals who were rendered unemployed in Kerala following the pandemic,” he says.

Shyam Kumar’s zeal for nature saw him adorn many roles — frequently partaking in survey of Nilgris Thars, elephants, birds and butterflies. So much so that he helped set up butterfly parks at many places. He also tried his hands at catching snakes. He was featured in a couple of magazines and also accompanied crew of international TV channels on their nature-filming trips.

Friday was a rude jolt since the avid naturalist was very close to three of the victims — all members of Eco-Development Committee of Rajamala in Idukki — who lost their life in a massive landslip.

He is cut up with the State and Central governments, since neither has stepped in to help tourism employees who are neck deep in crisis, despite Kerala earning ₹45,000 crore from tourism in 2019.