Kerala

9 Stories

Waste Collectors Kept Playing the Lottery. Finally, a Big Win

11 poverty-stricken women in Indian state of Kerala win $1.2M prize with ticket they chipped in on

(Newser) - A group of 11 women who build public toilets and collect non-biodegradable waste from homes in Parappanangadi, an Indian town in the state of Kerala, typically bring home the equivalent of $3 a day for their efforts. Now, these sanitation workers can relax a little about their bills after hitting...

Determined Couple Floats to Wedding in a Pot

Kerala, India, had been hit with deadly floods

(Newser) - There's making an entrance, and there's making an entrance. A determined couple in Kerala, India, traveled to their wedding venue by cooking pot, floating down flooded streets in the huge vessel. The AP reports floods and landslides killed at least 28 as of Monday in Kerala, where angry...

Police Say Woman Killed 6 Relatives Over 14 Years

Woman in India was motivated by greed, police say

(Newser) - India has been transfixed by a case involving an alleged serial killer with an incongruous name. Police say Jolly Thomas, 47, has admitted poisoning six relatives with cyanide over a 14-year period, the Guardian reports. She was present at the deaths of all six victims, who had consumed food or...

She Visited a Shrine, Is Now Barred From Family Homes

India's Kanakadurga will seek court's help again 'for permission to enter her house'

(Newser) - One of two women who prayed inside a Hindu temple traditionally barred to women of "menstruating age" has suffered greatly for it. Kanakadurga, 39, and Bindu Ammini, 40, gained entry to the Sabarimala shrine in India's Kerala state on Jan. 2, but were forced into hiding as violent...

She Wanted to 'Understand the Forest More.' So She Made History

Dhanya Sanal named as first woman to scale sacred Agasthyakoodam mountain

(Newser) - Even as Dhanya Sanal fulfilled her dream of ascending a 6,128-foot-high sacred mountain in India, she was "ready to turn back" at any time. In fact, the 38-year-old thought protesters might force her to do so. Until Kerala's high court put an end to the tradition in...

Deadly Virus in India Could Cause Global Epidemic

The outbreak started with a fruit bat

(Newser) - The Nipah virus has now killed at least a dozen people in southern India and health workers fear it could become a global epidemic if it isn't tightly monitored. More than 40 other people have been infected with the virus, which has a mortality rate of around 75%, Fox...

'Let's Watch a Few More Minutes': Fireworks Disaster Kills 110

Indian temple's board members now on the run

(Newser) - Rescue officials are sifting through a Hindu temple in southern India where at least 110 people died when a fireworks display—an unauthorized pyrotechnic show that went horribly wrong—swept through the temple packed with thousands for a religious festival. The death toll from the pre-dawn fire on Sunday at...

Teen Dies While Trying to Take Selfie
 Teen Dies 
 While Trying 
 to Take Selfie 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
May 25, 2014 6:56 AM CDT

Teen Dies While Trying to Take Selfie

Indian 16-year-old posed on train tracks

(Newser) - Apparently taking selfies in front of moving trains is now a thing—a thing that got a 16-year-old student from Kerala, India, killed Wednesday. Canadian Jared Frank may have become a YouTube sensation thanks to his video of getting kicked in the head when he tried the stunt in Peru—...

Indian 'Success Story' Funded by Migrants

Money mailed home makes possible Kerala's leftist showcase

(Newser) - The South Indian state of Kerala, long touted for achieving a high quality of life in the face of dire poverty, relies heavily on earnings sent from menial jobs abroad, the New York Times reports. Offered as a leftist alternative to market-driven development in poor nations, Kerala is famous for...

9 Stories