Coconut Scrapper and Globalization!

Take a look at the apparatus in the picture! I could have never imagined that something as simple as a coconut scrapper could explain in no uncertain terms the impact of globalization!

Now before you conclude that I am going off- key, let me tell you this interesting story. I was supposed to fly to Canada last weekend for an official visit and a colleague of mine told me that I would have to carry a coconut scrapper and deliver it to his friend in Canada. When I probed further, I could understand that the Canadian friend is an ortho- maxio facial surgeon of Kerala origin and that he had a Venezuelean friend whose wife could not stop gushing about the coconut scrapper when she saw the apparatus at his place. It was the Venezuelean family that wanted the apparatus and I was supposed to be the carrying agent for this simple but extremely useful item!

Will the carpenter- blacksmith team that created the coconut scrapper centuries ago have imagined that an improved version of this product would be welcomed by someone who hails from a land that is as far as far can get? And look at the coincidences- I am traveling to a city in Canada, a recently joined colleague has a friend in the same city, the friend was once studying in the same town in Kerala that I belong to, the friend is a highly reputed doctor in Canada, this friend has a friend from Venezuela (South Americans use coconut a lot) who adores the engineering marvel that is coconut scrapper and I was assigned to carry the apparatus to Canada from India.

What if the trip did not happen as planned? What if it was postponed indefinitely? Is the story not proof enough of the fact that the world is a shrinking "global village"? As Keralites, we should be proud of our rich culture, tradition and heritage; for something which is as common place as a coconut scrapper is finding acceptance all over in this globalized world! Way to go!!!