Neendoor

Neendoor
Kottayum
town
Neendoor

Location in Kerala, India

Coordinates: 9°40′42″N 76°30′20″E / 9.67833°N 76.50556°ECoordinates: 9°40′42″N 76°30′20″E / 9.67833°N 76.50556°E
Country  India
State Kerala
District Kottayam
Languages
  Official Malayalam, English
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 686601
Telephone code 0481
Vehicle registration KL-05
Nearest city Kottayam
Lok Sabha constituency kottayam

Neendoor is a very small town in the Kottayam district in Kerala, India. The town is located 8 km south of Kottayam town, and is bordered by the towns of Kaipuzha, Athirampuzha, Kallara, Manjoor, Vechoor, and Onamthuruthu.

Geography

Neendoor is situated at 8°40′42″N 76°30′20″E / 8.67833°N 76.50556°E.

Needoor is on the northern border of "Kuttanadu," 16 km from Kottayam and 5 km from Ettumanoor. In old days, say up until the early 1990s, the "punchapadam" (rice fields) gave a distinct Kuttandu look for Neendoor. The greenery is still there, what are missing are rice fields and farming. The income comes now mostly from non-farming.

Economy

In terms of pure currency in-flow, money sent by ex-pats play a huge role (Middle East, USA, UK, Australia etc.) . Rubber is Neendoor's major cash crop. Up until the late 1970s, rice was a major cash crop as well. However, in the last several decades, the local economy has increasingly been bolstered by cash sent by Indian expatriates living in the Middle East, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. This foreign support has contributed to the town's development in recent years - for example, with large mansions replacing the existing small houses. For whatever reason, many expatriates who worked out of state or out of country all their working life come back to Neendoor at retirement and prefer to build a house in the already crowded neighborhood.

People

Nearly 100% of the young adults will graduate from high school and a big majority will get some college education or a degree. Although English rarely spoken, most college level students understand and write excellent English. Neendoor's has been home to several well-known individuals.

The automobile population has grown exponentially since early 2000s. So is the culture of being hooked on to "serials" on TV. The old habits of chatting with next door friends are nearly gone. Kids do not play out door any more, they would rather watch games on TV.

The population of Neendoor is primarily of Hindus and Knanaya Catholics.The famous lord Muruga temple Neendoor Subrahmanya Swami Temple is located in this place. The patron saint of the area is St. Michael, after whom the local parish church is named. With the increase in automobile population, gone are the days of quite streets and all people walking to church for Sunday masses. A significant percentage of Neendoor's residents of Kna heritage has migrated to the US, Australia and the UK in the last few decades. With the privatization of professional colleges many and attending engineering and other technical schools lately. One of the recent trent seen among the younger generation is to get into a medical career (such as nursing, or X-ray technician) and to find a job abroad.

What used be scenic rice fields now gave way to more and more developments and home building. In fact paddy farming is rare these days in Neendoor. Or, for that matter, revenue from farming is nearly non-existent.

Recent challenges - Elderly Care and domestic help unavailable. Finding help for domestic work, handy-man type work or assistance for elderly etc. are becoming extremely difficult. Even at Rs 7000 or 8000 per month, reliable help is just not available. There are many people (men and women) in their 30s or 40s who are unemployed and qualified for these types of jobs - but the false pride stop them from taking any of these tasks. The dignity of labor has not gained roots in these types of communities yet. From an economic and labor point of view, young folks are not encouraged to learn semi-technical works (such as welders, electrician) and the old ambition of a cushy office job is very prevailing.

References

    Onamthuruth is the nearby village of neendoor, in which most of people are farmers.