Living Aloha 7/7

Hawaii Travelogue Part 7 of 7

Living Aloha

Aloha is this all-encompassing word in Hawaii  - it can be used for a simple hello type of greeting to symbolizing a way of life itself. In the evenings, we watched various programs on TV where the discussion was focussed on 'Living Aloha.' - which is kind of like a cultural identity. Progress means rapid westernization and commercialization, and this leaves many kamaaina (long time residents or locals) feeling like they have lost their Hawaiian/ Polynesian identity. Now there is an effort to revive this identity. (This is actually a common trend across the US, for are we all not hyphenated americans.)  Realizing that the movement requires the active participation of the younger generation, there was a show with 2 teen girls taking the issue head on. They outlined a 3 step plan with Hawaiian titles which was both interesting and based on common sense. 

Shaka or  the hang-loose hand gesture, originally popularized by the surfers, seems  to appear on a great many T-shirts in addition to almost every guide mentioning it. (This hand gesture is where you stick your pinky and thumb out, while closing the remaining 3 fingers.) Perhaps it is reflective of the laid-back island attitude. On TV we also saw some local dances - Hawaii has more than just the basic Hula dance, which the mainland  knows of. It was interesting to watch. I also saw how they make the  tapa cloth. Leaves of the pandanus tree are dried and beaten with a wooden club and these are then dyed and painted. We have tapa cloth at home from Tonga where Mom lived as a child. Each polynesian island has it own set of designs that they paint on. 

The other overriding issue that Hawaiians are grappling with is the impact of commercialization of their island environment.   Even a malihini (newcomer) like myself, notices its effects. West Maui is the most developed part of Maui which is an irony in itself. It is littered with resorts who have sectioned off beaches along the shoreline. All beaches in Maui are technically public beaches and open to the public. But the way the resorts have been built with their elaborate roads and limiting parking only for residents, makes these beaches almost private beaches in practice. Napili and Ka’ahaina were 2 of the beaches where you go crazy trying to figure out the parking situation. Somehow the charm of an island is lost if you are surrounded by tall resorts, artificially lit palm trees and rows of expensive neon-lit shops. You may as well be in Las Vegas. Not to mention the number of golf courses that are needed for one small island. If a tourist who is there for just a couple of days can feel frustrated, it is no wonder that many native Polynesians are even more frustrated as seen in many of their local TV programs. There were many complaints from them about the run-off from golf courses that are negatively impacting the  coastline ecosystem. Native plants and creatures important to them are dying out. Various groups were petitioning  to stop developers from leveling the shoreline areas and building resorts and golf course in various places on different islands. 

The eastern parts like Hana seem more untouched - for now. Rain from the Hana area is channelized via an irrigation system known as EMI in Maui. This is the water for the rest of Maui and for farming. But from the TV programs it appeared that it was the pineapple farms (run by large corporations) who were getting most, if not all of this EMI water. This meant that the small  farmers was losing out and thus the decline of taro farms and other small farms.  It’s unfortunate to hear of this situation in a place that appears to have such a great water source. Hawaii is actually in the dry zone in terms of latitude but gets rain due to the trade winds and the tall mountains. So the windward side of the mountains gets a considerable amount of rain.  Incidentally all the pineapple fields are cordoned off - you have to pay to get a peek at them! What was visible freely in numerous places were the wind-swept sugarcane fields. 

Man vs Nature - the eternal dilemma !

Hawaii Travelogue 2012
Part 1 - Aloha Maui
Part 2 - I Survived the Road to Hana
Part 3 - West Maui
Part 4 - North Beaches and Watermen
Part 5 - Whale of a Tail
Part 6 - Humuhunukunukuapua'a and the Coral Reef
Part 7 - Living Aloha