A pair of Islamic boys head for school in Aleppy, the last stop on our cruise through Kerala’s tropical backwaters. Kerala has the second highest literacy rate (90%) among India’s states. The walls of Kerala and much of India are covered in posters, past and present. Those with heads on them are almost always from past elections. These boys may take no notice of them, but these walls speak of a society where communication is open and reading is taken for granted.