Neendoor is a very small town in the Kottayam district

Kottayam district

Kottayam is one of the 14 districts in the state of Kerala, India. The district has its headquarters at Kottayam town, located at 9.36° N and 76.17° E. According to the 1991 census, it is the first district to achieve highest literacy rate in the whole of India...

 in Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The town is located 8 km south

South

South is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.South is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the bottom side of a map is south....

 of Kottayam town, and is border

Border

Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...

ed by the towns of Kaipuzha

Kaipuzha

Kaipuzha is a village in Kottayam District, Kerala, South India. The name Kaipuzha is derived from the two words Kai and Puzha . This is a testament to the many small canal-like rivers found in the vicinity. It is bounded by Ettumanoor to the east and Mannanam by the south...

, Athirampuzha

Athirampuzha

Athirampuzha is the name of a Panchayat and a small town in Kottayam district of Kerala state, South India. Athirampuzha is situated 10 km north of Kottayam town....

, Kallara

Kallara

Kallara is a small town in the Kottayam district in Kerala, India. Nearby villages also include Kaipuzha, Athirampuzha, Ayamkudy, Neendoor, Kurumulloor, Manjoor, and Vechoor. Kottayam is located 10 km south. The prominent land-mark at Kallara is the famous Sree Saradavilasini Temple. The reigning...

, Manjoor, Vechoor

Vechoor

Vechoor is a village in Vaikom taluk, Kottayam district in the state of Kerala, India. Vechoor is a short drive away from one of Kerala's tourist destinations, Kumarakom. The Vechur Cow breed of cattle is named after this village....

, and Onamthuruthu.

Economy

Rubber

Rubber

Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...

 is Neendoor's major cash crop

Cash crop

In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...

. Up until the late 1970s, rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

 was a major cash crop as well. However, in the last several decade

Decade

A decade is a period of 10 years. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek dekas which means ten. This etymology is sometime confused with the Latin decas and dies , which is not correct....

s, the local economy

Economy

An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

 has increasingly been bolstered by cash sent by expatriates living in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. This foreign support has contributed to the town's development in recent years - for example, with a large mansion

Mansion

A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...

 replacing the existing small houses. For whatever reason, many expatriots (people 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. Jomon Puthenpurackal, a notorious social activist, hails from the town. Puthenpurackal family has been in Neendoor for many generations. Servant of God

Servant of God

Servant of God is a title given to individuals by various religions, but in general the phrase is used to describe a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. In the Catholic Church, it designates someone who is being investigated by the Church for possibly being recognized as a...

 Fr. Thommi Poothathil (1871-1943) was also born in Neendoor.

The population of Neendoor is primarily of Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

s and Knanaya

Knanaya

The Knanaya also known as Q'nanaya, Q'nai, Kanai, or Thekkumbagar, are endogamous Jews who settled in Kerala, India. Their origins are unclear and are hotly disputed by academic scholars...

 Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

s. The patron saint

Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

 of the area is St. Michael, after whom the local parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 church is named. A significant percentage of Neendoor's residents of Kna heritage has migrate

Human migration

Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...

d to the US, Australia and the UK in the last few decades.