no sacred cow spared in kerala we eat beef!

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its almost been a week in the State of Kerala now; a much-heralded exemplar of good governance and administration which have had the likes of Amartyr Sen waxing lyrical about. Big props to Kerala for the highest life expectancy and literacy rates, and its matrilineal social organization. keralan backwaters are very much bucolic, which is very palliative. it certainly trumps the torpor of Pondi's provençal quality. maybe cause its got smth to do with the fact that it is the putative 'venice of the east'; where the backwaters of kerala amble along slowly and deliberately, in an almost narcotic manner, compelling that you respond in kind as well. no monuments of epic proportions, no such grandiosity, just balmy and buoyant waters that weave intricate matrices and constellations some 900km worth of backwaters in Kerala.

We’re in allepey now, having bus-ed down from the capital trivandrum (from pondi-trivandrum read b’s blog). Done with the capital, having been imbibed with the customary staple of culture and history; like how Kerala came about (modern-day Kerala is an concoction of 3 separate empires) and also indulged in the ‘bread & circuses’ stuff like the zoo and the amusement park, which were exercises in kids and kitsch, really. Even caught ‘kites’; bollywood’s magnus opum for 2010 it seems. We’re in allepey now and it’s the gateway proper to the backwaters of Kerala. Am stoked to finally be here cos I get to meander and navigate thru’ the arterials and slippery highways of keralan backwaters. And this waaay precedes the advent of roads! Paddle-Power!!

We rented ourselves a houseboat for an overnight sojourn on the waters (tomorow) and will anchor somewhere in the back of beyond; soaking up the galaxy of stars above us. We get a captain/boatman, a chef who’d whip up our meals, and be privy to village people working their craft and doing their thang weaving coir baskets, making toddy (moonshine alcohol), sounds pretty rad. We’re digging our kickass heritage home/guest house, one of those Indian homes-turned-resplendent guest house types. It’s a colossal piece of property littered with pockets of abodes, of various permutation, from the unassuming bamboo thatch types, to bordering-on-excess cottages. We’re somewhere straddling between the two. Am really galvanized for tomorrow’s excursion/incursion into quintessential Kerala! Leaving you fellas with some visuals post-Pondi and trivandrum. Watch this space for the backwater pictures proper in the next installment! Big shout out to my (not-so)baby sister who’s 17th birthday is impending! I’d get you a sari/kurta haha.

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Photos

hot hot heat
non a/c sleeper bus 17 hrs. unprecedented

hellooo kerala
fish mollee (fish meat cooked in coconut broth/curry) ;& sacred cow no more haha beef finally!

hole in the wall
our morning breakfast port of call. parotta & chai, cosmic la.

daily bread
parotta/prata

magic fingers
parotta dudes

dhal-licious
dhals, sambars, chutneys,...need i say more? india, in-your-face

thali-ffic
iconographic south indian vegetarian meal

zoo-t zoot riot
haha day out at the zoo.

feral
no caption will do this justice

nuts & bolts
kacang-putih man on the beach at sunset. nuts: the indian beach-goer's poison.

genuine stuff cannot bluff
Quality Walls. Wery Nice.

go fly kite la
go catch this guys! the chic in the movie is latino btw. bollywood is really breaking new ground la

smile like you mean it
caught an indian procession at a temple outside our guest house. cue megawatt smile

kaleidoscopic
check out the paroxysm of colours. emblematic india

public bus ride
routinal photo (: trivandrum to allepey.