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Published: August 26th 2006
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Misty hills, serene backwaters, wild life in abundance …Kerala is the very summary of the cosmos. And what stuns the weary-city-type is the lush greenery. We arrived in Cochin and headed straight to Kumarakom…a small ( albeit wealthy ) hamlet 70 km from Cochin. We stayed at the cocobay resort..which is on the Vembanad lake and accessible only by water…so we got our first taste of the backwater. The waterfront is beautiful…with several boats of all varieties cruising along at all hours. Traveling in the monsoon meant perpetually overcast skies …..but that had a charm of its own which we discovered as our holiday unfolded. To our delight we were told that the next day was the famous Kerela Boat race at alleppey (25 kms from kumarakom by water). Thanks to our very generous and helpful guide-cum-driver ( Jojy we are your die-hard fans !!) we managed to book a boat for ourselves for the entire day. Sharp at 12 noon, our boat had docked at the Cocobay jetty. We climbed in, even as the grey clouds rumbled ominously. After about 15 mins. in the very choppy lake, Keshava ( our boatman) eased us into a backwater canal. A Beautiful 2
hr ride through the backwaters later, we arrived at the action scene. And were utterly dismayed to find that all possible locations to view the race were already taken up by smarter travelers who had arrived much ahead of us and whose boats were now parked at vantage points. This is when Keshava gave us a taste of true Kerela hospitality. As it happened, his hut was right there. His family came out in full force, arranging two benches (one top of the other) for us to stand and view the race. Whats more, one guy actually stood next to us holding the umbrella so we wouldn’t get drenched in the pouring rain !! they also treated us to delicious coconut water straight off the trees. And all of this without the exchange of a single word as we had no common language to communicate. Totally Priceless experience !! the race itself is quite fascinating. The boats are really slim and long with almost 100 rowers on each boat alongwith a couple of cheer leaders. Couple of hrs later we headed back towards kumarakom and arrived at cocobay just as the sun was setting….
From kumarakom , we headed
towards thekkady known for its wildlife. the 130 km journey through the winding hill roads took us nearly 4 hrs….made particularly interesting because for most part we were driving through heavy mist and a torrential downpour!! We stayed at the jungle village resort in thekkady, right next to the tiger reserve ( much to my secret unease) . in the evening, we made our way to a local kathakali show . katha meaning drama and Kali meaning dance is a dance drama show where various stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata are depicted in dance form. The dancers are very elaborately dressed with a lot of face-paint ( see picture). What was great about this particular show was that the audience were let in half an hr before the show started so that we could watch the dancers dress up !! very, very cool. Then there was a demonstration of the various mudras ( postures) expressed in the dance as well as history and origins of kathakali. A narrative of the story was also distributed ( in English and French !! yes no Hindi or Malayali ) the dance began and we felt we were in a press conference !!
sunset at vembanad lake- kumarakom
as observed on an overcast evening from the cocobay jetty flash bulbs furiously popping all around us in a frenzy to freeze the moment in celluloid !
What deserves special mention is the Kerela cuisine. Spicy but very tasty, the sea-food is the speciality with lip smacking preparations like fish Malabar, fish moilee, fish pattichatu to name but a few. Absolute heaven for a sea-food lover like my husband Sanjit.
I suppose I must also mention Periyar wildlife reserve at Thekkady. Spread across a huge area, the rolling hills are rumoured to support lot of wildlife. rumoured - coz’ we didn’t spot too much wildlife in our 2 hr boat safari on the periyar lake. That is if you don’t count a wild boar, a dozen bisons and a group of sambar deer. The landscape is very beautiful though, much like most of kerala.
From thekkady, off to Munnar - which was our favourite in the entire trip. The journey too was very scenic. Munnar is a hill station famous for its tea gardens. The tea gardens start some 20 km before Munnar and thats when the landscape gets really, truly breathtaking. Monsoons meant we passed a lot of really wonderful waterfalls along the way, and also
drove through a lot more mist and rain. The rain stubbornly refused to let up the entire 2 and a half days we were there. And we too were determined not to let this dampen our plans or spirits. In Munnar we visited the Madupetty dam, Echo point ( drive up there is very, very beautiful and unspoilt, though the point itself has the trappings of a tourist place- read crowds and filth) still, most definitely worth a dekko. We also went to the tata tea museum where they have a mini - plant to demonstrate the process of tea-making to visitors. Quite enlightening for an ardent tea-lover like me.
Lunch in the Munnar town was probably the most un-interesting part of the entire stay. Typical centre-of-a-crowded-hill station-with-hordes-of-tourists. Sanjit trekked back 5 kms to the resort in the rain. The mountain air did him a world of good though he did get some curious stares from the cars zipping by.
we celebrated Independence day in Munnar. Best one I’ve had since leaving college. Flag hoisting and a very enjoyable rendition of the national anthem by a suddenly-patriotic 30 odd guests in the resort. We also got sweets for our
efforts. The fact that 15th aug is sanjit’s birthday saw us distributing cake , adding to the general bonhomie.
From Munnar, it was time to head back to Bangalore. Well almost, we still had a 4 hr stop in Cochin on our way to the airport. We headed straight for Fort Kochi , which is an island. A very quaint and charming place full of history. Chinese fishing nets, the synagogue , the Dutch palace , the small very colouful lanes of the Jew town. Super cool experience.
Finally, it was time to head back home. We resolved to come back soon. Kerala does that to you…..
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Tarun
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Impressive photography!
Hey , seems you highly recommend Kerala, it sure is more than a place where people sleep at 9 in the night and lead a simple life. I am sure you had a great time, rains in kerala have their own charm.. if not for the natives, surely for the visitors like us. As a foodie, I'd look forward to your recommendation on food.. do you have any cousines to try out or carried back any recipies? The photography is striking .. pleasing.. umm.. yes, pleasing. Kerala just looks more beautiful like this without the smell of fish from the backwaters. ;)