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Published: April 28th 2020
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Those Aloo tikis and Mutton Korma would not have tasted way as they are supposed to be without those crucial cardamom flavours. But never in our dreams had thought we would visit the place where effervescent spice was beginning to sell as a commodity for the first time ever in the country. And along with that, we go to drop into those vast cardamom plantations covering those hill slopes quite densely. The expeditions did not end there, as we rushed to one of those lush green tea estates and clicked as many photographs as required for my Instagram pages for around an entire year and some engaging videos for my sister’s Youtube channel. All of such unique experiences were acquired from our trip to the hilly side of Kerala.
The backwaters and the beaches were the ones that we had expected, so we as an out of the box thinking travelling sisters planned to visit a beach destination just for a break, as we were heading
to Kerala. Before venturing out to this trip, this particular phase of the surprising state was absolutely unknown to us, if we had not visited that Kerala restaurant near Saket and conversed with the
Mallu staffs there. Nevertheless, that cathartic decision of heading to this spice garden was made after thorough researches. My sister's interest in cooking and her new passion for vlogging about the roots of each of the ingredients added in our favourite dishes had also influenced me to a greater extent. We were the sort of sisters who placed our passion for cooking rather than travelling. And we did not want to take any risks by journeying to a whole new place on our own and hoped to travel safely. We were then groping for any reliable
tour packages from Delhi, which is our hometown.
So on a misty December morning, we woke up from a deep sleep so peacefully and on peeking out from the glass windows, we got to witness some really tall grasses on the top of which were unknowable fog kinds of a thing. She quickly opened the windows to feel that fresh breeze hitting on our faces and obviously to figure out what were unearthly views. Later did we know that they were some random plantations of cardamom grown in the place where we stayed in. Even otherwise, the village of Vandanmedu is known worldwide for being the
largest auction centre of Cardamom (got to know about this later in the trip). On arriving at Cochin in the evening, it was almost midnight when we reached an adorable resort located on a sloppy hill at Thekkady. Meanwhile, such an incident always happens between these 'never-giving-up sisters.' This time, she was claiming that she already knew what the unnatural green plants were and was testing on me.
So the very first and the most important tourist spot of our trip were to the place where the production of Cardamom, Pepper and Coffee was done commercially. Even from the roads leading to them had the dense plantations of Cardamom, we got to smell that unique aroma of the evocative spice, besides offering us a soothing visual appearance. My sister was to shoot her vlogging video at the place, where an erstwhile factory stood. To our surprise, it still stood there, but in their decaying condition. They were the initiatives of the British to introduce the amazing crop of Cardamom in these hilly fertile lands. She was carefully filming at the randomly grown plants and I later called her to also include the vintage structures with the labels of the
British prominence. Adjacent to them, was a large stable kind of an area, on the backdrop of which were dense and really thick forest. After some time, we got to meet a local just trespassing through them. He was a Tamilian and barely knew some Malayalam. We were a bit disappointed, but that did not last long. The tour guide accompanied was well versed in Tamil and we had our Mallu cab driver to help in any other instances.
This was in our least expectations that a shabbily dressed local could educate us so beautifully. He told us that, a few distances from the place we were standing then can be sighted an old village office that was called Pakuthi Kacheri
. He took us to those some other old significant places and building that were in some way related to the Cardamom plantations. They comprised of the British guest house, their administrative offices and some other residential quarters. However, not everything was in the control of these colonial powers, as the major decisions related to them were taken by the erstwhile Travancore Kingdom. And workers hired in the plantations were mostly of Tamil origin. Our new friend said that
he too belonged to the successors of the plantation workers. Furthermore, we were surprised by the facts that after the return of the British, it was the three horses who dwelled in these stables which guarded the cardamom plantations for quite some time.
Then we were wondering why those historic centres were located inside a trench sort of an area. Then he was quick with his reply, but we got frightened of it. He said that they were to avoid wild animals. Our tour guide was also of the opinion that these places are not that safe once it gets dark as they are the common passage areas of wild elephants!
Even though the time was just a few minutes afternoon, we headed to our destination which was Anchiruli Tunnel via the present-day large and thick plantations, after bidding goodbye to the local. We had to crossover Kattappana, which is one of the largest of small towns situated in the Idukki high ranges of
Kerala. By the time, we reached there we were really almost starving and dropped into a local restaurant. The
excited vlogger all the way from Delhi to this Spice garden had ordered one of the most expensive dishes in the menu even though, we were travelling on the
budget tour packages. It was so because the spices and the unique tastes were the things that matter her more. To be frank, never in both of our lives before, we had savoured anything as delicious as that. Henceforth, after having that, my sister headed to the kitchen and made small talk with the chef there. Then we confirmed that the pure and fresh spices, like the pepper, cloves, cinnamon and obviously the cardamom brought directly from their farms were used there. So she also shot some major part of her vlog from that bustling kitchen.
Later, the relaxing part was spent at the charming Anchuruli Tunnel. It was a huge opening from where water used to flow from Errattayar dam to this catchment area of Idukki dam. But, where they flow to the serene water body beneath, they almost resemble like a waterfall. The hills surrounding the catchment area added more beauty to them, especially when it was approaching its twilight. This picturesque destination was the spot of the signing off part of both her vlog and our eventful trip. Kudos to
Dream Holidays team for making our trip eventful and thanks for getting my sister some more clicks and likes for her vlog!!
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