Discovering Backwater Beauty of Home Land

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Monsoon! Monsoon........ I really feel like dancing in the chill and thrill of rain, very nostalgic! Isn’t it? If I start talking about my rain memories, I doubt I could stop talking…

It was in the monsoon of 2010, I visited my friend Shafeekh in Kollam District of my home land Kerala. He was a newbie journalist then who just started knowing politics of journalism and the journalism in politics. Its another story that he had to leave the place of work where people could not comprehend him 😉

I reached in Kottayam late at evening, and stayed in a small room of Shafeekh which was in an old apartment, looked like a residing spot for wondering souls.

After dinner, We spoke a lot and he introduced me some characters there in Kottayam.

Slept.

In the morning, after shower, we went to Indian Coffee House and had breakfast, the town does not seems to be very interesting by the way it looks. We caught the bus straight to Kumarakom. Few kilometers from Kottayam town.

I was watching the beauty sitting in the bus itself. Finally we reached,ouh man...That was it. I just threw a look into the river banks and the back water beauty of Kumarakom......It is a Kind of cluster of little islands on the Vembanaad Lake, or a serene, emerald green peninsula set in the backdrop of Vembanaad Lake dotted with numerous traditional rice boats, rafts and canoes near Kuttanad region, Kottayam district, Kerala.

The lush greenery is an amazing sight and is a treat for the eyes, and is a popular among honeymooners looking for peace & solitude, and I even heard Kumarakom lake resort is one of the world class residing spot for tourists. Kerala Gov. has a special eye on Kumarakom to promote tourism in this naturally bestowed beauty spot on earth.

We got a better deal for a boat ride, sometime some of these boat drives may charge more from non-keralites. After getting into the boat the light of the day faded, and clouds united and showered like anything. We were in the boat feeling the chill of the rain and hardly see anything outside for a while. My eyes were constantly having some contact with the life jacket, you know just in case if the boat sink 😉

We saw lot of plants floating on the water and some people catching fish from a luxury boat, that will be fried and served to the customers in the boat. That must be an Incredible dish.

You can even see nicely built resorts at the sides.

There are package boat rides in the season and can stay in the boat and have a ride covering Kumarakom and Aalappy.

After the boating, We were mostly discussing about some movies we both watched, like Çinema Paradiso, The best of Youth, Perfume etc.

We then moved towards Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary . It is a very densy misty place that resembles some rain forest. Since it was monsoon the surroundings looked vivd in green and we for a while felt as if in amazon.

While walking we were recording the videos as well with the narration of Shafeekh.

You can hear lot of sizzling tunes by many birds there. Thousands of migratory birds flock to this area every year. Bird watchers comes each year here to catch a glimpse of the various birds visiting the island.

There is a watch tower in that 'forest' for a better view of wondering birds. You may find Egrets, Darters, Siberian stork. Cuckoo and our own kingfishers, woodpecker, Mynah etc. as well. We could not find much migratory birds since the ideal time to spot them is between October and February.



In the late evening, I had a magnificent view on the side of the road,

The concrete slabs projected towards the lake have got a small shop on at the end, with an old cerocine light lamp hanging on it. Under the moon light, it just looked like a frame in a Malayalam movie and there you will get very tasty food ,especially fish items, but unfortunately most of those have got a Toddy name board.



Being especially rich in marine life….No doubt this is one of the best beauty spot on earth that you must and should experience at least once !!!

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Comments

[Road king]

kwoooool.....
'm planning for a ride to kumarakom..... ;)

[The Travel Camel]

Great to see you blogging again
I too loved my cruise of the backwaters of Kerala in 2006 - such a beautiful way to pass the time. Another highlight was the food - I reckon that Kerala has the best cuisine in all of India.

[shafeerchtravelogue]

Thanks a lot shane Dallas :)
Hi Shane, good to see you had been to kerala once and liked our food as well. come again.... :)

[D MJ Binkley]

Lovely blog
We are enjoying your work. Thanks for sharing

[shafeerchtravelogue]

Thanks MJ Binkley :D
thanks for reading :) plan a trip to kerala if possible, preferably post-monsoon season!

[D MJ Binkley]

Lovely photo
Love to be sailing on that one.