1) The front of our quaint boat looks like an Italian gondola, but the canals are nothing like Venice, Italy. 2) Welcome coconuts
Our kettu vallam (a converted rice barge) houseboat is the perfect size. We cruise down small backwater canals, passing tiny houses along the banks behind which lay dense jungles and rice fields. Life is busy on the riverbanks; people wash themselves, their children, their clothes, their teeth and their dishes in the river right in front of their houses. Colorful saris, scarves and fabrics blow in the breeze.
Although this is a *romantic* overnight cruise, I cannot stop shooting photos and recording sounds. Mark and I are such great partners; we both do our best to document this magical voyage.
These backwaters have many uses for the villagers along its banks.
I love the aroma of thick jungle and am charmed by the tiny villages that dot the narrow canal banks, teeming with life. We are a living tableaux.
We spot a number of unusual rodent type animals we think are monkeys but might belong to the possum family. We also take note of an unusually flashy bird with bright blue wings, apparently a bird common in these parts. We find out later that these fluorescent cobalt birds are Kingfishers.
Backwater Canoe
More sounds to go with the following images
It is fun having our own private houseboat. We decide that we would like to do this one more time later this month if possible, departing from Kollum instead of Alleppy, to see how the two backwater regions compare.
1) Happy bird 2) A village father and son take a swim
Like most mammals in India, these goats roam free.
1) Holy cow 2) Lone umbrella, poetic in the rice field.
Beautiful, exotic fruit accent the lush tapestry of village life 2) We spend the night (in our boat) docked along a village bank, where we are free to get out and roam. Mark befriends these two cute tour guides…
We drift through quiet canals lined with coconut palms and spend the night on the water under a galaxy of stars, with a distinct sound scape which includes the rhythm of clothes being washed and then slapped to get rid of excess water, the occasional church bells (Alleppy is a Christian town)
and unusual animal calls which are often easier to hear than to see.
With so much stimulus its not easy to assimilate all the tactile sensations, but I do my best to document and share. Meanwhile, from our docked houseboat we take a noisy little row boat from where we watch a gratifying sunset.
Noisy Boat
Backwater soundscape from canoe.
Lovely sunset photos. The last image here is of the main canal back to town in the morning.
Our bed is comfortable, our crew is accommodating without being obtrusive, the journey as romantic and relaxing a Nisha and Vijoy promised.
Backwater Canoe
Sound byte of the visually tranquil canals, aurally active with a cacophony of busy night sounds:
In the morning we wake up on the houseboat and have breakfast as we cruise back to Alleppy to meet our driver. We shoot a lot of video, which I will share with you when I get to Part 2 of the Backwaters.
We pass lots of cows sharing the streets with us on our drive through Kerala
As fun filled as our 3 days in Trivandrum have been, we are ready to move on. Rajeev will be our driver for the next 7 to 10 days. I keep a tiny notepad in my purse with some of the things I’d like to see in Kerala. Mark and I both want to spend a night or two at the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary where we can rent a “comfortable” tree house and record the bison, langurs, sloth bears, macaques and flying squirrels I read about while researching this trip.
I would also love to see the Nagaraja Tantric Snake Temple in Mannarsala, but no one wants me to go to. I have read it is located in the ‘snake groves’ of Kerala. The surrounding woodlands have several statues of snake gods and hooded cobras among the trees and paths leading to the temple dedicated to the Snake King, Nagaraja. I know it is located about 35 kilometers from Alappuzha, but of course it is not marked on our tourist map, so it will be hard to insist, even though Mark and I are the ones paying for Rajeev’s chaffeur services. But isn’t that the point of hiring a driver; to take you wherever you wish? But when I bring it up I am again told, this time by Rajeev, that I would not be allowed in the temple. Bijoy agrees with him. No one seems to understand I love quirky temples and churches. I only want to photograph the site, not go inside the temple. I try to bring it up one more time later in the trip when we are driving past the general area but our driver was tired and unwilling to detour.
Both Mark and I would like to meet the famous ¨living spiritual figure” Amma, better known as the “hugging saint”. She allegedly lives in a pink ashram in Amritapuri (Southern Kerala). She hugs people daily from 10 am. My favorite aunt in Italy, Zia Fiorella, is a big fan of Amma, has met her when she was doing a hugging tour in Italy. Fiorella has urged me to make the effort. Mark is curious too; after all, a hug has never done anyone any harm and we can all use whatever magic comes our way in life… Bijoy makes a few phone calls and learns that Amma will be in Mysore for the next 2 weeks. Bad timing.
We also want to spend time on the different beaches of Kerala we’ve read about. We have a month in which to explore Southern India, and unless we change our minds we plan to explore Kerala for 3 weeks and then take a midnight train to Goa for our last week, just to see another region in India other than Kerala. We do not want a hug from Amma unless it’s easy. Keeping tabs on her schedule is not our idea of fun, so we drop that one request from our list.
There’s also a Syrian Catholic church with interesting architecture in Kollam I’d like to see, called Church of Our Lady of Velankani which is shaped like a pyramid and topped by a golden virgin. My Kerala travellers book says it is on the main road, one which we will be travelling on to go to Alleppy.
I am encouraged that I will be granted this one wish, and am hoping that once we leave the homestay, Rajeev will become more malleable.
The Church of Our Lady of Velankani, which is across the street from a Hindu temple and down the block from a mosque.
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… non sequitur…:
I have developed a taste for Kerala red bananas. In fact, I love all Kerala bananas, my favorites being the red ones, and my second favorites being small yellow bananas, about the size of Mark’s middle finger. Nonna Devi delights in feeding me bananas for the rest of our stay.
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There are 4 or 5 types of banana grown in Kerala. My favorites, seen in the first photo above, (on the ground, the red bananas look dark but ) are the red bananas. I learn that they are unique to Southern Kerala, that in other parts of Kerala, or anywhere else in India for that matter, they don’t even grow red bananas. I make it a point to eat as many red bananas as I can while in Southern Kerala.
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Last night we met with Rajeev and Bijoy to come up with a basic road plan. We accidently left our detailed South India road map in Barcelona, so we’ll have to rely on the tourist road map we picked up at Kovalam Beach on my birthday, which doesn’t even show many of the places I had underlined (and even marked the on that map) as being of special interest. All the obvious tourist attractions of Kerala are well marked, with clear directions on our replacement map. That’s okay – we’ll find our way. Basically, although we have some ideas of what we’d like to see and do in Kerala, we are open for whatever unexpected detours that might prevent us from making it to our intended destinations. For me, just driving through Kerala is a blast. I shoot photos and little videos from the back seat and try to drink in all the activity happening in the streets. Bovines, goats, children, cars, bikes, elephants, you-name-it, they all share the one road through town with ease. Once we get on the road I am thankful to have a driver maneuvering through herds of cows, flocks of children, motorcycles carrying families of up to 5 people balanced on the bike, skateboards, tuk tuks and crazy Indian drivers incessantly honking their horns for no apparent reason.
Passing shots taken from the car window on the way to Aleppy – we pass an elephant and lots of colorful street life
We soon learn that in India people speak a very peculiar English and with a limited vocabulary, so if you don’t use common key words in a sentence most Indians will probably misunderstand you but smile as if they know what you’re talking about. Classic case in point; I told both Bijoy and Rajeev we want to see the Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary, but all that registered was “Wildlife Sancuary” – but I’ll get to that later.
Mark and I agree we want to take an overnight houseboat in the backwaters; finally an idea that is met with enthusiasm by both Bijoy and our driver! Bijoy tells us houseboats are a popular Kerala tourist activity, and he wishes he and Nisha could join us. “it will be very romantic” he says, and from another room I can hear Nisha agree. She pipes in “You will never forget this backwater trip. It is one of the most relaxing and romantic ways to spend time together as a couple.” Bijoy phones to reserve a private overnight houseboat cruise through the Alleppy backwater region.
Today is our fourth day in Kerala but it feels like we’ve been here much, much longer.
We would have liked to visit one more beach and maybe spend a couple nights in an anonymous hotel doing nothing, but instead we set out early this morning for the backwaters of Alleppy, with Rajeev at the wheel. He is a good, safe driver, but his English proves to be a liability in the days to come. In the future we will never know if he’s going to take us where we have expressed a desire to go or not. He did take notes when we all met with Bijoy, and had key words like “Wildlife Sanctuary”, “backwaters” and “spice country” written down on a notepad. He says he will take us to the wildlife sanctuary after the backwaters if we like. So far, so good, but we will decide our next plan of action from our houseboat.
The drive to Alleppy is 3 to 4 hours from Trivandrum, so we leave early in order to make it to our romantic private houseboat by 12:30. We say goodbye to Nisha, Nonna Devi, Bijoy and his dad with mixed feelings – we’re thrilled to be on our own but will miss the stimulating conversations and wonderful meals of our stay at “The Nutshell¨.
From the car window I shoot this festival we pass along the way.
So far this is one of my favorite things about India, the other being how cows, elephants, bovines, all animals I see here live in complete harmony with man. There is an implicit agreement, Indians don’t eat their animals and animals have evolved and know how to navigate city streets without getting into trouble.
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1) The only photo I have of our driver, Rajeev 2) close up of toddy
Today is a big festival in Trivandrum. Thousands of women will make the pilgrimage to the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple downtown. More than 3 million women (30 lakhs), both young and old, rich and poor, Indian and foreign are expected to participate this year. I’m told Attukal Pongala festival is registered in the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest gathering of women in a single place on a single day in the world. I am honored to be here. The timing of this festival is related to the full moon.
Nisha is very involved in this festival, and a fervent believer in the positive power of pongala.
While stirring her four clay pots she explains to me the meaning of the pongala. I take notes, which is a good thing because once the festival gets going I am interviewed on a live radio station called “Club FM” and am actually able to answer questions about the festival intelligently.
Nisha tells me that the word ‘Pongala’ means to boil over, and refers to the ritual offering of a porridge made with rice, coconut milk, cashew nuts, raisins, and chopped bananas. The pongala is cooked in clay pots which must face east. Though I don’t catch the significance of why the pots must face east, I diligently take notes so I can try to make sense of it all later. She tells me the pots are prepared early in the morning, the pongala simmers all day, and eventually the poojari (Hindu priest) passes by and sprinkles rose water on the devotees and their offerings to signify their prayers are being heard.
Mark stays home today to rest and catch up on some work. We’ve only been in India for less than a week, but we’ve taken in so many sounds, images, experiences, aromas, food and cultural exchanges this week that he simply feels like being alone. I can understand that, so I go with Nisha to take in a few hours of this unique event which, if I understand correctly, is supposed to give mental strength to withstand the miseries of life. With her recent tragedy (miscarriage) she needs all the mental strength the gods can give her.
Bijoy and Nisha do not live at the homestay; they have a centrally located apartment which means they are on the poojari priest´s route. As Nisha stirs her four overflowing pots she is hoping the poojari will bring her inspiration and strength.
Everywhere I look there are women making their way to the temple, carrying the required mud pot, with dried coconut palms on their heads. The streets are filled with colorful saris and the sidewalks are aflame.
I don’t stay that long, for it is a hot day and Bijoy offers to take me back before the streets become too congested. Like Mark, I too am a bit tired from all the excitement of the last few days. Nonna Devi is delighted when I return because she gets to feed me/us again.
Later Nisha stops by with some pongala to share with us. She adds some sweet brown molasses “for the birthday girl”. I try the pongala despite my reservations. I’m a picky eater and had assumed anything that cooked all day on the sidewalk would have no texture and must taste bad. Boy am I wrong! The pongala is astonishingly yummy. In fact, I think its the best porridge I’ve ever eaten!
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