The only sounds that disturbs the tranquility of the place is the calves mooing, sweet twittering of the birds and the whirring of the fan overhead the houseboat, places on the sided deck.
I watch the birds looking for their catch, goats tied to trees with ropes and the ducks been flock away by the anxious householders. A shirtless old man in a white loincloth, known as a dhoti bends over and brushes his teeth in the water.After hours of journey though the picturesque landscape of the backwater, the houseboat slowly took side of the bank to stop for lunch of banana curry, fried long beans, milk butter, fried cabbage, fresh fish and rice. The dish was so special and nicely prepared that I did not stop, till I got the message from the stomach, it is enough, done for the day.
After such a heavy meal, soon after sailing for hours, it was time to think for the dinner. We stop at a small stall on the bank selling fish and other sea food. I picked up two large prawns from the stall and handed over to the cook to prepare for the dinner. As we start to sail, the sun starts to set, I find myself cruising along a vast lake with the landscape changing from the green to the flat rice paddies that ends to the horizon. Now the sun on its final smile burns bright round orange and bids good night to everyone. We tied our boat to a couple of palm trees for the night. As everything turned dark, I hear the threatening rumble of thunder overhead and the pitter –patter of rain on the water. As the light glow outside the open deck, bugs swarms around the light that sails me to the insanity. By the time, dinner was ready and Sameer leads me to an alternative dinner room, where he has put several dishes for me on a table cloth over the mattress. He now explains me in his best possible English about the dinner and the delicacies he has prepared for the night. Though it was delicious, my favorite experience is at breakfast the next morning “Banana Pan Cake, Idli and Dosa”. The backwater in Kerala covers 900 kms and the waterways around the Alleppey in Kerala is the best to explore on a traditional houseboat. The six rice barges were converted to today’s houseboat in the early 1990 but today, there are some 450 houseboats in Kerala, plying the canals. Some are completely glassed in and some are two storeys. While most of the men in Kerala wear Western Cloths with the odd dhoti, women wear colorful saris with jasmine flower in their hair. Kerala also has the country’s highest literacy rate and you are unlikely to see beggars and slums that are very common in most of the states of India. About 10% of the total population of the state works in Middle East as nurses and teachers. The value to Education for both girl child and boy child can be found from the forward thinking of the Maharajah, who rules the state earlier. The students in Kerala learn three languages, the national language Hindi, the business language English and the local language Malayalam. My journey beings in the Fort Cochin also known as Queen of Arabian Sea, which is one of the India’s Oldest European Settlement with Portuguese, Dutch, British and Jews all enticed by the spice trade. The fort is the main attractions and earlier it used to cover the radius of 7 kms, but now almost destroyed, it has only 1 kms left.The area is now converted and now most of the area is filled with colonial homes that are converted into heritage hotels, boutique hotels and homestays.
The area is now filled with colonial homes that have been converted into boutique hotels and homestays.Fort Cochin is famous for its ancient Chinese Fishing Nets, which is said to been brought from China and this large wooden contraptions are operated by atleast 5 people. It is also an important attraction of the town. Fishermen out here do demonstrate for tourists to earn couples of dollars and show how the suspended fishing net works and how everything out here works. Markets along the river sell fresh squid, lobster, crab and mussels, which can be bought and taken to the nearby restaurants to be cooked. Apart from all these, the town has many interesting places that are sure to make the journey truly remarkable. I enjoyed visit to the famous Synagogue, Willingdon Island and after that I precede towards Periyar, a five hours a hair rising journey through the mountainous areas. We see cows wandering at the street around the waterfalls and women collection water on the side of the road vassal made of palm leaves. The early morning view of Periyar was truly amazing, refreshing, green and alluring. Morning I take cruise on a man-made lake of Periyar inside the sanctuary and as it move we spot wild boar, buffalo, turtles, bird feeding their cheeks in nests. Afternoon we visit to Elephant Camp and also the spice garden were we can see pepper, cocoa, coffee, ginger, curry, cinnamon, tamarind. In is in this place, I helped the elephant take bath for the first time in my life.After the bathing session of the elephant was over, I climb up and sit back on the back of his neck, while elephant sucks water from the bucket with his trunk and sprinkled all over back to me. It was truly amazing as it was hot sticky afternoon and the water drenched me making me feel enliven by such a wonderful fun experience.