Kerala Trip

June/July are wedding season in India. Preeti and I attended the thrid wedding in a month and second in Chennai. My cousins got married in June and this time it was Preeti's cousin Kathir who got married in July. Kathir's wife Binu is from Kerala and her family organized a reception in Angamally a small town close to Cochin. The 10 hour train journey from Chennai to Angamally was very comfortable. There were nearly 12 adults and 2 kids on the trip and it was very exciting to visit "God's own country - Kerala". Thats the way the Kerala state government promotes tourism in their state. I felt the term "God's own country" was going a little overboard in describing a place but all that changed after i came back from that trip. It is a beautiful place indeed, even if you are an atheist like me you will tend to agree with the slogan.

The reception was a simple and sweet ceremony. We relished the typical kerala cuisine and the warm hospitality extended to us. The first part of our sight seeing started at Athirapally waterfalls an hours drive from Cochin. The van driver gave us an adventurous start to the trip, was very scary on the roads. Soon we reached the falls and what a sight it was!! It seemed like a mini Niagra to me. The water was flowing down forcefully from over 80 feat above. The sound of water and the mist it created below was simply amazing. Binu's brother-in-law led me and two other british women (Binu's friends) to the bottom of the water falls. We walked through slippery rocks and mud to reach close to 50 feet from the water falls. Guess thats the closest we could get, we were getting drenched even at this distance. Preeti had a field day taking pictures every minute. Before leaving the falls we had tender coconut water. They are vey big and tasty in kerala.

We started back to the hotel from Athirapally dropping by at Binu's place for tea. Such a huge house, it seemed like a farm house to me in the midst of trees and plants. Binu's family were very hospitable to us and i couldnt help envying their lifestyle. Had a good sleep back at the hotel that night and we all started to the most anticipated part of the trip - Boat House @ Allepey.
I have arranged boat house trips to 4 of my friends in Kerala but have never experienced it myself.

It took us 2 to 3 hours to reach Allepey and saw our beautiful house boat. "Welcome to Allepey - The Venice of the east", announced my Father-in-law in the van as we neared the town. There were hundreds of house boats docked there waiting for people. We climbed into a 2 bedroom boat, it had a big drawing room with dining table and TV. Each of the bedroom had AC and attached bathrooms. The boat also had a wonderful kitchen with stove. It was all exciting to be on the boat, the kids were even more excited. The boat started on a cruise for 3 hours on the back waters. We played cards, dumbsharads and other games all along the cruise. There were sign boards and boat stops on the banks of the river. Boats were ferrying people to their destinations. There were scenic beauties all through the river cruise, lush green and yellow paddy fields and coconut trees.

I have to mention about the delicious lunch, fresh fish and prawns along with few vegeterian dishes. Its a pity that i became a vegetarian unable to taste all the sea food served. Fish is considered non-vegeterian in India unlike in the west. The boat came to a halt by 6 in the evening. Boating is strictly not allowed after 6 because of fishing. Two other boats joined us in a while all parked close to each other on the banks. Preeti, her cousin sister Vanna Malar, her hubby Kannan and their kids Iyal and Kavin all had a dip in the water. Preeti's dad and younger uncle started swimming first followed by others. I am not a very good swimmer and weary of swimming in rivers but it was too tempting. I didnt want to be left behind and hence took the plunge. It felt really nice to swim in fresh water, my earlier experiences have only been in swimming pools.

After having a full course dinner we all sat together to chat. We were all throwing questions at Kathir and Binu asking them how they met and how it all started. They had a tough time answering our questions. Preeti's uncle the eldest in the family had a few words of wisdom to share with the newly weds. We were ready to hit the bed by then and went to our respective boats. Kannan's family and us were in one boat, left the senior citizens in the other two boats !!!
We slept really well that night, never imagined it would be this comfortable.

We woke up the next day and the boat started back to the destination. We bid farewell to the boat and started our drive back to Cochin. By afternoon we were getting ready to take our flight back to Hyderabad. We took a cab to the airport by late afternoon after saying goodbye to everyone. I was thinking this trip will be very memorable for a long time to come. It has been over 3 months now since we been to Kerala and its still staying very fresh in my memory. I told myself this will definitely not be my last trip to the God's own country.