HEAVEN AND BACK - GOD'S OWN COUNTRY, KERALA

I have lost count of the number of times I have travelled to Kerala. It may not be all that often really, but you know the feeling when you come back to a place that feels like home. That is Kerala for me. A home that I love to holiday in 😊 And here I was again.

This time, we visited three places, meticulously planned by yours truly. It covered a hill-station, the back-waters and a beach destination. And as always, once on the holiday, we threw the plan out the window and let the place take over. Of course, we did have a few must dos – eat well, have fun, sleep well, repeat. Something like that!

The holiday started with a major dampener when my luggage got held back at Mumbai airport because it had a power-bank in it. We had just landed in Kochi when I discovered this and was pretty bummed out about it. At the airline counter, I met this old lady with her daughter who had come in from Alleppey (about 3 hours away from Kochi) to collect their luggage (held back for similar reasons) after 3 days! I freaked out!

After a lot of haggling, weight-throwing, threatening and finally pleading, I managed to convince the airline officials to (very kindly) try and get in my luggage on the very next flight from Mumbai. Having assured this, I thanked them profusely and took couple of phone numbers to get in touch with. After a quick meal at the airport food-court, we started off for Thekkady – our first stopover on the holiday. Baani and Suni had been very patient during the entire luggage episode. En route I prayed silently that this would be the first and last hiccup on the trip. Looking back, my prayer worked. Because, I did get my luggage the very next day. No more hiccups too, thereafter.

The road trip to Thekkady turned out longer than estimated and a major portion of it meandered through the hills. There wasn’t much ascent really, just a lot of zig-zagging. We stopped for a short tea-coffee break at an Indian Coffee House. Did you know that there are at least 56 such coffee houses, run by the coffee-producers board, across Kerala? The coffee was warm, the chicken cutlets were succulent, the bread was soft and the service was prompt. Good sign no.1 😊

Soon after, there were spells of mild rain that cooled the weather significantly and made the rest of the long journey quite pleasant. Good sign no.2.

By the time we reached Thekkady, it was well into the night and we managed to make it to a decent apparel outlet just before the shutters went down. And I bought myself few clothes to make it through till my luggage arrived the next day. Good sign no.3. I was already feeling good!

It was quite late and we were tired. So, the three of us quickly checked in, ordered some food to the room and hit the sack soon after. In between all that, Baani went berserk about the cottage we were staying in. Running around and jumping on the bed. Switching channels on the TV. Getting inside the quilt and back out repeatedly. Kids, you know!

Next morning, we were awakened by a noise that sounded like an alien invasion just outside the cottage. First, I thought I was dreaming. Then I was terrified. Then I mustered some courage and called up front desk - ‘What is that sound all around our cottage? Can you hear it?’.

‘Just crickets, Sir’, pat came the reply.

‘Are you sure?’, pat came the doubt question.

‘Yes Sir, absolutely.’ I thought there was a chuckle. But I can’t say for sure. Anyway, it was a sound that we would hear often in the coming days, so I guess they were indeed harmless crickets. And a host of other beings that I can only imagine.

Much later that morning, when the sounds had subsided, we got out for breakfast at the restaurant and explored the resort. It was a beautiful resort, built almost as if in the midst of jungle. Wide-trunked trees, thick bright green foliage, long branches with scampering monkeys, dozens of squirrels nut-hunting, different kinds of birds flying across, beautiful wild flowers of myriad colours popping out of shrubs, winding paved pathways snaking through the trees that rose and sloped down alternately, as we walked around. We were in the midst of so much nature!     

We got out that evening to catch shows of two Kairali (of Kerala) performances, very close to the resort. Suni and I had seen these years ago and we had loved it. Obviously, we wanted to watch them again and expose Baani to them too. The first one, Kathakali, is the traditional dance form of Kerala easily recognized by its theatrical costumes. The second one, Kalaripayattu, is the traditional martial art form of the state and bears origin to most of the martial arts emanating from Asia.  

We reached the centre for the Kathakali performance well in time, to watch the dancer being dressed up. This is a part of the show and an elaborate ritual in itself. Do not miss it when you go to a Kathakali performance next. The theatre was a small local auditorium with a rather small stage, enough to host two dancers and couple of musicians on the side. Plastic chairs, duly numbered, were neatly lined around the hall. As the performance began, the narrator introduced the dance form and the nuances of various expressions and body movements that Kathakali dancers conduct. During this session, the dancer would try and involve the audience. How he did that is something, only being there can help you understand 😊 Baani was thrilled to bits, when the dancer gestured to me and Suni at various stages in this segment. In the last segment, we were treated to a short mythological story performance by two Kathakali dancers for twenty minutes. The whole show was as magical as it had been years ago.  

Soon after the Kathakali show, we moved next door into another theatre for the next show. Albeit, of a different kind of place. We had to climb up one storey and enter a hall that had similar seats to the first one. However, the arrangement was not in auditorium style. Instead, it was in rectangular colosseum style circling the room and along the walls. In the centre, was a 10-feet deep mud-pit, neatly floored, walled and decorated. At one end of the pit, we could see an array of various weapons and lit diyas (prayer lamps) and portraits of deities. The weapons, I could discern, ranged from swords-and-shields to man-size staffs and steel-tipped lances. This is the traditional pit in which Kalaripayattu is taught and practised.

As the audience sat quietly murmuring about what they were seeing, in walked though a door on the ground floor, one after another, six young men. They were all dressed in black vests and black dhotis (an Indian lower garment worn by men) tightly wound around their waists and extending down to the knees. They paid obeisance to the deities, the audience and then were introduced by the narrator along with antecedents of the martial art of Kalaripayattu.

Over the next one hour, the six young men regaled the crowd with martial art techniques, fight sequences, awe-inspiring acts (some involving fire) and several gravity-defying super-human stunts. As we all watched in wonder, they never ceased to amaze. Most of the young men were in their early twenties or late teens and had a decade of practice behind them already, I was to later find out when I spoke to couple of them. The beauty of Kalaripayattu is in the fluid dance-like movements that orchestrate the hardest of blows in a real fight. All of us in that hall saw something quite extra-ordinary display of discipline and calibre in that hall. You know that feeling when you walk out of a hall after watching a hardcore action flick? Everyone that evening, felt something like that after the performance. Whenever you go to Thekkady next, do not forget to catch both these performances. There are several centres that conduct it. We watched it at the Mudra Cultural Centre near the main market area.                 

The next morning, we went for an elephant ride at a little park called the Elephant Junction. If you have never sat on an Elephant, chances are you won’t either, wherever you currently reside. So, this is definitely a must-do activity. Riding an elephant first fills you fear and then sheer joy as the large, genteel animal takes small steps across the wild park, carefully guided by his Mahout (trainer). As the tree of us swayed from side to side atop the elephant, I wondered how warriors could actually fight back in the old ages, sitting atop one. I was simply happy that I didn’t fall off! (just kidding). We were also lucky to glimpse an elephant giving himself a bath with complete abandon. What a lovely sight indeed!

The next one-and-half days were spent in shopping for hand-made chocolates and traditional spices at the market and eating authentic Kairali sea-food at various places. Like explorers of yore, in search of the elusive potion, we sought out fried fish at every place we ate. We got something close couple of times but it was never what we really wanted. Several years ago, on our honeymoon, we had eaten fried fish at Bali and were seeking that taste again. We believed we would find it in Kerala. Anyway, it eluded us.

And of course, I went for a traditional Kerala ayurvedic massage too at a local centre that was very zealously recommended by our autorickshaw driver. This massage, unlike the Swedish and Thai therapies, involves more of application of specially prepared herbal oils in long, quick strokes. The oils are medicated and play the key role in repairing your body from its fatigue and stress.    

The next leg of our holiday was at Alleppey (locally known as Alappuzha). Around four-and-half hours from Thekkady, Alleppey is a small town right on the backwaters. The hotel we were staying in offered breath-taking views of the vast backwaters and dozens of houseboats that keep sailing from one side to the other. Alleppey may be a little township today, but centuries ago, the local king had built a wide network of canals that ran through the city and propelled it into becoming a major port of those times. Industry and foreign investment from Europe flowed into the region and Alleppey went on to become the world’s largest coir producing region, giving rise to several prosperous families during a period of heavy growth. Given the unlimited availability of coconut plantations in the region, it soon became a rapidly growing business and generated employment and wealth.

One such family was that of Revi Karunakaran. Revi’s father had made his fortune during the initial days of the industrialization of coir. His son, Revi took the family business forward and grew it further. His wife and Revi travelled around the globe and were leading families in the state’s social and business circles. After his death, Revi’s wife converted their 2-storeyed palatial mansion into a museum showcasing their personal travel collections and artefacts, from just about everywhere. Today, the museum houses the largest personal collection on display, of Swarovski’s crystal collections and Lladro’s porcelain collections (including several limited-edition works from both), inimitable collection of ivory-ware, scores of statues made of precious stones from Latin America to South-east Asia, immaculate silver-ware, antique furniture from around the world, dozens of Tanjore paintings (that use gold sheaths) and one really big vintage car – the Buick Super from the 1950’s! Not many people know of this museum, but I guarantee you this – it ain’t like anything you’ve seen before! So, do keep aside 2 hours for the visit to this museum the next time you are around here.

After treating our eyes to the endless beauty at the Revi Karunakaran museum, and a sumptuous lunch at a traditional Kairali restaurant, we headed to the coir museum run by the Coir Board of India. The tickets here are reasonably priced at Rs. 20 per head. But don’t land up with only some wads of cash in your pocket. They accept ONLY cards! Yes, you read that right 😊 Being a central government entity, they are authorised only to accept card payments and will swipe the machine for even Rs. 20. Once inside, we were ably guided by one of the qualified guides who took us through the history, present and expansion of the coir industry and its products. We saw machinery that makes coir, we actually made coir ropes ourselves and were amazed at the vast variety of applications of coir, including a house made completely from coir products – fully water-proof and fire-proof! Half-an-hour later we emerged from there and headed back to the hotel, satisfied and awed by all that we had seen that day.

One of the other days, we took a houseboat ride from the pier area. It was quite easy really. We walked down to the jetty, checked out the boats lined up neatly, selected one, agreed to a price for the time and simply got on board. It was one of the most memorable and pleasant rides of our lives. Two hours of complete bliss on the backwaters, drinking fresh coconut water en route, watching village life as we went past and lying down on very comfortable lounge-beds, looking at the world around us. We saw houseboats the size of mini restaurants, houseboats with 5 fully-equipped rooms and houseboats under construction. By the way, one can book houseboats from 2 hours up to an entire night. Whatever suits you, it’s a no-brainer must-do!

On our last day at Alleppey, we decided to step out into the local market. It is something we love doing wherever in the world we travel. However, we were soon disheartened by the crowded streets and hot sun. The market, unlike Thekkady’s, was a regular daily market and not exactly touristy. So, we dropped the plan and decided to head to a café. I opened Google and shortlisted two choices that looked like our kind of places. I hailed a rickshaw and navigated the route using Google maps. But as luck would have it, we reached the café only to discover it shut! Not ones to be disheartened, we bravely continued to café no. 2. It was shut too!

Finally, now with heavy hearts we headed back to the hotel. About 300 metres before our hotel, we stopped at a haveli-themed hotel to have a change of cuisine and do lunch there. With little expectation, we stepped in an ordered our meal. The usual mostly – curd rice, a vegetable curry, a chicken dish. And of course, we asked if they make fried fish? The server said, ‘Yes, we do’. 'Well, can you get us one of that too? Nothing fancy. Just basic fried fish’, I explained. He replied, ‘Sure’. We then ran through our photos from the previous day while Baani made herself at home running around and creating imaginary characters in the palace-like environs.  After what seemed quite long, the food arrived. Imagine our complete shock, when the fried fish turned out EXACTLY what we had been seeking for the last one week! Finally, our foodie souls had been fed satisfactorily 😊 I remembered something I had read recently – When you stop searching for something so hard, it finds you. Well, the fried fish certainly found us hungry mouths!

Later that evening, we pranced about in the pool while stormy winds and rain lashed at the resort and heralded the onset of monsoons in Kerala. We made it back to room from the pool, with help from the hotel staff, soaked to the bone. It was like nature’s signal – time to move on.

We started the next day for Poovar, our final stopover in Kerala. We travelled from Alleppey to Poovar in about four-and-half hours covering the journey comfortably, because the roads are so nice. Also, since it was Sunday, we encountered minimal traffic. We stopped at a place en route for a light bite which was a nice, quaint heritage hotel that served us some simple tasty food and had very lovely Ravi Verma painting prints that adorned the walls. One of them, of Ravi Verma’s daughter and his grandson, reminded me of my brother’s pictures from his childhood. I am a huge fan of Raja Ravi Verma’s work and believe that few others have brought female beauty alive as well as he did.

The Poovar resort was extremely nice with cosy round-form cottages that had lovely verandahs up front. It was nestled in one corner of the small sleepy village of Poovar, which is about an hour’s drive from Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerala. Since this was the last part of our vacation, we decided to just chill at the resort for most of our stay there. We did one back-water ride, only because one of the resort management staff insisted that it would be very different from the one we had done at Alleppey. And boy, was he right!

It was an amazing experience for couple of hours through the wild and thick Amazon-like backwaters and then a short stop-over at the Poovar beach where the waters were very choppy that morning. We crossed some restaurants housed on the lake and cooled down with sweet coconut water in the idyllic surroundings.

Most of our remaining short time at Poovar, was spent time in the pool, in our cottage or at the spa. It was a nice way to conclude our Kerala sojourn. Calm, quiet and relaxed.

As we packed our bags on the last night at Poovar, each of us felt the holiday should have been longer. Just a tad bit. It had been one of our most rejuvenating vacations ever. And what better than the feeling that it should go on for just one more day 😊 Well, there is always the next time.

As we passed through the village of Poovar next morning to the airport at Trivandrum, we could see early signs of families waking up. A stray cat yawning here, a stretching dog there, the odd shopkeeper opening his shop’s shutter, couple of young women awaiting their bus to work, fisherfolk returning home with the night’s catch and a few people just about starting their day. Baani dozed off during the ride, while Suni and I were lost in thoughts and memories of the past eleven days and return to our lives back in Maximum City.

They say, travel teaches you more about life than classrooms and books. I agree. Every time you travel, you are more open, curious and seeking amazement than you do in the daily rigmarole of life. When you travel, you do what your heart says. Not what you need to or have been instructed to. You follow your instinct. You watch and listen. You talk to people. Actually talk, not chat or message.

And in doing all of these, you discover more of the world around you. And yourself within.