Travelling tales:4 A trip to backwaters in God's own country

 Travelling tales:4     A trip to backwaters in God's own country

Thou Say"Life is a journey",
To An unknown destination,
To an unknown place,
Yet my soul pines for solace
Amidst heavenly blue and green,
Calms down,makes me glee in serene.

Thou say"Many stories remain untold",
Yet few stories hath destiny to unfold,
Of mine,thee or my amigos,
Of all or thou,no matter those.
 Life and paths, go together,
A comrade  goes along better,
In shadows and in lights,
Soothes me day and night.

Thou say"Not every story becomes a tale",
Following life in nature's trail ,
Yet my heart seeks a rhythm,
A sense of deja vu,a feeling of i am.
Walking barefoot on pebels,
Writing my tales of travels.....
                                (Rajni Vohra)

It was certainly not an impromptu decision to visit God's own country to rejoice its never-ending and heavenly backwaters in the month of Sep,2008 as it was a pending wish for a long time, though during those days, connectivity was not that good the way it is today, yet in pursuance of the delight, reached  Mumbai to catch the flight (no intentional rhyming, just happened anyways:)in the wee hours.

Our eyes were literally burning of being restless and tired,luckily flight departed on time and landed us safely to the destination.From there,went to the travel kiosk of Incredible India, located next to the exit point of airport where a Malayali lady on desk ,politely asked in Malayalam accent "Where do you want to go",Madam? I whispered:Kottayam (backwaters begin from Kumarokome).We took Tavera to cover the distance of some 65 km, roughly 2 hrs.Though we were starvin like marvin, thus asked driver to stop at a little rustic food joint (can't recollect name of the place) where just puffed red Kerala rice and sambhar were available, enough to survive,thinking so ordered 3 rice plates,costed less than hundred bucks,reasonably good food. Also Onam festival was going on , thus spotted a Mahabali riding on an auto, generously showering his blessings on us. On our way, we had a company of winding roads,green fields of pineapple,jack-fruit and endless coconut trees.

On reaching Kottayam,our first job was to select the hotel from the list we prepared. Finally we zeroed in on Aida, a sophisticated hotel with all amenities including a restaurant on ground floor.Somehow the  aroma of spices from hotel's kitchen tickled our taste buds ...not our fault!!!! And we headed straight to ground floor where traditional Kerala meal was being served and to entertain guests a band was playing some instrumental western music.Despite not being very hungry,felt tempted to eat all...

A courteous hotel manager guided us well about places in and around.In evening, we decided to take a round of the town starting with  a temple, Thirunakkara Mahadevar  and then headed to Kairali artifacts store,situated on bakers hill road.An expensive place to shop .....with good stuff.

 In evening called up a house boat owner and narrated our next day plan.Next morning we all felt  fresh and energetic and headed to a famous eatery Arya.We were suggested by a local friend  to give here a try for breakfast;  famous for its USP- quality.

An indica was sent to pick us and almost in half an hour,we reached a place that was totally submerged into greenery and water.At the same time,it was drizzling with black clouds scattered in the sky.After waiting five minutes, a big houseboat arrived with 3 men inside who welcomed us inside the boat.

We were pleasantly surprised at its grandeur and enchanting decoration,entering into a really huge drawing room, two bedrooms attached with washrooms and kitchen. As soon as we settled ,our cruised began its ride, a ride to breathtaking landscapes,beautiful lagoons, heavenly nature,most lively villages and what not.....After sometime,cook came to take order for lunch and while we were engrossed with the lovely nature,an aroma of authentic Malabar meals knocked at our nasal senses,as we saw a tray full of Kerala delicacies(veg stew, malabar chicken, cabbage poriyal, avayal,steamed red rice,and of course appalam!!!)coming out of the kitchen.We could not wait anymore to start.Food was awesome...however language was certainly a big barrier as men on boat could only speak and understand their native language.

On our way,we saw dozens of houseboats with the Caucasian friends, mostly old -enjoying their rides,waving hands and capturing supremely charming landscapes. Also wondered to see kids coming from school in their boat-bus:)----and people doing their regular household chores amidst the water .

Finally ,we could not stop ourselves to jump on a piece of land beside a very tiny, but unique church,it was certainly a different feeling and  an experience of life,though we could not spend much time over there since it was pouring heavily.Our  gently moving cruise steered through some unknown,strange and  mesmerizing green narrow allies surrounded by pristine coconut trees in abundance and we  were totally immersed into the  tranquility of heavenly place. Did not realize how time flew till reached a point where boat became still and tied with rope to a place for the night halt; Now we did not know what to do,as there were only few Malayalam DVDs were available.

We preferred simple rice and sambhar for dinner.

It was pitch dark around ,nothing was visible so we headed towards bedroom after some conversation. Little did we know that some uninvited guests were waiting their for night feast(mosquitoes:) ; Wished Government of Kerala could make it cleaner and make provisions to prevent throwing faeces directly into water --which eventually cause perpetual stink in this paradise

Anyway, next morning was pleasant,we got up early to see new sites such as Kumarkum bird century and some exotic five star properties situated on the banks of river.After an hour, we were served with  steaming appams,chutney and hot delicious coffee and finally reached a point where a cab was waiting for us...

Probably the most calm,cherish-able and leisurely trip we ever had in our life.

..No wonder why it is called Venice of the east.