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Alumkadavu
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| Gliding
along the calm and serene backwaters flanked by green leaves and palms,
seeing a rural Kerala preserved through the ages and completely hidden from
the road is an enchanting experience to any visitor, more so while sailing
a slow-moving, spacious Kettuvallam. Alumkadavu, a quiet spot in the town
of Karunagapally - hardly 23 kms. north of Quilon (travel time: 30 min)
has become a hot point of Kettuvallam building, with more than a hundred
people involved. |
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These
huge, long and tapering barges were traditionally used to move tones of
goods across kingdoms, with a portion covered with bamboo and coir serving
as a rest room and kitchen for the crew. A familiar sight on the waters,
these vessels are built entirely without using nails. |
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Planks
of jack wood are joined together with coir rope and coated with a caustic
black resin made from boiled cashew kernels. With careful maintenance they
last for generations. |
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Today,
widely and appropriately called houseboats, they carry furnished bedrooms,
modern toilets, cozy living rooms, a kitchen and even a balcony for angling.
Some are powered by a 40 HP engine. At Alumkadavu, you can even find a floating
conference hall, designed to seat 35, with a dais and a sophisticated public
address system. |
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Kumarakom
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| At
Kumarakom, you could sail the backwaters in rented houseboats, which are
poled by local oarsmen and are simply furnished with a living room, a bedroom
and bath, together with a raised central platform creating a private sit-out
for the passengers. Sections of the curved roof of wood or plaited palm
open out to provide shade and allow uninterrupted views. Boat trains - formed
by joining two or more houseboats together - make for a convenient mode
of sightseeing when the company is large. You could even take a canoe out
into the quiet lagoons and spend time angling. Make sure you sample Karimeen
and fresh Toddy - the favorite fresh-water food and the local wine. |
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This
is an ideal place for backwater cruises. A beautiful backwater spot accessible
from Kumarakom is Alleppey. |
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On
the shores of the enchanting Vembanad lake, 14 kilometers from Kottayam
(travel time: 20 min), lies Kumarakom in its small-town hush. Redolent of
restful ease.A boat ride into the countryside offers a close look into an
engaging rustic life. Skiff-fishermen launching their cockleshell boats.
Large flotillas of ducks waddling down to the water from thatched houses
on the banks. Women, neck-deep in water, with their waist-length hair heaped
in a crown, searching for fish with their feet. |
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A
14 acre bird sanctuary is situated on the eastern banks of the Vembanad
Lake. The sanctuary adds to the natural beauty of Kumarakom. Birds (waterfowl,
water ducks, cuckoos, wild ducks etc.) nest and spend happy summers here.
Birds like Siberian Storks migrate here every year. The sanctuary is open
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
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Alleppey
(Alappuzha) - Kuttanaad |
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sweeping network of canals, honey-combing the town of Alleppey (Alappuzha)
has earned for the place its sobriquet - "The Venice of the East."
Small, low-slung country boats are the taxis of this waterland. |
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is a heart-warming sight to see them carry a motley assemblage of cycles,
goats, fisherwomen with cane baskets, school children, toddy-tappers with
their knives and pots, duennas in white with gold earrings, Syrian Christian
priests and a bare-chested boatman apiece. |
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Do
not miss out on a ride into Kuttanad through shimmering, green paddy fields
and tail-wagging, head-bobbing groups of ducks. The coir-workers too present
an interesting sight as they soak coconut fibre in pools, beat them out
and weave the tough brown strands into long ropes on spindles stretched
between endless coconut trees. |
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Alleppey
becomes the cynosure of the eyes of the world in August - September, every
year, as it plays host to the celebrated Snake Boat Races - a water regatta
unique to Kerala. |
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Cochin
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Come
into Cochin (Kochi), Queen of the Arabian Sea. Believed to be the finest
natural harbour in the world. With ferry rides commanding its breathtaking
view. Cruise around man-made islands with lush green lawns sloping down
to the water's edge. |
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is the oldest European settlement in India. Recording a history of visitors
who came, saw and stayed for hundreds of years. Layered impressions - Chinese,
Arab, Jewish, British, French and Portuguese, are contained within its environment. |
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Giant
Chinese fishing nets that billow from massive teak and bamboo poles dot
the entrance to the harbour. Silhouetted against the setting sun, they present
a magnificent sight at the waterfront. |
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A
narrow, palm-fringed island, easily accessible from the mainland is where
the Bolghatty Palace is situated. The palace was built by the Dutch in 1744.
Later, it became the seat of the British Resident of Cochin and today this
has been converted into a hotel run by the KTDC. The palace has a golf course
on its grounds. |
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Quilon
(Kollam) |
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charming old port city of Quilon (Kollam) on the banks of the picturesque
Ashtamudi Lake is now known more as the centre of cashew industry. Traces
of a once prosperous trade with China are still seen in the form of Chinese
fishing nets, huge Chinese water pots, blue and white porcelain and sampan-like
boats. |
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| Quilon
is an inviting gateway to Kerala's backwaters. For an interesting backwater
experience, take the regular ferry to Alleppey - a rigorous ride lasting
more than 8 hours. As the old ferry putters from one village on the waterfront
to another, you are treated to a full range of lives and activities and
some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable. For the less intrepid, shorter
cruises can be made in the larger comforts of the houseboats with idyllic
villages such as Alumkadavu as your launch base. |
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The
nearest airport, Trivandrum, is 71 kms. away. It takes fractionally over
an hour to get to Quilon by road or rail from Trivandrum. |
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Veli
Tourist Village |
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Within
hailing distance of the capital city Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), is
the Veli - Akkulam lagoon with a delightful waterfront park growing increasingly
popular among the natives and tourists alike. |
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a narrow sandbar separates the lagoon from the sea. You can opt for rides
in motor-driven safari launches, power boats, pedal boats or row boats.
Kayaks and hovercraft attract the brave-hearted. A floating bridge and a
floating restaurant add to the overall excitement. The eastern end of the
lake is flanked by two scenic hillocks coming through as a perfect hiking
ground. |
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2
kilometers from Trivandrum Airport, The Veli Tourist Village on the outskirts
of Trivandrum is a delightful waterfront park which has become extremely
popular with Trivandrumites. It is a nice place for tourists with young
children to spend an afternoon. There is lots for the kids to do, and they
will meet many of their young Kerala counterparts, all of whom will be eager
to make new friends and try out their English. |
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The
main attraction at Veli is water - a large inland lake, separated from the
ocean by only a narrow sandbar. For a few rupees, rides can be had in motor-driven
safari launches and power boats, or a family can drift about in a pedal-boat
or a row boat. There are kayaks, and even hovercraft, for the more intrepid.
While skimming over the lake, visitors will see the local fishermen readying
their boats, working on their nets, or poling sand-laden barges. |
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There
is a floating bridge, and a floating restaurant too. Open every day; boat
rides available until 6.00p.m., after which the lake reverts to the sole
use of fishermen. |
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your tots, there is a tiny lake within the park, with sturdy, round "tub
boats", equipped with miniature paddles. A small cafeteria serves ice-cream,
cold-drinks and snacks, and the grounds are dotted with interesting climbing
sculptures designed by the well-known sculptor Kanai Kunjiraman. |
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There
are pony rides, and an open air theatre. This serves as a center for cultural
performances and, with the ocean as a backdrop, provides the setting for
an annual arts festival. Check with the Government Tourist Office in Trivandrum
for schedules of any special events. The park can be reached in a 15 minute
taxi ride from Trivandrum. There are also special bus services to Veil from
the city. |
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The
Backwaters Treatment |
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| Swaying
coconut palms and meandering waterways create a magical charm to the land.
special magic of the backwaters: a great and glistening web of rivers ,canals,
lakes and estuaries where time flows at a measured pace and yesterday and
tomorrow merge into an ever-lasting , jade-green, today. |
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bluish waterways and the green land mélange to create a mood that
begger description. When you first encounter the backwaters they look unreal:
slow flowing watery highways meandering between palm-hung banks. Clearly,
the best way to encounter these water lands is to hire a houseboat. These
long, broad-beamed, boats were once rice boats carrying mounds of grain
from the Kuttanad , rice bowl of Kerala, to the great voracious cities.
Then a complex of roads feathered out across the State and the rice boats
lost business to the trucks. |
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This
is when the bright entrepreneurs of Kerala said: "Anything Kashmir
can do, we can do better!" They bought rice boats from the out-of-work
owners, made stately rooms, bathrooms, open-sided lounges, and kitchens,
on board; employed the original owners as captains and crew on their own
boats; brought in a chef and a guide, and were in business. |
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You
can, for instance, choose either to be part of the scene or, detachedly,
away from it. Your houseboat, except when it ties up alongside in the firefly
haunted night, is never so far away from the banks that you cannot share,
vicariously, in the lives of the people of the backwaters. Yet, you are
never really close enough to become intimately involved in their trials
and tribulations. You can, with complete freedom, pick and choose your passing
involvement as if you were plugged into a Virtual Reality experience. |
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the passengers, the backwaters' houseboat experience is a step further on
the rejuvenating trail. The environment of Kerala, the atmosphere of this
green State, is therapeutic in itself. Just being in Kerala, as we've said,
is a health-enhancing experience. But when you experience it in the peaceful
drifting of a houseboat through the backwaters, you're adding a deep dimension
of serenity to your therapy. |
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Squadrons
of brown and white ducks paddle past, arrowing for little thatched-and-tiled
settlements on the palm-shaded embankments. Women hang out bright pennants
of washing while their husbands, with bare, bronzed, bodies, fish with rod
and line, or flared filigrees of nets, or with bows and harpoon arrows,
or even with spiked bamboo probes, extracting skulking crabs from water-lapped
eaves of the levees. |
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Everything
here has a water-bias. The morning newspaper, an essential accompaniment
to the first cup of tea, is delivered by skiff; water taxis convey spade-bearded
Syrian Christian priests, school girls in blue skirts and white blouses,
the fish-wives with plastic-lined baskets filled with mackerel; and a placid
buffalo chewing the cud. |
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All
through the day, chug-chugging water-buses hoot and dock gently against
coconut-trunk jetties; a multi-cared racing canoe flees in a flurry of spray;
a fisherman in a circular straw hat bobs in his dugout, his lines stretched
behind him in the late afternoon. |
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light softens and the sun is low and gold through the palms and you realise
that you've drifted a whole day away: sipping coconut water, dining on fresh
fish, crabs, steamed idlis and freshly roasted bananas with the taste and
consistency of baked custard. |
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church bell peals the evening angelus and women, with scarves draped over
their heads, hurry into a backwaters church. Lights begin to appear in the
thatched and tiled houses of the backwaters, a dog barks, a cow moos asking
to be milked, the sun sinks in a blaze of golden glory. Constellations twinkle
bright over the palms, thrusting silver starlight into the dark water. |
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Your
houseboat nudges the bank and a boatman leaps ashore, carrying an electric
lead. Soon lights and fans come alive in your floating home and crickets
and frogs, disturbed by your boat, pluck up courage again and, tentatively
at first, and then with increasing confidence, begin to sing their welcome
to the approaching night. |
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You
fall asleep wrapped in tranquillity and to a little night music from the
tiny, green choristers of the backwaters. Generally, a short session of
backwaters serenity is enough to cure most of the ailments of urban "civilisation,"
but if you have deeper disabilities of the mind, the heart, and the body
you can walk further on Kerala's rejuvenating path. You must seek out one
of Kerala's yoga, massage and Ayurvedic healing centres. |
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