Kerala, God’s Own Country – 5

Date: Oct 12, 2014

I was sitting on the bench next to the lake. The sky was clear. Jalkhumbi (जलखुम्बी) was float to the middle of the lake due to the water current. The coolness of the air flowing in the weather was providing relax to the body. Seagulls was flying over the lake. The birds was tweeting nearby. The ducks was roaming in the garden of the resort, cleaning themselves using their beak and then all of them went into the pond and swam in a queue.

This was the most important and peculiar day of the trip due to which we were excited, our next stay was set out on an enchanting overnight backwater cruise in traditionally decorated houseboats in Alleppey. While cruising in these floating luxury-villas, ones eyes can settle for the rare and the unusual – skim past Chinese fishing nets, bowed-down paddy fields, and local inhabitants engaged in making coir products, rustic homes, and ancient temples and swaying coconut groves. We left at 11:30 am for Alleppey, the overnight stay was arranged by the Rainbow Cruises.

We stopped along the way to freshen up with coconut water. Surprisingly, it was costlier compared to Delhi. After stayed there for a while, we continued our journey towards the destination. We reached cruises by 12:48 pm well before the starting time which was 1:00 pm. There was drawing area on the entrance in houseboat. After Drawing area, there was Dining cum TV room for entertainment. Then there was three bedrooms with attached bathroom in a queue.  In the rear of boat, kitchen was setup for the preparation of the fresh food. In short, it has all the required amenities, a house floating over the water.

We were out on the cruise after boarding. But we didn’t went much far before taking a halt, on inquiring we got to know that it’s the lunch time. We were waiting for the lunch to be served, meanwhile the rain was started making the weather cool and pleasant, which was hot and humid earlier. The drops of rain producing a beautiful and melodious music on hitting the Vembanad lake soothes to the ears . Meanwhile, on the boat, the kids was playing and the adults was chit-chatting.

After the lunch, we continued our cruise to experience the life over and around the water. The boat was smoothly floating over the water. The weather was pleasant with cold wind flowing, the rain was stopped. There were a couple of boats floating ahead ours. Some boats was floating in the opposite directions. The villages was inhabited on either side of lake, the life of people was quite and simple. A boy jumped into the river to fetching a fish. The people knew how to get the maximum use of their available limited resources. The people are living with the nature, it was given a feeling of heaven. The riverside was equipped with coconut trees.  After floating for few hours, we entered into the river and there was huge number of houseboats floating, some of them had double floor. The clouds in the sky was playing with sun and changing their colors in a short distance.

We again entered in the Vembanad lake, and it’s started raining again. The only difference was this time water was entering inside the boat; the sailors covered the boat with tarpaulin to prevent it. The sailor parked the boat around 5:30 pm at a place from where one can enjoy the sunset. They do not row during night. We spend rest of the time playing antakshari, dumb charades and chitchatting. It was the opportunity to spent quality time with dear ones.

There was some cons also associated. The big problem was with the food. The food was good and gave feeling of home made, but it was in limited quantity. Another problem was with the timing of A.C operation which was from 9 pm to 6 am. It’s better to manage some snacks before boarding the boat, especially when one is accompanied with the kids, else take a day surfing and stay in the resort or research before choosing the houseboat.

The place was awesome and beautiful where the boat was parked. The atmosphere was clean, the wide river banks was covered with the coconut trees. The sunset in the lake was giving the place a heavenly view.