Kerala K(ch)ronicle

We had Malyalam speaking neighbors for the longest period. Brother and I practically grew up with V and V, eating generous amount of dosa and coconut chutney. V and V would always go on summer vacations to their ancestral गांव (village) in Kerala. It was always a mystery for us owing to our poor pronunciations. I have grown up thinking about their गांव and what it must be like.

Recently a Keralite friend invited us to his wedding in his ancestral village. The idea of visiting Kerala suddenly got all these childhood memories to the fore. The grown up in me wanted to see what it must feel like. One of my most fun friends (who used to blog here: http://adducelebrity.blogspot.in/) and his wife also joined in and made the planning phase extremely smooth.

How to plan a trip with addu and his wife: book the to and from tickets. Leave the rest of the planning for runtime execution.

We reached Cochin (Kochi/ernakulam) airport in the afternoon and immediately started scouting for our options to travel to Alleppey (allepuzha). 
Tip 1: Reaching Alleppey from Cochin is easiest from the airport as there are KSRTC shuttles to Vytilla from where Alleppey buses are frequent.

image courtesy: google

We took this special ride to Alleppey from Cochin airport though ->
Before that we also ate amazing butter dosas at the airport hotel at Cochin airport. The south Indian food lover in me was in paradise.

After a 2 hour road journey to Alleppey on the last seats of our heavenly ride and drenched in sweat, we just wanted to reach our homestay. 
Tip 2: Wear and carry lots of cotton clothes else the humidity will make sure you have multiple baths in a day.

The great auto experience started in Alleppey when the autowala charged us 30 rupees for a distance worth 30 rupees, without meter! If you have lived in Maharashtra long enough you know what I mean. Our homestay was a cozy little home converted in a homestay and hotel. (tripadvisor link here: http://www.tripadvisor.in/ShowUserReviews-g608471-d1015993-r193761496-Snehadhara_Homestay-Alappuzha_Kerala.html)

Salim uncle and Mini aunty (the owners) took really good care of us, so it never felt like this was our first trip to Kerala/Alleppey. Mini aunty even churned out delish lemon rice at last minute notice for our dinner. They guided us about local sightseeing and also helped us book a shikara boat for the backwaters tour next day.

happiness is homemade food in distant land!

Touring the backwaters can be done in 2 ways: the popular houseboat where you book it for an entire day i.e. 11 am to 5 pm. Or shikara which will take you along the same route on a per hour charge basis for 4 hours.
Since we were constrained by time we took the second option and hopped into our boats at 10 am the next day. This was after a homemade wholesome breakfast of dosa-chutney-sambaar, filter coffee and juice.

Our tour started from the canals of Allepuzha and extended to nearby villages in a 24 km radius. We also stopped for a traditional kaari fish keralaite lunch at a village. The adventure of this village life connected only by these water bodies and boats for transport thrilled me. I started plotting a fun life around these villages when it suddenly dawned on me, how easier it is to be a tourist and imagine all exotic things about village life and forget the mundane. I don't really like this 'lets stay grounded to reality' side of mine.
Nonetheless the backwaters provided some spectacular glimpses of nature which need to be experienced first hand. 

beautiful kerala backwaters!

After this fulfilling day we left for Calicut/Kzhikode. The train network throughout Kerala is pretty good and ends up being the best option for internal travel. A 6 hour train journey later we were in Kozhikode where the autowalas were so honest that we did not spend an extra dime than what the distance demanded. I felt like I was in rikshaw heaven.

Calicut/Kozhikode is famous for its handloom shops, so some saree shopping for the mother happened. There are lots of temples in Calicut but our temple run ended after visiting the thali temple as my friends 'the couple' were denied access because they were wearing jeans and not mundu (for guys)/ traditional clothes. 

Tip 3: Wear Indian ethnic wear while visiting temples.

We also visited the 80 years old Paragon hotel in Calicut for lunch where the non veg food is a must try! 

The 40 year old Kumari banana chips shop is also a must visit for buying the much loved south indian snack.

We left Calicut the next day to reach the ancestral village of our friend. A hectic bus ride from Calicut to Vadakara later we finally arrived here ->

nostalgic much?

As the wedding was next day we eventually hit the sack, despite the never ending gossip/catching up. Keralaite weddings are a low key affair with minimal fuss. The baraat (wedding procession) left the guy's town and arrived the girl's, and the wedding was over in 2 hours. Yes 2 hours! Including all the rituals and food.

After bidding our farewells we hit Kannur station for our return journey the same day.

Without any micro planning or preplanning even, this trip turned out to be fun and an adventure.

I only hope Kerala remains as grounded and beautiful as it appeared. The simplicity* and the honest demeanor of Kerala will remain with me is what I would like to believe.

* I know the every family has one person in foreign land angle