Thekaddy

We were sad. Almost. To be leaving the serenity of the backwaters of Kerala. But, there was more waiting for us. And calibration was the word of the day !
As we drove towards our next destination - Thekaddy; we were amidst complete greenery ! Paddy fields and tea plantations. Pine cone types and coconut trees as well.
The uphill journey got some of us a little MS-fied. But it was a beautiful drive nonetheless.
His dudeness aptly put the experience as "it's difficult to capture some fun and crazy moments with a camera!" True that.

After an ice cream break and being all touristy at a pwetty waterfall, we reached Thekaddy and decided to fill ourselves with the amazing Beef Fry and Beer combo before going for an animal sighting boat trip.
Keralites are known for making the best and most exquisite Beef Fry. It has to have the right combination of coconut, curry leaves and their "secret masala". While our Mallus graciously decided to do our bookings - we gorged on plates of Pork chilly, Seer Fish fry and Beef Fry. The heaven - ness, again is difficult to put into words.

His dudeness had an amazing plan in mind for the Thekaddy leg of our Kerala holiday. It began with Us, in fatty orange lifejackets in a boat on the Periyar lake managing to see the sambar deers, kingfisher birdies, bisons, wild dogs, foxes and the beautiful sunset ! It will be rather difficult to erase the trauma MSKG went through shooing away a monkey who wanted a taste of our home - made chocolates. But we hope he'll survive !

We got to our "hotel" which was basically a large open field with many many "cute" bamboo cottages. Each cottage had a name and 2 single beds, attached bathrooms and no fan ! The weather again didn't play spoil sport to the plan, so far. A beautiful and almost "compact" tree house was located near our cottages. We were warned that unfortunately it wasn't big enough to accommodate all of us. We didn't even try !
We then took off for a 3 hour "night nature trail." I was sooper scared ! Darkness freaks me out. K promised to be my best friend for that duration of time and had my back. We were given leech socks, a raincoat and a torch.
It began.
The chills I got ! But it was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. The leech that managed to get to me will probably be burning in hell now. As creepy as it was then, in retrospect they actually aren't such horrible creatures. Almost harmless because apparently they suck out the bad blood and just die eventually. Anyhow, we managed to see a herd of deer crossing a small water body, the footprints of a bear and elephant and many many big big trees ! And we walked and walked and trekked and trekked. Except for a light drizzle - thankfully the rain God "blessed" us with no heavy downpour.
Getting the leeches off from your body, socks and shoes is a long drawn process; but it is necessary and the forest officers are there to help.
We got back to a very yummy and hot meal of - sambar, garlic rasam, rice, papad, beef fry, fish curry, chicken curry and thoran.

Following this - it was time we sat on our Flinstones seating arrangement and do the puttings. While I tried to give some gyaan on the types of schizophrenia, Sleepy not only got lazy to pee but also learned the Malayalam version of "That's right !" After that - there was no stopping him.
MSKG decided to retire early to bed while His Dudeness wished he had a recorder to record a few funny lines by me ! After a very very short walk, a few gangsta poses, promises of getting up early enough and watching music videos - Day Two ended as the sun was about to rise. The usual anyway !

to be continued...

The Backwaters

While sitting in Delhi, a few of us decided that we must try and organize a trip to one of the southern tips of India - Kerala. Seemed like an obvious choice since a few of us are sort of settled there itself. So having decided that, we took off on deciding how and when to get there as well as what is it that we would like to do and see.

Prior to that, I gave K a shot of a typical out of townie Bengaluru experience. From happy hours to dosas to a hazey purple evening - We did it all with my ponjees who were thrilled to finally meet him.

The train journey couldn't have been more "exciting" ! Considering how I look and the fact that I was a lady - it wasn't surprising that the "tribal Gults" kept staring at me as though I was an exotic creature. As K put it - "now we're in an exhibition." Also, please note K wondered why was it that they weren't wearing animal skins and carrying their spears ! How I figured they were Gults is without any help from K who thought that by entending a finger they would grab his hands. Freaked me out till we finally reached our destination Ernakulum.

As we stepped out of the station - the air felt different and the weather - well ! It was beautiful. After a quick Mallu dosa and vada experience, we were received by Sleepy with his new white BB, His dudeness very excited to be our guide and NRI(i) whom K and I were meeting for the first time.
On our way to the airport to pick up the MSKG (who was going through a clothes crisis with them being stolen by the dhobi in the tamland ! Pah ! ) we showed K the variety of colourful houses and many many jewellery showrooms in and around Kochi city. Once we all crammed ourselves into the big Innova we were off to Kumarakom where our houseboat for the day awaited us !

Once we reached the houseboat and got ourselves settled we just sat, almost speechless. It was beautiful and breathtaking. It was pretty and amazing. The calmness of the water with the lush greenery just got us all to Sigh. A lot and pretty often.

I am unable to describe what it looked like and how it actually felt. Really ! So this entry might not seem the right way to understand what the real Kerala experience might seem like !

Lunch was a typical Kerala affair with the rice, sambar, thoran, papad and of course The Karimeen (fried fish) that we devoured not only because of the sooper hunger pangs but also because it was awesomely yummy.
It rained "partially" and it was pretty (again). Thankfully these rains didn't play spoilsport and let us just be. Over coffee, r&c, fried banana we talked about shakiras, schools, work, music, Kerala among many other things ! NRI(i) couldn't believe how cheap in terms of dollars the houseboat expenses came up to !

After a delicious dinner of rice, chemeen curry (prawns), chicken curry and dal; while His dudeness did a handwriting analysis of what NRI(i) and K had written; I was doing my psychoanalysis bit as well. Sleepy very creatively decided to name it "psychography"
As MSKG kept bringing up toilet humor at very point in almost every conversation, Sleepy was enjoying himself using the DSLR. Because K was sooper thrilled and extremely relaxed, I was glad and well I heart Kerala and all that it has to offer.

Finally we all retired to our bedrooms and slept peacefully hoping to wake up early enough to see the sunrise. Well, we knew that wouldn't be possible ! But yes the following morning the backwaters seemed even more beautiful and calm and the hot kappi and idlis awaits us.

to be continued...