You whizzed past it on the long train journeys on family trips during the school holidays. Stared wide-eyed as the windows of the Indian Railways sleeper coach revealed a world of straw huts and thatched roofs. Invariably, a jackfruit tree in the front yard. Even waved to someone your age, sitting in the canoe “parked” in the stream next to their home.
That journey had your imagination run loose. Wondering the hows and whats of the life of the girl/boy who had returned your wave with a smile.
You reminisce in the still but cool morning air of coastal India’s touch-and-go “winter”, letting the mirrored coconut trees be your constant companions.
The only sound you’re hearing is the slicing of the smooth water as you move ahead through the Kerala backwaters.
Suddenly, a shrill sound, very unbecoming of the prevailing quiet calmness cuts through your thoughts. You realise it is a signal for the boat driver to make a stop and announce your arrival to those waiting. “Those waiting” are lungi clad men, and children dressed for school.
You’re startled – standing before you are the little boys and girls you’ve been waving at through the train windows! (Well…not exactly, those boys and girls must now be parents to these school going children who have just boarded your boat!).
The boat is now buzzing with activity. The kids scurry to seat themselves right next to their friends. The conductor squeezes through the crowd, handing out thermally printed tickets to each one of them. The boat makes a few more stops, picking up more lungi clad men and students from different schools – all along the Alleppey (Alappuzha) backwaters you are travelling through.
The sun is now up. The golden carpets behind the coconut tree barriers catch your attention. The swaying rice fields mesmerise you. Farmers are rowing their canoes to get to the fields. The backwaters, coconut trees and rice fields – the views match the image of Kerala you have in your mind.
In my travel life, Kerala is a late entrant. And being on the Alleppey backwaters a mere afterthought to a family event I attended in Trivandrum. When I asked for suggestions for places to visit in Kerala, everyone had unequivocally answered Kerala backwaters. And now, I owed them big time for the recommendation.
A couple is rowing in the direction of the post office – maybe sending a loan application for their latest tourism venture to the state capital at Trivandrum? Along the way, did they make a pitstop at the local Alleppey (Alappuzha) market for some fresh fish? Or at the BSNL office for availing high-speed internet? On the way back, will they surprise their kid with a visit to the school? Will they all row to the church in their family canoe for the Sunday morning mass?
Is this how life is for whom the Kerala backwaters are a lifeline? Do they “stand and stare” at the beauty they live in? Do the mirrors of the palm-lined banks have a therapeutic effect on them? Or, when you are privileged enough to call the Kerala backwaters “home”, all else is frivolous?
The “therapeutic effect” is sure had by the rest of the world, making the Kerala backwaters a tourism hub. The locals have grabbed the opportunities that the Kerala backwaters have made possible.
Away from the villages, the Alleppey backwaters have a sprinkling of well-kept bungalows. Some are even nestled on the tiny islands in the middle of these backwaters! A perfect recluse from the maddening crowds!
Sit in the front yard on a clear night, enjoying the star-studded sky. Devour the sumptuous Kerala cuisine cooked to perfection by the “local chef”. Rejuvenate with the famous Kerala Ayurvedic massages or the panchakarma treatments (yes, use a canoe to get there!). Read a book. Even better, write one!
But what I had experienced in those few hours, was something beyond the almost-in-your-face picture perfect beauty of the Kerala backwaters. My companions on this ride – the locals – who lived not only “on” the Kerala backwaters but also “off” it, had made the Kerala backwaters come to life.
On this ride, all the hows and the whats that had sparked our childhood imaginations were finally answered!