I have been dreaming for quite some time about being there and finally I see that I am realizing it. I cannot control myself from the feeling of being there. It is Kerala, otherwise called God's own country. Kerala is so close to me since my childhood for I had been taught by teachers from Kerala. Yet in all my 22 yrs of life I never made it there.It was early morning of 10th march, 2007. The Bangalore-Kanyakumari express was gliding through its way when I was still dozing on upper berth. And I heard Anish say, "Next is Palakkad, the entry point of Kerala". The excitement which has slept with me had suddenly woken up. I immediately got up to get the first real sight of Kerala. It took a while for me to get the feel of being in Kerala when I saw scores of coconut trees distributed in the dense foliage interspersed by rivers. Anish is a colleague turned friend who has volunteered the role of a tourist guide for three of us touring Kerala for the first time. With his enthusiastic and versed nature coupled with being eloquent in many languages including Malayalam and Telugu, he played a much bigger role than just being a guide and made the trip memorable.
We got down at Chalakudy and took a bus to Athirapalli falls. I got to see so many Malayali Kuttis, as they are called and they really appealed to me. They appeared quite traditional and unique in their own way and added to already existing beauty of the surroundings. The first sight of the falls was simply breathtaking. We were further astounded by the beautiful landscape view once I was atop the hill where the waterfall starts. There were some miniature falls too preceding the bigger ones, under which we took head bath. The natural shower we had was quite interesting and exciting indeed.
We then took a journey to Aluva (Anglicized as Alwaye), which is a significant town for being the point of inception of largest private bank of Kerala, Federal Bank. In the evening, as planned we left to Cherai Beach. From Aluva, one has to take a break journey through Paravoor to reach Cherai. The beach was superbly clean and there were very few people to share your (temporary) private space you want on the beach. It was a joy watching the sun setting on a nearly clear evening dipping in to sea. My friends also relished lake fish Kori-meen along with Kappa during the evening.
In the morning, we quenched our appetite with few Kerala special varieties of breakfast. We had IdiAppam which looks like a softer version of vermicelli. It is made up of rice and coconut. We also had Puttu which is made up of a special variety of rice called chamba rice and coconut with coconut in slightly high proportion. It looks like cylindrical balls and it is also taken with veg/egg/chicken korma.
We then took a journey to Aluva (Anglicized as Alwaye), which is a significant town for being the point of inception of largest private bank of Kerala, Federal Bank. In the evening, as planned we left to Cherai Beach. From Aluva, one has to take a break journey through Paravoor to reach Cherai. The beach was superbly clean and there were very few people to share your (temporary) private space you want on the beach. It was a joy watching the sun setting on a nearly clear evening dipping in to sea. My friends also relished lake fish Kori-meen along with Kappa during the evening.
In the morning, we quenched our appetite with few Kerala special varieties of breakfast. We had IdiAppam which looks like a softer version of vermicelli. It is made up of rice and coconut. We also had Puttu which is made up of a special variety of rice called chamba rice and coconut with coconut in slightly high proportion. It looks like cylindrical balls and it is also taken with veg/egg/chicken korma.We reached Ernakulam(Anglicized as Cochin) in the morning and went boating in marine drive. It is a good drive in the sea making a very close journey to Port, Ship Yard and Naval base of Cochin. No wonder, Cochin's landscape looks simply magnificent with lot of sky scrapers on the sea as there are quite good number of aristocratic people there for it handles a significant amount of Exports/Imports to Southern part of Peninsula of India.
There is a uniqueness in every aspect of Kerala. From being a quite traditional place following age old festivals and customs to being one with people with extremely flexible mindset and adaptivity to various cultures, Kerala exhibits extreme contrast and variety in cultural, religious and social aspects.
There is a uniqueness in every aspect of Kerala. From being a quite traditional place following age old festivals and customs to being one with people with extremely flexible mindset and adaptivity to various cultures, Kerala exhibits extreme contrast and variety in cultural, religious and social aspects.
Finally, it requires no more description to say that it is one of the most important destination for tourists around the world. It has arguably finest beaches in India as well as wonderful waterfalls and wide variety of wild life that is unique to itself. I cannot simply wait for another trip in to this unique land, very rightly termed as God's Own Country.
