Sweet Kerala, India

The backwaters of Kerala are one of the biggest draws to this beautiful state. Before we left home our fried Elisa told us that we have to make time to visit the area and explore by a houseboat. I imagined cozy water canals shaded with trees. Nothing more. How surprised was I to find out that the backwaters were 900 km network of waterways which links five large lakes by canals, both man made and natural. They are fed by 38 rivers and extend virtually half the length of Kerala. The scale of the backwaters and the sheer amount of surface covered by water is hard to grasp in a short visit. One can float for a week or more and never see the same view twice!

The locals call these waters home. They traverse them with small boats or bigger ferries every day to go to work and to school. They wash their dishes in the canals, do their laundry by beating their soaped clothes on special ‘laundry’ stones and wash themselves daily in the murky waters. They worship in colorful churches and live in tiny houses whose bright reflections bring sudden bursts of purples, yellows and reds in the green-blue palette of palm trees, sky and water.

The fanciest way to see the waters is by a houseboat. Ours was a very comfortable two bedroom dwelling with a deck, a living room, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a crew of three, all for the price of $100 for 22 hrs, meals included. Pressed by our limited budget we went for a plain but cozy and clean one, not as pretty as the boat on the photo below. I loved the roof design on this one! It looked like a flipped over woven basket:)

The best part about the houseboat we ended up with is that we didn’t shop around. We arrived at the boat parking in Alleppey, hopped on a few boats and quickly chose one. Even though this was the only thing we splurged on in India (yes, at this point of our trip $100/day feels like splurging) we decided not to research and check reviews but trust our instincts instead. Somehow it worked out perfectly. The crew won us over immediately by greeting us with fruit juice and leaving us to hang out undisturbed on the deck all day.

From our comfy chairs  we observe life – birds, palm trees, houses, kids running or bicycling on narrow paths sandwiched by endless waters, women selling fish from little shacks, men loading and unloading boats with bags of grains, students coming back from school by rickety boats… We also indulged in Kerala food cooked by the boat’s chef. Because of him I have a favorite new treat – banana fritters with cardamon. Delicious!

Floating over calm waters and drinking the beauty of Kerala made me realize we did India upside down. We started from Uttar Pradesh, a turbulent state, affected by repeated episodes of caste and communal violence. Organised crime and corruption is keeping it among India’s backward states. Right off the bat we were slapped in the face with extreme poverty, dirty streets and newspapers full of depressing news. This took away from the stunning beauty of the sites we saw and was a rough introduction to India. How different those days were from our time in dreamy Kerala, the last stop in India. Kerala is one of India’s most progressive states, where literacy exceeds 94%! It boasts the highest life expectancy in country, almost 77 years, has the lowest homicide rate among the Indian states and is ranked as the least corrupt state in the country.

Kerala is not only peaceful and therapeutic but is also really beautiful. It is romantic in a way only a warm, exotic place can be. Vintage cars and bicycles cruise down shady streets lined with huge trees covered with climbing ferns. The crumbling architecture alludes to Portugese, Dutch and British influences. The air is delicious. There are kitty cats everywhere instead of cows. The food is colorful and fresh and new to us. The pomegranates at the market are big and juicy. The variety of bananas is endless. There is fresh fish and crab for sale that we can finally afford. The vegetation is lush and comes in thousand shades of green. The forests are cool and misty. The sunsets are dreamy. The people are friendly and warm, but not ‘in your face’ kind of way. We immediately relaxed here and changed the pace of our days ~ lots of slow walks, reading in cozy bookstores over a cup of tea, games on the beach, swimming, playing and daydreaming…

The South has been a perfect ending to our three fabulous months in India. The days here feel like a decadent dessert to a fulfilling meal. We savored each moment in tiny bites trying to prolong the taste for as long as we could.

So grateful for the sweetness of each day.

~M