Alleppey: Venice of East

When Nature Speaks: It is Time to Listen

"Life should be immeasurable like the sky." 

 Satya Paul

One thing that nature tells you on face is that whatever as humans we think we are creating has already been created by Nature. As human beings, we are only imitating it. This dawn of enlightened thought occurred to me during my Kerala visit in the first week of September this year, particularly Alleppey and Kochi. Alleppey's enticing backwaters is the major tourist attraction, and so I decided to have it the most authentic way i.e., by staying in a houseboat for 2 days and nights. This was an amazing well-beyond-the-words-experience because it did the magic to every person on the boat. The endless choir of people stopped for a while on its own as the tranquil nature, and its manifestations in terms of flora and fauna around just mesmerized every single individual in the boat. One tip I would suggest is to have your full houseboat booked by forming a group of friends and relatives so that you have all the boat to yourself. Sleeping, eating, singing and dancing on this boat for two days seemed like the best time of our lives. This is what holiday means ... and ... should mean. From our bigger boat, we took rides often into the smaller boats to venture into colourful and varied groups of locals, and watch choir workers soak, beat and weave coconut fibers into long ropes on spindles as we passed the endless stretch of coconut trees. There were these ice-cream vendors on boats selling ice creams and kulfis to us on the larger houseboats. Although the backwaters were temperate and humid but air conditioned houseboat made it comfortable in every sense.

Built in 9th century AD, Alleppey lies on the edge of the great Ashtamudi Lake. With the Arabian Sea on the west and a vast labyrinth of lakes, lagoons, and several freshwater rivers criss-crossing it, Alleppey is a district of immense natural beauty. Although our boat was floating all the day, but whenever we desired to explore the wilderness, we requested the captain to anchor it for a while. We would just get down with children and explore their way ... collecting shells, and different shapes of stones.... taking some bulbous plants from water in hand, and then leaving them again to float.

Just searching for nothingness in the wilderness and vastness around seemed so fulfilling as a traveler without a travel guide. Sometimes you need to do it just the child-way …. Jumping up and down the trees, scratching your knees in an effort to do so… balancing yourself on one foot on stones …. This is not just for fun …this is more for living and experiencing life. For all of us who really think of life as a great purpose, Nature tells us the only purpose is expression of joy, and not its seeking. Hence, when we talk about making a great contribution to nature by planting trees or saving rivers, we aren't doing any favour to environment - our environment is our life - so, we are just protecting ourselves. It's sad that we aren't rooted in the earth like all other trees; else we would have known that we are part of it, and not above it in any sense. We have a false sense of love towards environment. Nature doesn't need our love. We need to just fulfill our duty. The air that surrounds us doesn't love us; it is just fulfilling its duty of giving us life. That's how we need to become - simply nourishing everything around. If we value our lives, we will value the nature. Nature makes our attitude look so punitive in comparison to its vast and infiniteness. Mocking at us Nature depicts that joy, peace and love for which we seek endlessly aren't the goals of life. In fact, they are just starting points for living peacefully. In fact, when you visit some dead trees or cut logs of some oldies, you kind of realize in an instant that you don't need to be dead now. The time will come. Now is the time to be perfectly alive and throbbing with energy.

Despite knowing all the science behind how colours are reflected by objects and thus the inverted image in retina makes us see them, the fascination with the limitless blue over my head and under my feet in Alleppey beach was far surpassing the known phenomenon. The feel of sand slipping away under the foot, and my younger one’s  tight clutch on my hand while experiencing it made me ecstatic and blissful. There is a greater thing than love … may be it is called trust … that trust that your child has in you … just because you are around nothing will go wrong. 

We made sand castles together and saw them being taken over in some time in the lap of large tides moving closer and closer to the beach as it was dusk by now. While the kids were busy experiencing all this, I resigned myself into a quiet walk along the sea coast waving at my husband, indicating him to take the charge of kids for a while. After you pass more than a decade with somebody, you develop certain sign codes where you just understand. I just penned down few thoughts in my small diary and moved on to click pictures of young gang of girls who requested me to click for … Well … Facebook or watsapp … how does it matter?

Amongst our group those who had seen enough of water, went exploring the local market. They got wonderful traditional Kerala sari which was in vogue too as Onam was just round the corner. Some went for the Ayurvedic massages and relaxed themselves. After 3 hours of halt there, our houseboat steered yet again. The time had come when we had to get down of our floating abode. I wouldn’t say I missed it because I knew Life has so much in store for me … now … and .. always…We moved to Kochi and stayed there for a day. Frankly, the best part was Lulu International Shopping Mall for three major reasons. One, it was the closest to Marriott Hotel where we were putting up. It is one of the largest shopping mall in India spanning 17 acres and having more than 215 outlets. Two, it had Crossword (chain of bookstores across India where I buy books like these will be extinct soon!), and Bloomsbury’s café for chocolate lovers like me. This Bloomsbury’s café is associated with British artisan baker Lily Vanilli and has all varieties of chocolate combinations you can ever think of. My strong recommendation is Almond hazelnut chocolate pastry. Well, the third  because it holds Asia Book of Records for litting 5509 Diwali diyas in their mall premises to deliver the message “Lulu salutes our soldiers” in 2016. 
 



When we finally retired into our rooms, I observed it was on 24^th floor, giving a well lit view of the whole city. Sitting on the window sill there, just penned down few poems, one of them regarding this trip in God’s Own Country is as follows:

God’s own country is an interesting phrase

as if Kerala is just God’s base.

There is indeed a special place

For Kerala’s beauty and grace!

Aquatic superlatives it surpasses

and thrills the visitor who across it passes.

You must visit if you really desire

to know it yourself and not buy reviews that fire

from the sources known and unknown

That are out of proportion blown.

You got to be in a boat, sleeping, eating and gazing

for making the knowing and experience amazing!

All that you see and observe

can’t be recorded and can’t be preserved.

There are languages that you don’t understand

But on that no people and place you can brand.

As your thresholds of knowing need to expand

or else anything you taste will knock on your taste buds as bland!

Green and blue is Kerala’s favourite colour it seems

although with white and brown savoury it teams.

But there are many more that can’t be seen

unless in that God’s own country you have been!