Laying Low in Kerala, India
SUNSET CRUISE ON VEMBANAD LAKE
Greetings from Fort Cochin, Kerala. We cancelled our plans to go to Mumbai, and are spending our final few days in India laying low in Kerala. This short post describes what we are doing, and how we have been feeling in the strange days since the terror attacks started in Mumbai on Wednesday night.
We left Fort Cochin for the first time on Thursday morning, driving about 60 minutes to get on a houseboat in Alleppey. Originally we were supposed to stay on the houseboat until Friday morning, and then fly up to Mumbai. For obvious reasons, we changed those plans. Instead, on Friday morning we had the houseboat motor across the massive Vembanad Lake, and deliver us dockside to the Kumarakom Lake Resort.
KLR, as everyone seems to call it, is a very elegant, comfortable resort about 60 km inland from Kochi. It was rated “India’s Top Resort” in 2006 and 2007, which is pretty strong. The staff seemed a little surprised to see us, but they assigned us a little pink bungalow, and welcomed us graciously. We sent the kids to a pottery workshop, rode bikes in the late-afternoon heat, and went for a sunset cruise on the lake. Mostly, though, we sat in the sunshine and read on-line reports of the ongoing battle for Mumbai.
This morning India and I each went out for a run in the village near KLR. The village is mostly composed of a network of 8-foot-wide asphalt paths, which run parallel to a network of small canals. The houses are generally connected to the paths by little bridges across the canal (usually just two logs side by side). There are no cars, except on the main road. People seem to use the fresh canal water for transportation, for household water, for bathing, and for recreation. Like everything we have seen in Kerala, though, the houses and the public spaces in the village are clean and well maintained. Although the brutal heat, and the closeness of the lush jungle feel a little oppressive, we understand why so many foreign tourists rave about visiting Kerala.
Late this afternoon we drove back to Fort Cochin to check back in to the Brunton Boatyard hotel. The hotel is a reconstruction of a famous old shipyard, and is located right next to Kochi harbor. From the windows of the hotel, huge freighters and tankers motor past us on their way to the docks. It is similar to being on the Bosphorous in Istanbul. To our left, the spidery outlines of the “Chinese fishing nets” look beautiful in the fading light.
CHINESE FISHING NETS
There is a small local ferry that operates from a dock 30 feet from our window. Throughout the day, it makes several trips each hour across the straits that separate Fort Cochin from the Vypin district about a kilometer away. Just before sunset, Zola and Tallulah indulged my curiosity about the ferry, and joined me on a quick round trip. The cost was 24 U.S. cents (combined). On the return trip we counted 70 foot passengers, 8 cars and small trucks, 8 motor rickshaws, and 33 motorcycles/scooters and their riders, all packed into a space the size of two suburban living rooms. I was glad that the ferry captain avoided contact with the big vessels in the channel, because I didn’t see any life jackets on board. On both legs of our round trip, the foot passengers started jumping ashore even before the ferry had stopped moving. In Kerala, people have places to go and things to do.
Tomorrow evening we fly up to Delhi, and on Monday morning we leave for Kathmandu.
It feels as though we have been traveling in India for a long time, and that we have seen a lot. To be honest, we are all feeling emotionally exhausted and a little ragged.
The experience has definitely given us plenty to think about and to process in the coming weeks. It is probably the single most interesting country I have visited in my life.
Even despite the Mumbai attacks, India feels like a place we could live and be happy as a family. Maybe that is just prestalgia talking, but we will re-evaluate in the weeks and months to come.