As I write, surrounded by the tropical lushness characteristic of Thailand and Malaysia – coconut palms, mango trees, plumaria blossoms, banana trees, we hear calls of unfamiliar birds mingle with far off, echoing recorded Hindu festival prayers accompanied by drums, flutes and conch shell as the sunrise brings a new day to light. It’s truly magical and entrancing setting and a far cry from what we’ve experienced so far elsewhere in India.
We arrived at our houseboat accommodations yesterday (Wednesday) mid-afternoon after a five hour air trip (1300 miles) from Delhi where we had spent the previous night following our earlier flight from Varanasi on Tuesday. As has been true so often on this trip, the long, long trek was well worth the effort.
Since gaining statehood in 1957, Kerala has been controlled by a democratically-elected Communist government. The state’s public welfare orientation is everywhere and immediately apparent, even during our two hour drive to Alappuzha here on the coast of the Arabian Sea: few sacred cows wandering around; few, if any, beggars on the streets; a popular and extensively used pubic bus network along the major highways; far fewer sputtering tuk-tuks and hardly any rickshaws anywhere; orderly (well, mostly so) driving patterns – a totally different atmosphere from the Golden Triangle area around Delhi in Rajasthan, believe me!
The six million local inhabitants enjoy a ninety-six-plus literacy rate, peacefully cohabit with some eleven different religious traditions, mix together rich historical traditions embracing Jewish, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch, English and Indian cultures, profit from a rich agricultural setting and close proximity to the Arabian Sea, are enjoying a construction boom as NRI (Non-Resident Indians) build condominiums all along the coast to use as vacation retreats.
Our two houseboats (Heidi and Lee have one to the themselves along with a crew of three; the others of the Final Five on the extension and our guide share a three room boat where we gather during the day and, often, for meals) are this morning moored alongside a canal, part of an extensive set of interconnected islands arrayed along the coast here in southern India.
In the 1960s a combined Indo-Dutch project lined this elevated network of canals in stone, replacing the more vulnerable mud dikes used for centuries as part of a rice agriculture irrigation system.
The rice paddies are lower than the surrounding canals. Each season the flooded fields are drained into the canals, and the brackish water neutralized by imported mussels which filter out the sea salt. Two crops of rice are produced each year, a plumper, softer variety than found elsewhere.
About ten years ago, backwater houseboat cruises were introduced to the area as a way to enhance tourism. The result is a relaxing wonderland retreat from the realities found elsewhere in India, a real paradise, indeed!
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