I am not sure if I want to write about this particular experience… not so much because it’s a usual travelogue, but more because I will not be able to do justice to what I want to write about… I don’t have enough and fitting words to describe the experience in its true form… Nevertheless I need to make an attempt atleast, as I cannot simply let go the experience without making mention about it on my blog… with a few pictures as testimony :-)

So had one of my IBM colleagues (whom I had just spoken to once by then) invite me to his wedding at Oachira (a small town in south Kerala)… and his wedding became one of our most important milestones on this project… needless to say we worked very hard in meeting the milestone which included googling about Oachira, Kayamkulam, Marari and any other name that was being thrown at us… carefully studying all travel road maps… weighing options of biking vs cab vs bus vs train vs whatever… with a thorough cost-benefit analysis… finally settled down for a cab which took us to Oachira and back…

The driver was obliging enough to educate us about the state, its roads, its people, its cuisine, its climate, its way of life in general… but this was all being exchanged in a mallu-tam language (driver in mallu and my colleague, Suri in tamil)… all I could gather from the lively conversation was that a much-heard-of place called Alleppey would fall on our way and that it has beautiful backwaters… as we reached there, saw small boats dotting the backwaters… as my eyes widened in admiration, I was promptly enlightened by the driver about the fact that local people own canoes like we own bikes and cars… and they row them around for daily errands and commuting… interesting I thought… well, the next idea was how incredible would it be to explore those backwaters on those canoes… expressed this idea to the driver and he said he could arrange...

A few minutes later the driver took a sharp turn, off the highway, and drove through few muddy bylanes to reach a dead end… all we saw was backwaters, in front of us… and a couple of canoes parked there… we were told to get on one of the canoes… at this point, we weren’t sure of what was going to happen to us, but like two obedient kids, we (Suri and me) jumped onto it… we were then taken a short distance across the lagoon where we found an elderly man waving at us… he was our driver’s close relative and was eagerly looking forward to meet us, receive us, host us… after the initial greetings, we were ushered into his home, a 100+ years heritage structure where we were served one of the most authentic breakfast – puttu kadala – didn’t know such varieties existed in Indian cuisine, with as basic ingredients as coconut and rice… licked the plate, spoons, fingers relishing every bit of it… and thanked the lady of the house abundantly (spared her fingers though !!)… on special request, uncle let his canoe to us for another round of backwaters and this time a longish one… and this was an unforgettable experience indeed...

Villages have settled around backwaters and so have their inhabitants… we cruised through the heart of those villages observing the life unfold on the embankment… banks lined with scores of coconut and banana trees lending a green backdrop to the canvas… streaked with bright, multi-colored flowers… morning sun gleaming from behind the trees and smoke rising up from the thatched roofs… motor boats ferrying around people, creating unvarying ripples in the water… water lilies and lotuses floating merrily… daily chores being carried out on the banks, unmindful of our presence around… it was time for us to carry on as well...

We then continued on our car journey to attend the friend’s wedding at Oachira… keeping the backwaters at back of our minds, we got engrossed in the grand wedding ceremony… vows were taken, garlands exchanged in the radiance of numerous diyas and aroma of jasmine flowers… followed by an elaborate sadya (24 food items in the meal !!!)… also visited the Parabrahma temple at Oachira (there is no temple construct here… idols of deities are placed below large banyan trees)…

Mind satiated with the sacred blessings and body with sumptuous meal, we resumed our drive… crossed Alleppey again on the way back and was instantly reminded of the morning detour to backwaters… looked around and one more time captured the canvas we had painted with green backdrop, and many more colors strewn across… absorbed every detail, closed eyes, promised myself to come back sometime again and carried on with our journey… pleased with myself for having taken that detour and explored a life so serene, yet so colorful…