ALAPPUZHA

 DAY 7

Haven’t written about the final day for almost months since I wrote the last post! Wondering what took me so long? 

"Quest for a perfect ending…"

But does it really exist… Don’t know and can’t tell, although what I can express is that there is no point in procrastinating work till you find the magic ingredient which makes the recipe perfect. Now is the time, so, GO FOR IT! Reiterating these noble words in my head, I am finally writing about the final day and hence concluding this topic. So here is what transpired on the final day of our trip in ‘Venice of India-Alapuzzha’.

Vembanad Lake

We booked the shikara that our so called guest house had and rented it for four hours, as the person in charge told us this much time would be sufficient to take a leisurely circuitous route in the backwaters and see the Vembanad lake as well (Longest Lake in India and Largest in Kerala, which really appears as the ocean itself as the other shore is never visible). We checked out from the guest house as well and proceeded for breakfast. Since it was the last one of our trip it definitely had to be south Indian (cannot defy custom now, can we?) , and luckily we found a restaurant “India Coffee House” which didn’t disappoint us in any way and served us amazing coffee as well, hence worthy of its name.  

Shikara

Beautiful House-Boat

Following it we reached our boarding point and settled ourselves into our modestly decorated Shikara. The journey began from a backwater tributary which was mainly the resting place of all kinds of boats and hence we got to see a variety of house boats resting supremely in the waters. A few pics to give a visual feel…as a picture is worth a thousand words!

Resting for the day to begin

It was quite a unique experience, extremely serene and tranquil. The only sounds were that of our Shikara cutting the water and a few birds chirping here and there, nothing else for almost the entire duration of four hours. 

School Boat

During this time we got to know why the name Venice indeed suited this place, as we saw vegetable vendors in boats, children waiting at boat-stops for their school-boat to come and pick them up, people crossing the water in a boat to get to the other side, and houses that run parallel to water for miles (and we were told, they flood during the monsoon every year!!! But people still continue to live there). 

Boat-Stop

Ishan with the new friend

With The Bird...missing the hat and blindfold!

Most happening moment of our boat-trip was when we stopped for Nariyal pani and were welcomed by an eagle. It was electrifying! We got to take pictures with it sitting on our shoulder, only thing missing was a blind fold…and we could have officially become pirates. Anyways…it was memorable as this creature was amazing. Firstly a pet bird (out of cage) and secondly a pet eagle…can’t get better than this. After spending some quality time with our new friend we moved on and kept witnessing serenity of Alleppy as can be felt from some of the flicks presented in this post.

Ravi showing the way

House Boat in Action

We got to see some house boats in action too following which we got an idea  and we took the control of boat from the driver (or whatever is the term for Shikara driver) who taught us the basics in a hush and then in turns we throttled our Shikara, capturing the scene on film (or rather binary to be technically correct). Finally when we were about to reach the end (i.e. the same place from where we began) we got a call from our college friends that our counseling had been postponed by at least a month. So, our mood suddenly changed track and now we were planning on how to escape from Kerala and reach our homes. Luckily the news came after we had enjoyed the whole trip (7 days in different districts of Kerala)! Else who knows what we might have done if we had got this intel earlier…we could have possibly cancelled it midway, thank God nothing of that sort happened.

Can serve as a Conference Hall

After the Shikara round concluded we had a quick lunch and boarded a bus to reach Trivandrum and thereby our college wherefrom further plan of action could be chalked out. I guess we reached before 8 pm and hence avoided being handed a memo (don’t know if we were still eligible to be handed one…as college life was over, quite a realization, actually). 

Panoramic View

Placid Waters

Suddenly we weren’t students any more but grown-ups who had to enter their professional life soon enough… And somehow this trip proved to be our transformation.  

THE END … OR YET, A NEW BEGINNING