Kuttanadan Punjayile Kochu Penne Kuyilale .....

Two weeks back we had been to Alappuzha. We have crossed Alappuzha town many times on our way to   

Chenganoor and back to Trivandrum but never spent time at Alappuzha  So Anil suggested that we should check out the place , I was not too sure because of the heat , but then agreed. We did not have much Idea on what all to see in Alappuzha  and though we have quite a few of our family friends in and around Alappuzha  but most of them were not available on weekend and more over we did not want too many formalities and wanted to go around the place.  So we thought of calling up our friend Sanjay George’s availability on that day :) Sanjay was indeed in town the day we were planning to visit and asked us to give him a call when we reach his place Kolorcode which is couple of kms before Alappuzha town.

We reached around 9:45 am and gave him call . Sanjay came in 5-10 mins , and from then on he was our guide and navigator with his non stop commentary :) Sanjay decided that we will take Boat Jetti to one of the places which will give us the feel of Boat ride and also a good view of Kuttanad and we followed our guide . At the Boat station (Not sure what exactly it is called) Sanjay checked out the parked boats for the places they were destined to and then decided that we will take boat which goes to Kainakary a small village in Kuttanadu. And we wanted to get into the KSWTC Boat (KSRTC on Water J), not the usual tourist boats , we realised the nostalgia part for Sanjay to get into the KSRTC Boat , though we did not get the typical KSRTC boat, but something very close to KSRTC the boat was scheduled to leave at 11 am, we still had 15 – 20 mins . Sanjay and Anil left for quick tea, Kids and me waited at the Jetti station and within minutes the boat was full, and all the passengers were regular KSRTC passengers not a single tourist ! By the time they came back it was almost time for boat to leave, we got in the boat got 2 seats , Anil and Sanjay decided to stand and “Tong Tong’ conductor rang the bell and Boat started .. Esther an Ezekiel both were excited to see water, sound and vibration of boat and the ‘Tong Tong’:)  There were different ‘Tong Tong’ for the Boat to take Left/right or reverse, or to stop all the manoeuvring of the boat was done based on the ‘Tong Tong’

After 30-40 mins of the boat ride our stop came , so we thought ... we had to walk across the paddy fields to reach the specific place where Sanjay wanted us to take, but after few minutes of walk , sanjay decided to ask passer by for direction – and we came to know that the we got 2 stops before the stop which was nearest to the destination Sanjay wanted to take us to , but the passerby said there are shortcuts through the fields and his house is near to the place and he can guide us :) And from there our walk started through the fields (there are no roads only boat and walk) we plucked mangoes on our walk , smell of ploughed fields and the grains so sweet reminding of my childhood days at Vappalassery - Angamaly ...

The next stop was a birth place of CMI  co founder Blessed Kuriakose Chavara, unlike many other pilgrim centres ,there was no crowd , very few people at the chapel praying , we went around saw the old house which is well kept and maintained , spent 30 mins there and walked back to the catch our boat back , we did not have to walk much this time and to our luck we got the typical KSRTC boat, the seats were just like the KSRTC bus seat and the ticket rates  minimum 3/- and for us it was 5 Rs ticket , thoroughly enjoyed the ride back, saw people carrying drinking water in big canisters  as there is shortage of drinking water.... I hear people talking about this area being under developed as it is not connected to roads , but what i also realised is the only reason agriculture is still happening here is because it is not connected with roads, the moment that happens people will convert their agri land to develop Real Estate as it was evident from the number resorts which have sprouted up in this stretch of Kuttanadu ... anyway the whole boat trip up and down took 2 - 2.5 hrs and by 2 pm we were all hungry, went a restaurant had, fish curry meals , and then a short visit to Sanjay home , met his mom , saw the old photographs, came to know of some of our common family friends and had refreshing ‘Rasna’  no wonder why ‘I love you Rasna’ was the apt punch line :D ,by 4 pm,a little exhausted because of the heat  but completely satisfied thanks to our guide Sanjay George, enjoyed our day out in Alappuzha  thoroughly in his company – Georgie Porgie what about next trip to Jaipur ;) !!

Kuttanadan Punjayile Kochu Penne Kuyilale  ......Kottu Venam Kuzhal Venam

Kurava Venam