"Right", she says, rolling up her sleeves, "It's time to get this blog up to speed!"
The last few entries have been lagging behind by 3-5 days, since it's just so hard finding an internet connection strong enough to download images onto the blog. And what's a good travelog without images, say I. So fast forwarding the last week or so:
From the Southernmost tip of India I entered Kerala and went to Varkala, i.e. The Beach! Sand soft as powder, great sunsets, birds, divine seawind to keep you just suitably cool, sea water of exactly the right temperature to refresh but not to chill... check, check, check, all present and accounted for.
Also all bathers were present and accounted for. A dynamic team of lifeguards took care of that. Whether they could swim or not I have no idea, but they did look awfully efficient in their uniforms with their shrill whistles and red flags.
So no complaints on any score. And luckily the local shopkeepers had managed to keep the beach totally clear of itinerate salesmen, so one didn't have to keep fighting off offers of cards, necklaces, drums or lottery tickets.
I also saw more Westerners in the two days I spent there than in the last 6 weeks of travel. And I must admit I gluttoned out on non-Indian food. Cardemon Karma being my special favourite: a smoothie of frozen milk, cardemon, dates, caschews and coconut. Yum, yum, yum.
But after two and a bit days of the beach, I was getting a bit bored and a bit sun burnt, so I continued on my merry way to the nearby Kollam to catch the full day boat ride to Allappuzha.
The Kerala backwaters are famous, sadly dwindling and on certain stretches dirty and choked with water hyacinth, which while pretty, also clog the propellors of boats and make water travel difficult. (We, luckily, had to stop only once for the deck hand to go and chop the propellor shafts clear of vegetation on our 8-hour journey).
But the backwaters are also beautiful and spending a day on the top deck of a boat chugging along these canals and lakes is certainly not a bad way to spend a day!
There were sluice gates,
People washing clothes,
People washing themselves,
A public "ferry" arriving to take people over the stream (image at start of this post is him leaving a few minutes later),
Colourful fishing boats,
and much else to admire.
The nature here in Southern India at this time of year is lush and verdant. Coconuts, cascew nuts and bananas are in season, rice paddies are turning green and the mangos are ripening in the trees. It certainly is a feast for the eyes. A girl from Calcutta who was sitting next to me on the boat trip called the colours of the South vibrant. What a glorious word to use, though one that I suspect nine out of ten US school children would not recognize, let alone use.
This leads me to an interesting discussion I had with an Englishman, who was spending a 4 month sabbatical in Varkala from his teaching post (teaching English litterature) in Bristol. He said that the Indian have a huge problem in their education, since they only teach "correct" - or in fact rather archaic - English, not "everyday English" or contemporary spoken English.
After he said this I started noticing instances of this. It's not the easiest thing to understand Indian English. This is not only due to the - at times - very thick Indian accent, though that certanly doesn't help. But in fact the words used are part of the problem. Waiting on the ferry for the boat to leave, I was approached by one of the crew. I really couldn't make out what he was trying to communicate, until, in a frustrated manner, he said: "Money!". I then understood that the word he had been trying to say to me was "Remuneration". A good example of using English which is too formal and not really terribly appropriate for communication.
So the boatman now has his remuneration and I have admired the vibrant colours of nature and after a night in Allapuzha I have moved on to Kochi. Here I intend to spend some days catching up on myself and enjoying Fort Kochi and the other sights.
Tudelpip me hearties
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