The place I was born and brought up, My brother once wrote
The small state of Kerala,
At the south western tip of India,
Be it for pleasure, leisure or for the thrill of adventure,
Come to Kerala, A day in Kerala means,
Seeing things you have never seen before,
And may never see again,
Yes, unless you visit Kerala again.
Yes it is a beautiful place. The language spoken in Kerala is called Malayalam, my mother tongue. The people from Kerala are called Keralites or in slang Mallus and are easily identifiable because of the thick moustache and oily hair. I was no different. After coming to US I still kept my moustache I shave it off as it started to grey hehe. Mallus are also easily identifiable by people from other parts of India in the way they speak English. We have our own accent while speaking English. Kerala is a state famous for its greenery, spices and of course beautiful poets like me. hehe. Yup… a place declared by United Nations as 100% literate. The only place in the world. The first place in the world where communists were elected to power. This place indeed is called as “God’s Own Country”.
See it from North to South.
Bekal Sea Shore Kasargod.
Kannur backwaters.
Uru a kind of big boats used to carry goods…. Calicut.
Silent Valley-Palakkad.
Trichur Pooram Festival… This is a big festival in a Hindu temple in Trichur. The festival goes on for many days and end with big fireworks.
Elephants are a big part of that festival here the best Elephants of Kerala are standing in for one of the traditions of the festival.
Feeding the Elephants. A big tradition which is part of the Temple festival.
Athirapally waterfalls-Trichur.
Another view of the waterfalls
Yet another view of the waterfalls
Backwaters Kochi. Kochi is the business capital of Kerala. A very busy city. My mother and brother lives here now.
Backwaters Kochi.
Idukki- The hill side of Kerala.
One side of the Arch Dam in Idukki Hydro Electric Project.
The other side of the Dam.
Dead trees in the lake at the Periyar Tiger Reserve- Thekkady. The dense forest behind is a protected place for Tigers and Elephants.
Wild Elephants roaming near the lake in the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
Backwaters Alleppey or Alappuzha. Alleppey is where I was born. Alappuzha famous for coir industries and once a very famous commercial place. Lost most of the glory after the development of Kochi. As part of the intial development canals like the one you see above were built across Alleppey to carry goods from all parts of Kerala to the port in Alleppey. The backwaters are famous attraction for many tourists these days because of the green beauty around it as well as the boat races.
Another view of Alleppey backwaters. One can see coconuts carried in boats by people.The water ways is the only means of transportation to many underlying places in Alleppey.
One of the boat races in Alleppey backwaters. As many as 100 rowers will sit in one boad and there will be a person to give rhythm for the rowers. They sing and row the boat at high speed. This is one of the major tourist attraction in Kerala. People from all over the world will gather for the famous Nehru Trophy Boat race in about two weeks from now.
This is a trial run for the Nehru Trophy Boat race.
A view of the actual boat race.
Kumarakom Resort Hotel. Kottayam. This was a place now taken over by the Taj group. Very beautiful and poetic place.
Another view of the Kumarakom Resort.
Way to Ponmudi, about 40 miles away from Trivandrum the State capital of Kerala.
Veli Lake this is south of Trivandrum.
Kovalam Beach Resort. Looks great now…temperature can go beyond 115F on any given day. A lot of foreigners come to this Beach for vacation.
Kavadiar Palace… The palace of the last king that ruled Kerala. A very good man died couple of years ago. Try saying his name. Sree Chitra Thirunal Balarama Varma.
Kani Konna. I don’t know the English name of this tree and flowers. There is a species of this tree that will have flowers all through the year. I love this tree and the flower. The one reason I always asked all the girl friends I had to wear full Yellow color dress.
Jackfruit tree.This fruit is delicious but the sap betweent he fruit is sticky. The wood of the tree is used for almost everything in Kerala from building houses to making caskets. The leaf of the tree is pricey too, they are used to make a kinda spoon in old times now given to Goats as food.
Mohiniattam… this is a dance form made out of the famous Kathakali and Bhrathanatyam. Two major dance forms in India. Dancers spend nearly 15 years to master this dance form acting, dancing and expressing an entire story by just expressions and hand symbols. It is facinating.
Onam the festival of Kerala. Irrespective of religious beliefs everyone celebrate Onam. There is long story behind it. I will tell it on the Onam day. But this picture is a flower arrangement competion. Girls makes these kinda flower arrangement in front of every house in Kerala during the 10 days of Onam celebration.
Without politics there is no Kerala or any place in the world hehehe. This is the ending of the election campaign in Kerala. The time with songs of political parties and people literally begging for votes for their parties and candidates. The Left Front led by the Communist Party Of India(Marxist) rule Kerala now after the United Democratic Front lost the election by a landslide. It goes one way one time the other way next time. One of my cousin is a politician in Kerala. Eight times he stood for election in almost every corner of the state. mmm never won an election.
The bull race. This is another big thing in the country side during sowing season, part of the ploughing process. Rice fields are commonly seen in Kerala. This is indeed a dangerous sport as there is no brakes for these bulls. It will not stop at anything and it is better to run for your life than stand in front of these bulls.
My young cousin Shameer sent me these pictures. He collected them and emailed it to me. Thanks Shameer and the photographers for the pictures.
As of now I am holding on to Yesterdays poems. I will post it later if time permits and my editing is done. Have a great evening everyone and stay cool. I know it is blazing out there in most places of US.