Trip to God's own Country

I have never written down a story with poems. Or a poem with stories. It had to come together one day. I didn’t see it coming. So I packed my bag. Joined eight wonderful friends. Feeling good on going for a vacation and breaking away for same old work, terrible traffic and boring daily choirs, we raced to embrace the nature, towards couple of very exciting place that I had always kept hearing, in God’s very own Country, Incredible Kerala!

Friday night, we caught Kallada travels to Alappuzha, a.k.a, Alleppey, the Venice of the East! Smell of humid air was welcoming after we got down 10kms past our destined drop point on Saturday morning. We had to travel back 28kms before we checked in at The World Backwaters in West Kumarakam. Sight of Pool Lake, boathouse, never ending backwaters and my first poem of the trip…

Rowboats those are tied
Aren’t on a sail today…
Nor is my daily struggle…
Still emotions, Still water…
Bound by the lush greenery…
I see the flow of Universe,
In the color of flowing reflections…
Of mine, of the water, In my tied boat…

After the refreshing paddle boat rides, I took time to teach swimming to four of my friends. This was the first time I ever taught swimming. Next morning, same friends pulled me out of bed to pool! We had hired a 12 seater tempo traveler for 3 days. We visited Alleppey beach in the evening, one of the very steep sea I have been to, in the sand we constructed a tunnel like structure with names of all nine of us scribbled in it, visitors also clicked snaps alongside it and an astonishing remains of an old bridge…

I saw a bridge to sea…
Today the remains were left!
Sun was past the red horizon…
Post the past, past my present…
Breeze blew off the remaining remains,
With those memoirs and smell of sand…
Silverlight jungles my house glitter,
In the buzzing roar I walk away…
Today bridge has lost its shine…
I saw its way to sea, And I walk away…

The sight of backwaters from our cottage made our day. Rest of the time was spent on badminton, dumb charades, antakshiri and cycling. 72 hours that we spent on this trip, most of us caught no sleep or very less sleep. Tranquility was being enjoyed to every bit and there was no need for any liquor to get our minds swinging! Sunday morning we were on our way to Munnar, place of Blue Mountains, from sea to top of hill, from humid weather to drizzling cold atmosphere…

Melodies of flute
Singing those tunes of life…
They lost the sun glasses,
Resistant to the heat and the glare…
I flew with clouds…
Kissing tall green trees…
Uncovering red petaled leaves…
Uncovering beauty and peace…
Burning tiredness in camp fire…
And it rained… On my face…
It rained…

In Munnar, we visited a garden with spices and area specific flora and fauna which included those wild orchids locally called Neelakurinchi which blooms once in 12 year. After a pinch of gyan on herbs and shrubs, it was time to enjoy the weather it is known for, drizzles of summer, we checked in at AyurCounty Resorts in Devikulam. It was located beautifully midst tea plantations and sky kissing mountains. On Monday morning, we did explore them and opted for Elephant safari. With a friend playing popular tunes in his flute and others singing along, with bag full of homemade chocolates, spices and memories, with those heartwarming conversations in our pockets, we boarded the SRS Travels, en route Bangalore, at evening 5pm. As we climbed down the Ghats, drizzling slowed down, nature started unveiling the beauty it hid, aroma of the blessed soil and then came my final words…

Mist had blurred my vision…
Of that all I see are blue peaks…
On a crimson morning where
Sunlight is pleasant…
Pond of water through tea palms
Brought the aroma of spices…
I took a deep breath…
Saw through the picture,
With the canopies of Nilgiri hills…
I closed my eyes…
Into a clear vision…

[Photo Courtesy: Yashaswini U & Yeshaswini P. Thanks to Manu, Akhilesh, Vijay, Amar, Yeshwaswini P, Yashaswini U, Sushma and Mridula for being part of it. Cheers!]

Also encourage you to check these posters sent to me from  Kerala Tourism!