Kerala Pt. 2 - Alleppey Photos

Pictures from Allepey town and the backwaters. All unedited.

 

Kerala pt. 1 - The Houseboat

From Friday night to Monday morning, I took a trip to Kerala state with two friends for a short holiday. In only 3 days and 3 nights, we covered over 1300 KM, I took over 500 photos with my DSLR camera, and we had the weekend of a lifetime. We started off by sleeping on a houseboat by the Allupey backwaters, visited Vagamon hill station, and finished our trip on the historic town of Kochin. 

The trip to Kerala with Phu and Parisa started Thursday night. We met up at the bus station in Madivala and took an overnight bus to Allupey, a small town by the backwaters. The bus ride was far from enjoyable for me – once we were out of the city, it seemed more like a rollercoaster ride with the bus rapidly hurtling down narrow, winding and bumpy roads with a little too much pressure on the speed pad. I got the back corner seat which I first thought was lucky, but that quickly turned to terror from the realization that I couldn’t recline my seat.  I am terribly bad at sleeping in moving vehicles, and this wasn’t exactly going to make it any easier. The guy who decided to play a song on repeat with his phone’s loudspeaker barely half an hour after I finally fell asleep didn’t help much either. I think I slept on and off for half the trip, or about 5 hours. 

Eating breakfast in Allupey

Early Saturday morning we arrived in Allupey, with the rain slowly falling. The monsoon was well underway in Kerala, and little did we know that this was going to be the standard weather pretty much the entire trip. Don’t misunderstand me, I loved the rain – it was gorgeously refreshing, and many people have told me how it’s the best time of the year to visit. The temperature is fantastic, and with a steady drizzle you can still move around. A couple of months from now, it would have been excruciatingly hot. We got picked up by the houseboat guy, who took us to his office so we could drop our stuff and check in. After finding breakfast in Allupey, we went back to the houseboat office and were shown to the boat. 

 Our houseboat, where it moored for the night.

 Kerala’s houseboats are gorgeous creations. They are entirely made out of wood and thatched roofing, although the modern-day versions are equipped with an air-conditioned bedroom, a generator and kitchen facilities (and only used for tourism now). We boarded our boat just a couple of kilometers down the narrow road which traversed the western edge of the backwaters. By then the rain had let up and it was overcast, which was perfect weather for the start of our sailing trip. As we slowly sailed up the narrow water straight, we were flanked on both sides by thin land strips with sporadic housing with the sailor (Joseph) telling us little stories and snippets about the backwaters. After about an hour, we stopped at a massage parlor on a small island and I tried a full general massage for the first time in my life. While the three of us were getting massages, the rain started falling in torrents which gave us a setting of perfect tranquility as we sailed onwards. All three of us fell asleep on deck…

We docked shortly before nightfall, right next to a large area with rice paddies, and I got out to take more pictures (duh). The twilight was beautifully serene, and just before it got too dark to see anything it started raining again. Lunch had consisted of fried fish and south Indian dishes, and we got served tea and fried plantains for a snack. I had brought my laptop so we ended up watching Wrath of the Titans until dinner, which consisted of chicken curry, rice, veggies and roti. We ended up in some really deep debates about race, stereotypes vs. cultural identities, and how to interact with angry people. After watching an episode of game of Thrones, we fell asleep to the almost imperceptible rocking of the lake waters.  

Twilight Rain

People

“Which Country?”

Countless conversations with random people in Bangalore have started this way. The first few times I would get very torn over what to respond with, since I have three different countries to pick from. Inevitably I end up saying “Denmark” though. Why? Although I do not have any affinity to spare for Denmark, it still sets me apart from a lot of western stereotypes I guess. And I am, after all, not American, although I often sound like it. If I have time for it I usually explain that I currently study in the US, and that I haven’t actually lived in Denmark for 9 years now because I moved to Rwanda as a teen. That frequently brings about some funny reactions.

Anyway, I’ve met a lot of interesting people recently. I’ve become friends with a bunch of co-workers from the main office, and I’ve started picking up on the ‘which country’ cue to make conversations with people I bump into on the street. You really learn a lot more about a country that way. It exposes you to the lives of regular people, and you get to hear so many interesting stories; because each and every person you meet has a different story to tell, about what they do, where they live, and where they grew up. For example, the main guy running a street-vending operation off of 80ft Road in Koramangala told me him and his business mates were all from Darjeeling in the North East. They cook Indo-Chinese food (from a stall with gas burners), which is common in their home town although not traditional food. He told me about the diversity of Darjeeling, being near three international borders, and how he lived in different cities while growing up with his military dad. A week ago I talked to the Auto-rickshaw driver the whole way home using less than 50 words of English. I’ve become friends with the sales clerk at my gym. And wednesday night I said goodnight to half a dozen people at Legends of Rock (bar) although I only knew one of them, haha. 

One of the many things I love Bangalore for is that it’s just a genuinely relaxed and friendly city. Great people, great places, great atmosphere. It’s one of those places where you can get to know someone, and a few hours later call them “soul sister” – that’s right Nilisha, I’m referring to you! And your neighbor can come knocking to ask about bathroom times so we don’t walk in on each other, and we end up talking for an hour and hang out almost every day henceforth.  That’s my buddy Rohit by the way, he’s pretty much the definition of the word “chill”, and he also happens to be the tallest Indian dude I’ve ever met. You rarely meet such fun and friendly people you have so much in common with. And then there’s hilarious people like Mohita, who like Rohit is very similar to me but in the craziest possible way – it cracks me up just thinking about how hyper active and forward she is. This truly is a city of love and care, and I will miss it sorely when I leave. 

 Rohit, me, Graham and two of Graham's roommates at Legends of Rock's karaoke night

Lalbagh Photos

Coffee, Mangoes and Jackfruit

Today I went to Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, which is a 240 acre walled-in nature area not far from central Bangalore. This town truly is the City of Gardens. Lalbagh is huge (I only saw a few of the attractions), about the size of The College of Wooster, and it’s pretty popular from the look of hundreds of families and young couples walking around. I’ve never seen that many young couples sit close and quietly talk on benches, rocks and lawns. It’s really quite cute. I was actually a bit depressed by the time I arrived, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself so much from just walking around at random and taking pictures of everything I saw that it soon went away.

I started off checking out a huge rock outcropping from the top of which you have a great view of the city (I could see UB city; easily recognizable although I’ve never been there). It wasn’t very steep so many people sat there – a girl sitting with her friends even stood up and waved at my camera as I photographed the scenes. 

At pathway junctions there were plenty of vendors selling drinks, snacks and icecream. I slowly sipped a small cup of coffee as I looked around at the masses of people slowly walking by – a favorite pastime of mine when I’m in one of my quieter moods. As I followed the path that made most sense, I came across a large space with over a dozen fruit stands on either side, all selling mangoes! And I remembered someone had recently told me the mango festival was going on because it was high season, and they had had all 30 varieties of mangoes on display in Lalbagh (or maybe it was a different number, can’t remember). I got so excited from this I almost bought a box of mangoes, only to remember that I’d have no way of finishing them on my own. In another, circular area, I found more mango sellers as well as tables with jackfruits, so I bought a small bag with jackfruit seeds. They were orange, and oh-so-refreshingly sweet.

I got lost in my own thoughts walking around and finding good angles for my camera; I forgot to look for the Wooster people I knew were sitting around somewhere near the lake. Unfortunately I had to return early to Koramangala to pick up my laptop, but it was a fantastic couple of hours I spent in Lalbagh. I will be sure to come back and complete my little adventure. 

P.S.: My laptop finally got repaired, so I can blog more often when I'm back in my room! I was done with this post at 11pm, too late for my evening lassi, haha!

Food & The Spice of Life

I am happy to finally sit down and pen this blog post; it has been on my mind for quite a while. Shortly after I arrived, while chatting with a friend on facebook about how much I love the food here, she said "take pictures of everything you eat!" I'm not quite able to carry my large DSLR camera with me everywhere I go, but I have tried to take a few shots of some of the food I tend to eat. Also, the food in South India (and in India as a whole) is so incredibly delicious that it simply deserves a blog post of its own!

Adrak, Dhania, Jeera, Tej Patta, Badi Elaichi, Imli, Haldi, Hari Mirch, Anardana, Garam Masala... the list of popular Indian spices could fill several pages. And that is truly the secret behind Indian Cuisine, be it Kannada, Rajasthani or Punjabi food, or perhaps a hot dish from Andhra Pradesh. The immense variety of spices used in virtually every single dish is what makes even the simplest meal in India an intense pleasure. People warned me of finding fairly spicy food in the South - but by that they I think meant the large spectrum of flavours used in all dishes, not burning chili heat. And of course, most people do not know that I tend to enjoy searing hot food. Dishes are usually flavorful but rarely burning hot, so I often ask for spicy items on the menu or get extra chili on the side.

Sagar Fast Food is right outside the office building where the Dream Connect Centre is housed, and I eat lunch there every day. SFF has delicious food at low prices, and they have a more variety and better-tasting items than the other local fast food chains, like Shanty Sagar. "Sagar" means ocean, which is used as an analogy for variety. Some of their most popular meals are South Indian Mix and North Indian Mix, where you get a large plate full of several small servings of different dishes to sample.

Food is quite cheap at SFF, just like other small local joints. The two mixes mentioned above are only Rs. 36 and Rs. 45 respectively ($1 = Rs. 56). One day I bought roti curry (2 chapati's with gravy), a samosa and a glass of freshly-blended mango juice, all for just 77 Rupees. My favorite dish at local fast food joints is probably masala dosa. Dosa is kind of like a chapati made from rice-flour batter, freshly fried on one side on a grill plate. That type has masala (spice mix) added to the bare side, and it is served wrapped around a large spoonful of mashed potatoes and veggies.
Another kind of dosa I tried from a roadside seller had omelette fried onto each side of it, which provides a really tasty protein-rich dish (SFF and most local restaurants are vegetarian and do not serve eggs). Oh, and it all comes with two different dipping sauces of course.

Food at my PG (Paying Guest) room in Koramangala is decent but quite repetitive. I pay Rs. 500 a month for breakfast and dinner every day, plus lunch on weekends (although I'm never there at that time). Dinner is always rice, thin dal (lentils) and some saucy vegetable dish, often served with small rotis. The quality is good although I sometimes add variety by eating egg dosa/omelette or chicken momo's (dumplings) beforehand. A little over a week ago I went up to Empire about a kilometer from my place to get some of their famous grilled chicken to eat with my dinner:

Rice, dal, okra, chicken for Rs. 125 and a glass of pulpy grape juice for Rs. 20.

Eating chicken biryani at a local restaurant ("Biryani Center") in Koramangala with two guys from the office, Mahesh and Nagu.

Another awesome food thing about India is of course the abundance of fresh fruit. You are never far from a juice shop where they blend fresh fruit juice, milkshakes or cold coffees for you. There are also plenty of fruit sellers on the streets: coconut sellers, guys with carts full of mangoes or guavas, box carts with things like watermelon and papaya and everything in between for fruit salads, and stalls that sell most other kinds of fruits. I actually arrived at the height of the mango season, which is probably my favorite fruit, so I decided to buy myself a glass of mango juice every day lest I regret it when I'm gone. Not to mention that it's super healthy.

Salman, my local fruit guy operating outside the corner of Sagar Fast Food. He helps his dad with the fruit stall & selling coconuts during his school holidays.

A bowl of fruit salad for Rs. 20.







I have for many years maintained that my favorite food in the whole world is the Indian cuisine. I think I can safely say that that is now a firm and proven belief. I'm gonna hate leaving Karnataka and India behind for many reasons, but the awesome food is a huge one of them.

P.S.: My laptop has pretty much been handed a death sentence - it needs both a new hard drive and a new screen, which would cost around $200. I have decided to look for a cheap netbook instead. This would really help me keep up with my written tasks, plus I'd be able to blog more often.