I was slow-walking around the halls of the Mattancherry Palace Museum, admiring the murals adorning the walls of different rooms, all mostly depicting scenes from the Ramayana. "No cameras, please don't touch the walls," the guards inside the museum kept reminding the excited gaggle of tourists who were pointing curious fingers everywhere. Ancient coins, large paintings depicting Dutch history, and 3D portraits that would stare you down wherever you move, the museum held a treasure trove of eccentricities and years of history.
I had a packed itinerary ahead of me, and it was just my first day in Kerala. The rest of the week passed in a blur of constant travelling, good food, and checking in to some great hotels in different parts of Kerala. We started in Kochi, where we were scheduled to come back on the last day to attend the grand opening event of the Kerala Travel Mart, which was scheduled to start the next week. We were in Kerala as part of the pre-mart tour, which would take us across Marari, Kumarakom, Thekkady, Munnar and then back to Kochi from where we all departed to our respective destinations.
We walked around Fort Kochi with the September sun beating down on us mercilessly, then made our way to The Old Court House by Abad for a quick lunch. I chugged down the welcome drink, which was a jamun sherbet. It was absolutely delicious and timely after our walk in the sun. Afterwards, we saw the iconic Chinese fishing nets, one of the most photographed tourist attractions and a very well-known symbol of Kochi.
"These were introduced to Kochi by Chinese explorer Zheng He, and established on the shores between 1350 and 1450 AD," said Rajesh, our guide for the week. Soon after we departed for Marari, exhaustion took over, and I dozed off on the bus.
In Alleppey, we spent most of the morning on a luxury houseboat, cruising through the calm backwaters. Alleppey is called the 'Venice of the East,' and I couldn't disagree as we sailed slowly aboard one of the luxurious Spice Routes houseboats on the soothing waters all afternoon with the light breeze fanning our faces. As soon as I knew I was going to Kerala, there was one thing on my must-do list: sample an authentic Sadya meal. Our master Chef on the cruise, John, made sure I crossed that off my checklist as he served us the full fare on a banana leaf, explaining each dish as he went around the table.
"This is called pachadi," he pointed at the pink side dish I was devouring at the speed of light. A combination of beetroot and yoghurt, this dish was a close cousin of our regular raita. The pearl spot fish fry and the prawn curry were rich and excellent and balanced out the mellower flavours of the rice, parippu (lentil dish) sambhar, and the avial (seasonal veg mix with coconut). Since most of the people in our group had been craving payasam since the day we arrived, we savoured the dessert as soon as it was served.
As we were heading to the beautiful Kumarakom Lake Resort to retire for the evening, Rajesh told us Alleppey is the only place in India where they farm below sea level and that 2000 years ago, the entire backwater area was a forest.
In Thekkady, we explored a spice plantation where our guide, Suman Lata, educated us on the many benefits of the trees and herbs we came across. From the healing properties of the plumbago leaves used for treating wounds and warts, the sweet mangosteen fruit and the tiny bird's eye chilli to the fragrant cinnamon and coffee trees, we were in a world of botanical wonder. Back at our hotel for the night, Spice Village by CGH Earth, I walked around the sustainable stay and marvelled at the many ways they have embraced the natural surroundings without compromising on luxury.
At dinner, I had the pork vindaloo, which was divine. Back in my room, there was no air con, which made me a bit apprehensive as we were in the middle of September. But the weather cooled down as soon as it was sundown, so I had to sleep with a blanket on. After breakfast, we departed for Munnar the next morning and visited a tea garden and factory on the way.
As soon as we stepped out at the tea garden, we saw only women with baskets moving about, picking the leaves. "Mostly, the women do the leaf picking while the men clear weeds, prune the bushes, and collect firewood for the factory. Men also work in the factory, and during high crop yields, they pick the tea leaves," said Senthil, our guide for the tea tour. At the Lockhart Tea Factory later, our guide walked us through the process of tea-making.
"Depending on the climate, we can harvest from the same bush approximately every 12 to 15 days, with an average of about 12 days. When we harvest, we usually pick one to three leaves per bud, which is ideal for a good cup of tea," explained Senthil. "From a single bush, you can produce one type of tea, but different processes yield various types, such as black, green, and white tea. Despite coming from the same bush, these teas differ based on their processing."
After taking many dramatic photos amid the sprawling tea garden and sampling five different varieties of tea in the factory, we returned to our hotel for our last night. Bone-weary and caffeinated, I decided to stay up and watch a Mani Ratnam movie to mark my last night in Kerala. Halfway through Tu Hi Re, in which the Bekal Fort is a character in itself, I dozed off, the exertion of the week finally catching up to me, dreaming of tea gardens, spice plantations, the flowing backwaters and copious amounts of banana chips.