Kerala is the state on the southern tip of India, running along the Arabian Sea. It’s the home of Kathakali and backwaters and fantastic butter chicken masala!
This was the next stop on our journey. The plan was to do things in the morning and relax in the afternoon, since it would be very hot and humid. Fortunately, it never got above 85˚ in Kerala, which is a nice change from the arid Deccan Plateau Hyderabad is in, and the humidity was not unlike Iowa in August. Unfortunately, our three days there were crunched down to only two as the country went on strike after a chairman was accused of rigging bets during the national cricket playoffs.
So the first day we walked around, saw the huge Chinese fishing nets Kerala is known for, and visited the few shops that remained open for tourists. It was funny visiting one shop claiming Kashmiri antiques—Insha went with us, and he’s from Kashmir. He took one look in the window and started laughing. He said tourists must get ripped off here all the time, that he could find these things down the street from his home in any store. Either way, it was nice to just take it easy the first day. Mom finally got to relax!
The next day we got up early to tour around the Kerala backwaters, which were beautiful, but I have to admit a little less enchanting than the brochures illustrate. Foliage played along the side of the boat as our boatman pushed us through the shallow waters with a huge bamboo stick. We stopped for lunch, and mom happily ate with her fingers! We didn’t even notice until half-way through the meal!
We got back much later than we thought, and made a rushed stop at a tailor for Mom to pick out some really nice Punjabis—actually, she picked one ready-made that I hoped wouldn’t fit her so I could snag it! But it fit, and it the teal/orange/purple/black fabric looks fantastic with her silver hair.
That night we went to a Kathakali performance, which would have made my theatre history professor Jay Chipman positively giddy. I studied this dance-drama in one of his classes, but I didn’t know anything about the actual method of performance. We watched them put on make-up, which was intricate and fascinating. The performance—which traditionally lasts 6 hours—was broken into just a few scenes, and interspersed with Kerala traditional dance in beautiful white and gold saris, and traditional martial arts. I had heard it was terribly boring, but I was so entertained! It was like watching people act like cartoons, but not in the stupid antics of commedia dell’arte. I loved it!
The next morning we got up even earlier for the elephant sanctuary. We got to help bathe a family of elephants before heading to the airport. The three babies and Daddy were in the front for photos, and Mommy was a bit further out in the river. I waded into the water just to get a different photo of the babies, but then the two guys washing the mother beckoned me all the way out in the water! I gave my camera to mom, folded up my pants, and tip-toed over the bigger rocks that kept me knee-deep in what otherwise was 5-8 feet deep. Eventually Insha and Mom came out and joined me…with a little coaxing. At one point, Insha (who was holding my camera!) disappeared under the water! I looked over to see one hand holding up my little silver Canon!
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