14.5.11 – Hotels and heat (the Backwaters and Alappuzha, Kerala, India)

14.5.11 – Hotels and heat (the Backwaters and Alappuzha, Kerala, India)

Man fishing beside our boat

I wake early on our houseboat in the Backwaters, to see the dawn rise displaying dark clouds.  Lightning flashes and thunder rolls, and the expanse of water outside my bedroom window is pockmarked with raindrops.  It drips from our palm frond roof, it makes work for our crew in swabbing our decks.  I get up, misreading my watch by one hour and am fully dressed by 6am.  Sitting quietly at the bow of our boat, I watch a man arrive in a canoe, moor to two long sticks which he forces down into the silt, and cast his line repeatedly – no rod, just line.  He waits patiently, occasionally greeting other canoes as they pass, and enjoying a smoke.   Eventually, he takes up his moorings and paddles off to look for more fertile pools for his endeavours.

Our skipper puts up rain shelters

At last, with everybody up and about, we set off for the end of our dream journey, eating breakfast at the glass table in the prow as we go, staring at all the peaceful activity.  Soon we arrive at the landing stage again.  We unload into our taxi, which is waiting nearby.  Molly is sad to leave her boat-house, but happy to see her ‘nother special house again in the coolness of the hotel.  It’s the end of a magical experience, like no other we have ever had before.  It has a serenity which gets into your bones.

Breakfast on the houseboat

After our return from the wonderful houseboat, we settled down to have a quiet day in the air conditioned peace of this very comfortable hotel.  One difficulty to be overcome was the fact that the train was fully booked for all possible days we could return to Calicut at the appointed time, to see Bincy and to catch our flight home.  While the others were resting, I went down to reception to explain the problem.  The hotel manager Mr Kumar was immediately totally involved with the difficulty.  I explained that we needed to return to Calicut, starting out on Monday morning.  It is only 250 km (about 150 miles) – a distance which in Scotland would take about three hours to drive.  Here, it took five hours by train and will take eight to ten hours by car.  For Molly’s sake, we wanted to take the journey over two days, and stop about half way.  In no time, the manager booked the same taxi driver who had helped us during the delay at the boat jetty, who would take us half way, to Thrissur.  He promised to find a good hotel for us too.  Later in the afternoon, he arrived at our room, with a booking for a nice hotel, and provided us with a list of phone numbers for our use, including his own home phone number.  ‘I look after you as if you were my own family’ he said, smiling reassuringly.

Allaphuza is a charming town, quite industrial in an rural Indian way - small mechanics workshops, sawmills and local craft stalls, all buried under the shade of coconut palm trees.  Catriona and Calum braved the afternoon sun to explore the locality, and came back bathed in sweat.  Allowing the day to cool, at about 5pm, Catriona, Bill and I set off for the roof top pool while Molly rested.  The breeze and the warm soft water were extremely welcome.  From this vantage point, the town stretches out in all directions, palm trees sheltering the roofs below.  A church spire of remarkably British style protrudes from the fronds, reminding me of the influence of the long-gone Raj.

Molly rests in our hotel rooms

A quiet day is a necessary thing for Scots in India.  India comes at you with a dizzying torrent of colour, noise, movement and smells, amid the usual confusion of entering another culture and language, where the usual levers which, without thinking, we use to manage our daily lives are suddenly absent or different.  This hotel, which is ‘recognisable’ from a European point of view, has formed a welcome retreat for us, from which we can venture when we feel like a bit of adventure.

And so calm meals in the restaurant, eating food whose subtle flavours entrance the tastebuds, watching ‘Toy Story’ on TV, accessing the internet for the first time in over a week – all of these restore our self-confidence and ability to cope with fascinating, scary, frustrating and amazing India.

Bow of our houseboat