the love boat

I've made up my mind to never live on U.S. soil again. When I return to the states I want to live on the water in a Kettuvellam. Radka and I spent the night (and more than a few rupees) aboard one of these in the Keralan backwaters of Allepey...cruising narrow, palm lined canals and fresh water lakes that form the setting for Arundhati Roy's beautiful and haunting novel, "The God of Small Things". There was only the two of us aboard as passengers plus three staff (the captain, the cook and the other one) and the accommodations were luxurious by any standards...certainly by Indian standards. We had a cozy bedroom with an attached bath. The front of the bedroom could be opened up during the day to connect it with the covered dinning area on the front of the boat. Stairs behind the bedroom led to a private roof top sun deck where we spent most of our time save for mealtime. Ahhh.... mealtime. Fresh seafood and south Indian veg dishes were spread across the table in quantities we shouldn't have been able to finish (but did). The service was unlike anything we had experienced thus far in India...to the point where it made us a bit uncomfortable. We got over it. As we lounged in our private perch life along the backwaters drifted by....rice fields, small shacks built on strips of land barely wide enough for small shacks, long canoes rowed along by woman and men alone with their nets fishing. We sadly departed the boat the next day back in Allepey to catch a train south to Varkala, where I sit now. In addition to it's cliff backed beach with rolling surf (yes, i found the one surf board in varkala to use) the town is noted for it's 2000-year-old Janardhana Swamy Temple. It was there we were finally able to take in a Kathakali performance. This traditional dance of Kerala features ornate costumes and extensive make-up to retell stories from The Ramayana and other Hindu classics. Truncated tourist productions are offered at steep prices but we were determined to see the real deal. Although a bit difficult for the novice translate, one could still appreciate the beauty of this ritual theatre. Performers are given rolls from the age of 8 and are instructed up to 10 years before they can perform the stories.
Juxtaposed against Kerala's temple landmarks are images more associated with Karl Marx. Kerala has the worlds first democratically elected communist government, affording its leaders the difficult task of governing the people while simultaneously leading the revolution. According to "official" information the states literacy rate stands at a whopping 100%! Of course those unable to read probably didn't fill out the survey ; )
A few more days here and then on to Trivandrum to catch our flight to Sri Lanka....excited to be moving on but also happy to know we will be returning to this crazy country once more in the New Year.