India 8 - Varkala, Kerala

Varkala, Kerala, India

Monday 5th to 15th December, 2011

Leela's Emporium

Completed our Christmas shopping today at Leela's stall on Varkala Cliff where bought sarongs and scarves for son and daughter, brother and sister, niece and nephews, and friends. We wrapped them up each with a card, and had them packaged and sent express to UK to, hopefully, arrive before Christmas Day where this package from us from India will be opened by all of them at home.

CP, the receptionist at Hotel Green Palace, suggested that we go to a “10 Elephant Festival” so we set off at 5pm to board a coach with other westerners to go to a small town we never got the name of to be part of a mass religious event-cum-fair at the junction of of two busy main roads towards Trivandrum. It is a small world and Bristol really has few degrees of separation – at the bus we recognised Mary and Maureen from Totterdown and Bedminster, where we live in Bristol! 

As well as thousands of excited Keralans of all ages dressed in a riot of colour, there were indeed ten elephants lined up in two sets of five either side of the entrance to a temple with a huge male in the middle of each. They were temple elephants, trained for just such an occasion, painted, decorated, and manacled, each with their own devoted Mahut. 

Drum 'n' Horn

There were three young men atop each and dressed in white and gold and brandishing big white feather fans in a syncopated fashion whist teams of drummers and trumpeters provided a wall of musical noise and a loud amplified commentary was periodically drowned out by salvos of firecrackers. The elephants stood placidly munching coconut leaves and regarded the crowds, traffic, dust, heat, flies and camera flashes with quiet nonchalance.

Set off by car after breakfast with Maureen this morning into the backwaters for a trip to Golden Island which contains a temple. After an hour 's drive we climbed aboard a canoe made from coconut palms, definitely not Bristol fashion, to be punted across a glorious lake through islands and backwaters under a clear blue sky. Peace and tranquillity. The only sounds apart from the lap of the water against the canoe was the rhythmic pummelling of coconuts as villagers on the shore extracted coir from the husks. 

The temple on the island was small but very holy (so no photos) and had 4 shrines. Whilst we were there the priests perform a puja for Krishna, emerging from his shrine with a chalice of fire which the 10 or so pilgrims passed their hands and arms through, chanted prayers, and gave offerings. Back at the canoe and our boatsman was bailing out the excess water that had seeped in during our absence. 

Maureen of the Lake

All aboard and off we slowly and quietly went. We saw many birds such as Cormorants, Bhraminy Kites, Egrets, Herons and, most spectacular, an Indian Darter which dives for fish and swims along with just its long neck above the water looking like a stick until this whole large bird burst from the water into the air and flew off. We also passed a group of young men with small hand nets who were diving down off a boat and fishing underwater. 

On the way back we stopped in a muslim area to visit a small fishing village on the beach where the fishermen were pulling in their boats and chanting a hauling song after fishing all night. John helped to pull one boat in which amused the men. Though poor and very hard working they welcomed us into their community and way of life with warmth and much humour.

Abba Crew

Tuesday 13^th December

After four relaxing, lotus-eating weeks on Varkala Cliff we say goodbye with an impromptu acoustic session at the Rock 'n' Roll Cafe with Mary and Maureen, and a slap-up meal of fish and wine at the Abba Restaurant where we had made great friends with Nepalese staff. 

Arabian Sea

Later, we joined a table of young Swedes who were noisily trying to sing some songs to a hard-to-play guitar, which soon descended into cacophony as the beers took effect on them. Perfect. The next morning we caught the train to Cochin and stayed near the airport before bidding farewell to India and catching the early morning plane to Sri Lanka.