Kerala pictures available online!

We have finally uploaded the pictures of our trip to Kerala.

Check them at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mmmarchisio - and vote your favourite one!

Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary

Our last stop of our trip in Kerala was Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary (and Tiger Reserve), a national park created around an artificial lake resulted from the construction of the Mullaperiyar Dam. The result is indeed very scenic: a sort of prehistoric landscape, with hundred-year-old trunks emerging from the waters of the lake.

There, we saw buffalos, warthogs, monkeys, deer, thousands of birds, one elephant - but, alas, none of the 42 tigers of the reserve.

We left tropical Kerala and went back to cold and foggy Delhi, looking forward to the next trip (next week-end to Jaisalmer, in the Thar desert, Rajasthan, famous for its sandcastle and the camel market).

Visit at the tea factory...

In the spices garden...

Pepper grain

Cardamom leaf (if I well remember)

Tamil Nadu...

... from Kerala.

Munnar

From Cochin, we left the coast and we moved inland, up to the Western Ghats, the lush mountains where the British used to build their summer houses.

Here, our first stop was Munnar, famous for its lolling hills covered by tea and spices plantations.

We were literally hypnotized by this landscape. For those who have never seen tea plantations, these look like a thick carpet that makes hills looking soft and puffy - like in a fairy tale.

And you feel liking diving (and swimming) into this ocean of green...

A practical lesson of trade & commerce

Indians’ skills as traders are well-known. And in Cochin we had a practical class of trade and commerce from those masters of sales...

We were wandering about Bazaar Road in the old town in Fort Cochin, when our attention was drawn by two men who were loudly discussing just outside a rice shop, in front of two dozens of bowls of different varieties of rice. Intrigued by the situation, we quietly got closer and observed the discussion. The two men were clearly conducting a negotiation.

As minutes passed by, we got more and more involved in the negotiation, and we started ourselves asking questions on the different types of rice: name, quality, properties, etc. After a few minutes of explanations, we decided to purchase some red rice from Kerala, and we asked the price.

- 22 rupees* per kilo - said the merchant.

- Ok, one kilo then - we answered.

- Sorry, no ‘one-kilo’. Seventy-five kilos.

- ???

In response to our puzzled expressions, the merchant explained us that he was a wholesale dealer (rivenditore all’ingrosso), and that the minimum sale was seventy-five kilos. A bit disappointed, we asked where we could purchase one kilo only of that rice, and the merchant pointed ‘Melvin Store’, the shop just opposite his, on the other side of the road.

Relieved and cheered-up, we crossed the road, we entered ‘Melvin Store’, and we asked for one kilo of the red rice from Kerala. An errand boy weighed the rice, wrapped it up, and given it to us. We had already ready the 22 rupees to pay, when the merchant of Melvin Store said: “25 rupees**”.

Half-surprised and half-annoyed (“the usual Indian shopkeeper that want to cheat the white tourists”, we thought), we said that we just came from the shop in front, and that the price was 22 rupees/kilo there. It was not a matter of the three rupees more, but a matter of principle: we wanted to be treated as all Indian purchasers!

Emotionless, the merchant responded: “That is a wholesale shop. This is a retail shop. 25 rupees”.

In vain we tried to bargain, using all our weapons: winking, humour, indignation... The price remained 25 rupees, and 25 rupees we paid.

And so, we had our class of trade and commerce. But as for those classes that leave students not fully convinced at the end of them, we didn’t quite understand why on earth the rice’s price increased by three rupees for just having crossed the road!

(*) 0.48 US$ or 0.33 euro

(**) 0.55 US$ or 0.38 euro

Cochin

Chinese fishing nets, a legacy of the trades from the XV century with China...

Kerala’s cuisine

As for its people, culture and traditions, ‘diversity’ is the main characteristic of Indian cuisine. Ingredients, spices, preparation techniques, and, ultimately, tastes, vary very much from region to region. Travelling through India is not only a cultural experience: it is a culinary experience!

Southern Indian cuisine in general, and Keralan cuisine in particular, is well renowned in the country. Characterized by seafood and by the abundant use of coconut, often served in banana leaves, we found Kerala food fresh and tasty.

We thus confirm Kerala cuisine reputation: we had excellent meals almost everywhere, and we all gained a couple of pounds (though lost the last day when we got an intestinal virus). The award for the best dinner was unanimously given to “Old Port & Sea Food Hut” in Cochin.

Into the Backwaters (2) - sunset on the lagoon

Into the Backwaters

Kerala’s undisputed main attraction is its “backwaters”, an extensive network of lakes, lagoons, and canals that develops for hundredth of kilometers inland between coconut palms and rice fields. And in Alleppey we rent a local boat and spent a day (and a night) exploring this labyrinth.

Perhaps deceived by the descriptions in the guides we read before the trip, we expected the backwaters to be a very pristine and wild environment. In fact it is deeply anthropized, with villagers that have built houses on every embankment, strengthened every bank, shaped canals almost everywhere…

But far from being disappointed, we were on the contrary very impressed by the capacity of these people to adapt their lifestyle to this environment, and, at the same time, to shape and transform this environment to adapt it to their needs…

Our first trip on an Indian train

You can have very interesting discussions with Indians on a variety of subjects, like religion, culture, society… There are however certain topics that it is better not to touch if you don’t want the conversation to catch fire and get stuck.

Indians in fact become extremely sensitive and nationalistic on certain topics. One of these is the English colonization and its legacy. You can easily discuss for hours on whether the English did anything good for this country or not without reaching any consensus.

So, while it is pointless to argue whether the Indian railway system has been developed thanks to the British or whether the Indian would have developed it anyhow, it is undeniable that this network is impressive for its extension and capillarity.

We had our first experience on an Indian train to go from Varkala to Alleppey. 108 Km, 2h 20 minutes (+ 50 minutes delay). Almost as fast as my scooter…

Picture: "Find the intruders" (Tip: look for those without moustaches...)

Meeting the actors

Kathakali

While in Varkala, we also went to see a performance of Kathakali.

Kathakali is a traditional Keralan dance-drama, usually based on the Hindu epics. Drums and singing accompany the actors, who tell the story through a well codified hand gestures and facial expressions*.

The preparation for the performance is as interesting as the performance itself: the actors spend hours painting their faces (a piece of art themselves) to become the heroes and the demons of the plays…

We enjoyed this form of art that we didn’t know. And, once more, we were very impressed by the cultural diversity and richness of this country…

(*) Before the performance, one of the actors gave a short representation of the main facial expressions of Kathakali drama: love, humour, fear, pathos, anger, bravery, disgust, wonder, and peace. We capture some of them in this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYf05LMt4ec (sorry, I didn’t know how to rotate videos...)

Varkala

Our first stop in Kerala was Varkala, a former fisherman village situated on the edge of a cliff on the Lakshadweep Sea. Supposedly alternative and “fricchettona”, we found it in truth pretty touristic (but we have to admit we happen to be there probably during the most touristic week of the year).

In Varkala every individual basically offers two activities: ayurvedic massages and yoga. We tried them both.

The ayurvedic treatment was... an experience. You enter in these ‘ayurvedic centers’ and you are accompanied in a lumber-room that looks more like a torture room than a massage room: barred windows, suffused with light, a tough examination couch and a wooden stool in the middle, ropes and chains hanging from the ceiling and from the walls...

Then you are asked to undress (no changing room), and once you are naked as a worm, you are first massacred (the picture above is not a joke: they literally walk on you for half-hour), and then - once reduced to pulp - taken care of.

Apparently ayurvedic massages provide you with a number of benefits, including giving your sexual vigour back. Well, I only woke up the following morning covered with bruises and aching all over*...

(*) No worries, Silvia and Mathilde had a much more gentle treatment and actually enjoyed it very much

As far as our yoga experience is concerned, we will talk extensively about it in other posts. Just for the record, this was Silvia’s baptism to yoga - so, if it is true that our personality is strongly influenced by our prenatal experiences, then don’t be surprised if in twenty years from now Pesciolino 2 decides to leave Italy to retreat himself in a yoga ashram somewhere on the Himalayas...

Back from Kerala

A very happy new year!

Matteo, Mathilde, Silvia and Chiara are back from Kerala with plenty of pictures to show and stories to tell.

We will post them, little by little, in the coming days. So, keep an eye on our blog!

Mathilde, Silvia, and Matteo (and Chiara from the 29) go to Kerala

Mathilde, Silvia, and Matteo (and Chiara from December 29) go to Kerala, the thin strip of land between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats in Southern India.

We’ll start from Trivandrum, almost at the Southern tip of India, and then lead north. We’ll spend a couple of days in Varkala basically relaxing: swims in the Ocean, ayurvedic treatments, massages, and yoga. From Varkala we’ll go Alleppey, a Venice-like town set around a grid of canals. There, we’ll rent a houseboat and we’ll explore Kerala’s backwaters, an infinite labyrinth of rice paddies and coconut groves that from the coast develop far inland. We’ll then continue to Cochin, a melange of Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Jewish, and Muslim influences, where we’ll meet Chiara. After having said good-bye to Silvia, we’ll move inland to Munnar, famous for its gentle hills covered by tea and spices plantations, and then we’ll conclude our trip in the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, where we hope to meet tigers during one of our trekkings in the jungle...

Les M&M’s will be back on line on January 4, with plenty of pictures to show and stories to tell.

A very merry Christmas and a happy new year to all of you. And a jingle from ‘Panjabiland’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zg_102NnRw *

(*) Thanks to Gislain for the reference...