Kerala - Green excess

Glimpses of the village that I was lucky enough to 'come from'. All school vacations were spent here with the grandparents. Click on the image to see a larger view.


Bridges, the main way of transport to neighbour's houses:

There are multiple islands as seen below in the 2 photos, in the middle of paddy fields. These islands usually house a single hut and numerous coconut trees. Seen here is our neighbour's property. un occupied for nearly a decade. Now you know why the place is still pristine. Its void of people - the chief pollutants.

Another neighbour dries the firewood that got wet due to the morning showers

Spend a week here and the memories of colours other than green will fade away from your brain! whats seen below is the view from the front yard of the house

Seen below is the beloved backyard where we spent whole vacations hanging on trees and scouring up earthworms and other similarly highly intellectual activities.

Ente Keralam

A place that never ceases to amaze visitors. Right from the unbelievable greenery to the extremist population, each and every aspect of every day life in Kerala is a novelty to the unaccustomed eye.

In most towns, the roads are so curvy and slopes are so steep that they have more blind curves than an average hill station! Besides, the average speed of vehicles on road, especially cars is 80 kmph. In the plains, the roads seem to be precariously placed on the water irrigated fields like floating threads and in the hilly area, there are houses on top of hillocks that have hand made roads that put the best of brakes are gears to test. Well, it takes some skill to drive here, hats off to those who possess these skills. I know quite a few who do- a good number of my cousins.

While driving on the roads of places like Kottayam, you see sign boards on the roads indicating curves ahead as 'Z' in various angles.
You would think thats an exaggeration. Although, after you go through the curves, you wonder if the 'Z' has done justice to the curves, because by the time you finish one, your body would have swung towards atleast four different directions.

One other thing that is simply amazing about this state is the food. God's own indeed. Its a foodie's paradise. Few dishes that I consider truly out of the world - tapioca and fish curry (kappa meen curry), paalappam and stew, buttermilk curry with cucumber/white pumpkin, duck curry with parota/chapathi. Actually, the best of kappa meen is available in the notorious toddy(alcohol) shops, the second best is home made. and dont even get me started on their home made wines!
It is with much self control and that I am wrapping up this topic. this list and detailed description can go on for miles.

Politics. Every single individual is a strong supporter of one or the other party. They have sharp views on leaders and policies and they consider politics very much a part of daily life, unlikeTamilnadu where politics of the state figures nowhere in day to day conversations.