Banana chips!!!

The pictures were taken inside a Hot Chips Shop in Palakkad town, Kerela. I happened to visit this town more than once and while coming back I had this delicious pack of chips.

Banana chips, very popular in Kerala and locally known as upperi, is fried in coconut oil.

It's cripsy, salty and tasty :)

There are many varieties of banana chips; even you can find sweet deep fried chips. But my focus was on the plain n salty chips which are more popular in terms of its taste.

Athirappilly Falls

The memory is still fresh and it was not a difficult task for me to scroll through yet again a memorable trip to a waterfall called Athirappilly Falls in Thrissur district of Kerela. The interesting thing about this place is that it is located inside a forest region, Vazhachal and you have an option for going a jungle trek in this region which is again a treat to your eyes but prior to that you should take the necessary permission from the forest department officer. This place is a well know picnic spot in this part of Kerela.

Probably, the best time to visit this place is in-between the months of September to February, and that’s exactly what we badly missed on the trip. In the end, it was a tiring day for us but by then we have accomplished the purpose of the trip, a fun filled trip.

There you go with the pictures taken along side the Chalakudy River and the pictures of the waterfall.

Chavakkad Beach - God's own creation

If I can recall correctly there is this wonderful quote in upanishad; “There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond all of us, beyond the highest, the very highest. This is the light that shines in our heart”; this tells us everything about rediscovering the self by every bit of life we live.

You find, the you inside you is lost and a new you smiles every time the little power enlighten; jut because the almighty has blessed the wonderful creations around you. The every piece of nature inspires you, the wind, the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the sea, the ocean and so on … and what you really see that you are never alone when your are with them; they offer you so much that you find yourself so tiny in front of them. The realization of being with them energies you and it’s never a difficult task to see the joy of life re-creates it by its own.

It happened, so again that I was standing not far away from the sea. In continuation to the Kerela trip we reached a placed called Chavakkad, which is around 60 K.ms from the Thirssur Town. I know every beach has its own story and so do this beach. We were there just at the right time, I mean the evening time around 5.30 P.M, which made things more beautiful then expected. Intially, this place was not there in our actual plan but on the way when we heard that we were so close to a beach, then it was impossible to stop us. And what I have discovered has yet again proved to be a new experience… ofcoure my other eye (the camera) was alert enough to capture all those awing moments … so here goes ….

The weather was doing its own magic …

I know evening time is the best time when you come back from the daily work and find your clam place to re-energize yourself ... I wonder what these people might be thinking ... when I saw them seating on the boat; the quote that caught my mind was of Mother Teresa's - "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in an ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop".

Life goes on as if it never ends … and time goes on as if it never begins …

“To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me”. - Isaac Newton.

My favorite … a picture requires no words or may be 1000 words :)

Allepey, Kerela - A treat to your eyes

The journey of life took a fresh and newly explored direction. Back from the much awaited trip and clubbed with some other events. I started following the Railways station on Thursday evening to catch the train towards Allepey (Alappuzha) with a bunch of travel enthusiastic buddies. Everything was bang on time and we started exploring a place, otherwise called as ‘God’s own Country’, truly holds its meaning.

Alleppey is the most popular place for backwater tourism in Kerala. And the best thing that you can find there are well equipped House boats for the very reason of breaking the backwater paths. These house boats are available on hire on a daily as well as longer duration basis. In general, a house boat have 2/3 bed rooms with A/C facilities (optional) and attached bath rooms. On peak seasons (Sep-Feb) the charges for a 2 bed room house boat goes upto 20000 rupees per 24 hrs. And in off-peak seasons you will be lucky enough to get one as low as 5000 rupees per 24hrs.

On the way you will find the lagoons, canals crossing the country side, the surrounded paddy fields and many more such things that your eyes find worth giving a second look. Another attraction is the Alapuzha beach, one of the neat beaches I have seen in India. Seriously this place has much to offer to all the discerning tourists out there.

Oh ! man it is so difficult to choose the set of photos for this Blog. Probably I have taken the most number of photos this time - a record for me :). So understandably I had put little extra effort to choose the best one. But I really didn’t know which one was the best; each of them seems to be the best ;) to me.

A wide view of backwater lake from the train, just after you cross the Ernakulam Railway Station.

I had some memorable moments from the trip, especially the stay inside the house-boat, a newly experienced and followed by some great Kerela Style (vegetarian) food. Oh !!! I was under a wrong impression that people there don’t know how to prepare vegi-food ;).

As the Sun climbing down the sky, every view had something more to offer. And it was rightly said –“ Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of Heaven”.

A Day out in Kerela

Last weekend I had been to a memorable trip of Kerela. Actually we visited two other places too and the final destination was a small village near Palakkad. Well, I was visiting Joe’s home for the first time. He had lots of things to talk about this place, particularly about the farm house and the old age house that the village people have extended their support for the poor old people to live their rest of life peacefully.

Good, I witness the fairly simple way of celebration, specifically, Christmas in a village where peace and love are neighbors of each other - far away from the noisy city crowd. Probably this was my first encounter with such an event.

A typical Kerela style breakfast followed by sweet aapam (forgot the exact name) and then we started to explore this place that was covered with trees and mountains. Indeed it was fun, and here goes some of the pictures that I have clicked my way ...

The crib, I spotted inside the church on the eve of Christmas.

People say, Kerela is a gifted greenery place … true !

An early morning view of the un-named abounded dam

Rubber tree plantation