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Reset your watch to a rhythm of life that has gone unchanged for centuries by boarding a kettuvallam, the long, beautifully crafted cargo boats that ply the waterways with cargo (if you don’t mind being referred to as such). An engineering feat, a kettuvallam the construction — it’s joined together with thick coir ropes. The boat is then sealed with fish oil and coated with a black caustic resin produced by boiling cashew kernels. Today, numerous houseboat operators work out of the Alleppey area, but the original concept of turning cargo boats into tourist cruise vessels was the brainchild of Babu Varghese of TourIndia, an outfit that remains the top operator in the backwaters, with excellent guides and innovative boat designs that are upgraded annually. Varghese transformed the kettuvallam into a livable houseboat by expanding the original size to include two or three rooms, a flush toilet, a functioning shower, and a small viewing or sunbathing platform. Bamboo scaffolding is constructed over the hull, and a thatched roof of plaited palm leaves and walls of bamboo matting are added to create a rustic but very comfortable floating dwelling. With designs that owe some allegiance to the Chinese junk but that more closely resemble a small Sydney Opera House, these beautiful crafts may be propelled by pole (if you’re in no particular hurry) or by a small, quiet motor.
The houseboat experience allows you to aimlessly drift past villages, temples, and churches and be thoroughly exposed to the rural lifestyle of the backwaters. As if you’re on the very large set of a reality TV show, you can watch as women, unperturbed by your drifting presence, wash their long ebony tresses or pound away at laundry; children play at the water’s edge and men dive for mussels; and elephants andwater buffalo wade at will. Fishermen suavely holding umbrellas above their heads suddenly drift by, their nets at the ready, while floating vendors using single-log canoes and other modest craft deliver commodities such as rice and coir fiber. On the shore, toddy tappers whisk up palm trees (note that you can ask to stop at a village to buy unforeseen necessities like beer or coconut toddy); see “Toddy Tappers,” below. And when the sun sets, the sky lights up in magnificent shades of orange and red. Gliding past the rural communities that cling to the banks is without a doubt one of the most relaxing and romantic ways to witness a timeless lifestyle, where people rely on impossibly tiny tracts of land to cultivate subsistence crops and keep a few animals, using slender jackfruit wood canoes to get around, deliver goods, and do a spot of fishing. Kettuvallam houseboats are available at various levels of luxury, and may be rented for short trips or for sleep-in journeys of several days. Try to spend at least one night on board, since the major attractions are watching the setting sun and witnessing the lakeside activities of households at dawn and dusk. A great plan is to have a houseboat collect you from one resort (we suggest Coconut Lagoon or Kumarakom) and drop you off at your next destination (say, Kayaloram Lake Resort or—if your budget won’t stretch that far—Keraleeyam Lake Resort).
While the general idea is to wind your way aimlessly through the waterways, one of the most popular stop-off points for visitors is Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram (& 0476/289-6179 or -6278), home of a female guru endearingly known as theHugging Mother. Another possible stop is Champakulam, where 500-year-old St. Mary’s Church shows definite traces of Hindu influence, from a small statue of Christ assuming a pose typical of Krishna, to the custom of leaving one’s footwear outside.
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