God’s own country

It was pitch dark in the night and the roads were too narrow to allow two cars to pass through without any hiccups. The humid air was breezing through the windows of the cars, carrying the aroma of raw spices. Old romantic songs of 90’s were complimenting the journey and she was sleeping with her head resting on my shoulders.

Kerala is known as ‘God’s own country’ and we were heading towards KTDC resorts in Kumarkom. The resort is situated on the banks of Vembanad Lake and possesses a beautiful bird sanctuary in the widespread area owned by the resort. The place is famous for back water lakes which are as calm as silence. The resort has many canals and the individual cottages were situated over canals.

We were stunned with the beauty of the resort and the comfort it offered when we entered our room. The room was adorned with a king size bed and lazy environment with dim lights and mild air condition. We woke up next morning with a mild breeze of air assorted with the warm rays of rising sun. Standing over the balcony, we found ourself surrounded with amusing and natural plantation. The lucid water was flowing in the canals creating the ripples along the edges. Rare species of birds could be seen sitting over the trees. The ambience was totally relaxed and silence prevailed over the speech. We had a good and heavy breakfast and resolute that we won’t leave this place without getting an ayurvedic massage. Kerala is famous for its herbs and body massage done while using them. Many therapies were introduced to us, but we decided to take a safer route and asked for basic body massage from the menu. I could feel the anxieties entrenched in my body being released to the vacuity as the masseur spread the warm oil over the body and liberate the extra oil to the wooden bed. As we move out of the room, we sensed a different world all-together. After that we took a record minimum of 6 baths to drain out the oil still left over our body..!!!

The evening offered us a pleasant view of the Vembanad Lake where the sun was setting at its slow pace. The house boats were sailing over the perfect backdrop of setting sun and birds were chirping while returning to their nests. I had a glass of beer over the hammock and then we had nice dinner. While walking over the narrow pathways towards our room, we could sense the buzzing of insects, tree leaves fluttering in a calm territory and could see the faint shades of light over the cottage’s windows and kids enjoying the hammocks.

Next day we took a ride over lake on a speed boat. It was 7 AM in the morning and we were excited to inhale the natural breeze of fresh air. One can easily spot the elation on the face of Divya. The early birds were looking at us with suspicion. After that, we went to a bird sanctuary where you could see different types of migratory birds. Unfortunately the best season to view them is in summers, so we walked over the sanctuary without any expectations. We had a heavy breakfast and now it was the time to pack our bags for our next destination, Munnar. I couldn’t hold the feelings of not leaving this place and finally was supplemented with lots of memories in form of photographs and video clips.

As I was going through these pictures, I could appreciate the efforts spent on preserving this natural beauty in God’s own country named Kerala…