For my visit to India in 2014, I was determined to fit in a short trip to some tourist destination. As me and parents discussed the feasibility and implications, we realized the three of us had never had a vacation together for the sole purpose of leisure. Growing up, most of our tourism was a by-product of Photonics conferences where I would somehow end up attending seminars.

So we all agreed about the need of a trip and the talks quickly turned into location, timings and logistics. We decided on Kerala – a beautiful state in the South Western coast of India, known for its backwaters and beaches.

The day of our travel was a cold and foggy one in Kanpur. We were glad to be going down south to sunny and warm weather. Me and Ma were flying through Mumbai to Kochi and Bapa (father in my mother tongue) was going to meet us there.

We arrived late in the night and took a taxi to our beach resort. It was called the Cherai Resort and had extravagant wooden villas built in the backwaters, connected by bridges. It took us a while to soak all this in. This was quite a contrast to the university guest house accommodations on our previous trips.

The morning made the place look even prettier, with the sunlight reflecting off the backwaters. We had some tea on the porch along with some engaging conversations. My dad talked about his latest work with Wavelets and then enquired about the concepts of diaper-making. We could have done this all day, but had an itinerary to follow and hence started getting ready. Not needing to wait for the water to heat up and only one layer of clothing, shaved off a good chunk from our prep time.

Our first destination was the Athirapally falls, an hour away from Kochi. We had to walk down a significant number of monkey-ridden steps to reach rocky river banks with the outlook of the falls. It was decent. Forgive me for the modest review but maybe the Niagara Falls had ruined any other form of gravitational act on water for me. My parents loved it though.

We spent the rest of the evening in and around Kochi, exploring the beaches, the quaint (a word Ma used generously during this trip) streets, the local cuisine and of course, the Saree shops – bringing back nightmares from my childhood, as I would frequently and inexplicably find myself stranded in these colorful prisons. Anyway, once my mom had enough gifts satisfying the family:relative:friend:acquaintance equation, we headed back and made it just in time for the last quarter of the sunset. As if the place wasn’t lavish enough, it also had private chairs along the beach. We ended up spending hours,enjoying the beautiful Arabian sea breeze. Talk about quality family time!

For day 2, our agenda included a trip to the beautiful hilly town of Munnar. The journey involved a 3 hour drive up the windy roads of the Western Ghat range. I fell asleep for a portion of that scenic drive, which is very unlike me. We were all starving by the time we reached and hence hopped into the closest restaurant in view. Now, one of the staple foods of Kerala is fish and a favorite medium is coconut oil – both not to my palette (or esophagus as I would later find out). Anyway, I ate the lone non-piscine and as it would turn out, non-tasty item on the menu.

We headed to the Eravikulam National Park right after lunch. This was for me the highlight of the trip and would obliterate all memories of lunch. It was a sanctuary of floral and some faunal wildlife, scattered across several lush green hills. And what was responsible for the greenery? – The tea plantations! Oh, the tea plantations – adding a blissful yellowish tinge to the greens, in a way that grass could never do. This surpassed, for me, the beauty of Australian and English cricket outfields.

 

As our bus climbed up the hill, our guide had asked us to be on the lookout for mountain goat-spotting opportunities. A few minutes later, Ma jumped in excitement and swore that she saw one. Bapa and I were hardly convinced – our reason being the lack of reactions from anyone else on the bus. Poor mommy spent hours arguing to no avail . I believe her though!

We had a very informative tour of a Tea Museum, before driving downhill to the sight of the setting sun showering an orange hue on the uniformly rectangular patches of tea gardens. It would soon turn all dark – only blaring headlights of oncoming buses, assisted by the musical horns, would survive the apocalypse.

Our activity on the final day, was perhaps the most representative of this region. We had booked a houseboat for half a day at the backwaters of Alleppey – or Allapuzha, also known as the Venice of the east.

We reached what seemed like a quaint (yes, Mr. Q was back) residential area and out of nowhere a small dock appeared. After some last minute negotiations on the price, the agent led us to our boat. Our first reaction – this whole thing just for us? It was a rather huge wooden boat with thatched roofing. It had a dining area, a hall, 2 beds, 2 baths, a TV with dish, a kitchen and a crew that consisted of our navigator and hospitality folks. Overwhelming, to say the least!

 

After a brief survey of the facilities, we set sail. 2 queen beds, a sofa set and a dining table on board and the three of us decided to grace the floor of the front deck – enjoying the cool breeze generated by the palm trees dotted along the channel, as if giving us a guard of honor. Conversations ranged from life in the US to physics, from politics to physics and from history to, well, physics! The backwater channel soon broadened into an endless pristine lake. All the advertisements about Kerala being ‘God’s own country’ felt well justified. Not sure about the serenity though, as there were at least 20 more boats of various sizes on either side of us.

But our crew would find us a tranquil spot, where we went on to dock for lunch. The smell was irresistible. Only one issue – Nemo was back and this time with Dory. There were two fish preparations. I couldn’t complain though, as there was a plethora of other dishes to choose from. My parents’ once again, happily devoured the aquatic edibles.

After the sumptuous meal, we got a short siesta – ensuring that we left our marks on the bedroom as well. The crew had their lunch meanwhile and then gave us some hands on fishing lessons thereafter. We failed miserably in our test. Our skipper then raised anchor, and we headed back, with the late afternoon glow brightening up the entire water body. In no time we were back to the docks. Six hours had flown by. We regretted not taking the full-day package. One could only imagine what the sunset and night sky would feel like in that atmosphere.

We had an early morning flight to catch, next day. The most awaited 3 days of my India visit had come to a wrap and it was time to head back to the cold. We scrolled through our phone camera rolls during the night-time ride to Kochi. These same pictures would be the only source of warmth for me over the next few months. Bar the persistent acid reflux, it was truly a relaxing family vacation in every sense. My parents and I might have differed on our favorite parts of the trip, but we were on the same page about having more such trips.