A poem on water …

Reflection of a full moon from silver inky sky bobbing on tiny ripples of river .. watching this from a balcony of a floating house , getting lost in those rhythms …listening to the wildest roaring sea just few yards beyond this … You have to see it to believe it !! (Poovar , Kerala)

Oh, this is the most beautiful yet very unique destination in Kerala ! When we decided  to go to Kerala we thought of going to less traveled destinations ..Ashtamudi n Poovar!
Ashtamudi is 70 km from Trivandrum or now known as Thiruvanantapuram airport  which is an international Airport too .  We had hired a cab to reach our resort with floating houses . As we started our journey it was a total change for our eyesight which was more accustomed to suburban chaos of cars, buses, traffic, hutments, hoards of people … But along the way we saw tall coconut trees , sprawling rice fields , dense greenery ,waterbodies  , big bunglows . It showed natural n economic wealth of the region .
With traffic n short breaks we reached the resort in about 4 hrs on   lake . Ashtamudi lake is second largest lake in Kerala n the backwaters are breathtaking . As we settled in our rooms girls got busy fishing from the balcony of a floating house . But the whole fishing  experience was spoiled when within few minutes they caught a big fish which started fighting for life and they felt immensely guilty about killing a fish . So they quickly ran to get a bellboy who unhooked the fish n dropped it back in water .After this first and last attempt at fishing the girls were quiet…lamenting about the whole episode.
we went for lunch at a restaurant which was floating too ! We all Had sumptuous Kerala meal . Next day morning we went to a house boat island tour . It was a nice backwater ride along many small islands . It was a great opportunity for birdwatchers . We could see kites, eagles, kingfishers , waterhens among other birds . Watching them dive in the water to catch a fish was a  very beautiful sight indeed .
One more interesting visit was to Chinese fishnets . These Chinese fishnets are mainly used to catch prawns . We went to a fishnet after dark where local fishermen were working . It was a quite a job to drop that heavy fishnet n pull it back and collect the prawns n small fishes .
We got so used to soft sways of water in our floating house that when next day we started our road journey to Poovar we had this funny swaying feeling even on land .
Poovar is also around 4 hrs road journey ( we got stuck up in roadblocks by some protesters )  But all fatigue n boredom of traffic is lost as you board a speedboat that takes you to your island resort . The beauty of Poovar is ethereal .It is an estuary. There’s a river that has a calm current gently flowing then a sand stretch for around 30 to 40 ft  and a roaring , wild sea beyond. Sometimes you are mesmerised by some site n remain eternally grateful for that . I had such a moment on a full moon night at Poovar as I described it at the begining.
Next  day we went to kanyakumari  which is just 80 km away . We went to the Rock Memorial n Vivekanamdapuram . Both of us have our fondest memories here at  puram  when we had attended youth camps ( separately). Our Oldest n dearest friendships blossomed there . We relived the past by going to our dormitories, dining hall , meditation rooms ..it was very nostalgic trip for us .
Oh, we returned to Mumbai  with a heavy heart via same Thiruvanantapuram which is just 30 km from Poovar . We were still swaying on water , had roaring sea in our ears , reliving maitri camp days when landed in Mumbai !

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