Backwaters

I have become quite attached to the boys that run Daffodils (my guest house). And they too have taken me under their wing, feeding me on a daily basis (usually Biriyani for lunch) as I was glued to my desk on the computer for the first week I was here. I am mustering up the drive to move on soon – once again, in the throes of indecision. There is so much I want to and could see, but the most important thing is to get all my work done so I am trying to strike a balance. After we launched the Indiegogo campaign for the documentary in Nepal, I took the weekend off and finally saw the famous backwaters.

There are a number of ways to see them and the ultimate means is on one of the luxury houseboats. But that is way out of my price range and also more fun to do with a group. A two bedroom boat for an overnight excursion is between Rs5000 – Rs8000. Certainly an amazing experience (meals included) and they are pretty plush. I had the chance hang out on the boat in the dock and have a look around one evening after having befriended one of the boat owners. Another option is the tourist boats that go out on a day trip with small groups. They are about Rs700 for a whole day. And then there are the canoes that you can go out on which are Rs150 an hour.

My backwaters experience was a bit more modest. I took the public ferry which goes to Kottayam for Rs10. It’s a three hour trip each way and you really get a sense of the backwaters life. Particularly as the ferry is a practical means of transport for people living in the villages. We stopped all over the place, often zig zagging to get to all the jettys to drop and pick up passengers. People were transporting all manner of goods from huge piles of palm leaves (that are popped on the roof) to plastic pipes or general supplies, young girls with a big pile of huge containers that they were taking to town to fill with water and just people going where ever they were going. Along with a handful of foreigners who were doing the same as me. Who can blame them? You get six hours of backwaters for Rs21 (for some reason the return journey is Rs1 more). As you might expect the scenery was very beautiful and much more varied than I’d expected. The sheer vastness of the backwaters can’t quite be comprehended until you are out in the middle of the lake and the water goes on for what seems like ever. Going through villages it was interesting to watch as people went about their daily business, washing clothes, washing themselves, kids splashing about or people just watching the boat go by.

I have yet clarify how clean the water is. Apparently, out in the middle of the Punnamada Lake it is fine for swimming and it certainly looks pretty clean out there, especially compared to some of the smaller waterways that are full of foliage and rubbish floating; aside from all the domestic waste I presume gets flushed out into the water. They are starting to have eco incentive schemes to encourage boat owners to use natural gas and solar panels as the ongoing pollution of the water is becoming more of a issue as the number of boats swells. It is a small effort for an increasingly big problem. But this is India, after all, so what can you expect?