Kerala: Backwaters, Beaches, and Beyond (part 3)

When not lounging in the tree house, sleeping in our aquarium-like room, or trying out Keralan cuisine, our days on Vypeen island were largely spent on the beach. Yet another first for Annie, going to the beach, and her parents having an infant on the beach!  Annie was quite fond of the beach; well, in reality, she didn't hate it and scream incessantly like I did as a child, and that's all that matters.







Annie enjoying watching the umbrella flap around


Most of the time we just lounged around, taking turns watching Annie while we each went into the ocean, which was like nice bath water. We did, however, find the time to take a few leisurely beach walks.



Walking with Mom on the beach




Being at the beach in India was much different from New Jersey, or at least where I'm used to going in New Jersey! For example, I'd never seen women wearing only A) Saris, B) Salwars, or C) Burqas on the beach  and in the ocean before. That's right, not one non-Western woman in what I would call bathing attire. Which, let's just say, made the western woman in the bikinis completely blend in with the surrounding populace.



Local beach attire

Another thing that was different, or at least I would imagine so as we haven't taken Annie to the Jersey shore yet, is how fascinated local beachgoers were with her.




This group of guys came up the beach and just stood staring at her. Now, I'm accustomed to have people stare at me holding Annie, but I attribute that to people not being used to seeing a guy holding a baby. But this was just that they were fascinated with seeing her.Well, no surprise really, as she's the cutest thing under the sun.


Late afternoon and the early sunset (around 5:30) were my favorite times at the beach because the light was just so beautiful, not to mention the spectacular sunsets. They were so spectacular, or perhaps it was just Annie, that a troupe of clucking women descended and picked Annie up, kissing her and squeezing her cheeks; until she started screaming at which point Dad had to intervene and lay down the law.
















As part of our little package trip there were a few extras throne in, including an ayurvedic massage (my first) which was simply amazing (with the exception of the ayurvedic shot of dark liquid they had me take at the end, which was absolutely disgusting). Another extra was a little boat trip on the backwaters. Annie was fairly mesmerized by the play of shadows on the roof of the boat.






Here's a brief tour of the view from the boat, complete with Jo "hushing" Annie, which we picked up from our (oddly enough Keralan) nurses in Delhi when Annie was born.




Of course, what vacation would be complete without music? While packing I had mentioned to Jo that I was going to bring my fiddle. "Oh, realllllllllllllly...?" she said, leaving the room, and letting that lest syllable just linger....an interrogative declarative imperative if there ever was one.

Welllllllllll....let's just say the fiddle DID come, and I did find some time at sunrise to play on the beach. I think the Keralan fishermen who were leaving their morning "motions" on the beach (where the surf hit, which I guess is good?) appreciated the musical interlude.



Unfortunately, after 4 too-short but wonderful days, we had to leave. Well, you can take the man out of Kerala, but you can't take Kerala out of the man. Below is Dave playing Cape Breton fiddle tune called Put Me in the Big Chest, as arranged and with accompanying piano by Kimberley Fraser (see www.kimberleyfraser.com/sessions ). Dave is wearing a lungi in the Keralan tradition, and Annie is once again, mesmerized, whether by the mellifluous playing or the lungi is not clear.

Kerala: Backwaters, Beaches, and Beyond (part 2)

One of the coolest parts about being in Kerala was being steps from both the backwaters and the beach. For those not in the know, the backwaters are channel-like lagoons that snake through parts of inland Kerala, and the beach, well it's the beach. The backwaters are for most tourists one of the main reasons for coming to Kerala: images of houseboats floating lazily through small villages abound in any travel brochure. As we only had a little time in Kerala we didn't go for the full Keralan backwaters experience, but there's always next time! The place we stayed did allow for a taste of the backwaters though. We first got sight of some of these "cultural attractions" on the ride over the bridge to the island. These are Chinese fishing nets. They're incredibly sculptural and beautiful, at least to the eye of a former sculpture major!

Fish is a big part of Keralan culture, and so is fishing by default. Our first morning, I awoke around sunrise with Annie and went out to see what was happening.  What I saw was really pretty amazing; from far up the river I watched a group of seven or eight canoes travelling in a group. They started out in a fairly wide circle, and then as if it was choreographed, the circle would of canoes would tighten and then all the fishermen in the various boats would throw their nets into the center of the circle. When they did this, the other person in the boat would use a long bamboo pole to stop the boat from moving, and the net thrower would haul in the catch. I don't know a whole lot more unfortunately about what they were catching, but it was pretty magical to watch.







Here's a little video, a little boring, but I think it shows the amazing choreography of this daily ritual.

I got Jo and Annie up and we all enjoyed watching the group of fishers progress down the river.





Well, Jo did at least, Annie enjoyed the snuggles


Later on, we continued to enjoy the river side in this little bamboo tree house near our room.










From there we were able to watch another interesting fishing practice; these women (yes, not guys) swum alongside their canoes, and then dove down and used what looked like a wire sieve being used to haul something out, which was then strained and then dropped into a bucket that floated next to the canoe. They stayed at this for hours, moving along the river. What they were catching I have no idea, but it sure made for interesting watching as we enjoyed the tree house.



Knitting in the tree house


Treehouses are fun!


From the sunrise each morning to our time in the tree house we really enjoyed watching a little bit of river life. 

Kerala: Backwaters, Beaches, and Beyond

Last week we embarked on our first family vacation with Annie! It was absolutely fabulous (not too similar to the British comedy show of the same name). We went to the state of Kerala in southern India for a break from the urban expanse of Delhi and to celebrate the winding down of Jo's dissertation research.

We were all a little apprehensive about how Annie (and by default her parents) would do, but once again Annie proved that she is a born traveler if there ever was one.




Annie did pretty well all things considered in the airplane, although she wasn't too fond of her ears popping. We learned from the stewardess that feeding a baby serves the same purpose as chewing gum/swallowing during takeoff/landing. A good tip!

Flying into Kerala was like entering another world. Seriously. I have never in my life seen a place sooo green. Now maybe this is the relative effect of being sequestered in Delhi for the last year, or maybe it's just Kerala. All I know is that Annie was absolutely smitten with the different landscape as we winded our way to Vypeen Island.


View Where are we now? in a larger map

Unlike many other Meek vacations--where we are busy little bees checking out all the local sites--on this vacation we stayed put at our all-inclusive resort--Cherai Beach Resorts (don't ask me why they pluralized the singular resort).

The resort was really amazing in terms of grounds and facilities on so many levels.



Jo and sleepy babe walking the beautiful grounds


Yes, there was a lot of walking around with the little snuggle bear

It is a pretty large complex with 66 individual and unique cottages of varying degrees of luxury. All are encircled with little "backwater" lagoons.


Jo in front of our 1st fishermen house, story on why we switched to follow!

and in our second fishermen house....




which was beautifully lit up at night

Ours had some very unique features, including a bathroom with steps down into the lagoon from where you could watch the fishes swimming around.





Our room even had a palm tree growing in it!



We were there on a package trip, the first we had ever done together. Having the buffet was a little dangerous, but it did give us a chance to sample all sorts of Keralan cuisine.


This coconut "log" was one of the few things that did get the thumbs down

One other thing besides the food that we really loved about the restaurant was that they had a bamboo wicker cradle, which Annie and her parents all loved!



While the grounds and facilities were really wonderful, it was the natural surroundings that we came for and that we enjoyed the most. While I'll devote subsequent blog posts to each of these, some include:


Annie's first beach



Hanging out in her first tree house with papa

and watching local fishermen at sunrise

Fun times with Friends and Families

In the last few days we've entered into a new phase of our lives in terms of social relationships (yes, this is the cultural anthropologist talking): fun get-togethers with friends, and friends who have children. We met two new friends A. and B. and their darling 5 month old daughter S. this last week at a Fulbright function. A. is an ethnomusicologist, focusing on sitar, and just starting his Fulbright fellowship here in India. We had a lovely dinner with them and our mutual friends A. and E. last night. (We've decided  not to mention people by name anymore on the blog, without their signed prior consent of several forms absolving us of indemnity, so it's guess the initial time for everyone). Forms aside, it was a night of pass-the-baby.












This morning we went to a nearby neighbors house for brunch. R. works with E., and interestingly enough, R. did a stint at Emory in public health. Anyways, their daughter is just precious and was fascinated with Annie. She and Jo had fun playing an alphabet computer game, and then we all had a great time playing in the neighborhood park.

Clearly, this little two year old just stole my heart, she is so cute, so sweet, and so affectionate, running over and giving us hugs and kisses.

It's just funny to me, as we now our not only not capable of holding a conversation without succumbing into baby gibberish, but unable to hold a conversation for too long that doesn't return to the subject of babies. Oh well, perhaps more interesting than stuffy academic conversations!

Fun times with Friends and Families Indeed!

Another video from picnic at Lodhi gardens

You all are probably pretty familiar with Angeline the Baker by now, so here's a reprise