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| Joan and I walking near our house in the tea plantations |
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| Our housekeeper, Papathi, arranged a home cleansing puja for our house |
March 20th, we started of on a road trip, beginning with Wayanad Wildlife Preserve, which was closed. So we decided to see an old Jain temple in Wayanad District and then head for Kerala and the coast on the Arabian Sea. ( Joan isn't in many of these pictures because the pictures are all from her camera.)
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Sulthan Bathery Jain Temple, Wayanad
This
temple is one of the most important among a series of ruins spread across the
state of Kerala that testify to a period of a strong Jain presence in this
region. Believed to have been built in the 13th century, it served as a
HIndu shrine, an important center for commercial activity and eventually as a
battery (ammunition store) for Tipu Sulthan's marching army.
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| Gopal at the Khozikade beach across from our hotel, our first stop on the coast |
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| Raintree Lodge, Ft. Kochi |
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| Kathakali dancers putting on their makeup |
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| Kathakali dancers
Kathakali is a stylized
classical Indian dance drama noted for the attractive makeup of characters,
elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented
in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion. It
originated in the country's present day state of Kerala during the 17th century
and has developed over the years with improved looks, refined gestures and
added themes besides more ornate singing and precise drumming. (Wikipedia)
We continued south along
the coast of Kerala to Alappuzha (Alleppey) where we met operators of a
backwater houseboat, who had seen us in Kochi, tracked down our driver and
guided us to their boat. Hmmm. Lots of competition. We spent
two days on this houseboat.
The Kerala Backwaters
are a network of inerconnected canals, rivers, lakes and inlets, a labyrinthine
system formed by more than 900 km of waterways, and sometimes compared to the
American Bayou. (Wikipedia)
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It was wonderful! I had sprained my ankle badly in December and was still having trouble getting around. So, laying back with my feet up as we glided along the backwaters was wonderful.he
