"Gateway of Kumarakom".Enjoy!

*Hill stations are all over the country and palm-fringed beaches too, but the backwaters are a speciality of Kerala.

*during our last summer vacations ,enroute my mothers home town in Ernakulam,we passed Kumarakom..

*its not that this is the first time we pass Kumarakom and its backwaters:)-

*my fathers home town being Alleppey,we have grown up seeing backwaters,ponds,rivers,lakes and the white lotuses in the fields....

           running through fields to be  harvested,harvesting time used to be fun there,it was  always the onam time,harvested grains being brought to the front yard of the house,women threshing grains catching a long rod,grain separated by boiling,our grand father distributing wages,distributing  clothes during festivals bathing in the ponds,white lilies and pink lotuses in the ponds and on goes the story...

*tell u all about "The Kumarakom", slumbers on the banks of the famous Vembanad Lake, which is a part of Kuttanad ('granary' of Kerala). 

*the Vembanad Lake with its majestic canals, streams and tributaries along its banks weave an intricate and enchantingly beautiful web.

*the gorgeous green of the fringed palms ripple in the blue waters and blend into wavelets A boat ride in the countryside offers a close look into an engaging rustic life. 

*large flotillas of ducks waddling down to the water from thatched houses on the banks

*skilled-fishermen launching their cockshell boats.

*private boats ferrying people to alleppey and Kuttanad in plenty

*women, neck-deep in water, with their waist-length hair heaped in a crown, searching for fish with their feet,washing clothes in the little streams in front of their house.

*and aimless cattle grazing in lush pastureland, where white lotuses lie here and there in small, low-lying pools.

*then comes the huge house boats,a luxury these days...

*even we did a tour of the Vembanad lake in the house boat...

*enjoy Kumarakom and the Journey through Vembanad with me ...

Green  fields..

Private ferryScenes from the houseboatKumarkom resort 

Bird sanctuary 

KTDC resorts on the lake

Other double storeyed house boats plying on the lake

Each frame of the sky from the boat seemed beautiful and serene

Shot from the backside of the boat

Sky looked pretty and scary indeed,it was going to rain,the month of may,summer rains:)-

Close up of the house boats

side view with the ropes tied looked to be a decent image

this was pretty indeed with the two poles..

a chair at the back side

It was getting dark,the driver was getting scared,seeing the clouds roaring

we saw a small boat starting its journey at this time:)-

they came back seeing the clouds above them

By the time we reached back,it rained very heavily..

Just a  last shot and wrapped my camera in the shoulder bag,a nice journey,wanting for more......it happens always...

do enjoy the trip and write back...

Images and Ideas by Lakshmi Arvind

All images shot by the author,Pl dont copy images,do write if u need them