Three Scenes You Can See ONLY In Kuttanaad!

Harvest season is a busy time for the farmers in Kuttanad. There is more than enough farm work for a dozen on each plot, and fewer workers than existing labor laws and policies. Below, one such worker is seen. They can be seen in little groups all along the AC road (you can see more scenes along this route here or here.). There are many tasks that a farm laborer in Kuttanad has to do. He chaffs the rice, prepares the hay, arranges for transportation, and prepares the field for the next season of farming and flooding (pun intended). In case you are wondering what I meant by 'flooding', have a look at Kuttanad here).

A worker from the surrounding paddy fields by the AC road, post-harvest.

This is a scene visible only in God's Own Country. The elephant is intricately linked to the culture and heritage of Kerala. Elephants in Kerala can even be separated into social classes! The royalty class -works for the King's family. They are symbols of power, opulence, pride, and of course good luck! The nobility class that gets to stay in the elephant stables and eat to their content does so in exchange for just gracing the owner's property! And as seen everywhere, the poor 'working class' elephants - that get to do all the hard stuff just to get at least a square meal a day, in captivity.

This one below in chains is probably on its way to the temple festival where it will enjoy a few days of Godly status, and a few good meals- if lucky. Now, isn't that a wretched paradox?

A mahout rides an elephant through the busy streets of Alappuzha.

||  Did you know that elephants never sit or lie down? They spend most of their day standing. That is to say, even while sleeping!! ||

The backwaters at Champakulam are scenic views of tranquility one cannot find anywhere else! Champakulam with its many paddy fields, ancient churches, simple and simplistic lifestyle of its inhabitants and its many little raw roads are threatened by urbanization. I fear they will be this green (like seen here) and bucolic (like described here) much longer.So better savor it when one can!

A view along the AC Road pocket that leads to Champakulam stand

Candid Shots From Champakulam, Alappuzha

In an older post I gave you wonderful people a tour of Champakulam in Alappuzha. It's interior Kuttanad that was once only remotely accessible and solely by water. But, today, the place has made significant progress and is well connected to nearby towns, especially Alappuzha, by bus and water. 

In this post today, I take you on  a tour of the 'other side' of the village.

This part of Champakulam is easily accessed by bus from either Alappuzha bus depot or nearby Changanacherry bus-stand. It has extensive rice cultivation and a famous college run by CMI fathers. Much networked by criss-crossing channels, big and small this cosy place is where one can still enjoy the raw flavor of erstwhile Kuttanad. The people are simple and most of them still prefer to lead an agrarian life. This should not be confused with illiterate farmer community as most of the youngsters here are either engineers, teachers or into software development. The women folk are educated too, if not beyond, at least up to graduate/college level. Yet, they prefer to blend into their simple ways and are adept at  all household chores and farming practices including milking cattle and preparing the best Kuttannad delicacies especially seafood. They catch their own lunch from the canals! You can be sure to smell some heavenly aroma of seafood cooking while you pass a house in this locality.

Here, I have some candid shots of green and watery Champakulam for you !

Somebody's little ride parked under a shady coconut tree

One of the many channels criss-crossing the village- this one is behind the Porukara B.Ed College, Champakulam

Porukara B.Ed College

The Porukara institutions are located in Champakulam, Alappuzha district of Kerala. The property lies surrounded by lush paddy fields of the Kuttanad bowl. It houses the St. Mary's higher secondary school, a Fr. Thomas Porukara Central (English medium) school, the Porukara College of Education (B.Ed College) and an Arts and Science college.(Fr. Thomas Porukara College of Advanced Studies). There is also a  day care and a church with a beautiful chapel on the premises.

The Porukara Group of Institutions are named after Father Thomas Porukara.

Fr. T. Porukara worked with blessed Fr. Kuriakose Elias Chavara who is to be canonized Saint Chavara on November 23rd this year,  in the founding of the congregation called Carmelites of Mary Immaculate. Together with Fr. Thomas Palackal, they gave education the much needed boost in the state. Other places too have benefited from the whirlwind of reform unleashed by these three revolutionaries of a different kind. They stand out for their contributions to learning in the state.

The  institutions are run by fathers of the CMI congregation. One of the very few colleges in the region, they help dispense quality education.

Directions: The place can be reached from the Changanacherry KSRTC bus-stand or the Alappuzha KSRTC bus-stand. from either depots, you can board a Champakulam bus via Mankombu. Or, if starting from Alappuzha stand, board a bus for Changanacherry/Kottayam and get down at Mankombu. The same can be done by boarding a bus from Changanacherry to Alappuzha.
Here, buses that ply from either depots to Champakulam depot can be availed. As buses travel by the college front, 5 minutes from Mankombu by this bus should get you right to its footsteps.

Churches of Kuttanad: Kaithavana Church

This is the Immaculate heart church in Kaithavana, Alleppey district. Ancient and immaculately set within its four compound walls this place is a must visit for the spirituality seeking tourist. It has a very popular parish hall positioned adjacent to it. It falls under the Archdiocese of Changanacherry.

Contact details

Address and Pin code	: Kaithavana, Alleppey -688 003
Phone Number	: 0477-2269430

Alappuzha by sunset

As the sun sets over neat plots of green paddy fields along the AC road that connects Changanacherry town to Alappuzha backwater district, I captured a few shots of just how glorious sunset can be in a suburban landscape.

Houseboats of Alappuzha come home after a day cruising through the lively waters now fallen silent.

Houses set against a setting sun, deep canal on one side and backwaters running into paddy fields for acres on the other side. Coconut trees stand mere spectators to the everyday beauty.

Come evening local vendors take to selling the day's catch on the roadside.

Hidden, but illuminating.

Autos take to the stand like flocks of birds returning to the nest. Not that their day is done yet, but a little evening gossip never did anyone any harm, did it?

Beautiful, isn't it?

The Vemabanad canal

A fish seller sets up camp for the evening.

Little shops dotting the sideways come to life with laborers taking a tea break before heading home after the day's work. 

The whole panorama echoes a serenity that serenades a wooing to the coming calm silent night that will soon envelope the watery landscape.

“If you stay here, you become lost. And no one can find you.
I like lost.” -Ally Condie

And that's exactly how I feel standing here watching the sun set.

Alappuzha silhouetted !!

Even as night falls the backwaters of Aleppey look spectacular. Lush paddy fields lie sprawled against the setting sun beside the canal for as far as the eye can see. 

Vembanad backwater canal and houseboats at Alappuzha by sunset

AC road by sunset

Kuttanaad paddy fields and backwaters by Sunset

Paddy fields against setting sun

Paddy fields and coconut trees along AC road by sunset

AC road by sunset

Alappuzha canal by Sunset

Kuttanad by Sunset

Paddy fields and coconut trees by sunset

Alappuzha backwaters by sunset

On the ride home along the Alappuzha-Changanacherry road (AC rd.) I pop my head out the bus and am greeted by THIS view!

And I feel I am finally home.

The Beautiful St. Francis of Assisi Church, Poonthope, Alappuzha

One of the most beautiful churches in South India is the Church of Saint. Francis of Assisi in Poonthope, Alappuzha. Not only does it have a remarkable and atavistic history, it is the only church that is dedicated to the saint, Francis of Assisi in Italy among the 300 churches under the Archdiocese of Changanacherry. Also, the church of St. Francis in Poonthope, Alappuzha is most probably the only church in India that has currently two to-be-canonized-saints associated with it! Needless, to say it is the next great pilgrim center in India!

Saint Francis Of Assisi Church, Poonthope, Alappuzha

Set centrally in a large plot , this beautifully designed church is a recent refurbished representation. Before it, in its place stood an early church built more than a century ago. Time-worn that it was, it was revamped in places to suit its grand ancestry. Today, not only does the big church take your breath away, it is mesmerizing enough to hold your eyes away from the many little other meaningful representations that dot the plot.  St. Francis of Assisi Church is fondly now called 'The Church of Angels' because of the many angels in different forms that can be found here and there everywhere in the premises. From a gorgeous sculpture of Angel Lily, two huge statues of St. Michael to many other little angels found at entrances to the grotto of the Mother Mary of Lourdes and of the heart-stirring spectacular cemetery, these little statues are local masterpieces.

The Angel Lily who stands welcoming at the entrance

The St. Francis Assisi Church Cemetery

The grotto of the Mother Mary of Lourdes by the Church

The two  two to-be-canonized-saints mentioned by me earlier are one, Servant of God Thommachan and another the Servant of God, Bishop Mar Mathew Kavukatt.

Putthenparambil Thommachan

Putthenparambil Thommachan was a Servant of God who dedicated his entire life to spreading the Good News and building churches around late 1800s! In the Syromalabar Church, he is famous as Servant of God Thommachan. and was declared 'Servant of God' in 2012. Theologists and the Reverent Vicar of St. Francis Assisi Church, Poonthope believe he is well on his way to become the next saint from South India. Although he was more often associated with the Church in Eduthua, he spent a major share of his life in raising and fostering the St. Francis Assisi church in Poonthope, that today has come a long way since them, thanks to his divine intercession and guardian spirit.












Mar Mathew Kavukatt, now titled 'Servant of God'  was the first Archbishop of  Syromalabar Catholic Archdiocese in Changanacherry. Ordained priest in 1935, he was made Archbishop in 1951. He was declared 'Servant of God in 1994. St. Francis of Assisi Church in Poonthopu was the last and only church he laid the foundation stone for. And as loved as he is among the parishioners, many seek his intercession and believe his intercession to be the strong-hold of many activities in the church.

The church celebrates its festival in the first week of October.The festival commences on October 2nd and goes on throughout the week to culminate on October 5th, particularly this year.

The Main Entrance of Saint Francis Assisi Church

A visit to this spectacular church is a must, especially this week when the church is all lit up with lights and confetti, opening its gargantuan gates to the public! 

Beaches of Kerala

Enough of the back waters!! I have decided to take you on a tour of one of the most beautiful beaches here in Kerala. Our destination today is a secluded beach in the suburbs of Alappuzha/ Alleppey. Basically inhabited by the local fishermen community, this place is perhaps the only clean beach to be found in the area. The reason is that it is rarely visited, even by the locals. It is usually around the time when the near by ancient church celebrates its annual feast.

The church 
The number of visitors peaks around the time of the annual church festival. The St. Thomas Church located here was built by the Portuguese nearly 500 years before, which accounts for its thriving Portuguese ambiance. Like all the churches in southern India this church is also known to celebrate the feast of its patron saint, St. Thomas with great pomp and splendor attracting people from near and far. Although named after St. Thomas, the most famous of its feasts is its December 8 celebrations of the Immaculate Conception. During this time of the year people throng the place so much so that one could easily vouch that  a needle thrown in the air would never touch the ground. Apart from the locals many foreign visitors also love sight seeing the area for its rich ancient architecture and Portuguese influence. 

Enough of the history? Okay, time for the tour!

All Along the way to the beach one can see little landmarks like these built by ye old faithful to mark places of worship or the various stations of the Way of the Cross.

The beach road leading from the church 

The perfect day for a trip to the beach

Little houses, tea-shops lie along the way.

On either sides of the road are lush grassy patches which serve as places of rest and prayer during the festival season.

Long before we saw the sea, its spray was on our lips, and showered salt rain upon us.
-Charles Dickens in David Copperfield

By now we know the lovely frothing sound  to be that of freedom, close at hand.

There is indeed, perhaps, no better way to hold communion with the sea than sitting in the sun on the veranda of a fishermen’s cafe.
-Joseph W. Beach

"I find myself at the extremity of a long beach. How gladly does the spirit leap forth, and suddenly enlarge its sense of being to the full extent of the broad, blue, sunny deep! A greeting and a homage to the Sea!"
-Nathaniel Hawthorne in "Foot-prints on the Sea-shore"

"At the beach, life is different. Time doesn’t move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun."— Sandy Gingras

"I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air
was like a cool, quieting thought." — Helen Keller

Towards the left of the beach

Towards the right of the beach

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”
― Henry David Thoreau in  Walden

The sea hath no king but God alone.
-Dante Gabriel Rossetti in The White Ship

"You roll back to me.”
― Ernest Hemingway in 'Islands in the Stream'

  "My connection to the earth is reinforced through the rhythm of the waves." -Mike Dolan

The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out. 
-Annie Dillard 

The dog's day out at the beach  :)

“There is a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.”
―Steven Wright

The true peace of God begins at any spot a thousand miles from the nearest land.
 -Joseph Conrad

“Earth's crammed with heaven...
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.” 
― Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Aurora Leigh

" Never a ship sails out of the bay
But carries my heart as a stowaway"
       -Roselle Mercier Montgomery in  The Stowaway

The Church (far view)

"Art is the signature of civilizations.". - Beverly Sills

And then it was time to move one. To newer destinations, to more seen  yet undiscovered places in Kuttanaad, the land of the backwaters.

"Some part of our being knows this is where we came from."
-Carl Sagan

For now, Adeus. :)