The sunset leaves a mark practically everyday over the backwaters. And it knows to give something special for Diwali.
Across the water, the Vice Admiral’s residence is lit for the festival. But nothing can match what nature can give.
It’s not IPhone 13 Pro, it’s just the 11 that I have. It had the small circle that came up after the click to rotate once clockwise and then anti, to optimise this picture. Other than that, no photo shop, no editing and ain’t it stunningly beautiful?
That’s the mighty sun, overpowered by the monsoon rain clouds, making a sneak peek, at sunset.
Everything is fine, the fisherman’s there with his boat, the backwaters serene and I am there in the balcony, ready for the click.
March- April is hot summer, but there’s always a relief with a few days of summer rain.
Of late the welcome summer rain has started showing it’s might. With gusty wind, powerful and sudden buildup and sheets of intense rain drops, the atmosphere is a bit scary. To make it worse, you can see and fear some bursts of thunder and lightning.
Some people called the rain, a couple of days back, a cyclone. We just managed that day to close the balcony doors and windows against some powerful wind. A few trees were uprooted in the locality.
Today it was milder and I just managed to step into the balcony to take a slow motion video of the rain over the backwaters.
In spite of all the fierceness, it’s beautiful and certainly cools things down.
But the South West monsoon in July-August is much bigger, quieter from thunder and extremely enjoyable, whether inside or outside driving.
The only prayer is that it will not bring in the floods.
Today’s world water day.
I have a great affinity to water. The river in the picture above is the one flowing around our house in Thidanad, Kerala where I grew up. A good part of my childhood was in that river.
The sprawling water body is the backwaters of Kochi and the view from our balcony I am sitting now and writing this.
And swimming is my profession now and the pool shown is in Thrissur where I managed to win gold medals in the recent Kerala state masters meet.
I may also mention that our place in Bangalore is overlooking the water storage of the water supply company there.
I am happy to celebrate the world water day today.
This is the skyline today March 5, 2021 at 7 pm captured from our balcony, across the Kochi backwaters through to the Naval residences.
Sunset was spectacular, but usually the sky turns dark by 7 pm, not today.
Just a crazy thought to biblical sayings of God showing Noah after the floods, when he landed his arc, the sprawling rainbow as a sign and assurance of no further punishment with such floods.
Just that we had the Covid vaccination done today in the afternoon. What if this skyline is the sign of blessings for a pandemic free future. Hope so.
Nature is beautiful. And it will smile on us if we take care of it.
Let’s preserve and protect the earth and for that matter the solar system for future generations. And enjoy the goodness.
It’s difficult to find such a unique location. Right in between a beautiful Sandy beach and miles of sprawling backwaters.
That’s what Indriya Sands is and that’s why it’s unique.
That’s not all. There are 12 well appointed guest rooms, ample dining space, large entrance lounge, two swimming pools and a party hall. One can even catch the fish in the backwaters.
Three kayaks and three paddling boats keep guests busy over the calm backwaters. And the sea keeps guests washing back to the shore draped in frothy white waves.
Rooms are comfortable, fairly large sized, clean with tall wooden roofs.
Then there’s this specialty of Kerala resorts, the amazingly friendly staff, just eager to please you.
You know what happened to us! We checked in previous day to our wedding anniversary. My wife asked the resort to fetch a cake with icing and happy anniversary written. They used the information.
A candlelight dinner table was set up to surprise us at dinner time. The general manager and staff came up to us to extend anniversary wishes. They even played malayalam romantic songs. The cake was declared ‘on the house’. Just got touched.
We’re sure going back. I am recommending, highly, you to consider Indriya Sands, Kuzhippally near Cherai in Ernakulam, Kerala your next holiday location.
Perhaps it’s a slight shift in focus that the camera is after the many verities of boats sailing past the eye view through the backwaters. A temporary shift from those lovely migratory and local birds.
One of the more beautiful sights in the morning when I am on my favourite seat is the fishing going on in the backwaters.
Local fishermen are in their country boats using traditional method of casting the net, the only difference being that almost all their boats are now motorised and not having to use row.
But these fisherfolk seen in the picture are not locals. They are from the neighbouring state of Karnataka with their coracles.
Their fishing method resembles the solar system, like the earth going around the sun while turning round on it’s own axis.
These coracles spread the nets around while making their own rotational move encircling the fish swiftly.
The most important and sweet thing is that it’s the husband and wife team in each of the coracles. That makes it so heartwarming.
Right now it’s raining and they are still out there earning the bread for the family and fish for us.
Wish them a good catch.
Monsoon has arrived and it’s beautiful here. Rains in Kerala are special. That’s when the entire state become air-conditioned with pleasant weather.
That’s not all, it’s beautiful to sit and watch the sheets of water coming down from the skies.
It started the day before. There were occasional rains before that, remains of the summer rains with humidity and worse, some thunder and lightning.
And it gave way to the South West Monsoon. The transition in some 18 hours is phenomenal. The humidity has disappeared and the thunder is gone. Total bliss is ushered in.
Last year in August there were some excess rains and the state perhaps would have withstood it, but for what is assessed to be human error in storing maximum water in some 33 dams and releasing all of them together when the water level continued to rise. The after effects were sad and to be avoided forever.
Normal monsoon is very welcome. The rivers get cleaned up and I fancy several trips to the river I grew up in. And of course the beautiful drive in the rain, through the good roads in the villages.
Last evening was my swimming day and the pre shower and the pool water felt cold but it energised me.
And I have one of the best spots to watch the rain. From my balcony across the sprawling backwaters.
Sincere welcome! Come and have coffee with me, watching the rains.
Kurian 