Wander Woman

Varkala is one of the awesome(est) beaches I've seen. The sun,sand, sea and cliff. The cliff actually overlooks the beach and so in the evenings you can see a beautiful sunset from any of the various restaurants situated on the cliff.It is an ideal place to just sit and laze. However, if you HAVE to do something, there are various places of interest in and around the town of Varkala,like the Varkala Tunnel and the 2000 year old temple. There's also paragliding on the beach. As for me, I like to spend the entire day on the beach topped off with some delicious cocktails in the evening. Varkala is A four hour drive from my place and so we generally set out on the weekends. Once, when I was having breakfast in one of those open air cafes, my waiter pointed out to a school of Dolphins on their way to Quilon :) It was funny, but it got me really excited.One other time I almost caught a jellyfish but then it drifted away with the waves. There are many migrants from Karnataka who have

Mararikulam is a tiny little white beach in the district of Alleypey. I've visited the beach a couple of times and am absolutely in love with the white sand. I love Marari more than Cherai because it is clean and relatively unpopulated, therefore quieter. It is just a short (and pleasant) drive away from Kochi. There are some great resorts lining the beach if you want to stay for a couple of days. We stayed at the Marari Beach resort and loved it. They have tiny cottages with open bathrooms. BY "open" i mean, open to the sky. Traditionally built, these cottages are great fun. They even have their own tiny little pools behind them. I must warn however that there is absolutely nothing to do here. The beach is quiet and the only activity is swimming in the sea. Go to Marari for some serious R&R. I love Marari beach because the sea here is blue and clean. If you're going on a short visit, it is advisable to carry your own food and water because there are no shops on

The temple festivals of Kerala are quite intriguing. Temples here are divided on the lines of the deities eg, Krishna temple, Devi temple and Ayappa temple. I went for a local Krishna temple festival. I was surprised with the arrangements. The festivals generally span three or four days and elaborate arrangements are made for it. On this particular occassion i had the pleasure of seeing elephants and listen to the kombu(a wind instrument). The pooja started at around 9 in the morning and continued till 11 to the accompaniment of Madhalam(drums) and Kombu. I learnt that only a single community called Maraars are eligible to play these instruments and Maraar boys are trained from the age of three so that by the time they get to play these instruments, they have the rhythms by heart. It was a spectacle - a group of men playing these instruments in unison and three elephants in attention with the idol atop one of them. I did feel bad for the elephants though, because they stood for such