Wander Woman

It was on a rain drenched evening that we reached Munnar,a hill station on the border of Kerala. To say its beautiful is an understatement.Its a very small town bordered by tea estates on all sides. The rolling greens in every direction is a real treat to the eyes.SSsomebody said that Munnar was the summer capital o the British in Southern India.I thought it was Ooty.We were also told about the two local tribal chieves Kanan andd Devan who had initiated tea planting in this area.Tata Tea has a particular product named after them. Tata has huge tea estates here,chief of them being the 'Lechmi tea estate'.It was a dream of mine to stay in a tea estate and this time we did. Initially, we stayed at the High Range club, which is basically the planters club,situated in the golf links.Its a beautiful an very old property. there's a room there dedicated to the old planters of yore,complete with hunting trophies and all. Golf Range High Range club We also got an opportun...

I'm obsessed about all things Kerala. The mountains, the beaches,the houses,the greenery.Its a photographer's paradise.Each place has a story,a background that mesmerises.And the scenery is breathtaking.Any which way you go, there is a breathtaking view. The hills of Munnar,the backwaters of Alleypey.No wonder they market the place as God's own country. We traveled a lot throughout Kerala. Despite that we missed several places. I really wanted to stay in Tharavad,the traditional Kerala house. I also wanted to go through the backwaters of Alleypey to lake Ashtamudi. Maybe some time. We also picked up some really good furniture from Kochi. I really like the antique look, but dont have enough money to afford authentic ones. Jew town in Fort Kochi is a great place to collect old items. But that is only if you have time. I,once fell for a Buddha bust, which the shopkeeper earnestly told me was a real antique piece and quote some 12-15 thousand rupees.for it. Fotunately I wasnt ...

Its been a long time since I went to Kashi, one of my favourite hangout places in Fort Kochi, mainly because it was closed for renovation. Kashi is an art cafe housed in one of the 200-year-old dutch/portugese(?) buildings in Fort Kochi. Apart from the ambiance, I go there for their cheese omlettes. There are other things I like about Kashi, like they use glass bottles instead of plastic ones to store water.Like the base of their tables are  actually old sewing machines.And they grind their own coffee. Kashi, in its own way, is a patron of the arts. Every month there is an exhibition by an artist in the hall. Also, when you're at Kashi, nobody bothers you. There is no hurry to eat and scramble. Sit with your favourite book and a cup of masala chai. But the place usually is crowded, especially weekends, and so by common courtesy people do not dally for long. Kashi is located on Burgar street and is open on all days.

Fort Kochi has a lot of good cafes and eateries.Some of them are by the channel and some are located on Princess street and adjoining lanes. I love going to Kashi Art Cafe . It generally hosts some artiste for a month, but more on that later. The other day while walking around Fort Kochi I felt hungry and my feet naturally gravitated towards Kashi. But due to some renovations going on, Kashi was closed. So I went further, crossed the road and found the TEAPOT cafe. Its a small cafe with teapots all around. The owner apparently likes to collect teapots from all over the world. I really loved the yellow walls and antique teapots. The food is average(typical fare, sandwiches and like) but the best part about this place is, its not crowded. You can sit for hours with a masala chai and read your book or do your work.The yellow walls, the high ceiling makes me feel as if I've come to some really old building. It must be a very old house. I wish I'd asked how old.

When I first heard o Fort Kochi , I thought of it as a real fort. I was so used to forts of Rajasthan.The rajasthan forts are magnanimous and is a pure display of wealth and power. Fort Kochi was a far cry from that.There was no fort at all!! It was a peaceful little place with a hip crowd,mostly tourists. You could lose yourself in the place and nobody would give a damn. And then I discovered Jew town, snaking my way through bazaar road. The walk is lovely flanked on both sides with age old buildings and quaint eateries and curio shops tucked away in obscure corners. Every visit to that place opened up new vistas for me. Jew town currently has five or six Jewish families living there and thousands of Kashmiris who have set up shop and who sell the most awesome antiques. On Bazaar road(which extends from fort kochi to Jew town) is the famous spice market. The entire road is filled with the wonderful smell of spices and you can see the famous spice merchants at work. Jew town i...

Fort Kochi is one of my favourite places and in that Jew Town and Princess Street are my most faourite haunts.   I love going for evening walks along the channel and having my cuppa in one of the various cafes and restaurants dotting the banks. Jew town still has a few jewish families living there. It is said that Jews came to Kerala as early as 700 BC for trade and some of them even settled here during the reign of King Solomon. The then ruling king gave them some land in Mattancherry and that is where they flourished till most of them migrated and some converted. But they still have the impressive Jewish Synagogue(AKA Paradesi Synagogue) with an 18th century clock tower.I love going to Synagogue and then walking back to the Dutch palace. Its a five minute walk and there are plenty of antique shops in between to spend your time in. I love walking into these shops and looking at things because most of them are sourced from old tharavus (traditional kerala houses). I ...

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...

It is verrrrrrry hot in Kerala now.And there is no sign of the wonderful rain clouds. So in an effort to cool my system, i've decided to go vegetarian. A typical vegetarian meal here consists of rice, sambhar, thoran,chutney,poppadum and rasam. A visitor to Kerala MUST have a vegetarian meal once. Its yum,even though there is a strong essence of coconut. I guess after so many years, i dont mind the coconut anymore. Also, if you're having a meal at a decent restaurant, then you wont have to face the overpowering smell of coconut oil.(digression: read somewhere that coconut oil prevents dementia). My favourite part of the meal is rasam and buttermilk. Rasam is kind of like a soup made of tamarind water and curry leaves. Even though its very simple to prepare, when I tried making it at home, it didnt turn out right. I didnt get the right consistency. I guess I have to get some more practice.So until I can make perfect rasams, I'm going to indulge myself in various restau...