Kochi once upon a lagoon

The massive port of Kochi (weekend destination, getaway or beach holiday) encompasses Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, a cluster of islands on Vembanad Lake and Ernakulam and Thripunithura all to me was my idea of enjoying the holidays with my family. Welcomed with traditional warmth and contemporary gumption I’m at the airport of Kochi with constructed sloping roof typical of traditions Kerala homes. The beautiful highway to bustling Ernakulam confirms this enjoyable contradiction. Till recently Kochi was Cochin, and it was a lagoon which made Kochi a cherished destination as far back as the early 16^th century and it is the same port which makes Kochi one of the nation’s busiest ports now. The rich aroma of spices and sandalwood drew the Europeans here and they soon wrested the profitable spice trade from Arab merchants.

Well leave the history now everybody knows about it. After check in the hotel and resting we left for the most important heritage sight seeing is Fort Kochi and Mattancherry. The distance between the interesting ancient and famous places in Fort Kochi is surprisingly short. We had little nature or leisure walks here however one needs many days to scroll the place well. Santa Cruz Basilica a Portuguese built church was celebrating its 500^th anniversary so we went to see the ceremony. Its Gothic façade with soaring spires is imposing but it was the interiors that were truly impressive. Princess Street is one of the oldest in fort Kochi; the buildings are all in colonial style, with their peeling pastel, bronze stucco walls and flowerpot laden windowsills. St Francis Church at the northern end was built in timber, by the Portuguese. /the famous Vasco da Gama was originally buried here in some 1500’s and his remains were later taken to Lisbon, but the tomb still exists. A short walk from Princess Street was Vasco da Gama Square and just before the beach are the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets, a legacy of traders from Kublai Khan’s court. The fort Kochi beach was itself a quite small though cleans and has a pretty lighthouse at one end of it. And as the light house turns back and walk down a street parallel; to the beach, to the Dutch cemetery, final resting place for the scores of soldiers and merchant adventures from 17^th and 18^th century Netherlands.

Once the Keralite Jews occupied all the houses in the Jew Street, today most of their former inhabitants living in Israel, the old residence are shuttered. Their firework arches, often inscribed with a Star of David, wear a forlorn look and their once audacious blue and green facades are fading. There were few shops still running who sell antiques, spices and curio. Anchoring one end of the Jew street is Jew cemetery road with its Malayalam and Hebrew tombstones. A walk through several blocks brought us to the wrought iron gates of the Pardesi Synagogue. It is 400 years old and its interiors holds carved brass columns, an intricately carved teak ark, Belgian crystal chandeliers and Torah crowns of solid gold set with gems. The floor has hand painted porcelain tiles from Canton, each tile with a different pattern.

Mattancherry Palace was built by the Portuguese’s in 1557 and presented to the Raja of Kochi, its exterior is quite boring but the interiors are good. The Central Hall on the upper story was once used s the venue for the coronation of Cochin’s Raja’s and has a beautifully carved wooden ceiling. In various rooms there were some excellent murals.

Ernakulam, Kochi’s new face was exciting. Many of the Broadway’s buildings retained their sloping roofs and inverted elevators. There is nothing a shopper can’t get here and the place has an exotic cardamom and cumin charm about it. Fronting Broadway is the city’s pride the seventy feet road and beyond it, the backwaters. And there it was the old jetty was all strangled in kelp and faded fish ropes, there is now the Marine Drive Promenade. We sat here and watched the Ernakulam-vypeen ferry made its slow passage. The lagoon was making a frown where the boat has disturbed its reverie. Ernakulam got it’s name from Rishinaga- kulam, a Shiva temple’s pond. This where according to the legend, a sage was finally freed from a curse. The temple is dedicated to Shiva in his Virata or primordial hunter avatar. The annual festival is in January and is spread over eight days. On the 7^th day is Pakalpooram, when the deity is taken out in a procession with caparisoned elephants accompanied by the panchavadyam orchestra. It culminates with the famous Pandimelam which is a percussion extravaganza and fireworks. In August – September is Onam, Kerala’s harvest festival and the Indira Gandhi Boat Race is a benefiting climax to a week of revelry. Sleek serpent boats vie with one another, the furious paddling turning the waters fronting Marine Drive into one frothing melee. I liked and enjoyed the racing.

Mattancherry and Jew street in fort Kochi and Broadway and MG road in Ernakulam are the shopping hubs. I picked up antique items, spices, coffee from Mattancherry. Do look out for door jambs, old mirror frames, metal locks, and quaint early 20^th centaury ceramic and Meta utensils. Shopping for gold is best in MG road of Ernakulam with few branded shops. In simple words I enjoyed the backwaters and the fort and would love to come here again and again.

There are many sites that are providing few holiday packages for Kerala.

Find driving directions to Kochi here

Rao Raj vilas in Kuchesar

It was just a mud fort rising from the plains and the village around it. Rao Raj Villas are situated in Kuchesar in Western Uttar Pradesh. A comfortable two hour drive makes it a. The mud fort is a doaba rebel classic, almost immune to cannon fire and surrounded by dense cane breaks. Seven massive mud bastions of the fort are still standing around the periphery of the fort, though the moats have run dry, and the canebrakes are gone. Roa Raj Villas is a good place to go on a Luxury Holiday.

These are 3 havelis of the original complex has been turned into the guest rooms of the Rao Raj Villas hotel. The havelis were lying unused and virtually derelict till last year. Rao Raj Vilas is not one of those heritage hotel where an old property is turned over to a larger chain; the personal family touch is visible in everything. For one it is quite small and intimate, there being only 10 guest rooms operational now. The entire family pitches in to run the hotel, and they were all waiting for us when we entered the fort. As we climbed down the stairs our eyes caught the swimming pool set in the main courtyard, deep bluish green tiles setting up a striking contrast to the carved sandstone surrounding, a marvelous change from the regulation swimming pool blue one has come to expect.

When lunch was served, it managed to be an extraordinary combination of homelike and exquisite. With the non veg the desert served in the end which was the mango ice cream it was damn so fresh and delicious that it comes from the family’s own orchards and made in home. After that we had a sleep and when I woke up the room was cool in the afternoon, not even needing to use the AC.

Anant one of the members of the family took us for a tour through the property. Through the Peen Baagh, also named because it is the quarter of the area of a standard issue garden and is still rather large. We walked up to one of the bastions, and looked out fair to the horizon, over orchids and seemingly endless swaying fields of sugarcane. We walked through a thick little keekar forest growing inside the fort, in which Anant said they are planning to conduct a nature walk. Then there were two temples on one of the edge of the fort itself, dating back to the 18^th centaury. We visited the rooftop bar and open air terrace, which is operational in winter and saw peacocks, perched atop the buildings. We walked down the tehkhanas, currently empty, but with great potential to become a lounge space.

After the constant madness of Delhi, it is the most refreshing thing to be able to have seen and done everything to do in a couple of hours. We played billiards and table tennis and there was also a mini conference room where one can arrange for conferences with chairs and table and projection screen comfortable under the huge old ornately brocaded punkah.

In the evening we sat with our wonderful hosts, as the breeze blow and listened to their stories of Kuchesar’s past. We sat by the poolside, we drinking juices and some of them beer watching the mohs circle shamaas. Again in the morning Anant made plans for us to drive to the mango orchards for picnic, but the rain finish it all. However we sat on the lounge chair reading the books and chatting as the rain poured down. When we were checking out they compensated for the abortive trip to the mango orchards by presenting us with big packets of mangoes, plucked from the trees.

Kalari Kovilakom, Ayurvedic Centre

Other than few temples, there isn’t much to see in the small town of Kollengode, an ayurveda holiday destination or a weekend destination from Kerala, but this is something I have to be told. I would never have discovered this for myself, for as a guest at Kalari Kovilakom, I’m not allowed to step outside the big, black gate that swung shut as soon as I entered. I’m not allowed to choose what I eat during my stay either. I’m not given access to a television set. I’m not able to enjoy a chilled pepsi as there are no refrigerators in the rooms here and besides, alcohol consumption is not permitted on the premises. I’m not allowed coffee, not even sugar, if I want to sweeten my herbal tea however I have to use honey.

I am experiencing ayurveda as something more than just getting a relaxing massage with oils made of herbs whose names you can’t begin to pronounce. Ayurveda in its purest, most traditional form, here with yoga, a balanced diet at Kalari Kovilakom, the Palace of Ayurveda.

And it was a palace a Kovilakom once. It housed the daughters of the royal family of Vengunad. The original architecture is intact, very little has been touched or added. There is a peacock carved into the ceiling, wooden beams radiating from its plumage like rays of the sun. A set of doors past the enormous four poster bed in the centre leads to a smaller room with space for storage, and further doors open out to the bathroom with bath products made of sweet basil and aloe vera. It’s easy to lose yourself in the past at Kalari Kovilakom. My dad’s leather sandals are taken away and he is given a padukas to roam around. We were woken up at half past five by devotional songs from a temple nearby, meant to awaken the town. Before and after meals the timings of which are announced by the ringing of a temple bell, we were asked to rinse our hands into vessel, using the water that the person waiting, pours on us through a spouted jug.

I heard a lot about energy at Kalari Kovilakom. I’m told that according to ayurveda, the year is divided into Visarga Kala during which our bodies give out energy to nature and Adana Kala during which our bodies take in energy from nature. The monsoon season belongs to the latter, which makes it the ideal time for Ayurvedic treatments because the body doesn’t get tired. I came to know that a popular treatment during monsoon is the panchakarma. The five step cleansing process includes vomiting, evacuation of the bowels with a laxative, nasal therapy, enema therapy and bloodletting. These massages aren’t typical. I’m here for two days, so I get these treatments just to have an idea of what the experience entails. If we were here for 14 to 21 days then the doctor would have first diagnosed us first. She would have drawn up a personalized diet chart, determined which herbs and oils would best suit us and the appropriate yogas for here.

I attended a session of yoga nidra, the aim of which was to attain a state of psychic sleep. The body sleeps, the mind is at rest, but the consciousness is aware. The effort is so relaxing, I doze off a guest helps me through a splitting headache which is due to caffeine withdrawal and that I should ask for a herbal remedy. I did so and half hour later someone walks with a drink hat tastes like rum and from another container he scoops out the paste and rubs it on my scalp. After an hour I felt better.

The yoga and the ayurveda take care of the body. And the fact that these treatments and exercises aren’t designed to occupy you 24 hours a day takes care of mind. And a sign here said that don’t let the silence disturb you.

Reaching there is easy, we took Air Deccan flight to Kerala and the nearest airport is the Coimbatore. Kalari Kovilakom is not a hospital, not a resort, not a spa but it offers the experience and the benefits of all these. There are 18 rooms and the suits called as Kovilakom or Vengunad suites. The minimum stay is 14 days. For reservation you can view kalarikovilakom.com.

Mandvi Palace

Two and a half kilometers of beach all to me was my idea of enjoying the camping holidaysMandvi Palace. It is in the middle of 450 acres of mildly domesticated jungle that make up the backyard of Vijay Vilas, the summer retreat of the former rulers of Mandvi, situated in Kutch, Gujarat. It is the only private owned beach in India, with the property extending to the waterline. I have heard that the Mandvi family has refused offers from various chains to take over and the run the palace as a hotel. Mr. Pragmulji III is the current head of the family. I didn’t get to meet him either because he was off campaigning for the elections way over on the other side of the Gujarat, but when we spoke his enthusiasm for the place was evident. He liked the idea of tents instead of making sculptures so he and his wife designed tents in their own way and got them made locally. It is an accommodation with my family. The waves gambol in the few feet away. I’m at the beach at of 10 pairs of guests at the moment, so it works out to a comfortable 200 meters of beach per couple at peak occupancy. Well, I exaggerate and came to know that the place was also for the day trippers however charging them a fee for access to the beach, so it may not be so deserted.

The camp consisted of 10 tents in a clearing, each sleeping two, a sand dune and a line of scrub and trees separating them from the beach and protecting them from the worst of the weather. Each one is set on its own concrete plinth, a little sit out in the front with a couple of dinky camel leather deck chairs. The styling is reminiscent of royal expedition tents like scalloped edges, carved finials atop the tent poles, awning over the entrance. The tents are set rather too close to each other, with the support ropes of neighboring tents overlapping. The tents are triple layered, a candy striped inner tent, over that a thicker outer, and over it all, a waterproof roof and the lack of natural ventilation is more than compensated for with a high power air conditioner.

Inside, a carpeted floor, twin beds, bedside tables with small storage space, carved wood chairs and a writing table. The chair are nice looking but not to comfortable. Lighting is a couple of lamps beside the beds. At the back, behind the flap, is a largish tiled, walled bathroom, its roof an extension of your tent. Meals are delivered to your tent or you can amble over to the thatched roof restaurant that looks out on to the beach. It served continental, Chinese and Indian.

Overall, the place does itself a disservice with its branding as it calls itself a luxury beach camp which raises expectations way too much. It is no doubt very comfortable and gives fair value for money.

Bodhi Zendo, a Zen medication centre

It is in Kodaikanal which offers ayurvedic massages, yoga and is a spot of spiritual fulfillment. Bodhi Zendo, is one of the perfect destination for ayurveda holidays in India. Isolation always seems a cruel idea to me, even if you are ensconced in a beautiful luxurious, pampering environment, because soon you will be chucked back into noise.

Bodhi Zendo is a wonderfully serene place, snug in belly of banana and coffee plantations with acre of woodland paths to explore and spectacular views of the plains. The rooms are sophisticated and single wooden floors, a writing desk overlooking the garden, portable cane reading chairs, and a charming wooden bureau for your belongings. The main building is set around a central courtyard with Japanese style rock garden complete with bonsai and bridges. The background sports an impressive vegetable garden, a lily pound and gazebo.

It isn’t very different from most other places of its ilk, except that it also makes you work for living, which adds the proper dimension of righteousness to the wholesome experience. Visitors are expected to be present for Zazen (meditation sessions), samu/ seva (community work), and meals (they feed you well). They are also expected to maintain certain hours of silence, wash their own dishes, and keep their rooms and bathrooms clean. My favorite ritual was watching the sun redden the sky, turning it to midnight black from my position in the Mediterranean room. This wonder of a room has three walls of glass and its flawlessly soundproofed, so while I was there silence was primeval.

The point of Zen has always been to emphasize the journey rather than the end result. Bodhi Zendo will give the chance to put on a new pair of shades with which to view the world.

A stay at Bodhi Zendo cost us Rs.200 per day for rooms and meals. Contact details are Bodhi Zendo, Perumalmalai, Kodaikanal, and tel: (04542) 230345; email id: mail@bodhizendo.org