The Monsoon is on her way

Karumady Village to Kollam to Varkala: 18th May

Jji and his family, my wonderful hosts waved goodbye to me from the bankside as the 11.30 Alappuzha- Kollam ferry pulled away for the 8 hour ride south down the national waterway. On board was Stephan, Peter, an Englishman, a honey-mooning couple from Bombay and two families from New Delhi.

We passed lines of Chinese fishing nets sticking up from the water like dangly spiders’ legs, and the idyllic rusticity of thatched houses and soaring fish eagles suspended on air currents like paper kites. Gradually a flash of pink appeared on the right bank and we got closer a 25 storey apartment block appeared – painted in bright trifle pink. It was the ashram of Ama-chi, a holy lady also known as the Hugging Mama; a hug from her is said to be very auspicious. Stephan stepped off the ferry to spend a night there and were uncertain whether we would ever see him again. He turned up in Varkala a few days later where he said he went to a darshan where Amachi hugged 14,000 people in 12 hours - a phenomenal feat indeed, equating to 3 hugs a minute.

My homestay was in Karumady, a remote village in the backwaters, where I stayed with the Mapilasery family.

The ferry made good progress down the waterway, and we sat on the benches on its roof. I found a copy of an English-language newspaper lying around, which said:

“Monsoon due to arrive in 4 days time”.

So there was really only one way to make best use of the remaining days of rain-free weather – in the words of the Californian surfers, “Where’s the beach dude?”. The ferry ride ended at Kollam, a typical Keralan market town on the edge of Ashtamudi Lake where Pete found the answer. A two hour bus ride away was Varkala a developing beach resort 41 km north of Thiruvanthapuram.