Dunedin’s Antony Boomer fell in love with India, so wanted to share it with his wife and two boys. He took them on a journey to the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
I love India but it wasn't an instant love affair.
My first impressions of Delhi in 1989 involved a lot of sweating, cramping and I'm sure you can guess ... profusely. But by the time I left I was yearning to return.
Ten years later I travelled back to India with my wife Kath and 17 years later we had the opportunity to revisit the country with our two boys, Alex (13) and Liam (11) in tow.
This time we would head south to the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
First things first: we had to find each other. Kath had spent the previous five weeks in the more remote regions of Nepal working as part of a project run by the Himalayan Trust offering training to local teachers. We were scheduled to arrive in Kochi (Cochin) within a couple of hours of each other. As it turned out, we arrived separated by only 25 minutes and that included all of our bags.
Having arrived in Kochi, we embarked on the 60-minute journey to the Fort Kochi area and the Fragrant Nature hotel.
After arriving at the hotel and settling in, a cold beer would have topped it off. However, it is important to note the majority of hotels and restaurants in Kerala do not serve alcohol. You can buy alcohol at special shops which your guide or driver will be able to sort out for you, although sometimes you pay a premium as a result.
Breakfast at the hotel was fantastic. If you have ever come across masala dosa you will understand. A crisp pancake stuffed with a spiced potato topped with a Keralan sambar is essential eating while you are here. The boys were instantly converted from pancakes and maple syrup!
Our guide for the morning, Suresh, and driver, Paul, who would be with us as far as Madurai, met us at the hotel.
First stop, the Chinese fishing nets that are dotted around the coastline of Kochi and further afield. Nothing complicated here; a unique contraption lowers the net into the water then men lift it out counterbalanced with rocks.
It was all beautifully simple and compelling viewing.
Next was the unremarkable St Francis church where the corpse of Vasco da Gama spent some time before being shipped back to Lisbon.
The unexpected highlight of the morning was the Dhoby Khana laundry.
We witnessed the clothes having the absolute stuffing beaten out of them on a concrete plinth before being baked in the sun and ironed with a beautiful iron powered by burning coconut husks. This was fascinating and the undoubted morning's highlight for the boys, who handled an iron for the first time in their lives.
A former Dutch palace, built by the Portuguese and then adopted as the former Raja's home followed, along with a spice market and synagogue.
We had a very nice lunch at the Fort House Hotel before returning to the Fragrant Nature. A visit to the roof-top pool followed and then one of my bucket list items, a Kathakali performance. Kathakali is a classical Indian dance developed in the Kerala region. Colourful make-up, costumes and face-masks adorn the male performers who convey stories from the Hindu scriptures.
I'm not sure the boys were too enthused about this, especially as we took the opportunity to spend an hour watching a rotund chap apply his makeup. However, as with Dhoby Khana, enlightenment and pleasure often come in different forms.
Once the performance was under way, a young lady danced, her facial expressions as entrancing as her movement.
We were then given a demonstration of the moves used in Kathakali, the majority of which involved the eyes, face and hands.
The main performance was introduced as an interpretation of an extract from the Mahabharata. Whatever it was about, the scene was an orgy of rapidly moving eyes, impossible facial expressions and flailing hands. It was certainly dramatic as the final scene brought the inevitable death of the female protagonist.
To cap it off, Liam, a facebender of some note, had the opportunity to test his skills with the performers.
The next day we travelled for 90 minutes to a small dock on the shore of Lake Vembanad to board our converted rice barge and cruise through the Kerala backwaters.
The boats have an alluring presence. Finely crafted by hand, they once plied these waters with rice as their cargo. Now they carry tourists in a good deal of comfort.
Our boat had three crew, two bedrooms, kitchen, dining area and viewing area.
We crossed the surprisingly vast expanse of Lake Vembanad before entering a channel and having lunch. Again the food was delicious and we were increasingly becoming fans of the Kerala sambar which seemed to accompany most meals.
Turning left into a small channel we got close up and occasionally personal with the rhythm of life in these areas. The people living along the channels primarily earn a living servicing the rice fields.
We witnessed their end-of-day rituals preparing dinner, smashing their laundry against concrete plinths, doing a bit of fishing and socialising.
Their houses were as brightly coloured as their personalities, as all were extremely affable as we cruised by.
The birds of the backwaters are prolific and some border on spectacular, like the kingfishers we saw four times.
As the sun began to set we docked in a secluded spot. Somehow a dinner with six options came out from the minuscule kitchen located on the aft of the vessel, and was washed down by a couple of local ales.
I was determined to get up early the following morning to catch the sunrise so it wasn't long after the mosquito nets were drawn that we were in bed for a surprisingly comfortable night's sleep.
Dawn was about 6.30 and it was worth every second of it as the orange globe cast its shimmering light across the backwaters.
The birdlife was prolific at this time as were the local fishermen, up before dawn to secure their catch before the heat of the day.
I absolutely loved this journey but would suggest one night is enough to capture the essence of the area.
Paul, our driver, was waiting at the dock and off we set into the Western Ghats mountain range.
Road journeys don't happen quickly in Kerala, with 30kmh good going throughout the state.
It is not that the roads are bad, rather that they are narrow and heavily populated so driving is a constant negotiation with everyone else on the road.
It seemed lurking around every tight corner was a giant pink bus ready to swallow you whole.
The Windermere Estate represented the kind of things I liked about north India, where Indians had taken some of the better aspects of colonial rule and gone some way to preserving them. The estate is an extension of the original ``Planters'' accommodation overlooking their tea and cardamom plantations.
We had a superb lunch on arrival but
opted to grab a rickshaw into town that evening - a first for Alex and Liam.
As they grinned from ear to ear, I am guessing they enjoyed it.
Breakfast at the estate was magnificent.
We had a tour of the tea museum planned after breakfast and an excursion to the Matupetty Dam. The thought of visiting a museum about tea might not spin everyone's wheels but as with everything else on this trip it was the unexpected that delighted us so much.
The tour started with a super video on the area and its connection with tea.
The subsequent drive to Matupetty yielded the views I had so wanted to experience: mile after mile of emerald green fields of tea dotted throughout by rust-red rocky outcrops. .
The dam is not particularly interesting in itself but the activity of Indian tourists created an exciting buzz as buses competed with Mahindra jeeps, rickshaws and the odd Royal Enfield motorbike for road and parking space.
Our dining predicament that night was resolved as the restaurant agreed to make some chicken and potatoes for the boys.
Paul advised the 105km to our next stop, Periyar and its wildlife sanctuary, would take about four hours.
The first part of the drive was exhilarating. My favourite drive anywhere is through Morocco's Atlas Mountains, closely followed by any crossing of the Sahara.
This one is right up there, just as spectacular. As the scenery changed from tea plantations to the less appealing cardamom equivalents, I was looking forward to our next destination, the Poetree Portico by Sarovar. It is connected by an appalling side road that is a journey in itself.
The hotel occupies a position overlooking the nearby town of Kumily and the surrounding hills of this portion of the Western Ghats.
The rooms had their quirks. Kath particularly enjoyed the opportunity to survey the surrounding hills while having a shower fully exposed.
The butter chicken was ``probably'' the best in the world and Alex had it at every opportunity.
That afternoon we had a spice plantation tour planned, although the main reason for visiting was the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. It is the only one in the area, although not noted for prolific viewing.
Nevertheless we swallowed the early departure and entered the park after undergoing one of those annoying procedures India revels in, queueing for handwritten tickets.
Tickets procured, we headed to the park and were amused by a macaque attack on an unsuspecting visitor's breakfast.
We knew instantly that our chances of running into a tiger were remote when our guard, Rajiv, turned up bearing no more weaponry than a stick.
Nevertheless, there was clearly a chance of running into elephants with fresh tracks and hot poo abundant.
We soon crossed paths with a barking deer and a troop of nilgri langur. The majestic Indian bison followed. Returning, we ran into another troop of nilgri langur whose movement among the trees and barking whoops set the hairs on the back of our heads upright.
Despite not seeing as much as we hoped this was still an enjoyable excursion and we returned later in the afternoon for our boat ride on the lake. We immediately came across a pack of wild dogs feasting on a deer, then a few Indian bison and deer and then, lo and behold, four elephant appeared.
To top it off, a huge Indian bison bull, which we had only seen from a distance or in forest previously, made its way to the shore. I had never heard of Indian bison before but they are surely a magnificent muscle-laden beast.
The next day we headed to Tamil Nadu and on to Madurai. Indian states are defined linguistically so we passed from Kerala and the Malayalam language to Tamil Nadu, where Tamil is spoken.
There is also a definite change in scenery with paddy fields, coconut and banana palms dominating the sometimes craggy landscape, the Western Ghats now forming the background to the scenery.
Madurai is busy, bustling but incredibly clean. There is a plastics ban in force which is clearly evident.
First stop the next day was the slightly unremarkable Thirumalai Naicker Palace. However, what followed was pure gold. Two ageing cycle rickshaw riders transported us through the central Madurai markets. The colours and demeanour of the people were just fantastic. We had a really good time in there.
The Meenakshi Temple is the largest Hindu temple in southern India and when we got there, being pilgrim season, it was alive with activity.
Walid, our guide, was animated in his descriptions and explanations of the temple, the impossible pantheon of gods and religious practices.
This was a riveting experience and we went back for the evening closing ceremony.
The temple was tough going for the boys so an afternoon in the pool in front of a large screen pumping out Bollywood music videos was just the ticket.
In the evening the temple towers took on an even more mystical ambience, carved deities observing your every move.
Not for the first or last time on our journey, a local guided us to where we needed to be and wouldn't accept any reward.
The kids were flagging on this one, but held it together.
Non-Hindus were only permitted to view the transporting of Shiva's feet to the inner sanctum where his wife Parvati (or more accurately Meenakshi, an incarnation of Parvati) awaited.
The feet would spend the night there before returning to the outer sanctum to resume duties as part of the opening ceremony. The closing procession involved burning tridents, drums, horns and a lot of smoke. It was all a lot of fun.
The following day we experienced Indians getting heated over central government policy. Jallikatt (bull wrestling) had been banned by the Government as inhumane but the people of Tamil Nadu were having none of it. It would appear, given the protests we encountered, they see nothing wrong with this ancient tradition.
We were due to visit the Gandhi Museum but ran afoul of a student protest: in fact, we drove straight into the middle of it.
We eventually made it to the museum and after a brief overview of Indian history for the boys we entered and were instantly underwhelmed. A good book would be of more use.
However, this trip was constantly throwing up surprises. This time it was the flower market - utter chaos was interspersed by vibrant colours as buyers bought sackfuls of blooms that would eventually find their way to temples as offerings.
Due to take the Guyurvar Express to Madurai at 4pm, we spent the intervening period at the hotel. We wanted to give the boys an experience on Indian trains. The Madurai train station is modern, clean and organised.
Once the train arrived, an hour late, we easily found our berths in the 2nd class air-conditioned sleeper cabin. The kids absolutely loved the experience of sleeping on trains; not that they actually slept.
The train journey took seven hours, which was just enough, arriving in Trivandrum at midnight.
Here we had the only really negative experience of our journey.
Our driver was waiting with three red-shirted individuals who grabbed our bags and loaded them into the car then asked for some money. My offer was turned down, so the driver gave them the apparent going rate of 100 rupees ($NZ2) a bag. This is outrageous given a tea picker in Munnar is paid 330 rupees ($NZ7) per day, which is clearly outrageous in itself.
It took about half an hour to get to our home for the next four nights, the Vivanta by Taj Green Cove, near Kovalam.
This was to be the relaxing part of our journey. Set on a hillside overlooking a lagoon and the Arabian Sea, this was a perfect way to spend the next few days.
We had arranged a journey to the southern tip of India at Kanyakumari via Padmanabhapuram Palace and Thanumalayan Temple.
This was in jeopardy for a while as protests over the jallikatt ban had spread across Tamil Nadu, delaying our excursion by a day.
We took the opportunity to visit the adjacent beaches, which would not rank too highly compared to those we are used to.
Fortunately, we did get to travel to Kanyakumari. Our first stop was the Padmanabhapuram Palace. This was an excellent example of medieval Keralan architecture constructed by the rulers of Travancore, who previously held sway over this part of the country.
Next stop was the boys' favourite, the Thanumalayan Temple, where we were required to enter bare-chested.
Some of the temple pillars were designed so notes could be played on them while devotees sang devotional durgas.
We were very fortunate to be able to experience this, especially as one of the temple guardians allowed the boys to have a go, which really delighted them.
Some of the intricate carvings in this 2000-year-old temple were really something, down to near-lifelike fingernails.
Our final stop on this day was Kanyakumari, site of the Vivenkananda Temple and monument to Thiruvalluvar. These were recent additions to the small rocky outcrops.
The boat ride to get there was quite exciting, on a rusting ferry. Everyone is given a life vest on the short journey and I honestly thought there was a possibility we might need one on the return journey as the winds rose.
Safely back on the mainland, we took a moment to reflect on the southernmost point in India. I always find it quite daunting to be in these sorts of places. All that history and people to the north of you and absolutely nothing for thousands of miles to the south of you. It feels almost weighty.
I would use ``surprising'' as the best way to sum up our journey. We visited here because the opportunity presented itself, but we came away blown away by the experiences.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu are populated by genuinely hospitable people in very functional states, especially Kerala.
Getting around is not fast but it does give you the time and opportunity to take in all that is going on around you.
We took this journey to give the boys a taste of something completely different and challenging. As it turned out it wasn't very challenging at all, just genuinely enjoyable.
If you were thinking of dipping your toes into India but were a bit intimidated, I think Kerala would provide you with the perfect introduction - especially with kids.
Antony Boomer is the retail manager for House of Travel Dunedin.
