Experiencing God's Own Country

Travelling sets you free.

In an odd way, you escape your world to venture into another. You try to see how life is lived in other spheres, of how people like you and unlike you, live differently.

Sometimes, travelling also is a way of finding silence. Some quiet from all the chaos that refuses to leave your mind. It makes you introspect, as you suddenly see the world from an 'outsider' perspective, rather than living it everyday.

I was lucky enough to experience and thoroughly feel the waves of these emotions in me while traveling through God's Own Country: Kerala, India.

This blog is my attempt to take you through every inch of emotion I felt through my trip in Kerala :)

I landed in Cochin. All I saw was a calming sea of green while landing.
The window of my Spicejet aeroplane was filled with dancing little droplets of rain.

Was I really in God's Own Country?

Cochin airport

From hereon, started my journey to Chithirapuram, a small town just outside of the popular hill station of Munnar. I was living in a simple hotel (which was more like a house), placed right in the middle of a tea plantation. It wasn't super professional, had only 5 rooms. But surprisingly THIS hotel was the highlight of my trip, inspite of venturing into a Taj later on to the trip.

Through the eyes of a french window on one side of the room, all I could see was an ocean of green tea plantations. And the other side, was filled with cloud kissing tall mountains.

This tea plantation house was complete seclusion. A complete escape from my chaotic city life.

Gruenberg Tea Plantation Haus

Chithirapuram gave me complete silence. Time to think. There was a beautiful library on the top floor of the tea plantation house, where I got the opportunity to read and introspect.

'What is it that I'm running after?', I thought.

At that point, I wasn't running after anything. All I wanted was to bask in the simplicity of this little piece of heaven and have it stay with me as long as possible.

All of a sudden, it felt like fresh green wave of calmness hit me.
I wasn't going to go back to wherever I had come from.

I felt like the monotony of everyday life led to a strange sort of darkness, and this little place gave me complete silence and seclusion, almost like a stroke of light in that undiscovered dark space.

Obviously I did the things every tourist should do around Munnar, trekked through a national park, went to the dam, rode an elephant (haha, oh yes I did!) all the things I'd want to check off my travel list :)

But what this place really gave me, is much needed silence with my soul.

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After three days, we started our journey to Kumarakom.

A bus journey that took us through the winding roads of Kerala. A scenic route that climbs down from 5000 ft above sea level to the shores of Vembanad lake at Taj Kumarakom.

Taj Kumarakom felt like a perfect heritage home, blended with just the right spice of modernity.
Honestly, it gave me a glimpse of what 'perfect' living would be like.

The hotel sits on the shore of the longest lake in India, right next to a bird sanctuary. There is also a private lagoon where you can go fishing and boating. And every evening, a boat would take me around the backwaters of Kerala to give me a glimpse of everyday life of the people there.

Not just that, but I was gifted with an incredible view of the sunset every evening.
While I pondered around sitting on the perfect little bench, watching the hues of the sky, asking myself, 'Do I need to slow down?'

The sunset at Vembanad Lake

Taj Kumarakom

Backwaters of Kerala

Kumarakom gave me genuine warmth. It was just what the traveler's heart needed.
The kind of warmth that felt perfect, especially after three whole days of complete seclusion at Munnar.
Taj hospitality cannot be genuinely understood until you have experienced it for yourself.

Obviously, I did the touristy things, trekked through a bird sanctuary, went fishing, cycling and boating.

But what it thoroughly gave me, is the heart and mind to admire even more: nature's bounty and the genuineness of people. (Refraining from getting into explaining situations here, this blog will never end! Haha!)

For my soul, Taj Kumarakom was the perfect recipe: beautifully blended with the colors of nature along with immense warmth. Couldn't have asked for more!

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After spending three relaxing days at Kumarakom, we took the train to the capital city of Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram. We were staying close to the airport, since we weren't there for too long, and had a flight to catch.

My first day there, took me to a popular beach: Kovalam.
My second day took me to Kanyakumari (Well, technically, this isn't in Kerala, but I'm going to take you through what happened here as a part of God's Own Country, because it still felt like it :) )

Kovalam was nature showing off the power of sea. Incredibly beautiful and scary power.
This beach almost felt like the Arabian Sea wanting to flex its muscles and show its true character and strength.

Powerful waves and winds are indeed the perfect setting for your mind to concentrate. My mind was genuinely steady, the sea had managed to grab all my attention, this was feeling good.

I watched the sunset at Kovalam. Absolutely gorgeous.

Sunset at Kovalam beach

Kovalam Beach

The last leg of my journey ended at Kanyakumari.

It is said that Swami Vivekananda attained enlightenment in Kanyakumari. I don't intend on making this blog philosophical, and not that even Kanyakumari is a 'philosophical' place. Infact, unfortunately it is incredibly crowded and dirty. You will see hundreds of people begging on the road. Some are disabled and extremely poor. My heart broke. This was not the Kanyakumari I had imagined I would see.
But, I was meant to understand and go through this experience, so I could see my life in different light.

I was disturbed by what I saw, and I happened to pick up a book at the book store on the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, which changed the way I thought in many ways. A book about Swami Vivekananda.

And honestly, I didn't have much of an idea of Swami Vivekananda's work, nothing in depth at least, like most people of my age I'm guessing :)

But I didn't know buying that book would change me so much. There are many Indian heroes that we talk about, but what surprises me is how less Swami Vivekananda is spoken about.

I will write about that book in another blog, perhaps! :)

So far, whatever I've read on him, he genuinely seems like the perfect man.

One thing that has stayed with me from the book has been:
'Blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God.'

More on my lessons from him, later :)

With regards to Kanyakumari, we did the ferry ride, went to the memorial, visited the meditation hall and the bookstore there and sipped on hot rasam and ate some delicious curd rice at an extremely dodgy South Indian restaurant. Hah!

View after stepping out of the meditation hall

Thirvalluvar Memorial

The next day, we left Thiruvananthapuram airport and caught a flight to Pune. Kanyakumari was a complicated experience. Entangled between the richness of the sea and the winds and the poverty of the people.

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Kerala has truly delivered what it promised.
It gave me complete seclusion with nature at Munnar, then taking me through 'perfect happiness' in Kumarakom, and then taking me to Kanyakumari to give me deeper understanding of how fair and unfair the world is.

I couldn't have asked for a better trip before I venture off to other adventures in Chicago.

What made the trip perfect was my company! My mother :)

She's quite a voracious traveler, who wanted to experience all the flavours of travel available.
Thank you Mom for taking me there :)