The tea of 500Rs.

We left Karumadi at 10PM and paddled towards Alappuzha. I had pried through the under growth to see if ghost really hanged around. It was a long day, leaving Vettathukadavu at 530AM, we had come to Thottapally  for the school function, leaving Karumadi after the neighbourhood function; the lack of rest was taking toll on our planned night kayaking under full moon.

As we went past the point where the canal branches off to the famous Ambalapuzha Temple, we all went into sleep kayaking. Like sleep walking, the hectic restless day was now pushing us to kayak, literally feeling asleep and directionless. Reaching 12AM, we went past rice boats converted into mini hotels; moored near Kanjippadam, when we decided to take some rest. Each rice boat was buzzing with its generators and air conditioners; we pulled into the verandah of a SNDP building, spread our sleeping mats and slipped into siesta.

Boats line both sides of Pallathuruthy Bridge, Alapuzha-Changanacherry Road, Kerala

We woke up at 2AM, and started paddling towards Alappuzha. The time was approaching 4AM and the symptoms returned; sleep kayaking started taking its toll! We ran past a gill net fisherman, who told us about a ‘tea shop’ that opens early, close to Pallathuruthy Bridge on the Alappuzha-Changanacherry Road.  As soon as we heard ‘tea shop’, our systems revived, sleep disappeared and we started paddling in synchronization towards Pallathuruthy. Reaching Pallathuruthy we saw line of tourist rice boat hotels and to our displeasure could not see the tea shop! We went scouring either banks of the river, yet there was not ‘tea shop’. Excitement now turned to despair, we decided to pull up on a jetty; the time was 4AM.

There were rows of small homes on the river bank. Hearing our commotion at the Jetty an old lady opened her front door; she came up and asked “what the issue was?” We asked her about the “tea shop” to which she replied that it would open only after 530AM. As we shared our journey, how tired we were without sleep, she offered us to come home and take some rest. She had a sense of authority to say, the kayaks would be safe and recommended that we moor it at the jetty.  Her home was tiny, the structure was completed, yet to be plastered at many places and so was the floor, there were no furniture’s, windows without window panes, the rooms were separated using sheets of clothes on a door frame that was waiting for the door! There was an incandescent bulb giving out some light as we settled into her front veranda, she came out offering 3 glasses of hot black tea saying, there was no milk. We were grateful to her and she promised to wake us up at 6AM.

L>R : Anees Madathil, Murugan Krishnan, Padmini Chechi & Vipin Ravindranath

Life is always about what comes after; at Dalavapuram we met living ghosts; at Karumadi it was imaginary! After meeting Joseph uncle at Dalavapuram, this was the second time meeting an Angel. Never lose hope!

We were woken up at sharp 6AM, with 3 glasses of black tea! We felt moved by her gesture. Here was a lady so poor that she had literally nothing in her home, being so kind to some strangers. We asked her more and she shared her name as Padmini; daily wage earner living with her son, who had well passed the knot tying age. As we prepared to paddle towards Alappuzha, one of us asked, “How much was tea worth for us that morning?” “500Rs”, came the reply! We decided to give her 500Rs as we prepared to part, she wouldn’t take! Finally, we forced her to accept our appreciation for her kindness and paddled off. A lot of her neighbors had assembled around the moored kayaks and were surprised to see us on their poor shores, were monsoon floods every year make life miserable.

Rice boats of Alapuzha, Tourism is the biggest contributor to revenue and pollution.

The world is full of good people and the lord sends us reminders. One never knows which corner you turn to be surprised by an Angel, for us, Padmini chechi(elder sister in Malayalam) was one!

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The ghost of Karumadi.

  Karumadi Kuttan and the Buddhist structure at Karumadi, Ambalapuzha, Kerala

We had started from Vettathukadavu, opposite to the NTPC plant Kayankulam, that morning around 5AM. After crossing the locks at Thrikannapuzha we halted past KV Jetty for the breakfast. This small Kappikada (local hotel) was buzzing with a lot of tourist and local patrons. We reached Thotapally by 10:30 and Mr. Saji Chitralayam(ecologist focusing on  Sea Turtle conservation) was there to help us come ashore. 

Murugan Krishnan, conducting environmental awareness session, Govt. School Thottapally, Allapuzha.

He had used his local contacts to get us a place to rest and get fresh. After lunch we headed to the Government School, Thottapally, for the session with students. The work being done by Saji Chitralayam is commendable and it was nice to see the ground swell he enjoyed with kids on the issue of Turtle conservation. 

We said our good byes to Saji and left Thottapally for Karumadi, as the sun was coming down. The event at Karumadi was the evening nighbourhood meeting and the paddling distance was for an hour or so. We landed at the Karumadi jetty, close to the statue of Buddha, locally called as “Karumadi Kuttan". The statue is carved in black granite and is revered by the locals as their village deity. The statue has its left half missing, as if, a sword had gone right through. The evening function was in the statue compound; located far off from habitation, by the canal bank and next to a thicket. The locals were trickling in as temporary lights were assembled for the interactive session. The program was the first of the 2 evening neighborhood meetings that we felt were good, the other one being Muhamma. 

It was full moon and we had planned to kayak from Karumadi to Allapuzha, in the moon light. We had seen the moon rise, bright red; seen her mellow down yellow. One of our colleague had a call to take and after the meeting we left him to have dinner, the time was past 9PM. After the program the local electrician had disconnected the power, removed all the lights; the place was now dark and we had walked back using our headlights. We came back and found our colleague in conversation with a local guy, whom we had noticed hanging around from the time we landed at the jetty. He had maintained his distance then and now, he was talking and talking. There was a dog with him that had no sense of personal space, it would come so close as if it were a pet cat and had to be shooed away every time. The guy who was silent all through the evening was now verbose, he was tall and thin, with long hair left open, an air of booze hanged around him and he had some presence (same presence that our corporate leaders put a lot of effort building). He would not let his conversation stop, the subject varied from what he did to the legends of the statue and Karumadi itself. As we pushed him to leave, he told us something spooky. He told us to look around at 12AM to see a lighted walking stone lamp. "lighted stone lamp walking"...the time was past 10 and my sense of fear rose. The locals had shared how days back, a young man had died, while collecting clams few hundred meter from where we were. He reiterated that the "walking stone lamp" was  not happy with the deceased. I could literally see grandpa narrating ghost stories to me as a kid; his encountering at night a water ghost that wanted to topple his boat loaded with harvested paddy stalks. Goosebumps appeared all over and I felt creepy as the guy disappeared into the darkness. 

We had planned to sleep until 1AM and then kayak under full moon night. I did not want my buddies to know how scared I was as they were unmoved. The fear was taking hold and I succeeded in somehow convincing that we leave Karumadi at 10PM. It was couple of days later, I shared how scared I felt that night at Karumadi. 

I am not sure if ghost do exist, but the ghost of Karumadi had got us evicted and shifted our plans!

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The Dalavapuram incident!

Mr. Shafeeq, Mathrubhumi Kollam, at Puthiyacavu Central School, Kureepuzha, Kollam.

We launched from the Kollam boat jetty around 11AM, after the flag off ceremony. The first stop was at the Puthiyacavu Central School, Kureepuzha.

Kayakers with Principal, Staff and Students of Puthiyacavu Central School, Kureepuzha, Kollam.

The school program was the first we did, we shared what we observed during our trip from Changanacherry to Kollam, how the waterways are important to all life forms and how we are connected to it; story telling about how heavy metal contamination affects our health; culminating in heavy metal awareness poster distribution. After the school program, we left for Dalavapuram by 4PM.

Route from Kollam to Dalavapuram, Day-1 waypoint.

On the way we decided not to follow the buoys indicating the National Water Way, NW3, and got stuck in the mud flats, as the Ashtamudi Lake was having a low tide. Murugan Krishnan, gets the experience of  pushing the kayak, as it gets stuck. One of the best backwaters in Kerala, the least polluted, Ashtamudi Lake is a treat for your eyes and mind.

Mangroves of the Ashtamudi Lake, Kollam, Kerala.

The setting sun gave sheen to the mangroves, birds and leaping fish that we saw en-route. By around 6PM, we could see the Dalavapuram Bridge, arching in the horizon. We were told to land on the western side of the bridge for the evening neighbourhood meeting. As we approached the bridge, we heard loud calls and found a group of 10 or more hooligans shouting, "handover the kayaks....we will drop boulders from the bridge". They were running helter-skelter and one bunch was seen getting down from the bridge, coming straight for us. We grew tense and called the sponsors, who asked us to call the local representative. As the tide was receding and the hooligans were becoming more vocal, we decided to stay in the back waters after crossing the bridge. They kept shouting at us, as we masked our fear and decided not to acknowledge. We pulled close to a Chinese fishing net operator and stuck a conversation with him. All along, the fear of the hooligans reaching us in small boats or wading over, loomed.

Murugan Krishan leading the neighbour hood meeting, Dalavapuram.

It was when we connected with the local panchayat representative did we feel relieved. We were asked to head to the eastern side of the bridge and landed there. A few locals were there to help, having heard our experience. One of them was Mr. Joseph, a retired Indian Railway employee, who served most of his time in Mumbai. He accompanied us to the St. Joseph’s Church, Thekkumbhagom, situated close to the bridge and assured us of all protection. Mr. Joseph held the post till we came back from the neighbourhood meeting at 10PM and had secured permission from the Pastor for us to camp at the Church premises. Joseph uncle was our saviour that day, he got us dinner, stayed late until we had put our tents and decided to sleep. Sleep did not come, and we got up in the middle of the night, hearing commotion at the Church Jetty. We woke up and saw fishermen landing their catch of Crabs and Crayfish! 

At 4AM, Joseph uncle woke us up and helped us close the camp, have the morning tea and to bid goodbye to Dalavapuram. What started as a situation was now the pleasant feeling of meeting a good samaritan. We said our goodbyes to Joseph uncle and promised to meet him on our next trip. He kept in touch by calling all days, to hear more about how the expedition was progressing. We have kept in touch with him and as we plan our waypoint for NW3-K4-2015, we have Dalavapuram as our Day-1 halt. We look forward to meet Joseph uncle and re-live our experience from Jan 2014.

A lot many angels like Jospeh uncle blessed us during NW3, Jan 2014, thanks to them, we completed the expedition.

Murugan Krishnan, the only person to have pushed a vehicle on road and water! 

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