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