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GO TRAVEL  ALLEPPEY

ALLEPPEY’S HIDDEN DELIGHTS There are the sea and backwaters, of course, but this charming town in has several other attractions, discovers Ankita S

lleppey’s mainstay used to be the coir and paddy industries. After all, , known as the ‘rice bowl of ’, is located in , as it is also known. Today, tourism and the houseboat business keep the city’s A economy buoyant. But as Saju Thomas, the General Manager of Ramada Alleppey told us, the government is smart enough to have the houseboats dock elsewhere to preserve the beauty of one of Kerala’s best known coastal towns. We embarked on a day-long tour of Alleppey city, a departure from the usual houseboat cruise routine. Our driver took us to the Revi Karuna Karan Memorial Museum of his own accord — a private art collection that was probably worth a visit but we were keener on seeing the International Coir Museum. The array of paintings, creatures and objects creatively fashioned from coir convinced us that we made the right choice. Most striking among the artefacts were a tall Ganesha, a 3†D installation of a rural scene in Kerala and a replica of the Baha’i Lotus Temple in made of coir. The museum also walked us through the fascinating ’s coir industry.

Go Alleppey FIN.indd 86-87 11/27/17 9:41 PM GO TRAVEL  ALLEPPEY

ALLEPPEY’S HIDDEN DELIGHTS There are the sea and backwaters, of course, but this charming town in Kerala has several other attractions, discovers Ankita S lleppey’s mainstay used to be the coir and paddy industries. After all, Kuttanad, known as the ‘rice bowl of India’, is located in Alappuzha, as it is also known. Today, tourism and the houseboat business keep the city’s A economy buoyant. But as Saju Thomas, the General Manager of Ramada Alleppey told us, the government is smart enough to have the houseboats dock elsewhere to preserve the beauty of one of Kerala’s best known coastal towns. We embarked on a day-long tour of Alleppey city, a departure from the usual houseboat cruise routine. Our driver took us to the Revi Karuna Karan Memorial Museum of his own accord — a private art collection that was probably worth a visit but we were keener on seeing the International Coir Museum. The array of paintings, creatures and objects creatively fashioned from coir convinced us that we made the right choice. Most striking among the artefacts were a tall Ganesha, a 3†D installation of a rural scene in Kerala and a replica of the Baha’i Lotus Temple in Delhi made of coir. The museum also walked us through the fascinating history of Kerala’s coir industry.

Go Alleppey FIN.indd 86-87 11/27/17 9:41 PM go travel | alleppey

Above: The coir museum takes visitors through Coir is of course a fibre extracted from hear the sweet refrains of Christian the fascinating history of Kerala’s coir industry husk, and commonly used hymns in from one of the in doormats, brushes and mattresses. smaller annexes. We spent a while Many such items were also available admiring the stained-glass windows, for sale at the museum. But most elegantly curved stairs leading to the interestingly, we could see young dais and the wooden confession box. women (and a few men) carefully I marvelled at the diocese’s ability to spinning coir through various protect the white church from contraptions to make usable objects. any signs of the murky . According to Thomas, Alleppey even The view from the lighthouse was hosts an international coir festival spectacular — we could see all of in December that attracts a lot of Alleppey laid out before us like a map international buyers. Incidentally, including the beach in the distance, most of the organisers and participants a few urban settlements and tons of set up base at the conveniently located greenery. As our driver said, Keralites Ramada Alleppey. love trees and the government fines Our next stop was Alleppey Beach anyone who hews a tree even if it’s on and Lighthouse. But en route, a pretty private property. But this view came white church caught our eye and at a cost – a long and steep climb on we decided to explore the hallowed precariously narrow steps at times. grounds of Our Lady of Mount Carmel There is also a small museum outside Cathedral. It was a Friday, and while the lighthouse, displaying the various the main church was empty, we could instruments used in its operation. As per a notice at the museum, “The first We spent a while admiring the stained-glass windows, generation lighthouses were bonfires lit on rocks and hillocks. Then came elegantly curved stairs leading to the dais and the the era of wick lamps, petroleum wooden confession box. I marvelled at the diocese’s vapour lamps, electric arc lamps, ability to protect the ivory white church from any electric incandescent lamps, electric discharge lamps and the latest are signs of the murky monsoons. LED lights.” A student of engineering

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go travel | alleppey

Clockwise from top left: Alleppey is famous for its boat races; The lighthouse at Alleppey; Traditional off-white and saris worn by women in Kerala, especially on festive occasions

Alleppey is about 80 km could possibly spend hours examining compelled us to return to the comforts from airport. GoAir the particular facets of each device. of Ramada Alleppey was a handloom operates direct flights The beach was a short walk away and centre called Alayam, where to Kochi from , the water, as in many beaches across we could see workers weave the , Bengaluru and with convenient Kerala, was fiercely turbulent and traditional off-white and gold saris connections from Delhi, also refreshingly clean. The cloudy that women don. The work Jaipur, and sky rendered the water a dull grey but seemed quite monotonous and yet, Lucknow. For more every fresh wave brought with it a the weavers went about their work in information, log on to www.GoAir.in shower of bright white suds. a rhythmic fashion, quite oblivious of Our final destination before dusk our curious eyes.

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