Vacation at last

So after a year and a half we finally managed to take a vacation. For full 3 days in lush green Kerala. The Husband (henceforth referred to as H) read about the Chambakulam Boat Race in Kerala in one of the in-flight magazines and since we live by the book and do things that are written in books we had to see this boat race. So calls were made, flight bookings done and we were set for the first vacation of the Daughter's (henceforth referred as D) life. My friend from from Kerala told us of this resort near Allepey called Keraleeyam which, according to him, was awesome (on further probing the awesomeness had a lot to do with the cottages having open bathrooms).

Keraleeyam is a very pretty and cozy place. Not too big. Though it was huge for us as we were the only guests there. Off season you see. Though we would have liked not to feel like morons who have no idea when to holiday, it was a blessing as we got great service and D received a lot of attention by all the staff. She in turn put on quite a show, cooing and gurgling to all and sundry (yes H, this is a good word to use here and it is used in common parlance - there again!), extending her arms to be picked up by strangers.


This is the cottage we stayed in.

The food was extremely good. They do not serve pre-prepared food so you have to give your order at least 2 hours in advance. The Kerala preparations were really yummy. Unfortunately there aren't too many of those on the menu. The other preparations are quite interesting. We ordered egg-chilly one night. I didn't know in Kerala egg bhurji adorned with curry leaves becomes egg chilly.

The boat race was good fun. Everyone was out there to have fun and there was a lot of energy and music all around. Guess a lot of it had to do with ample liquor consumed. Whatever it was, the atmosphere was quite infectious and you suddenly felt uplifted. The snake boats with numerous rows of men dressed in white looked awesome. On each boat there were some 5-6 people standing in the centre cheering the rowers. They packed in so much energy and enthusiasm in the cheering. A lot of old men in the cheerleaders. Loved the rhythm in the rowing and cheering.I was delighted to spot 2 women teams too. I later learnt from the newspaper that they were participating in an exhibition race. Sigh!

Some observations:

1. D is very social as mentioned above. She also loves books or just likes the taste of paper. She would discard all her toys and attack whatever we were reading.
2. Once you have a baby, you can spend the entire vacation without reading a book.
3. Not everyone has the appetite for an open bathroom.
4. When you are in the bathroom and the water runs out, its not enough to shout out "There is no water" to husband. You need to say, "There is no water. Please call the reception so that I can get water in the bathroom. This will help me complete my bath." Anything less specific and you may come out of the bathroom minutes later to find your husband engrossed in his book. When you express your disbelief you will learn that husbands wait to discuss the situation at hand before they take action!
5. A showroom of GM cars can be poetically called GeeYem Motors (P) Ltd.
6. When a Mallu friend tells you that it can get cold in Kerala during monsoons, don't rush to pack 10 sweaters for the family. What he actually means is that there will be some breeze which will partially dry your perspiration!
7. Why is it so difficult to get tender coconut water in Kerala? It really beats me but we didn't manage to get it even once during are 3 day stay.