Krishnapuram Palace, Kerala

This historical palace was built in the 18th century during the reign of Marthanda Varma, the legendary King of Tranvancore. Situated near Kayamkulam, Kerala,  this three storeyed building was used as a temporary house for the royal kings. When you are travelling through NH-47, from Kochi to Kollam, after  Kayamkulam bus stand,  you can see a board indicating the direction to the Palace which is just half kms from the main road.

The palace is also an excellent example of the  Kerala style Architecture. After taking entry tickets and crossing the main gate, you will reach the entrance gate of this palace which is a traditional Padippura (entry of a house).

The palace has four Nadumuttoms ( Central Court yards ) popularly known as 16 kettu ( 4 each for one Nadumuttom) and 22 rooms in ancient Kerala architecture style.

You can see the exhibits of some antique items too.

Another exhibit is a pallakku - used by  the King to travel-  which was carried by servants on their shoulders. A Bible written in Sanskrit is another attraction.  The west side of the Palace is a big pond.

There is an entry to the pond from the middle of house which is called as "Kula Kadavu" in local language . This entry is used to bathe in the pond and one can reach here by climbing down the brick steps .

Another attraction in the palace is an exhibit of the Gajendra Moksham, which is the largest single piece of mural painting so far discovered in Kerala.  The painting is placed at the entrance to the palace from the pond.  According to the legend, the king used to pay his homage to Lord Vishnu just after his bath from the pond. There are few mural pictures on the walls which are damaged with time.

Mural of Gajendra Moksham.

Clay tile flooring have been used on the floors.  You can watch the kitchen  of the palace and the articles used during those times.

One can find a huge collection of rare antique bronze sculptures, wood sculptures, coins, megalithic remains and mural paintings.  The palace also houses exhibites of  a big collection of old coins used in the earlier time.Bigger coin in the picture is Chakram and the Smaller one Kashu.

Another attraction is Rasi palaka ( the coin board) - a wooden board with small niches used to count small coins and  coins mints.

There are halls were the King conducted his meetings,inner balconies,balcony with a view to the rear pond. Roof is made of solid wood. All rooms have natural ventilated windows.

Traditional interior of  the palace is noteworthy.  Around the room, there is a walkway covered by wooden rafter work. There are stairs made of wooden steps.

You can find a well attached to the building.  Through the front side windows, you will get a beautiful view of  padippura and entry gate.

There are displays of old swords of the King. I saw the famous ‘Kayamkulam Vaal (Sword)’ – a double sided sharpened sword used by the King.

Then I came out of the palace to watch the surroundings.  In the middle of the garden is an old Anchal box with a conical sign. It is made of cast iron brought from England. There are around 150 such boxes in various places in kersla.

From the left side of the entry gate, you can watch a beautiful statue of Buddha and Buddha Mandapam ( hall). It is said that the Buddha statue was recovered from a pond.

A must-visit for all art and history lovers

Visiting time:
All days of week, except Monday, from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm

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A cruise through Alappuzha Backwaters

I had visited most of the places in my home state Kerala, but had missed out the Alappuzha boat ride. So me and my wife decided to spend a day in Alappuzha. We started our journey at around 9 AM from Kochi after a heavy break fast.  With my old favorite Malayalam songs, the car drive was enjoyable. After a 60 minute drive we reached Alappuzha at around 10 AM. Being tired, I decided to have a refreshing cup of tea from Hotel Araam ( KTDC restaurant) .

Then we went to the District Promotion Tourism Council Office at Alappuzha.  There we were informed about the various types of house-boats and shikara packages that they have. Both motor boats and Shikara boats are available but motor boat seems to be more safe.  So we selected a Rs.400 per hour plan for 3 hours. By that time our guide, Mr.Rajendran (we called him Rajendran Chettan), who was also the driver of the motorboat, was also ready .

When we reached the place, we could see hundreds of boats lined up.



Shikara boats

Beautiful house boat

We also saw a snake boat (local name  "Chundan Vallam") parked near the bank. The boats are more than 100 feet long and  this one was oared by 100 people during the famous Kerala boat race held every year. He also showed us the starting and finishing point of Nehru trophy boat race which is held in August every year.

Snake Boat or Chundan Vallam used for Nehru trophy boat race

Rajendran Chettan asked us to sit atop  the boat. I kept clicking away my camera throughout the journey. In between Rajendran Chetten took my camera and clicked our photos too. 



The boat went through the waterways, the air was cool and the breeze was too relaxing. It was an amazing sight to see Kuttanad especially the paddy fields, fish farms, coconut trees, water birds, temples, Church, School ,houses on either side of the waterway and life of the people.

paddy fields - Kuttanad



After about  an hour of  the ride we reached the Vembanad Lake, the longest lake in India. One side of the lake directs to Kollam, another to Kumarakom and another to Kochi.

 Like bus stand, these are boat stands.

fish farm

One  interesting view was an election campaign using a  boat which we usually see in jeeps or cars on land. 

Election campaign through lake

We got to see the village life from the boat ... women washing clothes, men fishing. Villager's use small boats as their private vehicle .

They  also use their private boat for transporting goods like coconuts etc etc.

We saw many house boats and we were updated  with interesting bits of information like number of boats, places to visit nearby etc etc.  

Pathira-manal an island which is also a bird sanctuary was also spotted during the ride. 

Overall it  was an amazing experience to travel through Alappuzha backwaters.

What else you can do in Alappuzha: 

1) You can roam around the city of Alappuzha by hiring an Auto Rickshaw, Taxi cab, two wheelers and bikes.

2) Ayurvedic Massage centers are available

3) Shopping around Alappuzha

4) There are some churches and temples around the resort, which you can reach by waterway or by walk. Some of the most beautiful options are Chettikulangara Devi Temple, Chakkulathukavu Temple, Amabalapuzha Sreekrishna Swami temple, Mannarashala temple, Haripad Subramanya Swami temple, Mullakkal Bhagavathi Temple, Alappuzha CSI Christ Church, St Xavier’s Chapel Church near Alappuzha Beach, and Edathua Church Alappuzha, and Jain Temple Alappuzha. Most of the places can be accessed by a private vehicle or local transport.

 

How to reach Alappuzha :

The popular routes are railways and airways.

- From the nearest Cochin International Airport (COK), the distance of Alappuzha town is around 83 km.
- The distance of Alappuzha town from Alappuzha Railway station is around 4 Km.
- K.S.R.T.C Bus stand is located near to DTPC office.

For House Boat/Shikara booking you can contact:

The Secretary,DTPC

Boat Jetty Road,
Near K.S.R.T.C Bus Stand,Alappuzha
Ph: 2251796,2253308

www.dtpcalappuzha.com

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Durgotsav 2015 in Mumbai

Yet another festival I was waiting for after Ganpati festival. Durga Puja in Mumbai has all authentic spirit of celebration and splendor of the festival of Bengalis.  I was wandering through the streets of Mumbai to visit puja pandals....I saw Durga Pandal of Navi Mumbai Bengali Association at  Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Sports Ground, Sector 1A, Vashi, Navi Mumbai.  It was amazing.

Pandal hopping is almost like a tradition when it comes to Durga Puja and Bengalis. The pandal was decorated lavishly with superior design and lightning.


The 16 feet-tall Durga idol was draped in an original Banarasi saree studded with ornaments made of seashells. Various gods were decorated beautifully. The walls were decorted with electric wires and bulbs.


The vast area of the compound were filled with stalls selling food, cloths etc etc. They also arranged musical and dance events during the Puja.  Durga Puja is definitely a festival to look out for especially those who love celebrations, mouth watering sweets, dance and music. 

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Andharban Valley Trek

Andharban means a dark dense forest.  It is situated in Mulshi Taluka of Pune district, Maharashtra , India.

We started off our journey from Mumbai to Pimpari village by around 12:30 am .  It is almost 150 kms journey to reach the place in the early morning.  After breakfast and a brief introductory session, we headed towards the valley. There was a small dam with beautiful hills in the background.

Small farmlands and wild flowers captivated us as we crossed the small paths that lead to the hills. The trail continued to Independence Point along the valley sides. After a few minutes of walk, we reached the mouth of the valley.  Actual Andharban trek starts through the right side from here. But we decided to move ahead with a sudden descend into the valley.

The view coupled with wild flowers,  Bhira Dam at the end point, sky high mountains and tranquility  will surprise you.

Andharban has good flora in monsoon and there are  lots of things to see around.

It is a descend trek, where you are already on height and you will be descending till the end.  It is one of the most beautiful trek with lots of things to explore. The real test of endurance begins now.  There were few rock patches  and all of us crossed it without major hurdles. Then the group continued the walk through the rocks by climbing and jumping.

The light rays falling from different directions into the valley created some beautiful shades.

There were few more rock patches without a proper path and were difficult too. Not many trekkers would have chosen this path for Andharban trek before.  Volunteer's helped others to descend.  Those who had already crossed, got an opportunity to take some rest. It was somewhat difficult for first time trekkers.

There were small waterfalls on our way and we took few minutes break to click photographs. There were few rappelling patches and it took more time for all trekkers to descend.

The rock patches were difficult and there were no steps or hand rails to descend. The  descending is not that simple as it appears.

After crossing some big rocks, we reached a vast area with 2-3 waterfalls . The continuous sound of the waterfalls started hitting our ears in the silence.  The we walked towards the waterfall.  After a nice bath, we opened our food packets.

As you walk forward, the mountains slowly open up and start giving you a glimpse of the valley ahead.

Soon we reached the exit point of the valley. We were in the middle of nowhere. There was no proper way to descend and a huge valley was ahead us. We did not have proper equipment or guide to rappel down and we decided to stop our descend. 

The trek  took 4 hours altogether. It was around 3.00 PM when we started our ascending. This was new in this particular trek. By around 7 PM we reached the top of the valley. The last and final challenge is the long walk through the end of the valley to a village which marks the end of the trek.

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Take a walk through Dadar Chowpatty, Mumbai

Dadar Chowpatty (near Shivaji Park) is  one of the places in suburban Mumbai where you could chill.

A SMALL GARDEN FACING THE SEA

The beach is  at a  walkable distance from Shivaji Park and  has two entrances, one from South and the other from North.  From North side, you can enter through  ‘Veer Baji Prabhu Udyan’, a garden connected to the beach. A big arch gate welcomes you when you cross the garden.

A big arch gate near Veer Baji Prabhu Udyan, Dadar Chowpatty, Mumbai

CHAITYA BHOOMI

Another entrance is through Chaitya Bhoomi. This is the place where Dr B. R. Ambedkar – who wrote the Constitution of India and is one of the founding fathers of our nation – was cremated . The main attractions of this place are - a memorial in the name of Dr B. R. Ambedkar ,  a Buddhist stupa, a torana (a Buddhist gateway) and a replica of the Ashoka Pillar.

Chaitya Bhoomi, Dadar, Mumbai

SUNSET VIEW

People come here to enjoy silence, breeze, sunset view and the giant view of Bandra Worli Sea Link bridge.

Sunset at Dadar Chowpatty, Mumbai

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The Making of Goddess Durga in Mumbai

Two months back, I had an opportunity to visit a workshop in Parel, Mumbai  where  idols of Lord Ganesha were made . It  was a wonderful experience to see the making of the idols of the elephant-god. So I decided to visit a workshop making idols of  Goddess Durga, as well, at Dadar, Mumbai. 

Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura marking the triumph of good over evil.  Durga as a warrior goddess carry the most lethal weapons in her arms and rides on  a lion. 

Unfinished works-  at Dadar, Mumbai

When I entered the workshop,  I saw scores of idols in various stages of their making. There were finished and unfinished idols in the workshop. Most of the statues are made of clay, painted and later on decorated with sarees, hair, ornaments and weaponry.

 Artists gives finishing touches to an idol at a workshop in Dadar, Mumbai

There was a wide variety of idols varying from small to larger sizes, different shapes, vibrant colors and designs.

The idols are then transported in trucks or by cars to the places of worship. It was a great experience to see the creation of idols, which later I would  see in pandals

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A walk down the Suruchi Beach,Vasai(West), Maharashtra

 

Situated about 45-55 kms away from Mumbai and surrounded with lush green trees, this eco-friendly beach is one of the best place for relaxing.  A Facebook post is all it took me to join for a Photowalk at Suruchi Beach, Vasai (West), Maharashtra, India. These photos were taken during the walk.

The smoke portraits

One of the best experience was sitting on the wet land and watching the waves come and go.

You can also enjoy a  horse cart ride or a horse ride.

As the evening descended upon us, we decided to leave the beach. The sun was about to set. The horizon  was stained with a mixture of orange, yellow and dark blue hues.

Sunset at Suruchi Beach,Vasai(West),Maharashtra

We had a beautiful time out there and were happy to find such an amazing place near Mumbai.

How to reach :

On Mumbai Western Railway,  alight at Vasai Road Station west side.

Take auto directly for Suruchi Beach.
From auto stop, a short walk will take you to the entrance of the Beach.

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