A SOUND PIERCES the still night. Half-asleep and with a racing heart buried in a soufflé of pillows, I try to match objects with the source. Obvious ones first: thief, dried plantain leaves, wind whooshing in with a ghost-like flamboyance. Latter ones, all an exercise in imagination—a lost beach ball looking for a five-year-old, a boat finding its way through land. In Kuttanad, it’s easy to play Proust and sleeplessly ponder about the fluidity of one’s existence.
Who are these people, I wonder, as I toss and turn in my Airbnb, who can feel at ease in strange hotel rooms under the unfamiliar weight of a new quilt? I give in and switch on the banana fibre lamp. It is then that the most comforting of sounds arrives: September rain, soft as a lullaby, taps on the clay roof tiles of the restored warehouse. Comfort and courage well up again.
The culprit eventually turns out to be a white puppy wrestling a wet umbrella that had been propped against my door. I fish a Sinarest tablet from my pouch. The glass stands half full on the bedside table. In our everyday life, I realise abruptly, water is a utility— tamed and quantified, predictably confined in glasses and measuring cups. Sometimes dripping from taps or tiles.
But here in Kuttanad, where the land is flanked by the Arabian Sea on one side and patrolled by the flowing rivers on the other, life adheres to the whims of water. Its ebb and flow shapes not just the landscape but also the portraits of its inhabitants. This year, the town had to wait for the monsoon. September brings much-needed relief, but ever since the 2018 floods they are not quick to rejoice. Very delicate, this dance with anticipation and anxiety.
Bu hikaye VOGUE India dergisinin November - December 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye VOGUE India dergisinin November - December 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Breathe In, Breathe Out
A powerful tool to help you master your nervous system or another biohacking buzzword? SIMONE DHONDY explores the inhalations and exhalations of breathwork
Red Pill, Blue Pill
India's nutraceutical industry is booming thanks to advanced technology, distrust of the medical system and rising vanity. With multivitamins becoming purer and more effective, NIDHI GUPTA finds out if supplements have become the new serum
Sign of the times
No longer do you need to have an answer to, \"What is the significance of this?\" when people point to your new tattoo. ARMAN KHAN discovers that everything is on the table when you get inked temporarily
Return to form
Watching the world's most elite athletes deliver the best performances of their careers rekindled SONAKSHI SHARMA's own love for sports
Dimple, All Day
YOU MAY HAVE WATCHED HER ON THE BIG SCREEN FOR OVER FIVE DECADES, BUT DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING THAT YOU KNOW DIMPLE KAPADIA.
MUSIC, TAKE CONTROL
As someone who had always sought safety in numbers, ALIZA FATMA often wondered what her own company would feel like. The answer arrived unexpectedly when she attended her first-ever music festival, one of the largest in the world, all alone
Let it grow
When we think of hardworking farmers toiling in India's scorching heat, we often think of men, the sweat on their brow, the sinews in their arms. JYOTI KUMARI speaks to four women who are championing the invisible female labour that keeps these fields running
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
When armless archer Sheetal Devi set her sights on the Paralympic Games this year, she knew she had a tough journey ahead of her. Luckily, her mother was with her every step of the way.
Beauty and the feast
The appeal of Indian weddings has always been in a sprawling spread. For additional bragging rights, Aditi Dugar recommends going beyond designer tablecloths and monogrammed napkins.
Sweet serendipity
From a scavenger hunt-inspired proposal to a Moroccan-themed baraat, Malvika Raj and Armaan Rai's love story prioritised playfulness throughout their blended celebrations.