Kerala On Spotlight

Pearl by pearl I weaved a garland of memories.

- Bindu Saxena

You would vouch for it when I say that sometimes we travel to a place we have never thought of or heard of, but when the right time comes, it would be beautiful and worth the wait.

We land there without any forethought. My recent trip to Kerala is one such account of a chance meeting with someone.

I accompanied a friend to give a wedding invitation to our Keralite buddy. Her mother had come for a short stay with her daughter from Alappuzha.

She took us on a virtual tour of the serene Arookutty, a small village in this district, where the gorgeous Kerala backwaters welcome everyone to their humble abode and invited us to discover this peaceful holiday backdrop, its culture, natural beauty, and thrilling sights.

We accepted the invitation to create an album of memories I am waiting to share.

We booked a resort in Arookutty and tickets to Cochin International Airport, an hour and fifteen minutes away from this village. We checked in at our destination resort at about 3 am because the flights to Kochi from my city operate at midnight.

A bellboy took out our bags from the trunk, and we entered our suite.

The silence at that hour engulfed me with an eclectic blend of recreation and relaxation. I could not fathom anything except the tall coconut palm trees in their night view and the canopies of the cottages in the midnight light.

It was like our personal space to relax in the lap of nature.

I felt an aura of spirituality as I drew my room curtains.

My eyes witnessed a beautiful painting of a calm water body interspersed with shrubs and trees. The experience felt like a craft carefully borrowed from the natural environment. It was just nature and us! In this dead of night and the stillness of water without human life was as if the universe had decided to keep a secret. I was too late to keep from the cozy bed and blissfully went into a slumber.