A mere 20 ft separated the back of the house from the backwaters. The long languid rear veranda sporting traditional wooden recliners faced the waterway across a small yard. Ripening jack fruits and off-season mangoes hung from gnarled old trees, while slender coconut and areca palms swayed in the light breeze. Green was everywhere — from the lush tropical foliage and rectangular lawns to patches of moss on tiled roofs and tufts of grass poking from paved pathways and the pebble strewn yard.
I was in Akkarakalam Memoirs, a 150-year-old traditional Kerala house transformed into a homestay. Just 80 km south of Kochi past the charming coastal town of Alappuzha and a short drive into the Changanacherry Road, the homestay lies quietly by the waterfront within a 10-acre plot — a world away from urban cacophony. Life here moved at a sedate pace, totally tied to the rhythms of the earth — imbued with a simple rusticity and a soporific air.
And you get to taste that right after check-in. There's nothing flashy about the heritage rooms. Rather, it carries the peace and tranquillity of generations of its previous occupants. The furniture is the same; four poster beds, wooden tables and chairs and wardrobes, all polished and restored to their original sheen. And professional housekeeping sees to it that creature comforts are maintained — in five air-conditioned rooms and two cottages.
Contemporary comfort
The bathrooms though have been given a complete makeover — and brought to contemporary standards. But most of the original features of the house have been left intact: A wooden grain cellar called Para, aged doors and windows and flooring, wooden stairway bringing to life a forgotten era and such other venerable symbols, all restored fairly well. The front veranda has been transformed into the dining hall, but with present-day furniture and gleaming cutlery.
Food conforms to traditional Kerala cuisine, starting with puttu and appams for breakfast to rice, fish and poultry for lunch and dinner. Add an assortment of spicy vegetarian preparations and other accompaniments and you get classic Kerala food served in a fairly contemporary setting.
But it's the famed waterways of Kerala that's the USP of the place. The unique backwaters — an interlinked network of canals and lakes spanning 450 km from Thiruvananthapuram to Vadakara — create picture postcard scenes of a delightful interplay between verdant earth and winding waterways. Of this, the biggest waterbody Vembanad Lake, stretches from Kodungallur in the north to Alappuzha in the south. And when the rains arrive in early June, the backwaters cast a spell with their effusive charm, compelling even the most harried urbanite to slow down and look, to soak in its sensory riches. And that is best done by undertaking a motorboat cruise. It's a delightful experience, and is complimentary for in-house guests. But the experience is heightened to another level when you step into a houseboat for a day cruise or for an overnight stay in the Vembanad Lake. Plush air-conditioned bedrooms, elegant dining room and a cosy sitting area upfront, all add to the uniqueness of the experience. A perfect means of exploring a magical land conjured up by land and water.
