You should never miss, when you travel to Kerala, is to have a cruise through the backwaters.
Do you know what backwaters are ?? Back waters are inland waterbodies which looks like nerves running through the body of land. Yes, actually these are nerves, when you take a close look at the agrarian life of the Kuttanad. The people of Kuttanad, can live with out food, water or even a breathe, but they cannot live with out these backwaters. Backwaters are very much twined with the life style of the people here. They travel through the backwaters, they do fishing in the backwaters, they use water from the backwaters..so on and so forth.
House boats are olden day rice boats, which were used to carry the harvest from one part of the other safely. These boats were even used as the summer houses by rich families of alleppy. These boats are very strong that they can hold upto 40 tonnes of matter at a time while cruise.
Now these are a familiar sight on the backwaters and in Alleppey alone, there are as many as 150 houseboats.
While converting kettuvallams into houseboats, care is taken to use only natural products. Bamboo mats, sticks and wood of the aracanut tree are used for roofing, coir mats and wooden planks for the flooring and wood of coconut trees and coir for beds. For lighting though, solar panels are used.
Today,the houseboats have all the creative comforts of a good hotel including furnished bedrooms, modern toilets, cozy living rooms, a kitchen and even a balcony for angling. Parts of the curved roof of wood or plaited palm open out to provide shade and allow uninterrupted views. While most boats are poled by local oarsmen, some are powered by a 40 HP engine. Boat-trains - formed by joining two or more houseboats together -are also used by large groups of sight-seers. What is truly magical about a houseboat ride is the breathtaking view of the untouched and otherwise inaccessible rural Kerala that it offers - while you float!
Now, wouldn't that be something?
