A Wedding in Kerala
Our good friends and teammates, Kiran and Slider (Sarah), were adventurous enough to get married in Kerala, India on June 11th (the home state of Kiran's parents) and we were fortunate enough to be invited! India has been high on our life list of adventure destinations for a while, but we just weren't sure how or when we'd get there. So when we found out we would get a chance to celebrate their wedding with them in India, we decided to take advantage of our awesome jobs and travel for a month in southern India.
We left soon after school ended and almost the whole first week included planned activities around the wedding. However, Mike and I got in a bit sooner than the other guests, so spent one whole day sleeping and one day exploring around Thiruvananthapuram (British name: Trivandrum).
We both love (love, love!) Indian food so were excited to eat our way through the south. We're in vegetarian paradise, however Kerala (with its significant Christian population) is one of the only states in India where the slaughter of cows is permitted. The first night we walked through a monsoonal downpour (monsoon season starts in June) to an incredible little thali restaurant where we feasted on masala dosa, channa masala, poori, chutneys, etc. I'm enjoying being in a place where eating with your hands is the norm. =)
The next day we went to the TVRM (Trivandrum) Zoo and saw some amazing South Asian animals, which excited us for the rest of the trip, when we hope to do some wildlife viewing in some of the National Parks.
Asian Rhinoceros. Never seen a rhino like it. It looks like it's wearing body armor or chaps. This crow was perched on its back, probably eating insects off the rhino.
Some of the animal exhibits in the zoo were dilapidated and run down, but the topiaries out front were impeccable. Interesting funding priorities Government of Kerala!
Kerala is a particularly interesting state in India for a few reasons. First of all, it was the first democratically elected communist government in the world. Today that manifests itself not so much in the economic realm (which is capitalist), but in that there are a few different communist political parties that retain power in the parliamentary government. There are flags with the hammer and sickle everywhere.
Secondly, because of its coastal position on the very south western tip of India, it's been exposed to many different cultures through thousands of years of trade and attempted/successful conquering by outsiders. Starting with the Phoenicians, then Romans, Chinese, Arab traders from the Middle East, Portuguese, Dutch, and finally British. Because of this, you find remnants of many of these cultures in Kerala today. For example, the Islamic mosque above is situated right in front of a Christian church, which is right across the street from a Hindu temple. Not many other places in India will you find such an immediate and significant example of diverse cultures.
Other friends attending the wedding trickled in, and we all went out to dinner together a few days before the wedding. Scotty, Amanda, Matteo, Slider, and Kiran are pictured post-deliciousness.
The first day of organized activities included going to a historic palace called Padmanabhapuram Palace about 90 km southeast of TVRM.
The temple at Padmanabhapuram Palace.
Next we went to a waterfall that we were promised was 100 meters. We assumed that meant tall, but it actually was just overflow from a reservoir that stretched on for 100 meters wide. Kerala is a conservative state, and women swim and publicly bathe in their full on saris (see the women to the right of us). Mike got in the waterfall, only to hike to the top of the reservoir and find a rubbish filled waterscape...eck.
This very pretty blue wooden door served as the entrance to a Hindu temple next to the waterfall.
"Thank you...for our next number, body flexible." One of the evenings we were treated to a kalarippayat perfomance, an acrobatic mixed martial arts that originated in Southern India and apparently preceded (and therefore highly influenced the East Asian martial arts). It started innocently enough with choreographed hand to hand combat and then quickly escalated to them using more and more dangerous and spectacular weapons culminating in swinging fireballs and long steel whip ribbons.
Rubber is an important part of the Kerala economy and many people have rubber orchards on their land. This rubber tree was on the childhood home of Kiran's father, Jacob. To harvest the rubber, they cut the bark on a diagonal and let the liquid drain into the cup suspended below it. Growing wild on Jacob's land were also mangos, cashews, bananas, coconuts, pineapples, and pepper vine.
After collecting, the rubber liquid is processed and then pressed into sheets using this rubber press. It's then dried and rolled into large rolls to sell and ship off.
We ran into these students while near Jacob's home and spoke to them about their schooling. Students attend school from Monday through Saturday from around 10:00 to 3:00. Education is big business in India, and students choose between public schools and many private (mostly religiously oriented) schools.
One of the days we spent some time cruising around the famed Kerala backwaters. They are a combination of lakes, rivers, estuaries, and canals that served as a very convenient trade route into interior Kerala for easy access to crops like rice and spices. Another important industry in the backwaters is fishing (for delicious Keralan fish curry), hence the huge fishing nets that line the backwaters.
The infrastructure in India is hit or miss. So the backwaters serve as both water source and source of waste disposal. The outhouses are built right over the water, and all of the stuff floating is trash...lots and lots of trash.
Another shot from the backwaters.
A traditional banana leaf meal with pickled mango, coconut chutney, beet root chutney, coconut chutney, and rice with coconut curry and chicken masala. We also had the Kerala staple of fish cooked in coconut leaves. Delicious! Eating off of a banana leaf is a great no waste meal since when you are finished you just roll it up and feed it to your cow!
