Travel With Rithu

One early morning, I woke up tired but excited. You know why? We were going to a houseboat in my father’s hometown, Alappuzha, in Kerala! I was so excited about it, partly because I had never been in a houseboat, and partly because I was so curious about what the exterior and the interior of the houseboat would look like. As we set off in the car, I grew more and more excited about the trip until one question came to mind: Is anybody coming with us? So I asked my dad, and he said, “Yes.” I asked, “Who?” and he replied, “A few of my old friends.” After talking some more, I went back to the backseat and looked through the window. About 1 hour later, we ate breakfast at my mom’s friend’s house. Then, again, we set off to the houseboat which was not far away anymore. When we reached the houseboat, I was stunned, as it was so huge and magnificent! The houseboat’s roof was made out of coconut leaves, which made it look like the one on the hut. The rest looked like a boat.

Since my dad’s friends had not arrived by then, we had to wait for a while, so when they arrived, we all took a good group photo, and we went inside. The interior looked just like a hotel, as there were lots of lights, so many artistic designs on the walls, and the floors were paneled in wood.

After lots of playing and chattering, we all went to our rooms to refresh. At noon, it was lunchtime. I felt that it was a good time to eat lunch as I was very hungry. For lunch, we had a very famous meal in Kerala, SADHYA. In a Sadhya, generally there are lots of things, but we had a mini Sadhya. In the mini Sadhya, there was rice, sambar*, paapadom*, banana chips, puliserry*, salt, cabbage thoran*, long-beans fry, vegetable salad, and yummy samiya payasam*! By the time I finished eating, everybody was finished with the sadhya.

After lunch we played, chatted, e.t.c.. This went on until a motorboat came next to the dock and the driver said that he could give us a ride. So after a short discussion we agreed. Getting inside the motorboat itself was a bit hard, but I did it anyways.

By the time everybody got in, the fun started! First the ride was smooth then afterwards the driver did a few water-stunts like doing sudden breaks, leaning left and right, e.t.c.!

By the end of the trip, we were all absoulutely drenched. After changing clothes we went to another boat ride which was thankfully not a motorboat but a slow boat.

The scenery from the boat was fantastic, with coconut trees swaying to and fro, the calm rocking of the boat, the nice gentle breeze, and a beautiful view of the sunset.

After a few minutes, we stopped at a place called the shooting place (It’s a place to take photos, not to shoot with the gun!)

When we reached the houseboat, it was full of dazzling lights! One of my dad’s (now my friend too) friends went outside to buy a traditional snack called pazhampori*. After a bit more playing than chatting, we ate dinner. For dinner, there was appam*, daal (lentil curry), chicken fry, and kadala curry*. When everyone was content, we played a game of bluff and UNO and went to sleep.

The next day, everybody met in the dining room and got ready for breakfast. For breakfast, we had puttu* and kadala curry*. When everybody was content, we all said our goodbyes and went back to our homes.

Glossary

Sambar	Pulissery	Cabbage Thoran
A dish with a variety of vegetables, masalas, tamarind, and lentils	A curd based curry	Cabbage is shredded into tiny pieces and stir-fried with coconut and chilies
Paapadom	Appam	Samiya Payasam
A crispy food similar to papad, but oil-fried	A pancake made from rice. It has a very crispy crust and a thick, fluffy inside.	A very yummy dessert made with pure milk, raisins, cashews, and sev. (Talking about it itself makes my mouth water!)
Pazhampori	Puttu	Kadala Curry
Yummy fried banana covered with batter (Banana fritters)	Made from grated coconut and rice flour steamed together	Chickpea curry

Image Credits: All glossary images are sourced from Kerala Tourism (www.keralatourism.org)

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