[jacs]

Mixed feelings while I read this TL.

Happy that you came to my hometown and enjoyed the stay.

Sad that I could not meet you while you were here.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by jacs

Mixed feelings while I read this TL.

Happy that you came to my hometown and enjoyed the stay.

Sad that I could not meet you while you were here.

Hey jacs, that really was a miss.
Next time we will meet up for sure. I need to get some tips on some of the fruit trees still

[thecdkfactor]

Laluji,

That were some of the best food photographs I have seen recently. Its lunch time and you have made me salivate looking at the monitor

Would love to hear more on tat cottage from you. Any recommendations for good eat outs?

[v&v]

Lalu , this is an awesome TL. Kumarakom visit is long pending for us too. Was there in Mid April for a family function and got time to visit Thattekad Bird Sanctuary. (Also know as Salim Ali bird park)

Was initially planning to visit the same bird sanctuary. Got the feedback that best time for this BS is from Oct - Jan. Lots of migratory birds can be spotted.

Is this CM resort a new one ? How are the facilities ?

[laluks]

Originally Posted by thecdkfactor

Laluji,

That were some of the best food photographs I have seen recently. Its lunch time and you have made me salivate looking at the monitor

Would love to hear more on tat cottage from you. Any recommendations for good eat outs?

The cottage is from Club Mahindra, Kumarakom. Food options are limited here, since they cater to a wide audience.

There are plenty of possibilities outside, but we loved the family parlour with those choices. We were not able to taste all the choices, though we were there for 5 days.

Originally Posted by v&v

Lalu , this is an awesome TL. Kumarakom visit is long pending for us too. Was there in Mid April for a family function and got time to visit Thattekad Bird Sanctuary. (Also know as Salim Ali bird park)

Was initially planning to visit the same bird sanctuary. Got the feedback that best time for this BS is from Oct - Jan. Lots of migratory birds can be spotted.

Is this CM resort a new one ? How are the facilities ?

Thattekadu and the other areas, I have a friend who is calling me since ages. I must do that one day. Birds - the best is to go to Kuttanad during those seasons.

I guess this was with CM since an year. It's a bit old property, renovation is due as I could infer. Alacarte choices are not ok for a hardcore mallu looking out for authentic Kerala Cuisine. The menu is the usual stuff.

Just get outside, walk a kilometer - you have all the choices you require.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by laluks

Hey jacs, that really was a miss.
Next time we will meet up for sure. I need to get some tips on some of the fruit trees still

Sure Lalusir. Most welcome.

Fruit trees are now a days the attraction in most of the farms. You get everything from Apple to Rambutan here. Only that not many succeed in yielding a fruit .

Let me know if you are driving through Thodupuzha or Idukki in June, you can drop in to my wifey's place and pluck Rambutans directly from tree.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by jacs

Sure Lalusir. Most welcome.

Fruit trees are now a days the attraction in most of the farms. You get everything from Apple to Rambutan here. Only that not many succeed in yielding a fruit .

Let me know if you are driving through Thodupuzha or Idukki in June, you can drop in to my wifey's place and pluck Rambutans directly from tree.

Thanks for the offer jacs. June is highly unlikely given the school reopening and pressures at work.

I too planted a few trees - Rambutan, Avocado, Litchi, Mangonstein, etc. etc.. Keeping my fingers crossed now

[thoma]

Originally Posted by laluks

This Church has some history too! Me and my Sr. PPG was baptized here. I also got married here

Mar Elia Cathedral?

Originally Posted by laluks

We visited a beach too

The lone chapel gave amazing aura to the place

Yes, the very same Meenachil river mentioned in "God of Small Things"

My personal favorites among the lot. Amazing capture.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by thoma

Mar Elia Cathedral?

Yes

Originally Posted by thoma

My personal favorites among the lot. Amazing capture.

Thanks thoma for the encouragement

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Possible to indicate some of the places you visited - the cottage, mosque, church, Pathiarmanal, etc in G Maps?

Here are the markings as promised HVK

[getsurya]

Hi Laluks,

Amazing pictures, crisp narration! I really liked the pictures and their sequence. The food part was deliberate, I suppose!

[Sanjunair5]

My father is from Kumarakom, my mother is from Alleppey and I grew up in Kuttandu (a village called Eara). @laluks in just one post you made me emotional, my entire childhood came alive on the screen!!!
Great pics and great write up, thoroughly enjoyed going through it

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by laluks

We visited a beach too

That's the current state of that pier? Sad, really sad.

This is what I saw during 2006 summer.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by getsurya

Hi Laluks,

Amazing pictures, crisp narration! I really liked the pictures and their sequence. The food part was deliberate, I suppose!

Thanks getsurya. Food part

Originally Posted by Sanjunair5

My father is from Kumarakom, my mother is from Alleppey and I grew up in Kuttandu (a village called Eara). @laluks in just one post you made me emotional, my entire childhood came alive on the screen!!!
Great pics and great write up, thoroughly enjoyed going through it

I envy you Sanju. You are very lucky to have grown up around there. Such a beautiful place.

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

That's the current state of that pier? Sad, really sad.

This is what I saw during 2006 summer.

Attachment 1083698

Wow, Rudra da, what a capture .
Sadly the pier is not protected and the sea water is slowly eating it away.

[Sanjunair5]

Originally Posted by laluks

I envy you Sanju. You are very lucky to have grown up around there. Such a beautiful place.

Lalu, the last I went to my village was in 2006. So I am a bit jealous of you. Some time back I had blogged about the life in the village...http://sanjunair5.blogspot.com/2008/...y-and-one.html Hope you find it interesting!

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

That's the current state of that pier? Sad, really sad.

This is what I saw during 2006 summer.

Rudra, Alleppey was the main port in Kerala before Kochi became the port city. The port at Alleppey is not functional any more, it was shut down many many years (could be 50+ years). That explains the dilapidated state.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by Sanjunair5

Lalu, the last I went to my village was in 2006. So I am a bit jealous of you. Some time back I had blogged about the life in the village...http://sanjunair5.blogspot.com/2008/...y-and-one.html Hope you find it interesting!

Sanju, brought a few tears to my eyes.

The vague, almost black and white memories of my village still surfaces in everything I do, think, and lives within me. Waking up within the wooden walls of my ancestral home, waiting for my black coffee in the smoke filled kitchen, watching mama steam idlis and grind coconut chutney is not a day, I know that I can live one more time. I wonder if I will ever get a chance to brush (or cleaning is a better word, because there was no brush!) my teeth with Ummikkari (the ash from burning rice husk) hung from the Uttaram (wooden cross beam supporting a tiled roof) of the Front Varandah. Walking all over the yard with Ummikkari in the left palm and cleaning the teeth with the right index finger and checking the well being of all the permanent inhabitants of the yard- dogs, a variety of birds, chickens, ducks, and even snakes!

My childhood was not so very different from this.

You write well, please continue and I for one will subscribe to you.