Monday, August 8, 2011

Backwaters of Kerala, India

We are home, so I had a chance to edit the video I took in the backwaters of Kerala. We left at dawn and the first thing we saw, in addition to the lovely sunrise was a head sticking out of the water and a long post. A woman was diving down, fishing for muscles, using the post to show boats not to pass there. Our boatman told us the family would eat the muscles, but then sell the shells to the cement factory. It was too dark to video!
It felt a little invasive to be floating by as people were just waking up, coming out of their houses to wash themselves, their dishes and their clothes in the canal. However, our boatman's daughter, who was already dressed and ready to go to school, followed us along the path after we had a cup of coffee at their home at the end of the canal. You will see a young couple fishing in a round boat and then hear Indian music being broadcast from a temple, calling people to worship. The peace and quiet evaporated once we hit the river where there was a virtual traffic jam of houseboats. The houseboats are the big tourist draw of the canals: most people rent them overnight to spend a night on the water in a 1-3 bedroom air conditioned houseboat made in the traditional Keralan way.
Towards the end of the video you will see two short sections. In one, a woman making paneer (the closest thing to cheese in India) outside her tiny hut on the edge of a canal. She has placed many rectangular shaped boxes filled with milk out to dry. In the other a woman is washing her clothes by beating them on a rock.

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