Close your eyes a minute, and imagine. It is a clear evening on
the Vembanad Lake, the stars already burning bright in the brief
tropical twilight.
The lake's waters are an identical shade with the sky, creating
a seamless blue world edged with the bursting green of shoreside
forests, thick with coconut, cardamom, cinnamon and teak.
Wait long enough and you'll see a cluster of lights looming up.
Dancing fireflies that grow larger and resolve into a string of
hurricane lamps. The plump lines of a 'kettuvallom' take shape,
its cane-and-rope awnings flying rakishly, its silent hull gliding
past as if on wings of air. You catch a brief glimpse of yellow
light and warm interiors. And then the vision is gone, melting back
into the evening.
The 'kettuvallom' is the queen of the Kerala backwaters. And on
a Spice Coast Cruise, it becomes your floating home, providing the
best means of experiencing them that can possibly be imagined, combining
holidaying, pleasure-boating and ecological living in an exhilarating
way.
