God's Own Country - Kerala Posted on: 14 June 2018 :: Photo Credits: Huaiwei Mate SE ::
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Prologue
After successfully clearing the first hurdle of this Ph.D. journey i.e. passing the Qualifying Exam, I returned to India for a 3-week vacation with family. The main purpose of this trip was to attend the ‘Passing Out Parade’ (Graduation Ceremony), popularly known as ‘PoP’, at the Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Ezhimala, Kannur district of Kerala. After receiving four years of rigorous training, my younger brother Sopan was going to graduate from this academy to be commissioned in the Indian Navy as a Sub Lieutenant. My parents, grandparents and close relatives had planned a one-week Kerala Trip, starting from Kochi and culminating at Ezhimala. All of us were excited to spend some quality time with our extended family in ‘God’s Own Country’ Kerala and to witness the much-awaited PoP at INA.
Day : 1
Location : Kochi – Allepey
The flight from NYC to Kochi via Abu Dhabi was a smooth ride (Eithad is awesome!). I landed at Cochin International Airport early in the morning. Inhaling the soul-replenishing air of ‘Punyabhoomi’ Bharat, the verse from Ramayana ‘Janani Janma Bhumishcha Swargadapi Gariyasi’ (mother and mother-land are far superior to even the heaven) was on my mind. This was the longest period that I had stayed away from India (almost 10 months). The train ride from Kochi to Alleppey brought back wonderful memories of travels in Indian Railways.
Alleppey is a small town south of Kochi, known for Houseboat rides in the backwaters of Kerala. Dropping bags at the hotel, I went straight to the Houseboat to meet and seek blessings of parents and extended family. Their love energized my body and mind, tired after a two-day journey across the continents.
The houseboat had a living room at the front, two bedrooms in the middle and a kitchen at the back. All of us sat in the living room, chatting and enjoying the cool breeze and the heavenly scenery.
My grandfather is a hardcore travel enthusiast (he used to organize national/international tours for senior citizens till the age of 80! We, his grandchildren, have inherited the wanderlust from him). He was having a really good time. I spent a couple of hours chatting with him about his travel endeavors. Eventually, our discussion turned towards my research and I was surprised by his interest and knowledge about the modern technologies, including Artificial Intelligence.
In the evening, the sky got covered with dark clouds and it started raining. The houseboat staff had prepared hot onion pakoras and chai for us. Rain, onion pakora, and chai is a divine trio!
As we neared the end of this 5hr boat trip, the rain had gained full momentum. We boarded off the boat and took shelter under a canopy. After an hour-long struggle of trying to convince autorickshaw drivers, we managed to get rides back to our hotel. The dinner was followed by an hourlong discussion on the hot topic of ‘marriage’ (well, I’m 25 now). Members of three generations in our extended family shared their opinions and interesting experiences of arranged and love marriages. It was fun to get to know different viewpoints and guidelines of this really ‘complex’ subject.
Day : 2
Location : Allepey – Munnar
Our hotel was situated on the shores of Vembanad Lake. Waking up to these views was like a dream:
After a sumptuous breakfast of south Indian cuisine, we left from Alleppey towards our next destination Munnar. We had booked an 18-seater bus to accommodate our extended family. The 5hr drive from Alleppey to Munnar was fun, thanks to the scenic route and Charlie Chaplin movies that we played on the LCD screen.
On the way to Munnar, we stopped at a Botanical Garden/Spice Plantations. The enthusiastic tour guide showed us a variety of spice plants and bonsai trees.
We reached our cottages in Munnar in the evening and were shocked to find that they were about 10 flights of stairs downhill from the parking lot. The hotel staff thankfully helped us carry the luggage to our cottages. But it was a nightmare for all the super-senior citizens in our family to walk down those 150 odd stairs.
Day : 3
Location : Munnar
Since our cottages were situated on the hill, they offered splendid vistas of hills and tea plantations. Most of the senior family members decided to stay at the cottage and relax. The ‘younger’ lot of us went around Munnar to see some tourist spots.
The first destination on our bus-driver-cum-tourist-guide’s list was echo point, about 20kms north-east of Munnar. Along the way, we spotted some wild elephants crossing in their natural habitat. The echo point turned out to be more of a boating and hiking area.
Next, we went to the Kannan Devan Hills Plantation (KDHP) Tea Museum. After a short documentary about the history of tea plantations in Munnar, they demonstrated and explained the various steps involved in the tea-making process.
We returned to our cottages in the evening and played a four-hour long game of ‘Pandemic Iberia’, one of the best co-operative board games in the world. To my surprise, even my grandparents learned the game quickly. Three generations of our family worked together and managed to save the world from a pandemic in that game!
Day : 4
Location : Munnar - Kochi - Ezhimala
Early in the morning, saying goodbye to the gorgeous green tea plantations of Munnar, we departed towards Kochi.
We had a few hours to spend in Kochi before boarding our train to Payyanur (a town close to the Indian Naval Academy) from Ernakulam Junction. Our bus driver/tour guide decided to show us the Fort Kochi region. This is part of a handful of water-bound regions toward the south-west of the mainland Kochi, and collectively known as Old Kochi or West Kochi [source: Wikipedia].
After spending a couple of hours on the Fort Kochi beach, we drove to the marine drive. This place had an energetic feel to it, just like the marine drive of Mumbai. We took an hourlong boat-ride from the dock. An old Malayali man, high on alcohol, was the tour guide on this boat. During the tour, he overenthusiastically kept babbling about the history of various landmarks and Indian Navy Ships, only the outlines of which were visible in the dark. Luckily, one of the co-travelers was able to translate his blabbering (in Malayali) to a comprehensible form for us (in Hindi).
Day : 5
Location : Payyanur
We reached Payyanur early in the morning. As this was the month of Ramadan, most of the eateries around the railway station were closed. Our bus driver/tour guide suggested checking for restaurants in the market area before going to our hotel which was farther away from the town. Fortunately, we found a good south Indian restaurant in the market and had a fulfilling breakfast.
We rested in our hotel till evening and then went to the Indian Naval Academy. Situated in a picturesque and strategic location between Ezhimala hill and Arabian sea, this academy trains future officers of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard.
After a brief tour of the campus, we settled in the pavilion on parade ground to see the first activity of this 3-day long graduation ceremony aka ‘Passing out Parade’. It was called the Outdoor Training Demonstration in which the young cadets showcased stunning acts of various skills like horse riding, martial arts, and gymnastics.
Day : 6
Location : Payyanur
In today’s morning session of Graduation Ceremony, only parents of the cadets were invited. So, the rest of us decided to visit some places around Payyanur. Our bus driver/tour guide suggested starting the day with Anjaneya Statue in Ezhimala. This 41 ft tall Asia’s largest statue of Hanuman is situated on the Ezhimala Hill overlooking the Indian Naval Academy. Taking the blessings of Lord Hanuman, we departed towards our next spot, the Ettikulam Beach. The beach was very clean and serene, with no other tourists except us at this early hour of the day.
In the evening, we returned to the Indian Naval Academy and saw a documentary exploring the life inside this academy. The documentary featured the history of the academy, daily routines of the cadets, their training regime and the opportunities that they get in the Indian Navy.
Continuing the tradition of every year’s passing out parade, the junior cadets of the Academy presented a cultural show called ‘Azimuth’. This 3-hour long programme featured skits about the tough academy life of cadets and several dance/musical performances by cadets from varied cultural backgrounds of India.
Day : 7
Location : Payyanur
It was the day of the main attraction of the graduation ceremony, the passing out parade. We reached the academy about an hour before the scheduled start of the program, yet we couldn’t get the ‘prime’ seats near ‘Anthim Pag’, a plaque engraved with the words ‘Anthim Pag’ (last step) which the cadets cross at the end of passing out parade. The crowd was electric when graduating cadets arrived, marching on the beats of INA’s band in a spectacular display of uniformity and discipline. The officers conducted a ceremonial inspection of cadets’ uniform. Then, the meritorious cadets were awarded medals, including the President’s Gold Medal, Chief of Naval Staff Gold Medal and Flag Officer commanding in chief Gold Medal.
The parade concluded with cadets slowly marching past the ‘Anthim Pag’, saluting the dignitaries on the dais (Quarter Deck) and bidding farewell to the academy, towards the beginning of a new phase of their lives.
After the parade, we witnessed the ‘Shipping-of-Stripes’ ceremony, where proud parents of the cadets shipped the Naval epaulets or ‘Stripes’ on the shoulders of these young cadets-turned-Naval Officers. It was a proud moment for all of us to see Sopan become a ‘Sub-Lieutenant’, after a sinusoidal journey of four years in the Indian Naval Academy.
Next morning, we departed towards Chennai. This one-week trip in Kerala will be a cherished memory in our minds, especially due to the once-in-a-lifetime experience of witnessing the Indian Naval Academy's spectacular passing out parade, amidst the 'Nipah virus' alerts in Kerala.