Thekkady

The drive from Munnar to Thekkady takes about three hours and continues to be as awe inspiring as the drive from Kochi to Munnar. The picture below gives a good idea of the Shola Forest predominant in the Ghats.

Thekkady is quite distinctive from Munnar, has more of a National Park Vibe than does Munnar which for its part is really just a jumble of a town that straddles the highway for the purpose of commerce. The area around Munnar is what makes it a destination whereas Thekkady itself has some actual charm. The big draw for me was Periyar National Park, famous for its flora and fauna. It is also a Tiger Reserve and a great way to see the Park is on a boat cruise. We got extremely lucky by all accounts as we cruised Periyar Lake seeing bison, elephants and deer, all relatively rare sights given that it was a midday sailing.

After paying a bus fare that got me into the park and up close to the lake I purchased a ticket for the boat cruise and while I waited I had some fun people watching and some monkey antics as well. On the cruise I came to regret my decision to be lazy and leave my Nikon with telephoto lens at home. My iPhone just doesn’t cut the distances and my animal shots would have been much more satisfying.

Cruise over and bussed back to the entrance, I met up with Srihari who took me to my Hotel. Really nice rooms and pool and I had a few hours to relax before the evening activities of a Kalaripayat Martial Arts performance followed by a performance of Kutiyattam the traditional dance of Kerala.

The arena where the martial arts demonstration happened was packed and by an enthusiastic audience of all ages. I sat beside an elderly woman who didn’t hold back when demonstrating her approval, clapping and yelling when something exciting happened. It was really fun. A combination of Kerlalan traditional martial arts and weapons, with extreme yoga poses and acrobatics it was quite entertaining and I was glad I went and equally glad that I avoided the audience participation part as seen below, although I did suggest that the avid older lady fan beside me volunteer which elicited giggles and chuckles.

Immediately following the Martial Arts event I walked to the nearby theatre to see Kutiyattam, India’s oldest living theatrical art form, possibly 2000 years old. Starting out in temples as a story telling form of worship it advanced in the 20th century to stage and theatres. The meaning of the word Kutiyattam is ‘acting and dancing together’. The dance is performed in a specific manner and a lot of rules must be followed. The dance can only be presented by men of Chakiar caste and the music is played by men of the Nambiear caste. All of this was explained to the audience before the performance began. A very deliberate slow moving performance which relies heavily on extreme eye movements.

The performer that started the show, rolled, raised, lowered, shuffled, circled and otherwise manipulated only his eyes such that your eyes hurt just watching. In this first part only the eyes moved everything else was stony still. After the eye tumbling and with controlled breathing, fine facial movements and hand gestures, the story unfolds. Eventually other actors join the stage and the story becomes more dynamic. The music consisted of a drum, conch shell, cymbals and flute. A bit surreal the performance definitely gave the flavour of otherworldly beings as it was intended to do.

Back to my hotel and a good nights rest in a rather swanky hotel whose name escapes me. Tomorrow we leave the mountains and rolling hills of the Western Ghats and return to the Malabar Coast to the city of Alapuzza, south of Kochi.