Arabian Nights ( and days ) !!

Lush green foliage, white beaches, rough sea and quietness of the soul, thats Kovalam for you. This August, we decided to head out to the serene environs of Kerala and spend a day in Kovalam followed by a couple in Poovar. Poovar is a small coastal village in Trivandrum district of Kerala. This village is almost at the southern tip of Trivandrum and has an estuary which connects with the Arabian Sea during high tides. It's natural beauty enables it to be a quiet tourist spot. It is believed that the trading ships of King Solomon landed in a port called 'Ophir', which is figured out as Poovar.

Kovalam was hospitality personified. Indeed Leela was a royal affair, intermixed with graciousness and sophistication. After settling down, we headed straight for the beach to experience the high winds and the heady air, the kind which would make you feel drowsy and lazy ! After the customary ritual of wetting our feet in the sea, we headed out to the beach restaurant to sample some of their special seafood fare.

What made Kovalam special at that time was the monsoon. It was raining in bits and pieces, and the lushness of the place and the intensity of the sea was highlighted by that. Before this, I had an opinion that roaring seas and howling winds were parts of speech in English literature, but here we were witnessing the high and mighty nature !!

After spending the night in Kovalam, we headed out to Poovar in the morning. Poovar was about 20 odd km away from Kovalam and the last part of the journey is undertaken in a ferry which takes you to the island resort through the backwaters. We were booked in Poovar island resort thanks to our Club Mahindra subscription. The amalgamation of the sea and backwaters, made this island resort on an estuary quite an unique experience. The contrast was almost unbelievable, the rough roaring Arabian sea on one side and the calm, chirping of birds - backwaters !!

We spent the rest of the day making ourselves at home at the resort ! The next morning, our anniversary day, we got up very early to take a backwater cruise to do some serious birdwatching. The setting was almost Venetian sans the bridges. Our boatman was our local Salim Ali, who was rowing the boat was telling us about the rich fauna in the backwaters. Avidly, we spotted Brahmani kites, kingfishers, egrets, cormorants and woodpeckers.

We finished our bird watching to be just in time to catch the fishermen on the sea in action. The entire exercise was being conducted by at least 30 to 40 fishermen who had thrown a huge net over the sea and were divided into two groups trying to take the net out of the sea. Some teamwork it was !! I almost wished they had a grill-by-the-sea to serve some of the fresh catch !

The rest of the day was spent savoring the wonderful buffets that the resort had put up, some reading and listening, quite walks by the island and HBO. Good things come to a fast end, and before we knew, it was time to checkout, take the ferry back and catch the flight back to Bangalore. Well, there is a lot of wisdom in the two words - Wait and Hope. Need I say more !!