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My Brush with 18/8 Kerala Floods

Coming to Kerala was for a relaxing holiday; the unwelcome guest made it into an adventure.

Shaji Mathew

Adventure

We were planning our annual holidays and this time we planned a long vacation to Kerala, my homeland, as we had a few things in mind: Firstly a visit to my parents’ home at Ranni, Secondly a houseboat stay at Alappuzha where we wanted our son also to join us because none of us has a houseboat experience and finally visit Munnar and witness the once in 12 years spectacle of Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes Kunthianus) full bloom with our own eyes. Little did we know that we were about to witness a once in 100year event which was about to unfold in Kerala.

We got in touch with few travel operators and among them was an old friend who ran an experiential travel designing company. Got in touch with them and the offer sounded interesting and things moved pretty fast from there.

We took a late morning flight to Kochi and was expected to land by 1.45pm. By then torrential rains had started to wreak havoc in parts of Kerala and Cheruthony dam had already opened its flood gates after a long 26 years. Our Captain announced that we were trying to advance our landing in Kochi at least by 30 minutes or else the flight may be diverted to Coimbatore as rain water has started entering the runway. We sat with our fingers crossed and by 1.15pm we managed to scrape through as we were the last flight to land.

Our cab driver was waiting at the airport and by then the travel company called me to inform that we cross the Aluva bridge as early as possible. Luckily we passed Aluva without any trouble. Once inside the city we went directly for the local sight seeing and by sunset we could visit the famousJewish Synagogue, Museum, thd Fort Kochi area, and St. Francis church.

We checked into the hotel at Marine Drive and we had to meet an old friend and his family over dinner. The next day we had planned to proceed to Munnar to watch the 'Neelakurunji' in full bloom. But God had already made another plan for us. :-)

Next day we woke up to the news that landslides have occurred in many parts of the hill ranges. But Munnar until then was open to travel. Our driver was quite experienced and he suggested that we travel a bit late in the morning after taking stock of the situation. Around 10 am we got information that Munnar is open and we proceeded as per plan.

Having fun time at Alappuzha Beach.

"But that didn’t stop the older man in the crowd to take photos in different angles which made the boat almost to capsize "

Enter Cherai Beach

As we just passed Tripunithura, our travel company called and informed us that it is not safe to travel to Munnar and advised to change the plans. We asked them to revert with an alternate plan which they reverted in no time.

So now we are travelling to Cherai beach to spend our night there. We stayed on a beach side property and strolled the beaches in the evening.

Watched the early morning sun set in the beach along with my better half. After breakfast we proceeded to Kumarakom. The property we were about to stay was located in an island and we were quite excited about the whole thing as we had to travel by a boat to reach the property.

On reaching Kumarakom, our driver left us at the boat jetty to return the next day ; to take us around Kumarakom

Once we checked in we noticed a large gathering of people. On enquiry we understood that a new movie shooting featuring Malayalam film super star Mammooty, directed by Vyshak was ongoing. We strolled around for a while and chatted and took pictures with most known and fine actors of Malayalam cinema industry.

Next day we visited Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary. Walked around for some time and went on to the platform for bird watching. I think we might have spotted some rare birds.

Alappuzha House Boat

Today is the 5th day of our travel and we were so happy about two things. First thing was our son who was joining us and we were meeting him after some time. Second was that we were going to experience the world-renowned Alappuzha House boat stay.

Our cab driver appeared promptly in time and dropped us to the jetty after a one hour drive. On the way we crossed the famous Thannermukkam bund. My son was already waiting for us near the and we checked in to the house boat around 12.30pm.

The house boat driver was a pleasant guy and he knew to cook too. He served us tasty food with local specialities all through the journey. We had a smooth & relaxing sail watching the scenic canals and local life on the banks. During peak season these canals will be buzzling with various sizes of houseboats carrying travellers from all across the world. May be its off season, we could only find few boats.

Clockwise from L to R : The overflowing canals, Flood water entering the resort & Us with film stars

Day 6 : We are off to a lake resort at Alappuzha itself. We were planning to stay here for 2 nights and then move to my parental home at Ranni.

Till then, the flood situation wasn’t much of a problem and we proceeded with our journey as nothing unusual happened untill then. We also learned that the Kochi airport is closed till 24th Aug. We hoped that things will be normal by the time we have to return. But we were absolutely wrong.

Once we reached, we noticed an eerie silence all over. The property was beautiful. But something was missing. May be the festival vibes! On enquiry we learned that most of the travellers had cancelled their stay and only one or two guests and hotel staff are around with us. We still didn’t mind as we were high on a holiday mood.

The Cab driver dropped my son back to the railway station. On the second day the travel company called up to check if everything is okay. We updated them that things were okay .

Today is the day we are checking out. We have been hearing news of massive floods across Kerala and we thought it isn’t going to affect us. Things weren’t hunky- dory and started to go out of control. We got news that we can’t proceed to Ranni as the town is fully deluged. Hence we cancelled that plan and decided to proceed to Kochi and wait till train/air service are available out of town.

The scenic beauty of Kumarakom

By the time we were ready to check out, backwater levels had risen alarmingly and already water was up to 2 ft in the compound itself. We took a look around. It was water everywhere. The view was alarming . The manager managed to get their boat to drop us to the cab waiting. When we got into the boat only we realized we are the only guests left.

The boat couldn’t go up till the dry land where our cab was waiting. We got off on a dry land. A family from Mumbai with elders and kids who got off from a house boat were also waiting. All of us together hired another small open boat. It was drizzling and the small boat was in full capacity. But that didn’t stop the older man in the crowd to take photos in different angles which made the boat to almost capsize. We had a nail biting time in the small boat. Looking back it was a amazing experience. Or rather horrifying?

Reaching Kochi, we checked into a hotel at Kaloor, a place I used to stay during my official travels. Luckily the area around the hotel was safe till we left.

We explored many possibilities to eject out of Kochi. Travelling to Thiruvananthapuram was an option but it was risky as many roads connecting the city were deluged and more over the flight companies will make a killing, literally.

To me, Indian Railways was our saviour out of this situation and we kept going to the nearest railways station and kept checking if any trains are running. I also kept booking tickets in tatkal, but none of the trains were passing through Kochi.

Finally, on 21st Aug, our saviour arrived two and a half hours late at 4.44am Train no: 19577 to Jamnagar.

As we settled into our berths to sleep, I looked outside and said to myself: Bye bye Kochi. See you soon!

Shaji Mathew
3 Comments
2018-09-08
2266 days ago

About the Author

Shaji Mathew is an avid traveling enthusiast. When he isn’t holidaying, he runs companies based out of Baroda. He has a vast experience in launching new products and divisions and nurturing them to profitability. His wife is a senior government servant and their only son is working at Bangalore with a US based broadcasting corporation after completing his mechanical engineering degree. You can reach him at his personal mail id: gujaratshaji@gmail.com

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Shaji Mathew, Vadodara

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I had a great experience with 'Virgin locales'. We had to change our planned schedule due to nature's fury, our all if a sudden changed plan ( actually God's plan) was to experience God's own country in an adventurous way. The people who are planning to have a vacation are recommended to take leverage of Virgin Locales insight about Kerala. They can be trusted ????%. They would ensure your valuable time and your money are invested with 150% returns. I wish 'Virgin Locales' a great future ahead and thank them for providing us a wonderful service.