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God's own island
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A reclaimed island off the Vembanad lake offers the beauty of the backwaters minus the synthetic five-star experience and tourist rush, discovers HEMANGINI GUPTA
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Painted Scenery Sunset on Vembanad Lake can be an experience unmatched Photo: Indrani Dutta
The Indica, our last link to the clamour of the metropolis, waits back. From across the water we can see a low boat head out to reach us, propelled by a long bamboo stick — a boatman running along its narrow edges to urge it across the silent sheet-glass waters.
Anu, our hostess, steps off the tiny boat to greet us and take us to our destination opposite — a tiny reclaimed island among the backwaters of Kumarakom and Alleppey, suspended in time and tradition. Nestled safely amidst the lush greenery and scant housing is the island's prime draw — Philip Kutty's farm, three cosy cottages on a deserted waterfront.
Run by Vinod Kutty and his family (his wife Anu and his mother whom every guest too calls "Mummy"), the farm's USP lies in the fact that it has no brocade cushion covers, no purring air conditioners, no discrete, liveried bearers. It's not five-star. No swimming pool. Instead, Anu will warmly welcome you as you alight from a dusty journey, Mummy will prepare a chilled glass of pineapple-lime juice and Vinod will show you the many-shuttered cottages he designed himself, with deep wood and carefully sourced antique furniture, his own sketches up on the walls.
As India launches into another hectic holiday season, home stays are emerging as clear winners. Initially they were a draw for foreigners eager to sample the "real Indian" experience. But now, increasingly, it is as much for the domestic tourist who in Punjab is as cut away from Kerala as any overseas visitor.
Each cottage is complete with a mini bar, coffee-tea paraphernalia, and a tiny sit out. Our bathroom was divine enough to merit a column of its own. Quaint shutters opened out onto verdant plantations at the back of the main house, allowing a sneak peek of the panorama while showering.
On day one we take a cruise through the backwaters with a couple from England. The waterfront is sequinned with expensive resorts, made famous by former PM Vajpayee who was moved to pen poetry by the picture postcard scenery. A Brit couple, staying there, is bewildered by the diversity unfolding along the banks on the either side. Leaning across, the girl asks hesitantly: "I was just wondering... washing clothes in the river... does that happen often?" Soon tables were turned as they took naturally to a "surprising phenomenon" they had encountered earlier in Rajasthan. All the little children screaming on the riverbank are mouthing the same demand: "One pen." One pen? Sometimes suffixed with a "please", sometimes changed to "le pen", the demand remained unwavering and insistent, a strange addition to the otherwise typically beautiful two-hour journey into the maze of the backwaters.
Through our laughs and exchanges during this journey, we become firmer friends and so by dinnertime at Kutty's, when the three cottages spill their occupants out into the drawing room of the main home for a drink and dinner, conversation flows freely.
Politics and Keralan customs form the backbone of a conversation driven largely by our highly educated and well-informed host. He regales us with stories of how his father reclaimed the island from the sea, how the plantation grew and how he returned to his ancestral home after a busy job in Mumbai. His home has hosted, among others, the Duchess of Norfolk and Rahul Gandhi. The actual meal is a lavish spread, and soon we become spoilt on the faultless Syrian Christian cuisine, invariably the highlight of our day.
Most visitors to the secluded Kutty plantation are awestruck by its serenity and almost unreal pace of life, but finally the highlight of most visits has always been the food. Mummy is apparently well known for her seafood preparations, but anyone who can rustle up four excellent vegetarian dishes at each meal must be truly gifted. During out stay the French couple with us, barely able to communicate in English invariably mustered up a single deeply felt word to communicate their happiness: "Excellent!"
There's not much to "do" at this home stay, and that's the best part. The family is on hand but never in your face. Over the next two days, we eat like we have never seen food before, walk with Anu through the ample plantations (of coconut, toddy, nutmeg, banana, cocoa and pepper), take lazy cruises into the backwaters, explore the little village opposite, with its quiet church and women spinning coir in their backyards.
You can reach Philip Kutty's Farm on philipkuttysfarm.com.
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