The rhythm of the backwaters

To sail on a boat at the slow pace of the backwaters. Here is the promise of any stay in Kerala around Alleppey and Kottayam.
The ferry ride from Kottayam to Alleppey at sunset is a must. The moment where coconut trees begin to stand out on the pink sky, such as silhouettes, is simply magical.

Lovers usually choose the renting of a houseboat or kettuvalam for 24 hours. These traditional rice barges, converted into floating hotels which sometimes are very luxurious,  travel through Kerala's wider canals. 
Being on my own, the thought of spending 24 hours on such a boat in such a beautiful place, without being able to share it with someone dear to me, depresses me somewhat. Therefore I choose the "canoe" option and spend the day with two British women met at my hotel. Canoeing allows to travel through much narrower channels.

After an hour and a half ferry, we arrive at our guide's village, where he takes us home and offers us a delicious breakfast : coconut-perfumed rice noodles. Divine. Then we leave for four hours of canoeing through the backwaters.

Fauna : many kingfishers, some aquatic snakes, plenty of dragonflies, and ducks, which married with coconut milk and ginger, will be a tasty dish.
Flora : hibiscus, mango trees (though it is not mango season in january), cashew nut trees, water hyacinths (what a scourge !), coconut trees... (no banians, unlike what I imagined) 

We canoe through very narrow channels. The water is tepid, hardly refreshing. The canals smell of green notes, sap, "freshwater" accords, undecavertol, green violet. Surprisingly, it also reminds me of "Un Jardin après la mousson" by Hermès (a garden after monsoon).
There is nothing to be heard but birdsongs. From time to time, near a church, a few songs. The pace is peaceful. Life is organised on water. Here and there, women are tapping their clothes against a stone to wash them. Others bathe in saree. Many ferries travel through this maze all day long, so people can go to work and children to school. 

Along the way, we taste tepid fermented coconut. Very strange. It vaguely reminds me of the sour taste of Chang, the barley beer I had tasted in Ladakh a few years ago, apart from the coconut aspect and the warmth of the drink. One sip is enough to make me understand I am not fond of it.

Then we are back at our guide's place, where we have lunch : fried fish, fried plantain, vegetable papaya on a banana leaf. Banana leaves smell of green cucumber, not banana at all. We then take a massala tea in front of the paddy fields and crush a cinnamon leaf (which definitely smells of cinnamon) before taking a ferry back to Alleppey at setting sun. Lovely day.
As the day progresses, it starts smelling of fire. This smell is quite usual in South India : vegetal fire, with sometimes an acrider smell, heavy, almost toxic, suffocating.

There is an event which I really would like to attend someday, and which would give me an excellent reason to go back to Kerala : the Nehru Trophy Boat Race, which takes place every year in Alleppey on the second Saturday of August, during monsoon. During this race, a dozen of 45 meter long very thin snakeboats, propelled by a hundred rowers protected by colorful umbrellas, compete under the encouragements of the crowd. People lay wagers and one attends the event from a podium.