3 February 2012

Here we are just 10 days away from our return home.  Thinking about this during the night instead of sleeping, I realized that we had not really given our readers a good taste of what India is all about on a daily basis.

India is a country of extremes that assault the senses in every possible way.  The sights are outlandish, the smells overpowering, the noise deafening and the food is a kaleidoscope of flavours. Here in Thodupuzha  sleeping in the morning is an impossible dream.  The traffic noise never really stops through the night.  Every morning, in the pitch of darkness, (sun rises between 6:45/7:00) the locals come to the river to do their washing.  They slap their clothes on some nice flat rocks after soaping them and again after rinsing them.  The noise is sort of like if someone was hammering but much more muffled. The temple music starts blaring at 5 a.m.  It is quite close by and at times a bit much for that time of day.   The people are all so friendly.  Just a smile and a good morning will plaster a warm smile on their faces.  We do not speak Malayalam which, at times, makes it difficult to communicate. Believe it or not, our hosts, all 3 of them, accompany us everywhere not matter how early we depart.  One day we got up at 4:30 and they all come with us.  They seem to be enjoying themselves.  I know we are enjoying their company.

Malabar Grey Hornbill

We were up at 4:30a.m. for a 5 o'clock departure by car to go to the Thattakad Bird Sanctuary.  After an hour, we got there but it was still dark.  Our guide Vinod showed up a bit later and off we were, binoculars and cameras at the ready complete with bird books.  The boys donned their Tilley Hats, what a sight!  Just picture this and don't laugh too much. Some of the birds we saw were the Scarlet Minivet, the Malabar Grey Hornbill, the beautiful White Throated Kingfisher, the Racket Tailed Drongo and  many others.  At one point, we stopped at a little house in the sanctuary and were offered sandwiches, hard boiled eggs with tea,prepared by our home stay.  Some of you may know coriander sandwiches, they were delicious.  We then drove to a different section of the SalimAli Bird Sanctuary. 



Tribal man and his tree-house



Evidence of  wild elephants.

There, we were introduced to a tribal elderly man living by himself in a treehouse for the last 6 years.  Apparently\ wild elephants routinely damage his house so he had lit a fire to drive them away.  Evidence of the wild elephant can be seen all over the park.  See picture. 

Just ahead of there, we were shown a Sri Lankan Frogmouth.  We would never have spotted it in a million years.  It was nestled on a stuby little branch, just large enough for it and the nest  it was sitting on.  It is a very rare bird and the fact that we were so lucky to see it, thrilled all of us.

Believe it or not, our guide stopped at his house and his wife gave him some home cooked food that we had a little bit further in a homestay in the park.  This is now our 2nd breakfast. 

Walking in the noon day sun caused us to wilt, so back in our charriot and home it was.  Lunch was awaiting us.   Amazingly, we ate it just before having afternoon tea complete with wadas and bananas.   I never in my wildest dreams thought I could be full, so often.

It's now dinner time, so we are all rolling in to the dining room.  See you tomorrow.