While the days slipped by from my window watching.........

Yes, finally after all the planning, we made it to Alleppey for the much talked about Boat race - the nehru trophy which takes place in the Punnamada Lake that is held on the second saturday of August every year coinciding with the independence day.

We couldnt manage direct tickets to Alleppey- so we caught a train from Bangalore Central to Ernakulam, from where we were taken in a Sumo to Alleppey. We just about managed to reach on time.
Without delaying any further, we hopped on and got ourselves comfortable. The Houseboat was rather small and we were 10 of us plus 7 staff members .. Pheww !! Wonder how it didnt capsize!

Quick freshening up followed by a sumptuous grub, we were sailing already towards the race venue and yeah the excitement building up slowly . As we got closer, we realised that we were late and all the good spots were already taken . There were many houseboats and we could see the overcrowded stands from the lake. After making a lot of noise, we coaxed the manager to get us closer to a decent spot..There were many types of boats very beautifully ornameneted and the participants in colorful mundus and lungis added to the whole festivity.




There was a spirit of festivitiy in the air ..We could see a lot of spirits had gone in as well as we saw the locals dancing , singing and drumming and getting into a total frenzy! Some of us got on top of our Houseboat to get a good glimpse of the race. We managed to get some pretty decent shots from there . Good Chaya followed by horrendous banana fritters and hoots from neighbouring boats were the highlights.
Felt like an F1 GP stand where you could feel all the excitement of being at the race but not knowing what was happening. Anyways , since none of us had any idea about the participants and the teams, it was all taken well.

The cordination and the colors and the whole setting was simply outstanding - definately a great experience.




Then it was the women... There were three snake boats and women dressed in white mundus and colorful blouses took the oars to create some Upr-oars!





Finally, the race was over ... the trophies were handed ... there were tears and there were smiles...

We were back in action and were already moving towards a supposedly "lonely island" to anchor the boat . Well, the island didnt seem lonely at all ... correction , it didnt seem like an island at the first place but i guess that's how tourist suppliers sell dreams ! hehe !
We were 10 of us and collectively we were loud ! so we made more noise and got them to take us for another quick sail bofore the sun set ...

Layers of mosquitto repellents and coils were applied which kept us away from falling prey to flying creatures such as the mosquitoes.

Dinner was followed by entertainment .. we had inhouse artists who mesmerised us with their fantastic performannces...

After a good night sleep , we woke up to the morning sun - nice and bright...