Following a wonderful day cruising around the lake, we returned to the resort for a wonderful evening, complete with dinner and an evening dance program. Next morning, we were up for a leisurely time for the next several hours until we would have our bags taken down to the area near the infinity pool, where we would await the arrival of our houseboats - home for the next twenty-four hours.
After seeing several of the houseboats arrive, we were anxious to begin our own journey, and although I checked several times with the guest desk, our two boats had not pulled into shore. I called Manoj and he called the booking company and although noon came and went, we were still not afloat. Another half-hour and one boat arrived. We decided to all put our luggage on one boat, board the boat and take off out into the lake and cruise down the lake and catch up to the phantom boat. We were assured the boat would rendezvous with ours in "just five-ten minutes", but after all, as we had come to learn, this is INDIA TIME! Following floating for about three quarters of an hour, we saw one boat tucked away along the shoreline We pulled alongside and turned, so we were nose to nose and tied up to a couple of coconut trees. There was a great deal of emotional "discussion" between the two drivers, but when the matter was settled, we were informed "lunch would be served". A fine lunch it was, too.
Following the lunch, we untied and began our journey. Not too long afterward, we more or less fell into line with dozens of other houseboats. Each of these converted rice barges was individually appointed, some more elaborately than others (pictures to follow, I promise, when I can get connected directly to this site from my own laptop.) As we got out closer and closer to the lake, following along in the narrower waterways, between islands of rice patties, I realized we were truly in a March of the Elephants. I am sure I remember a piece of music composed by one of the greats, which I heard as a child. It was truly an amazing sight to look in front and behind our houseboats, and also far across to the other side of the island patties, and see dozens more of these behemoths, silently gliding along the waterways, presumably leading to a destination, soon to be revealed to us. Having traveled along for a few hours, our captains steered us over to a place where the bamboo mat clad mammoths had gathered to graze. Seems this location was a common place to stop and passengers could disembark and actually choose from the fresh catch of the day their chosen meal for the evening - whether fresh water mussels or whatever varieties of fish had been caught from the lake, or even brought by small speed boats from the harbor boats in Cochin.
Our pilot was genius at steering our boat into a slip, between two of the wide-bodied elephants, with two of the deck-hands (sometimes cooks) standing on the each side of the boat, just to make sure we did not bump into one of our sister boats. We disembarked and wandered along, looking in at a few tiny shops, offering snacks, soft drinks, and of course, the fresh catch. Many other passengers also were enjoying this brief stop, but then we were back on board and out into the mainstream, drifting along with the lumbering herd. It was very relaxing just to sit on one of the cushions or one of the rattan chairs, either in or out of the sun, reading or simply taking in the sights and sounds of what I might call the "bayous of south India".
A few hours passed and we pulled along shore and tied up to coconut trees again, and knew this would be our location for the evening, and where we would sleep the night away. Each of these boats, as I mentioned earlier, is appointed quite differently - some with just the basics, some which appeared to be floating living rooms, complete with chandeliers, some with a deck up above for observation, and others almost looking like baby elephants, having only one guest cabin. My "state room" was furnished with two single beds, the walls were paneled with mahogany, and the ceiling was panels of birds-eye maple. The bathroom, on the other hand was not quite so plush - your basic dingy gray with that ever-so-faint presence of mustiness. However, anyone can tolerate some of the lesser comforts of life for a few hours, particularly since we had just left the lap of luxury at the lake resort. Following dinner, and the rising of an orange and nearly full moon, we all settled into our respective rooms for the night. The generators were turned on in each of the boats, and we were then able to turn on the air conditioning units in our rooms, along with fans to circulate what had become stale air during the day. My two systems created a cacophonic cadence of clicks and snaps, and reached the point than rather being able to settle into this cadence and eventually to slumber, I found myself actually listening for any possible changes in the cadence or any irregularity, and then wondering what may have caused it! A few hours passed, and I found myself still awake, so I turned off the snap-snap-snap of my ceiling fan, and then ventured into the bathroom, tore off a couple of sheets of toilet paper, rolled them up and stuffed a wad into each of my ears, hoping beyond hope this might remedy my situation so I could get some sleep. I guess it worked, because the next thing I realized was I was staring out at a blazing sun rising on the far side of the waterway, announcing my birthday! As I came out into the "lounge" area of our boat, John and Judy Hutcherson were there and greeted me with, "Happy Birthday, Elias". I looked across at our sister boat, and Mike and Frankie Holness from Windsor, England waved a birthday greeting, as did Kelly Wike and Ellen Ollivet. About a half-hour later, Veronique Favart (one of the French Connection on the other boat) came out on the prow of the other boat, and proceeded to sing
Joyeux Anniversaire a Elias" to me, while gracefully dancing around in a circle. Christian Favart then emerged and poked his head out from under the canvass tarp and also wished me Happy Birthday. This was going to be a GREAT DAY!
A few minutes later, I returned to my room, to turn on my mobile phone, and I received calls from my wife, my daughter and one of my sisters, each wishing me Happy Birthday. The crew of our boat also extended "many happy returns of the day, sir". Our pilot, who had the day before been wearing a MAKITA shirt, came forward and we presented him with one of our DREAM TEAM shirts from a previous year, and he seemed very pleased. He left down the corridor, and a few minutes later returned wearing his new shirt. We explained to him why were were in India - to immunize children against polio and also to help in the construction of a water-harvesting dam in Haryana state, to help bring much needed water for irrigation to a few of the villages there - a concept he had great difficulty understanding, since there is such an abundance of water in this part of south India, where the lushness of expansive rice paddies, dotted with swaying palm trees and banana plants was the norm.
Following breakfast, we cast off the lines from shore and once more joined the parade of pachyderms - all presumably heading for port, where passengers would move on to a new chapter for the coming days.
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