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Kerala Gallery Page 2
About 2 miles (3 km) north of
Quilon is the historic town of Thangasseri where you can picnic among the
relics of its European past or frolic on the beach in the shadow of the
old lighthouse, one of the earliest built in British times. The old Portuguese,
Dutch and English cemeteries have many a tale to tell; the remains of the
Portuguese and Dutch fortifications are memorials to a glorious past; and
the old British Residency is now a lovely guest house on the shores of
the Ashtamudi Lake
North of Quilon, 53 miles (85
km) away, is AHeppey, the "Venice of the East", situated on the Vembanad
Lake, the longest lake in India. A maze of canals and a network of bridges
give this busy commercial town its descriptive sobriquet. Alleppey is known
for its coir, the retied fiber of the coconut husk, and for black pepper.
Coir yarn, coir mats and matting, and a wealth of other coir products are
manufactured in Alleppey and are good buys.
August September is the season
of Onam, the famed harvest festival of Kerala. This is the best time to
visit the backwaters of the state. The colorful water carnivals, the gaily
clad women and their graceful dances, the ornate and bright hued floor
decorations (kolam and rangoli) using coloured powder or, more beautifully,
flowers, and the festive spirit everywhere, make all of Kerala a lively
place at this time of the year. But what sets apart the backwaters country
and makes its festivities even more joyous are the Vallam Kallis, the boat
races.
The Nehru Trophy Boat Race Day,
held at Alleppey on the second Saturday of August every year, sees the
most colourful event in Kerala. There are races for a variety of boats,
but the biggest race of the day is the one for the chundan vallams, the
giant snake boats. Each boat is over 100 feet (30.5 metres) long, with
raised snake-like prows, and is gaily decorated. With crews of more than
100 men rowing in perfect rhythm to traditional boat songs, the race has
become part of an unforgettable drama for the thousands who line the banks
to cheer themselves hoarse. There is nothing like it anywhere else in India
-except at other boat race centres in the backwaters country of Kerala.
It is no wonder then that the Sports Authority of India has set up its
Kayaking and Canoeing Centre here to train young oarsmen to international
standards
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