Islands in the Sun

Islands are fascinating. In the photo given below you can see two small ones. Islets, really. They are so tiny that normal maps don't show them. Of the four types of islands, continental, oceanic, coral and inland, these beauties belong to the last group. 

They are in the Vembanad Lake in Kerala, off Arookutty. I took this photograph from the Arookutty – Aroor Bridge last week. An interesting fact about them is that they did not exist about 60 – 70 years back. They emerged only in the last few decades. In my young days, several times I have seen the expanse of the lake without these islets. 

We used to travel by boat from our village to Cochin quite often. On such trips, the boats had to stop compulsorily at Arookutty which was, before Independence, Customs & Excise check post for the then Travancore State. North of Arookutty was Cochin State. All water transport going either way had to halt at Arookutty for inspection. (See: Some memories of WW II, Cochin and the 1940s.)

The customs office was on the land mass that you see on the right of the photo. That is the northern tip of the Pallippuram Island. Those imposing buildings are all gone now. The boats had to wait sometimes for hours to complete the formalities. All one could do was to either read or keep looking at the scenery around. The twin islets were not there then.

This brings us to the question how islands get formed. A Hawaiian legend claims that the islands there were pulled up from the sea by the demi-god Maui and his brothers while they were fishing. Such stories apart, islands are created by volcanic activity, coral deposits, landmass separating from the continent, or when water level rises and leaves only the elevated portions visible. Now, there is the trend of creating man made islands. (see Ecology: Vanishing Hills)

Arookutty’s twin islets were not formed by any of these. One could call them barrier islands. They were created by sand deposits by currents in the lake, say, something like river deltas. The tidal currents in the Vembanad Lake are strong.

The boating channel to the Customs quay was between these islets. I remember that the sand dunes that were rising in the water created problems for the vessels. Once the boat I was travelling in was stuck in the sand. Later concrete posts were placed on either side to identify the channel and there used to be some kind of dredging.

After Independence and the Native States of Travancore and Cochin merged, the customs procedure came to an end. The boating channel did not have to be maintained. And slowly the islets came up.

Both islands are inhabited now. I wonder how it would be to live on one of them. There is plenty of fish around and the scope for water sports is tremendous. But I feel the most exciting would be the monsoon time. The wind comes in strong across the large expanse of the lake. Short stays would be ideal but I don’t think there are any tourist facilities yet.

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Photo by me. Anyone can use it provided that due credit is given to this blog.

The map is from WikiTravel at http://m.wikitravel.org/shared/Image:Kochi_map.png (edited).

Memories: A lakeside Travellers’ Bungalow

Vaikom is a small town, but one of the oldest in South India. It is situated on the eastern bank of the Vembanad Lake in Kerala. The Siva Temple there is considered to be the Southern Kashi and the ‘Vaikom Ashatami’ is a very famous festival.

The place is also prominent in history for the Vaikom Satyagraha (1924-25) led personally by Mahatma Gandhi. The objective of the agitation was to secure the right of passage for all sections of people along the roads around the temple. At that time the lower castes were not permitted on those paths.

For me personally, the importance of Vaikom was the old travelers’ bungalow by the lakeside. It had two large bedrooms with attached dressing rooms and bathrooms and a veranda with a porch in front. The building, set among some rain trees, had a high, tiled roof.

Decades back there were hardly any hotels except in major towns. But a string of Government-run travellers’ bungalows (TBs) provided people with clean and safe places to rest during journeys. Though the rates were very cheap, only upper class folks used the facility in those days.

Before a road was laid to my place, Olavipe, our journeys were mostly by scheduled boat service. Boats plying between Cochin and Alleppey stopped at Poochakkal, the boat jetty near us. To go to my mother’s house (Kerala Architecture: The house where I was born) near Palai, Kottayam, and the High Ranges where my uncles were living, we had to cross the lake to Vaikom by the boats going from Cochin to Alleppey, and proceed from there by road.

I mentioned scheduled boat services, but the vessels did not keep to the prescribed timings. Arrivals and departures were subject to tide and wind (though the crafts were motorized) and other factors. But for us, onward journeys did not pose a problem except for some waiting at Poochakkal.

While coming back it was different. After reaching Vaikom sometimes one had to wait for hours for the boat from Alleppey to arrive. And the place to while away the time was the TB. The front porch had one or two planter’s easy chairs and other seats. Lean back and relax. Enjoy the lovely breeze that blew in from the lake and the beautiful scenery.

Very rarely have I come across other travelers at the TB. Not many people used that route. Every now and then the ‘watcher’ (that was what the TB keepers were always called) would come around to see if the guest needed anything.

The view from the TB was something like this:

Click to enlarge.

Photo by Rahuldb. Wikimedia Commons, under

GNU Free Documentation License

The lake used to have many types of valloms (country crafts) and motor boats in those days, more than what is seen in the photograph. Some of them are not very much in use in the area now. For instance, privately-owned passenger valloms with cabins. Those were once status symbols, owned by the rich. With the opening up of roads in almost every village, the picture has changed.

Two fascinating sights in the lake during thr bygone days were fully-laden oil tankers carrying petroleum products from Cochin Port to towns in the interior and large cargo barges stringed together and pulled by powerful tugs. Now this traffic is entirely road bound.

One could also see the boat station and the single pier which were about a hundred yards away from the TB. It was interesting to watch the activities there, particularly when a liner going in the opposite direction berthed. People rushed to board even though the boat would spend ample time before departing. Probably the hurry was to occupy vantage seats, if any were left.

Every half hour or so one looked southward to see if the boat from Alleppey was coming. It was very difficult to make out. Initially it would be a speck far away and that came nearer with agonizing slowness. At the appropriate time the watcher would make his appearance to announce that the boat would berth soon. He shouldn’t be forgotten, of course.

As one started for the pier, the watcher’s smile seemed to say, ‘Till the next trip, then.”

Related post: Memories: The boatmen of Olavipe Lake