My arrival to Kerala was serendipity. With no plans to stay here I lived for more than 700 days in this heaven, fondly called God’s own country. Welcomed by immense humidity I slowly swayed away from the city life and immersed into slow pace of life with one of the best encounters with nature with pristine beaches, refined backwaters, exquisite hill stations, longest dance drama Kathakali and juxtaposed nature against the cultural topography of Gods Own Country. Initially finicky about eating with my bare hands, I relished every moment of indulging in its local delicacies.

From Palm fringed islands to white sand coasts, rides in the country boats, the flawless sunsets, Portuguese and Dutch style streets of Fort Kochi to the wild and spicy hills of Kumily and Thekady, sleepy hot noons to heavily raining evenings, the tranquility of this little paradise of nature wooed me everyday.
While I am winding up from Kerala to leave after a few days I realized I am getting more greedy to embrace natures most indulgent way of discovering life. I want to discover more explosions of colors of the sky every morning and evening. On my continuous search of unblemished nature I discovered this small hamlet called Kakkathurthu Island, locally known as Island of Crows.
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Kayaking into the Island
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Boat Jetty-The only way to enter into the Island
I slowly row away from the shores of mainland in a country boat, the only mode of transportation to reach this island. Its a small village tucked away from the hectic modern world, and not so easy to reach even for the native people. Life here flows slowly and smoothly in the company of nature, an isle surrounded by waters on all sides. On my 45 minutes walk I discovered this green hamlet laden with paddy fields, marshy land patches, coconut grooves, vast green patches of land engulfed by unstoppable growth of beautiful wild flowers.
 ‘Land of Coconuts’ Kerala is that state of India which never failed to astonish me with its remarkable beauty every single time and often it strengthened my belief why it is known as God’s own country. The walk around island gave me a peep into the interesting lifestyle of inhabitants. Colorful houses with no roads but the paths and a canoe to commute, large playgrounds, cattles grazing around, fishermen casting their nets to catch the fish, Children leaping into the fresh water, Saree laden women with ear to ear smiles, every face I encountered welcomed me to this divine piece of land and people very proudly explained me the spots where I could catch the best sunset views on the earth. This subtle sense of bliss, ecstasy and comfort was the result of calm and serene surroundings, watching this joy was an amazing treat to my eyes.

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Colorful houses occupied by 300 families on the Island
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Flora and Fauna
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Maiden Land away from the modern world
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Tiny green Isles and undefiled ponds
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A land that still upholds the pristine goodness of mankind

It has been listed in National Geographic’ s ‘Around the World in 24 Hours,’ a photographic tour of travel-worthy spots in the world
As remarked by the Natgeo expeditions, If dawn is awakening and daytime illumination, then twilight is transcendence, a final burst of vitality before darkness falls.
As the dusk fell, the picturesque landscape with grooving lush of coconut induced some magic in the atmosphere. As the sun descended into the gulf of horizon, the shadows lengthened and the whole sky turned into pale orange ball

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Setting Sun reflecting on the rippling waters
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The final burst of vitality before darkness falls

By the time I finished witnessing this eureka moment and walked to the boat, the island was in total darkness except for a tiny torch to guide me along the narrow track.

As I left and sailed away to the mainland, I could see why the trained eyes of the National Geographic team picked this pearl as one of the 24 tourist wonders of the globe

Have you traveled to Kerala yet?