Glorious Sunrise from the Top Deck of MV Kavaratti

The ship was still swaying. A green line of land is visible through the cabin window. Clockwork flashes from the light house illuminate the pre-dawn blue sea. Public address system told us that the passengers to be ready to disembark at Kalpeni. MV Kavarathi is anchored a mile or so off the coast, from where mechanized boats dart towards the ship. As the comforting air conditioned cabins of MV Kavaratty were lit by early morning sun I rushed after grabbing a quick morning tea to witness my first sunrise inside the sea. It was quite disappointing initially due to dense cloud covering the raising sun. Soon the disappointment vanished as the sun rose and lit the very dark blue Arabian sea all around us.

Dark blue water and Grey clouds

After leaving Kochi late in the evening this was the first glimpse of the sea. The color of the sea was just incredible. It is difficult to capture that color in photography due to limitation of sensors and monitors. That is why I recommend you to experience it live at least once in your lifetime by visiting these places. I have used High Dynamic range (HDR) photography to get you close to the feeling what I saw that day.

Map of Lakshadweep islands

We disembarked the ship around 8 AM through smaller boats to reach the jetty on the eastern side of Kalpeni Island. Kalpeni is more known for its three satellite uninhabited isles named Tilakkam, Pitti, and Cheriyam. Kalpeni is 2.8 Km in length and 1.2 Km in width with Cheriyam island on the north, Tilakkam and Pitti on the south western side. Kalpeni has one of the largest lagoons in Lakshadweep archipelago. It is also quite shallow which makes it splendid for all kinds of water sports. Kalpeni has the distinction that it was the first of Lakshadweep islands where girls started going to school.

luxury transport vehicle

After stepping on to Kalpeni we were greeted by strange transport vehicle to take us to the SPORTS resort on the south western side of Kalpeni. These were small Piaggio Ape 3 wheeler pickup vans. Put 2 wooden benches on these pickup and this coconut carrier becomes luxury transport vehicle for us. The roads are narrow but fully concreted and runs along the length of this narrow island snaking their way though the coconut trees.

Welcome Coconut drink at Kalpeni

At the resort we were welcomed to the island by SPORTS guys with fresh and rejuvenating coconut water. This is a ritual they follow in all the 3 islands without fail. What I fail to understand is that this coconut is most welcome when we are really tired and thirsty, but is offered early in the day when we had our sumptuous breakfast in the ship.

Tilakkam Island from SPORTS resort

Anyway it was no place for logic, so kept all my thoughts aside and wandered (wondered) around huge pool of very shallow water full of broken coral and sea life. Tide was very low and the boats were anchored almost in the middle of this lagoon and they made us wait for the sea to raise.

Brown Sea Cucumber & broken coral on the boat

Tilakkam Island

Snorkeling in shallow waters, Pitti Island is far away

When it was sufficiently high they took us across to Tillakkam island for kayaking and Snorkeling. On the way to the island was quite interesting with several Huge black Sea cucumbers on the way. The huge lagoon was quite shallow (2-3 feet) and full of corals and rich in marine life and coral reefs. Since I lacked underwater camera you will miss that view I had in snorkeling. They give you the gear which can be used for snorkeling. We did it for almost 4 hours, there was a huge variety of corals and fishes. The life under water was just incredible. Water was crystal clear. there was no sand or rock what was underneath was powdery corals and broken corals in various shapes and sizes.

Boat to take us to snorkeling

The Blue Lagoon

Initially I was overawed by he size of the things in water, and I swan cautiously, but as the first hour passed, all the cautiousness turned into curiosity and I was moving away with ease on the surface exploring the coral reefs and the marine life. I was overawed by the sight of ocean grass and corals spanning over large tracts of the ocean floor. initially all that looked scary and I stopped every now and then and stood on my feet.

Black Sea Cucumber Photo taken from above water

If you know to swim, then you are at ease. If you don’t know how to swim, then make sure you walk on the white sand and only put your head in water when needed. Make sure you are around the instructor at all times, so that he can spot you in times of distress. There was plenty of refreshing lemon juice which rejuvenated us to explore more.

Kayaking the lagoon

Around 12:30PM water started raising quite high as high tide was setting in. The pool slowly turned in a lake then almost became sea. We were feeling the tide and the wave along with current was pushing us around. The guides who were around us informed that it was time for departure from this lovely water heaven. With deep heart and sun burnt body we left the lagoon to have a lunch consisting of guess what Lagoon fish. I don’t know what grass eaters had but I sure know they missed lagoon fish which was yummy.

Local lady who prepared food for our lunch

Parichakkali and Kolkali dance

After lunch there was folk dance show conducted by the same set of guides who helped us in the morning. This was a dance of traditional Parichakkali and Kolkali dances of the Lakshadweep probably toned down to the tourists. After the dance we were taken on tour of the island. First stop was Government Hosiery factory where they make cotton vests. Isn’t it ironical as the word hosiery refers to leg-wear and what they sell are banyans (which was originally the name for loose nightgown of 18th century not the vests we wear under our shirts) We had a look at the rickety but still working knitting machine which produced yards of cotton material. Most of our co-passengers almost looted the whole place as the price was unbelievably low. I was left out of the crowd of buyers as they had never heard of XXL size T- shirts in those islands

Ancient Vest machine in Hosiery factory

I asked the our guides to show a Masjid which was supposed to have been built by fairies. The story of this mosque goes like this: Long ago, people planned to construct a mosque here. They dug up the place to construct the basement. When the workers returned the next day they found the mosque at the same site. It was built overnight by the djinns, Miracles don’t end there. Of the seven ponds surrounding the masjid, one provides drinking water despite its proximity to the sea. Unfortunately they denied to show us as it was not part of our itinerary. What I was fortunate to find was one such fresh water pod nearby.

Fresh water pool

Kalpeni Main Road

Later they took us to the north tip of the Kalpeni where we could if we wanted walk along the coral debris to the northern most uninhabited island Cheriyam. Cheriyam was once a part of Kalpeni and today is connected to the main Kalpeni by a bank of sea coral debris. The devastating storm of 1847 is said to have reshaped Kalpeni island and broke away Cheriyam from Kalpeni. And due to the storm Kalpeni has the distinction of not having a beach. We were exhausted by the swimming, snorkeling and kayaking for whole morning and Cheriyam did not look that attractive for our burning backs. So we took a small walk towards it and since the tide was high we returned back to the resort for a well deserved evening tea.

Cheriyam island with Coral Debris

After the tea it was time to reach back to our ship. When we reached the jetty for the boat we could see a huge rush of passengers who want to travel in our ship to other islands along with us.

Waiting for the boat

Before we caught the boat we took the mandatory group shot. Here you can see our whole group of 21 standing along the huge concrete boulders of the jetty and the MV Kavaratty in the background around a mile from the island anchored in the deep sea.

Us with our ship

Ship among Boulders

Golden Glow

We reached the ship just in time to capture the setting sun and I had a blast with some beautiful sunset and post sunset shots which included the glorious sky with light from the lighthouse and crescent moon.

Last boat before Sunset

Lighthouse

Vibrant Sky

Ship bidding adieu to Kalpeni

Last glimpse of Kalpeni before lights fade

After a hearty dinner we left for the island of Minicoy. We were in for a surprise in the early hours of the morning next day. But that will be a suspense I’ll reserve for the narrative on Day 3.

After last two appetizers of Mohiniyattam & Kathakali let us come to the main course. Here are the photos of 1000th one-act show of Mantapa Prabhakara Upadhya for which the celebration was held on 2nd April at Alva’s.

It was a grand day of celebration with an array of cultural extravaganza brimming with skills, mastery and punctuality in timing which was only possible under the able leadership of Dr. Mohan Alva.

As mentioned in the beginning of the Mantapa’s performance by his mentor Shatavadhani R. Ganesh who mooted the concept of “solo” Yakshagana, 1000th performance will be no different from the earlier 999, but the significance we give to these numbers that makes 1000th and unique event.

Venu Visarjana was the subject of 1000th performance at Moodu Venu Pura (Sanskrit name for Moodabidri). It was loosely based on Pu.Thi. Narasimhachar’s Gokula Nirgamana which has Krishna’s separation from Radha as its theme and reaches spiritual heights of viraha bhava.

Words are not sufficient to explain this great performance of Mantapa Prabhakara Upadhya. So I will allow my photos to speak for themselves.

My good friend G.N Ashokvardhana has written a detailed article at his blog ಸಾವಿರಕಂಬದ ಊರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾವಿರದ ಸಂಭ್ರಮ on the whole days celebration.

Kathakali

As the second cultural highlight of Mantapa Prabhakara Upadhya’s 1000th Performance of Ekavyakti Yakshagana celebration we were treated with Kathakali performance by Mudrakhya of Palakkad. Mudrakhya is an organisation established to work for the cause of Kathakali & related art forms of Kerala.

Demonstration of Aangica Abhinaya

Before the actual performance Kathakali there was a lecture demonstration on the various abhinaya aspect of Kathakali by manager of Mudrakhya team K. Shashi and Sadanam Krishnadas. This demonstration helped us, who had very little knowledge about this art form to understand gestures of Kathakali.

Narakasura

It was followed by beautiful rendition of Narakasura by K.M Nandakumar Nair who has spent over 50 years practicing Kathakali.

Behind the screen

Nandakumaran born in 1945, hails from the serene village of Desamangalam. Nandkumaran learned the art of Ottanthullal during the 1954-59 under Kalamandalam Divakaran Nair & Malabar Kannan Nair, the senior instructors at the Kerala Kalamandalam, Chruthuruthy, Kerala.

Kathakali

His training in Kathakali commenced in 1963, at the PSV Natyasangham, Kottakkal, under the tutelage of Kottakkal Krishnankutty Nair. After his student days, Nandakumaran served the PSV Natyasangham as a performer and a teacher till 1998. He still continues to be a free lance performer, teacher and resource person of Kathakali.

Kathakali

Distribution of the task of elucidating emotions to the entire body is the observed uniqueness of Kathakali. This very specific technique separates Kathakali from its parallel forms like Koodiyattom & Krishnanattom. This was perfectly elucidated by Nandakumaran in Narakasura

Narakasura

Katha = Story. Kali = play. Even though it is not the rigid meaning related to theatre it is just enacting a story. The text for this purpose is referred to as Aattakkatha meaning a story written to be produced as a Kathakali.

Kathakali

Kathakali as we see today is just more than four centuries old. The popular legend behind Kathakali may be quickly reviewed to establish that there was a great revolutionary and socialistic philosophy that played into the evolution of Kathakali. Zamorin, a local chieftain in the northern Kerala was a patron of Krishnanattom, essentially a dance drama that deals only with the story of Krishna, only within the premises of Krishna-temples.

Kathakali

A local chieftain from Kottarakkara, southern Kerala, invited the Zamorin to present Krishnanattom in Kottarakkara. This was turned down by the Zamorin, with a statement that Krishnanattom is not for the unscholarly audience of southern Kerala. With a vengeance, the royal chieftain of Kottarakkara gave rise to Ramanattom. Ramanattom enacted stories from Ramayana and other epics also. In due course of time, as it began to encompass many stories, Ramanattom evolved into a medium with bigger dimension, to ‘Play any Story’ thus becoming Kathakali.

Closeup

Nanadakumaran was amply assisted in background score by A. M Ravindran and Sadanam Jothish Babu in vocals, Kalamandala jayakrishna and Krishna Praveen Poduval in Chande, Srijith Marar in Maddale.

Jump

Capturing very fine movement and expressions of Kathakali was a great challenge to me. Using two dimensional still medium like photography to depict vibrant art form of Kathakali that too on a stage cluttered with huge distracting writing in the background was really a challenge. Video would show the finer movements but how to get that in Photography. I tried in this photograph by shooting with very low shutter speed (1/25th of a second). You will notice that only the right hand of Narakasura and Chende stick are mobile in the photograph with rest of the picture are still thus conveying a very subtle movement of the artist.

Slow speed photo