Alappuzha: Former English cricketer and BBC commentator Jonathan Agnew has lauded Kerala's uniqueness after finding a "surprising peace" in Alappuzha backwaters.
Nick-named Aggers, Agnew had played three Test and three one-day internationals in the first leg of the '80s, has spent three nights in a houseboat with his wife Emma Agnew, editor of BBC East Midlands Today.
Narrating the unique cruising experience, he wrote his experience for Daily Mail titled Karma and calmer: Think India is just about chaos and noise? Try drifting through Kerala in a thatched boat on January 7.
In the online report appeared with two two-minute vlogs, he says Kerala was the best place to make a tour in the India.
He was here to cover the England’s recent India tour. He chose Kerala as ultimately he wanted tranquillity after two months on the road with constant car horns and general hustle of daily life that had gradually worn him down.
And he came to Venice of the East after dismissing invitation to the Taj Mahal as the sceneries out there were too predictable.
Winding through the Kerala backwaters, they met with friendly locals and spotted plenty of wildlife. They were impressed by their lifestyle, calmness of nights in the lake and treatment of hosts.
They walked down the walkways of hinterlands of Kuttanad, and his wife had distributed two boxes of colour pencils to children. They saw a young boy wearing Lionel Messi T-shirts with a smartphone in hand. "India is forever confusing its visitors like that," he writes.
He took a right decision by carrying their alcohol as their boat had offered nothing hot more than drinking water!
Their mooring destination was fantastic where they confronted with a buffalo, and there was always music.
"Women and young girls gathered in a building on the edge of the river to sing. For just a few hours we were part of their world," he says.
Mentioning recent National Geographic listing of Kerala backwaters as one of 50 Places of a Lifetime, he recommends Alappuzha as a place that is unmissable
“Most memorable of all the charming scene was the window we could open into such a very different world; one in which people live modestly at an enviously gentle pace, and always with warm and welcoming smiles,” he concludes.
