During the monsoons, Kerala’s beauty enhances leaps and bounds of imaginations. Till where your eyes reach, there are different shades of green greeting you, taking you to the state of serendipity. The greenery can intoxicate you if you are a pluviophile – a rain lover. The monsoons in Kumarakom are a pluviophile’s paradise in the truest sense of the term. You can see, smell, feel the rains around you and let the rains be your soul friend till your stay in Kumarakom. In this article, we would be describing the beauty of the Kerala monsoons as observed in Kumarakom. It’s a slow read, so relax before you start.

What to expect -

As the Kumarakom village is nestled in a corner of the Backwaters of Kerala, when it rains, the water level rises upto the banks, but that’s it, there’s a low chance for the water to waterlog the banks, but even if it does occasionally, won’t you want to feel the cool rain water touching your feet? Ahh! There will be muds, but there will be mother nature encapsulating around you as you feel the splash!

If you are a laid back person, you can spend your monsoon vacation in Kumarakom without doing anything – just sitting in a riverside room staring out as the rains fall gradually or patter down intermittently or how the small rivulets form as the rains pass through the corrugated roofs. Let your imaginations run wild and far – let your souls be free as the rains.

The rains flavour our local teas better you know, and our paal chaya (Indian chai with milk, milk tea) tastes strong during the monsoons in Kumarakom transporting you to another world. Picture this – rains falling down, piping hot tea and may be a slow music that completely lifts you out of your Blues.

It’s a resting time for the local people in Kumarakom during the monsoons. As the rains keep falling down, they don’t go for farming or other activities like coir making, crafting fences or mattresses. They just spend valuable times having engaging conversations with their family members. Although it’s a busy time for the fisherfolks. During the monsoons, the Kumarakom fishermen becomes busier than the other seasons. Abundant fishing goes on all over Kumarakom and it’s a treat to watch the fishermen spreading the fishing nets in the water, or using other local methods to catch the fishes.

Walks among the damp soil and moist grasses are the best ways to be one with the rains. In Kumarakom, you can go for guided village walks, visit the backyard kitchen gardens and see the local farm produces including a few organic spices. Or you can go biking around feeling the moist winds in your back and hair as you paddle on the cycle.

If you are into Kayaking, you would love the Kayaking experience during the monsoons. There would be no crowd, no watermosses to stop you and you can enjoy spectacular sun rises and sun sets from your kayaks while paddling in the backwaters.

Rainy seasons in Kerala are wonderful for Ayurvedic skin treatments as the skin becomes more prepared to receive the herbal massages and oil treatments. Kerala’s ayurvedic treatments are world famous and they cure almost all ailments ranging from anxiety, depression, insomnia, skin problems and so on. The medicinal herbs are also available in plenty during monsoons. We have a few local ayurvedic centres in Kumarakom where herbal massages, ayurvedic herbs and oil treatments are quite popular among the travellers. You can just put your worries outside as you enter to experience the Kerala Ayurvedic treatments.

Busting down a few monsoon myths:

1.           In Kumarakom, no leeches will attack you during monsoon.
2.       You will not get malaria if you travelling during monsoons if you are carrying mosquito repellent ointments with you.
3.       Heavy rains don’t continue for long days. You can expect daily rainfalls but they dry up sooner than you expect. Anyways, who would go out in the heavy rains if you can enjoy interesting discussions, banters, repartee, conversations and stories indoors with the sounds of the rains?