“God’s Own Country” - India....with little kids?-

Luciana
Apr 23, 2020
7 min read

We thought and researched a lot before deciding to take the kids to India as it seemed a bit daunting. I didn't want to expose them to infectious diseases, dead bodies on the street or undrinkable stagnant water, but this part of India surprised us in many ways.

Kerala, in the south, is India-lite version: a more relaxed, but still exotic taste of India. It offers so much for families that we don't regret having visited it with our 3 little kids (6, 3 and 2 years old at the time).

Kerala means “land of coconuts” in the local Malayalam language, although the tourist office prefers the slogan “God’s Own Country”, and it’s easy to see why. Between the colonial Fort Kochi, the Backwaters, the green tea fields, amazing food, and rich culture of the region there was so much to love.

Kerala provides a great introduction to India. It is still exotic and culturally rich whilst not being as overwhelming as the north .

There are a few important facts I didn’t know about Kerala :

Kerala is the most prosperous corner of India. Much more developed than we expected. Less poor than the rest of the country.
They are mostly Christians (conquered by Portuguese).
They have a very good health care system. You don’t see beggars or people sleeping on the streets.
People in Kerala is more educated and less poor than the rest of the country.
Traffic is organised, roads are in good condition, there’s no rubbish on the streets.
It’s a mostly communist government.It was the first state in the world to democratically elect a communist government (in 1957) but, far from becoming an impoverished economic laggard, literacy rates are the highest in the country.
Less visible casts system

From Sri Lanka, we went to Maldives and spent 10 days there. We were at the resort not knowing where to go next, and when we finally made out our minds, we realised we needed a visa to enter India, that normally takes between 5 and 10 days to get. There was no way we could have stayed in Maldives any extra days as our super exclusive paradisiac hotel was fully booked (again, the beauty of planning so last minute!). Luckily we got it on time. We flew into Kerala International airport and were picked up by the coolest driver in the coolest van that looked like a proper disco inside.

Fort Kochi

This is where you most probably will start the tour around Kerala, and you can easily spend a few days in this picturesque town. This city has been an important port for traders throughout history and the British, Dutch and Portuguese have all left their mark.

We arrived here in early March, with perfect weather, just before it gets too hot (April-May) and before the monsoon season (June-Sept) we had sunny, warm and not rainy days. We were also very lucky to arrive during the Kochi - Muziris Biennale art fair, the biggest contemporary art festival in Asia. The city was vibrant with art exhibitions, performances, and amazing food all over.

We couldn’t have been there in a better time. Definitely a pleasant surprise.

Chinese fishing nets

Fort Kochi's most famous attraction is the Chinese fishing nets that line Mahatma Gandhi Beach.

These spiderlike, 10m-tall contraptions rest on bamboo poles and require five or six people to operate their counterweights at high tide. They were introduced by Chinese explorers who landed there in the 14th century.

Modern fishing techniques are making these labour-intensive methods less and less profitable, with nets slowly disappearing from Kerala's coastline. Of the 17 Chinese fishing nets that dotted the harbour’s mouth at Fort Kochi four decades ago, only eight remain. Three of these nets are the biggest in the world with six fishermen pulling per shift. Fort Kochi has the biggest number of large fishing nets; smaller versions adorn the opposite bank at Fort Vypeen.

The system is so well balanced that when a fisherman walk along the main beam, the net descends into the sea because of his weight.

You should visit the Chinese fishing nets in the evening, when the fishermen return from the sea with their catch. The place transforms. There are hundreds of types of different sea life... and the way these men weight, negotiate and trade their merchandise, it's a whole show to look at.

You can buy anything you want and the nearby restaurants will cook it for you in a traditional way. Just be aware that as any other touristic attraction, the locals are trying to catch more tourists than fish.

Fish Market in Fort Kochin

Religious Festivals

Religion in India is characterised by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices.

India is officially a secular state and has no state religion. The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.

On our fist day in India, right after checking in the Backwater Palace Hotel, we drove another 1.5 hours to a little town in Allepey, to witness the Kannamangalam religious parade. The shock, after coming from 10 days doing nothing but sunbathing and diving in The Maldives, was huge. The colours, the smells, the religious fervor, families dressed up as Gods, traditional music and dances... it's all you expect to see in India.

Kerala is considered as land of festivals, with numerous festivals falling across the year. Every festival in ‘God’s own country’ has a different set of legends and rituals associated with it, each just as fascinating and beautiful as the next.

We spent all day watching them building up their floats until the parades went on the street. Its a very special, traditional, different, most recommended thing to do if you ever go to Kerala.

These celebrations are probably the people’s own way of keeping the age-old traditions alive even today.

Kerala’s temple festivals are a priority of every local’s social schedule. And if you want to revel in traditional dance and music, witness colourful outfits and props, people dressed up as Gods, decked up elephants, fireworks and life-size effigies, you should add it to your bucket list too.

Fishing in India

Kerala, has nearly 600km of Arabian Seas shoreline.

Different traditional fishing methods are still alive and fishermen brave the seas on indigenous watercraft like catamarans.

Fishing in India is a major industry in its coastal states, it guarantees employment generation whilst ensuring nutritional and food security.

Typically, the men are out on the sea fishing or on the shore mending their nets while

women are busy with transporting fish to the market, engaging in small trade or busy with their household chores.

The life of the fisherman is centred around the fishing seasons, the fish they catch and the technology they use. Fishermen are deeply religious and they fully depend on the sea and the other natural forces that control it. The fisherfolk thus have different rituals to please the forces of nature.

The Backwaters

Alappuzha (Alleppey) is the houseboat hub in the Backwaters, it's about 1.5 hours drive from Fort Kochi.

The Backwaters is a network of lagoons, lakes, rivers, and canals lying parallel to the Arabian Sea coast of Kerala state in southern India, a labyrinthine system formed by more than 900 kilometres (560 mi) of waterways.

The Houseboats, which were once used to transport fish, rice and spices, have now been transformed into floating hotels and restaurantes and are one of the prominent tourist attractions in Kerala. There are at least 1,200 houseboats plying the backwaters.

You can not swim in the backwaters. The quality of water is not good, It's dark, stagnant and might contain sewage from nearby establishments.

You can take day tours or spend a few days on a boat. We boarded our boat just after breakfast in the hotel, and came back around 5 pm. If you are travelling with kids, we recommend a day trip, it is more than enough for what you have to see and do here.

The boats offer you glimpse of how much locals depend on the marine environment for their livelihoods and well-being. Besides rice farming, fishing, washing clothes, cooking and bathing, up to 70 per cent of households are engaged in tourism-related activities.

It is a very pleasant day, generally speaking, the view is quite unique, the boats are super picturesque, the ultra colourful houses, the people waking on the shore with their gorgeous sarongs... are a pleasure to behold. You can relax and just let yourself go, or you can visit one of the many Ayurvedic massage centers (we couldn't find a good one, and preferred try the Ayurvedic massage at our hotel Spa instead) surely the captain of the boat will have it arranged beforehand with one of his relatives or friends. We were lucky to have a good chef who made us a good traditional Hindu dish -fish curry cooked with coconut, vada, chickpea curry, and fried banana chips-, and the kids even had a long nap in one of the bedrooms.


There are at least 1,200 houseboats plying the backwaters – about a third are unregistered. Unsurprisingly, an environmental-impact assessment found that houseboat operations on Vembanad Lake exceed its carrying capacity.
Locals claim the water has an oily sheen and tastes of petrol, even after being boiled.

Now, looking back in time, the definite highlight of our time in Kerala was visiting a family home. We wanted to get to know a local family, to see how they really live. They were the kindest and most humble people...they offered us oranges, and a local homemade drink, Lassi, a blend of waterish yoghurt, spices and some fruit.

They had very little to offer, but we left with a lot.