Beneath the fallen leaves: Onam 2004

Stefano Nardi was my first boss abroad when I started working in the middle east for the first time. It was 1991, Das Island, Abu Dhabi and the company was Snam Progetti. The relationship grew over the years and Nardi's became our family friends. I have been inviting them to visit Kerala since then and finally in 2004, they came to visit us. Stefano, Antonella and Alice. We spent 15 days touring Kerala during Onam 2004.

We spent thiruvonam in Thrissur, then moved to Munnar, Thekkady, Kumarakam, Alleppy, Marari and Cochin. The most memorable of our stay was in Lake palace in Thekkady. Lake palace is a unique wild life hotel, in the middle of a forest within the periyar wild life sanctuary. It is protected by a deep channel all around from wild animals.
Stefano has brought his brand of single malt whiskey and we sat around in the lawn of Lake palace sipping it till late on the first evening. We could hear the noises of wild animals across the water and during the day, can see them grazing a few hundred meters away. We also had our dinner in the lawn and we (Stefano, Antonella, me and Usha) retired to the room around 11 PM. Nikhil and Alice were still talking about nothing when we retired.
Some time later we heard running feet, pounding on the door and Nikhil burst into our room. He closed the room and bolted it. We heard some noises outside. When Nikhil calmed down, he told us that he fell asleep in the easy chair in the lawn and woke up feeling something sniffing his feet. It was a wild boar and he ran for his life! Next day the staff explained that sometimes, the wild boar fall into the channel separating the forest and the hotel and very rarely, one of them escapes into the hotel side in its effort to somehow get out of the channel.
Lake palace is run by KTDC, but is one of the finest and most unique properties I have ever visited after travelling around the world quite a bit. We became very friendly with the manager, Balakrishnan and the staff. Balakrishnan still remains a good family friend.
They also arranged a 4 hour trekking through Periyaar wild life forest where we could see various animals and even a Hornbill or Vezhambal, the national bird of Kerala.
Any one who visits Kerala, must stay at least one night in Lake Palace. Without that their journey to Kerala will be incomplete.