Njarakkal fishing vacation

About half an hour drive from home in kadavanthra, fishing based tourism at Njarakkal was a very fulfilling experience. As today is a working day,  we were the only ones when we arrived. We crossed the wooden bridge, and started walking around the water. Saw a couple of bouncing rope swings. Kittu and Niya got into those and as they started swinging and bouncing, I had vague memories of parallel pendulum physics experiments.
   A little further up was a sturdy hammock. I see hammocks as the better alternative to mattresses for rest/sleep. Especially, when the caressing breeze gets cooled by direct contact with water before hitting you. Tall coconut tree with it's shiny green leaves to the backdrop of the pleasant blue sky to look at if you need to open your eyes. Time starts to stop. You can just lay there for ever. You don't need to have the fish curry meals, or do the boating, and whatever else our tickets allow us. Just lie there for ever. Of course, if someone could swing the hammock, that would be welcome.
     We walked further on, and we enjoyed having no one else but us here. At first, I had felt we could walk around the entire rectangular water body, but before long, such a possibility died out as it is a much longer walk than I had initially estimated.  We had reached here around 11 am, now it was noon. My father wanted to try angling ("choonda"). So we decided to have the fish curry lunch first and then try our hand at angling.
     Fish curry lunch was simple and good. Good fish curry meals are pretty common-place in Kerala. Fish curry meals here was great too. We also had clam roast and prawns roast, both of which were very good as well. Nothing to complain about.  Kochi fisherwomen who were serving us spoke freely and openly with Kittu, (in their striking Kochi accent) asking him to eat more. He showed them his biceps muscles which they quipped at. Nice hospitality. Very good food.
       Got five wooden stick fishing rods and each of us started fishing. I shared with Kittu as based on earlier angling experiences, it is just about sitting idle. I was proved wrong very quickly as each of us had fishes jostling through the crowds to grab their share of the yellow sticky food from the  bait. Kittu thought we were feeding the fish now,  having just had our  lunch.
       My father changed the game with his first catch.  Reasonably sized baby pearlspot. After recording the moment in photos/ videos, the pearl spot was unhooked and thrown back into the water. Before long, my father caught one more. Before long, yet another. Clearly, there is some skill and expertise at work here. My father has had experience in childhood with angling. That experience and knack was doing it's charm.
         Rain broke the angling stint. As we were waiting, watching the rain, we were offered our ice creams. Small vanilla cups followed by a little more rain wait.
       Then we had our "Kutta Vanji" ride. Divya and myself had been in a kuttavanji a few weeks back. So we had some context on what to expect. Also, since the rain had filled into the other boat option we had, the basket boat that had been inverted against the rain was the correct option. We went for a pretty long ride. Each of us had a chance with the oars. The oar was reasonably light. You don't get where you want to get to in a straight line. Sometimes you have to do some rounds, some detours, but finally you get there. Very novel and real experience.
      While we were rowing in, another group had come in, and done the motor boat jumping fish ride. As the motor boat disturbs their ecosystem, the fishes jump for their lives. Quite a sight to see from even a distance.
       After the boat oaring,  time was good for a strong tea. That is what we did. This also comes with the ticket. The tea was good too. Everything was good. Very simple, unassuming, but really good.
         Niya did a cycle boat ride by herself while the rest of the group cheered her on. Spirited and confident, she went into the depths and rode back with the ease of cycling around a park.
          Niya wanted to get back to angling and catch a fish. So she and my father got back to angling, and my father got another one. I am sure the training would serve her some day. I used the time to get back to my hammock. Divya felt sleepy and used another hammock to sleep off.
           After an hour of angling, I took the fishing rod from Niya to do a quick five minute angling before leaving home. This time when I felt a movement at the bait, I did not do a quick and easy wrist up, I did a full hand earnest pull, the way I had observed my father do. And sure enough, I got a catch too! The throwing back part was not smooth. As the hook had got in pretty bad into the fish's mouth, before I could pull the hook out completely, the fish had slithered out of my hand. For the second attempt, I had to hold it hard. I thought I saw it's eyes bulge out a bit. I unhooked but tore off a bit of it's skin in the process. I dropped the fish back into the water. It just lay still. I thought it was dead as the earlier ones had just rushed off for their lives. And then, it got it's life back and swam away energetically. Cruel hobby, but fish curry meals would count just as cruel too.
              The day at Njarakkal was very good. We had the advantage of having the entire place for ourselves, with not much of rain trouble. On the way back,  we saw "Mandhi Palace" and bought the trendy "Kuzhi Mandhi" chicken biriyani. True to it's reputation, our "kuzhi mandhi biriyani" dinner after reaching home was just as awesome as the Njarakkal fishing vacation.