Under the Green Umbrella

by Ebin Belji (India)

Making a local connection India

This was a while back and I can still remember almost everything that happened when I was at a place called Kanthalloor. It wasn't a journey i was looking forward to but it just happened and became one of the best ones. It was the journey that took me through green hills of Munnar and finally to Kanthalloor. This place is fairly remote area in the hills but had tarred roads. High-speed internet connectivity was far from what the people here enjoyed, they enjoyed the green open outdoors. Having no cellular connection was a irritation at first but it grew on me and was kind of refreshing. The people there were mostly farmers and many of them had orchard of fruits and flowers, these were the thing that brought me there. There were several homestays offering several amenities and we picked the one my uncle's friend had referred. The first day began with watching the sun rise and a morning walk to the place where food was arranged, food was nothing special but just the usual. Then we walked to orchard, which I was waiting for from the start of the trip. It was green and beautiful eventhough it was offseason. We took a stroll through the garden and was guided by the owner himself. He took us through his garden which he started twenty years ago. He took the time to explain everything there and I could notice he was proud of his creation, it's his family hardwork that made it the way it is today. We reached a point where he had to go to the office to attend to other people and we were let loose into the fruit garden and were allowed to pick fruits. We started walking and took fruit alone the way, which we thought were juicy. The fruits were really good and could really tell the difference from what we buy from the shop. We spend the whole morning there and returned to the room we rented and cooked a small meal and ate it as a family. Then we set off towards a place nearby where they made jaggery. It was the first time in such a place, it was nothing modern but was interesting to watch how it's actually made. The land was covered in used sugarcane stem from the juice extractor. Then there was boiling, transferring, cooling, rolling and packaging which was fun to watch. Then we went to the nearby tea shop and had a snack, the view from the tea shop was of the sunset and the hillside tea shop gave a memorable moment. We went back and had a family dinner and enjoyed the meal. Next day were leaving so we woke up early in the morning and went to a spot in hillside famous for viewing sunrise and had a better look at the sun rising from behind the mountains. The weather was cool and was fog filled , which made the experience even more memorable. Then it was time to leave and we packed our bags and went home. This was such a beautiful place to connect with nature and be away from all the social media nonsense. This was really time Well Spent. The photos we took keeps the memories alive and looking back i feel like doing it again. Trips like this are always worth it ! - ebin