The day I went to Light House at PuduVypeen(New Vypeen), Kochi was the day after the long week of rain. Though it is our rainy season, it was unusual for a whole week of rain during August, especially when Onam, the harvest festival was around. The weather men said it was some kind of low pressure formed in the sea around the Indian peninsula. Around these days, the historic flooding of Pakistan and Kashmir was in the news.
From the High Court Junction, I took a Paravoor bus and got down at "Vallappu" Bus stop. Light house was one and a half kilometers away from there. Only few buses plied through the Light House area and they went through some other route less frequently. So the only option I had was to hire an Auto rickshaw or walk. I decided to walk. It took me nearly thirty minutes to walk up to the light house in that hot afternoon, the country side all around was a beauty as New Vypeen is not yet part of the mad constructional development going on all around Kochi.
The beach adjacent to the light house is almost bare and lonely, only the local fishermen use that part of the land. Since it was raining very bad these few days most of the fishermen had their boats towed up on the land, some of them had their boat oiled and nets repaired whey they were out of work. The notice there said, "Please do not sit on the boat" which meant those who visit the light house do mess with their livelihood too..:):)
These two boys came up behind me on their bike, they were very friendly and posed for me gladly. I was delighted when a picture of them I posted on Flickr had many visitors.
Its not often Foreign tourist come to this beach here for sun bathing. This lady who came with her auto rickshaw driver from Fort Kochi had the whole beach to herself. I hope she had a beautiful vacation and went back home with beautiful memories. We still have to work hard on our infrastructure, transport, decent affordable lodging, restaurants etc..
Even for my tropical skin, the afternoon sun was little too much. I had to use this umbrella a lot. Surprisingly there was only one big tree in that whole beach with some shade. Naturally it was crowded under the tree. Some beach dogs and some men including me..
Some thirty years ago, our country side was like this, with fresh water fields on both sides, mud road between them, wooden post for electrical cables. Now we hardly see such sight. Puduvypeen is perhaps one of the few places remaining. The fact is its so far out from Main town Kochi. Though the locals have some safety issues with the fuel storage tanks that are coming up in their area, I do wish them good and prosperity one way or the other.Indeed my trip to Light House was a joy indeed.
