GK Homestay in Kottayam

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We spent four days at GK Homestay. Even though it is a homestay, the guests don't stay in the same house as the family. Five years ago, when the Kutty family decided to enter the homestay business, they built a bungalow with four well sized room, with ensuite bathrooms, 50 metres behind their house.
The rooms are clean and well equipped with candles (much needed in India because of the frequent power cuts), incense (always nice), toilet paper (not that common), soap (even less common), a ceiling fan (essential in a tropical climate), conveniently located light fittings that give off a non disturbing light (unheard of combination in India), mosquito screens instead of class windows (which is needed for airflow in a tropical climate) and, most importantly, a squeegee for the bathroom floor. A squeegee may not sound like an essential, but it is, and here is why: all the Indian bathroom floors that we have encountered are badly constructed; there is no or not enough of a slant towards the drain. So, when you have had you shower (separate shower cubicles are rare in India) the floor will be covered in water for hours after a shower, i.e. constantly with the frequent showering in India, and the risk of falling (Indian bathroom floors also tend to have very poor grip) is ever present. Also, wet floors make it impossible to avoid soggy hem syndrome. Luckily, we didn't have any near misses at GK Homestay.
The bungalow is set with a view to a very big paddy field where people seem to work all day long. How they manage to move around in a water logged field in 40 degrees heat and extremely humid conditions is beyond us. Luckily, there are hammocks in which one can ponder about the hardships in life. When we were there the workers were preparing for the big rice sowing day which, unfortunately, happened the day after we left.
There are plenty of good reasons for staying at GK Homestay. Its location, 30 minutes away from Kottayam in the middle of the Kerala Backwaters, is unlike anything else in Kerala (well, apart from other places in the Backwaters). You basically will experience this special type of village life that revolves around the waterways. The canals are used for transportation of all kinds of goods and beings; using the canals is simply a necessity because of the few roads. Also, many people don't have bathrooms and wash themselves in the canals.

Because of the climate and the prominence of water there is an abundance of greenery. Going on a stroll in the area will typically look like this:
At night the area changes character completely: the tropical sounds appear. When we lay in bed at night we were listening to a plethora of different animal and insect sounds; anything from frogs and turtles to birds and crickets.

Based on our experiences so far (we have tried two other homestays) we would definitely recommend using this type of accommodation as long as the homestay has been recommended by a reputable source. To a degree you get to experience how the family go about their daily lives. And if you choose the right homestay you will also get to experience the food. At GK Homestay it is a necessity to receive the meals since there aren't any food places in close proximity. Also, once you are there you won't find any good reason to go to Kottayam to eat; it takes too long and why would anyone not choose the calm and quiet village life over the business and pollution of Kottayam?

Anyway, the food at GK Homestay, which is cooked by George's wife Dai and her mother, is worth the stay alone. We were served three meals a day of traditional Keralan food, including desserts with the main meals. When we read through the guest book someone had written that he hadn't had such good food since he left Australia. He must have been lying through his teeth, have crap taste buds or be used to five star food. We can say with 100 percent certainty, and believe us we know about food, that it will be very difficult to find food of such consistently high quality anywhere. Most of the ingredients were impossibly fresh, including fresh coffee and bananas from their own land, and the cooking was finely balanced. We have no memory of ever having eaten such good food for four days in a row.
Unfortunately, it is only George and his daughter who speak good enough English to make conversation possible. However, they both speak very good English. Our conversations with George were always interesting, some of them too entertaining to be mentioned here; he has some interesting views on most of the topics that came up. Whilst he likes to talk and will go to any length to make you feel comfortable at his house there is one thing you, probably, won't get him to do: clothes ironing.

Whilst we stayed at GK Homestay we were taken on a walk to see the family snake boats. They are unbelievably long and narrow boats, the largest one fitting in 100 rowers, and are used in the yearly Kerala snake boat races held in connection with the harvest festival in August to September. The different villages will man their boats with their most skilled men, usually four helmsmen, 25 singers and 100 rowers, and compete against other villages. Apparently, the snake boat competition is the largest team sport in the world. On the photo below George is explaining something, clearly complicated, to Sarah.
You may notice that he is wearing a skirt in the photo; it is called a lunghi. This is a brilliant and versatile piece of clothing: it can be warn long or folded into the front as it is in the photo. It provides good air flow to essential parts of the body. Mort is actually wearing one in the house. He wouldn't go out in one though, just like he wouldn't go out in a loin cloth.

Finally, staying at GK Homestay provides and excellent base for seeing the backwaters.

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This entry was posted by pundabee, on Thursday, November 30, 2006. You can leave your response.