We’ve just returned from a trip to Alappuzha, in the neighbouring state of Kerala, to watch the famous (58th year!) Snake Boat Race in the backwaters…it was a lovely trip, though rather expensive (Kerala is very tourist-conscious, spelt F-L-E-E-C-E!)

I have piles of photos fo upload (and being me, PILES of photos to delete!) I only used my MLC (Mary’s Lamb Camera)…the SX10….KM was using the 30D with the 70-300mm lens. I wanted lots of videos of the races, so decided against the DSLR! :)

But one of my favourite images of the race is this one, where the rowers of this “Iruttukutthi” (“piercer of the dark”…these were boats, apparently, that were used in piracy in the days of old!) were practicing in one of the backwater canals….

I don’t know if these contestants ultimately placed, or won…but the intensity of their effort is clearly apparent here.

One of the good parts:

…. was that three friends spotted us live on TV, and called us! Since I was busy photographing the race, I never turned to the TV monitor that was near us, and thought it was only closed-circuit TV to show us the Indian President… I do hope I was not caught when I was experiencing one of the bad parts.

One of the bad parts:

….was that while we were sitting in the front row of the Tourist Gold pavilion, facing the political VIPS, and right next to many of the contestants in the water… I was fighting with my fellow ticket-holders who, after finishing their lunch, threw the containers (plastic bags, composites, mineral water bottles and aluminium foil) into the water of the lake, right in front of them…and one of them actually gargled and spat into it, too in defiance of my protest. He looked over at me and smiled victoriously….after I told the police on duty to warn them, too.

Yeugghhh….I do detest some Malayali men…one of them (another lot) spat over my leg, too, and there were other indignities that I suffered….enough said. Some men…are OCTOPUSES.