Introducing the Alleppey Beach. I was born 500 meters away from that shoreline (in the Beach Hospital).
Alleppey is well known for its backwaters. The white-sand beach is something that visitors discover after they reach the town. Post lunch is the best time to visit the beach, when the water is cool, the tide is low, and the beach is nearly empty.
This particular day, the tide was extra-low, the sky was overcast. The previous night, the tide was extremely rough,.. the hallmark of its fury being the smashed crustaceans washed up on shore. In some areas, there was a layer of broken shells, about an inch thick! I held the largest shell I've found so far... (not the largest one I've seen, but the largest one I've found)
The sea at Alleppey is usually very inviting, its hard to resist a dip. But calm waters run very very deep. A few meters away from the shoreline, the sea bed takes a sudden dive, and the currents are strong, and pull swimmers down. Many experienced swimmers have perished. So, if you are going into the water, go till waist deep. No more.
Alleppey was once a bustling center of trade and commerce.. until the Cochin harbour was developed. Many decades ago, ships docked a few kilometers off the Alleppey coastline and tug-boats brought in the goods, which were loaded into railway wagons waiting on the pier. Now, Alleppey is a sleepy little town, and all that's left of the proud days is the skeleton of the pier.
Make no mistake, that pier's made of real sturdy steel... It's lasted for more than a century. I searched the pillars for some evidence of its early days. I expected to find inscribed on the steel "Made in England"... but the salt of the sea had already destroyed any such evidence.
:D I would pay to watch someone walk that pier, Super Mario style...
(Pics by Cyclops, the Android)
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