Photo Credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
In Hinduism, the elephant represents one of the most important Gods: Lord Ganesh. Many Hindu temples in south India have elephants stationed outside the main door to give blessing to visitors. For a long time, elephants have been part of life in Kerala. People here consider this animal a harbinger of good fortune, a remover of obstacles and an inseparable part of religious and economic life. Continue reading
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
With its long monsoon season, Kerala is one of the rainiest states in India. Starting from June to August, many visitors flock to Kerala during Monsoon when the climate is cool, the nature is lush green, the atmosphere is dust free, and the streams and waterfalls of the high ranges are flowing with water. There is also the long traditional belief that the rainy monsoon season is the best time for Ayurveda treatments. Continue reading
Photo credits: Faisal
Butterflies are ecologically important due to the role they play in the food chain of a forest ecosystem. They also greatly affect biodiversity, since most butterflies are pollinators of flowering plants. India’s Western Ghats play home to many species of butterfly.
The Common Emigrant Butterfly is Continue reading
Photo credits: Johny Tom
The Periyar Tiger Reserve is one of the major wildlife sanctuaries in Kerala. With 925 square kilometers of forest, it is the largest protected national park in Kerala, and perfect habitat for the Asian elephant. The forest is a great place for animal lovers, bird watchers, and trekkers. Continue reading
Photo credit: Ranjith
The Ramayana is the holy book of Hindus. In Kerala during Karkkidaka Masam, which is the last month of Malayalam calender, the epic Ramayana is read in Hindu homes and temples. This year Ramayana Masam begins on July 17th and ends August 16th. Continue reading
The dark evening brown butterly is found in the forested tracts of the Western Ghats and the Himalayas to Arunachal Pradesh up to 2100 maters. These butterflies prefer shady glades in moist forest habitat, and are attracted to refuse and bird droppings. They have prominent gray wing borders, and apical eye spots.
Small Grass Yellow Butterflies are more common in the foothills, prefering open, lightly forested areas where it flies around bushes. Their yellow wings have distinctive black outer margins, which are broader in the female. Both sexes have two black spots at the end cell of the underside of the forewing. Continue reading
Photo credits: E I Salim
The Periyar Tiger Reserve is a rich biodiversity reservoir of 925 sqr km in the southern portion of the western Ghats of India. Considered one of the thirty-four biodiversity hotspots of the world, it is the land of elephants, gaur (pictured above), deer, and even tigers and other felines.
A 25 sqr km reservoir, Continue reading
Photo credits: Binu Kumar
The Travancore Royal Palace is one of the most beautiful and largest palaces of the Travancore Royal family. It is the official residence of the royal family, and was built in 1915 by Sree Moolam Thirunal. This palace has great historical importance in India and is one of the finest examples of Kerala architecture. Continue reading
Photo credit: Shymon
Prawns (also called shrimp) are plentiful in the backwaters and coastal areas of Kerala. Prawns are one of the most popular seafood ingredients in Kerala, cooked in a variety of ways to suit different traditional dishes.
The delicious and spicy prawn masala is a favorite way to use the small crustaceans. The prawns are first marinated in a variety of spices, including turmeric, chili powder, pepper, and salt. They are then sauteed in a pan with a small amount of oil, chopped onions, garlic, ginger, green chili, tomato and curry leaves until brown. Finally, adding the marinade, they are allowed to simmer over a low flame for another ten minutes. Yum! Continue reading
Photo credits : Jose K
Peacock Pansy Butterflies are found across India up to 2000 meters throughout the year, prefering forest edges, waterside vegetation and gardens. These orangish butterfly with prominent peacock eye spots, to smaller eye spots on the upper forewing and larger on the hindwing are very common in the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Continue reading
Photo credits: Jithin vijay
“Tribals,” the term used to refer to native peoples in Kerala/India, have been an integral part of Wayanad for ages. As dense forests and wooded hillsides made way for commercial farming and plantations, Wayanad lost a great part of its quintessential character. Today, around 200,000 tribals belonging to different tribes subsist in isolated pockets, making a living from small land holdings to big plantations. Continue reading
Photo credits: Shymon
When bananas are so ubiquitous here in the tropics, it’s good to have a variety of ways for eating the fruit. For Western readers, boiling bananas might seem strange, but it is quite common in India. Boiled banana is considered an excellent food for infants and children in Ayurveda. In Kerala, cuisines like puttu and rava uppuma (a savory south Indian breakfast dish) are perfectly matched with boiled bananas. Continue reading
Photo credits: Shymon
Michelia champaca is native to India, and is best known for its strong fragrance. A relative to the magnolia tree, this species grows in the wild throughout India’s Western Ghats. It is a sacred flower for Hindu temple grounds and around homes. Continue reading
Photo credits: Unni Pillai
Located in the upper reaches of Kerala at the border with Tamil Nadu, at an elevation of 7,900 feet above sea level, Kolukkumalai offers a fantastic view of the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. Kolukkumalai is famous for one of the highest tea estates in the country, and is among the most popular tourist spots in Munnar. Continue reading
Photo credits: Shymon
Jackfruit is known as chakka in Malayalam, and is mostly consumed as ripened fruit. That might seem like stating the obvious, but since jackfruit is so abundant in Kerala, most households make different varieties of traditional dishes from both ripened and unripened fruit. Some examples include chakka puzukku (unripe jackfruit curry), chakka yappam (steamed jackfruit rice cakes), chakka payazam (jackfruit pudding) and chakka chips. Jackfruit trees are cultivated in the Western Ghats of India. Continue reading
Photo credits: Shymon
Mannarasala is a famous shrine devoted to the worship of the snake gods, or Nagaraja. Thousands of the granite snake idols you see in the photo above line the path through the forest to the Mannarasala Temple in Alappuzha, Kerala, and more are put there by people seeking favour from the Nagaraja every year. Continue reading
Photo credits: Jimmy
Wayanad is a place of true beauty: thickly wooded hills, lush evergreen forests, rolling rice paddies in the valleys and verdant spice plantations in the hills. The area is packed with bamboo groves, moist deciduous forest, and semi-evergreen forests. Roads winding through the rugged hills carry domestic and international tourists alike on a scenic route through the district. Continue reading
Photo credits: Jithin Vijay
As per the inscriptions found in the temple at Arattupuzha, in the Thrissur district, this village’s pooram, or festival, started around 1,400 years back and is the oldest festival in Kerala. It is believed that on the pooram day, gods and goddesses from twenty-three temples participate in this festival–thus, the festival is also called Deva Samagamam, or “the assembly of gods.” Continue reading
Several Raxa Collective contributors in India were up until 4am today at Cardamom County, watching Costa Rica play against Greece in the World Cup. They were simul-texting with a Raxa Collective contributor in Costa Rica, who reported watching in a friend’s home near Xandari while the streets outside were empty and silent, erupting echoes of cheer or anguish in the distance from time to time. The google doodle at this moment could be representing Costa Rica’s red white and blue, its tropical sense of fun, or it could be a representation of any country having a chance at the beautiful game. Continue reading
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