Never before in this blogging world have I ever felt an urge so strong to write a post at night 2o’clk when my eyes are so very tired. Mostly my write-ups today are in black and white only because of my boring weekends or nature of my job/office. However, this time it is different. One, I am writing something after little over a year and secondly because it is something which is very close to my heart.
After waiting so badly, finally the day Nov 19, 2010 bestowed its blessing and arrived when we were supposed to start our journey to Kerala for a fun trip which was “officially” supposed to be Vishnu’s marriage trip. I went at around 11o’clk to office just to spend some hours before I could leave at 2:30PM and embark the journey at 5:20PM (thanks to nasty Bengaluru traffic). Luckily, there was no work and without wasting much of my time, went straight to the cafeteria to honour my stomach. Somehow, I could not resist myself during those last few hours, so got up from my seat at 2 and left the office building and boarded the bus directly to the Majestic railway station, expecting that I should reach on time (can’t rely on Bangalore crowd and rains).
To my surprise, I reached there a little before 3. Amazed. So, had almost 2.5 hours to kill in the train/station. Immediately checked the chart, if the booked tickets are still in the Waiting List or have got cleared. It showed none of the above two status. It was something in RAC which eventually mean that Seat No. 55, Coach S3 was supposed to be shared between me and Mangesh, which was not that big a problem, I was happy at least we are going. Mangesh, my Bangalore room-mate, mind you, who was equally responsible for making this more of a fun trip and less of a Vishnu’s wedding trip :). Two hours went like a flash when a Malayali Uncle came and sat next to me who was going to Kottayam (nothing more to add). We discussed about few of the places worth visiting in Kerala. I believe every nook and corner of the place is worth a visit but 3 days will never be enough. He suggested me Kanyakumari (although in Tamil Nadu), Kovallam beach and few palaces, all near to Trivandrum, where Vishnu is supposed to be “baptized” after 3 days.
Mangesh managed to reach at 5 (without finishing his office work :)) and the train/journey successfully started on time. Train journeys always fascinated me, letting your hightech city-life along with its worries go away at such a rapid pace, those unknown faces that end up being lifelong friends and how can we forget, watching those small kids with big smile waving at the passing train; it’s a different experience all together.
Ticket-checker, a simple gentleman in his late 30s, came and I enquired if he can give us another berth, so as to get some sleep and be ready for the 3 days excitement. He softly replied if there is something, he would let us know. Tea, biscuits, chips, samosas, dinner, everything was tasted as if it is our last day on earth. After about 2 hours, ticket-checker Uncle came again and asked me if I can show him my ticket as he had got some place for us. We searched for the ticket and finally found it lying near our slippers, next to my already eaten dinner plate. He gave me a cold stare and asked me if this is the way to keep the ticket. Speechless, I looked at Mangesh who was about to burst into laughter and was somehow controlling it. Finally, he wrote 27 on the printout and asked us to occupy that. We thanked him and he left without responding back :(. Few more hours of chit-chat and finally we call it a day.
Next day morning came like a breath of fresh air; we were in Kerala by then. Natural beauty had surrounded us. Coconut trees, backwaters, huts, simple people, everything reminded me of my school days when I dreamt of coming to one such place, enthusiasm as sky high as when I last visited boat-house two years ago. Some travellers have rightly quoted, if there is a heaven on earth, it is KERALA.
At around 10’oclk, train reached our destination Kochuveli station, 10kms from Trivandrum city and as decided, Vishnu would come to pick us. What was not decided that we had to wait for almost an hour for him before he could escort us to his house in his newly bought i10 :). Taking the charge of the situation, I asked Mangesh, if it’s fine with him that we go in an auto to Vishnu’s place rather than waiting here. He replied in affirmation. Taking whole responsibility on my shoulder, as I was familiar with the place and its people, I asked the auto driver: bhaiya, Trivandrum kitne kilometres durr hai? He replied: 100 rupees. “Nahi nahi, durr kitna hai?” Again the same response: 100 rupees. There was no point arguing with the guy as he didn’t know the language. I bounced back like a crazy ball and went outside behaving as if nothing has happened. Mangesh was silently watching me from the corner, may be wanted to say, going to one corner of the state ages ago doesn’t help you when you are in the other corner. Minutes later, Vishnu came with his younger bro and took us to his home. On the way, I noticed it was just like any other city, but had posters of MohanLal at each nook and corner. You can’t have one gentleman being a brand ambassador of everything. A strange thing in deed.
Warm welcome from all the family members of Vishnu made us feel like one of their own. It was great to see such a nice happy family. God bless them all!! We had our lunch there and went straight to our hotel room. It was a nice AC room at Hotel Tripti, Thampanoor. We hit the bed for a quick nap without any second thought.
Evening, we headed for our first destination, Kovallam beach; almost 20 kms from our hotel. Scenic beauty was breath-taking, an epitome of perfect Kerala which I always thought of. After about half an hour, we were at Kovallam beach. I tell you it was one of the nicest beaches I have come across. Heard a lot about the place before and to my surprize it was better than that. Believe me; if you have been to Kerala/southern part of India and have not seen this place, you have really missed something. It is at par with Goa beaches, no wonder so many foreigners had come here. The shops selling Kerala specialities, those eating joints with perfect ambience and bars along the beach; added beauty to already wonderful place, just like icing on the cake.
As anticipated, massive crowd has gathered. School kids along with their teachers were having the ball of time. Newly married couples, seeking for some solitude. A drug peddler; called by name “alcohol guy” by ladies present there; was high on spirit and already enjoying his own company. We went to the other side of the beach which gave a deserted look. Next moment jumped into water without giving an iota of thought about who is going to take care of our bags. Mangesh was the one to notice that and shouted on top of his voice. “Aare, bag ka khayal kaun rakhega??” Again taking charge of the situation, I headed straight to the life guard, who was trying to monitor each and every moment of the crowd. I asked him if he could be the saviour of our bags too. He gave some logic by saying if there are 2 Lakhs in our bag and it gets stolen, who would be blamed? He sounded like the station master of Ratlaam station from movie – Jab We Met. I tried hard to understand his reasoning, but Mangesh interrupted me and asked to leave it. But the guy was genuine enough and sat next to our bags. We still kept an eye from water and did not want to go home like rapist Ranga of Hindi flick- All the best :). After some time it started getting dark and we decided to go back. Few clicks from the cam were taken, some shopping and finally we departed from one of the best beaches in the world.
It was around 8 by the time we reached Vishnu’s place. Few more guests had arrived by then and it looked like a perfect Indian wedding house. Kids running here and there, matured ones with their experience trying to set everything beforehand and few ones like us went there to have a fun trip which “officially” being called as a Vishnu’s marriage trip :). We spent almost an hour there and came back to our hotel for dinner and then straight to bed as the next day we were going to Kanyakumari.
First day went really nice and I was already in love with GOD’s own country once again.
