What a Break!!!!!!!!

After the hectic schedule of
setting question papers and correcting I got a chance to relax and unwind.
And how did I do that? By packing my bags and going to a trip to Kerala. Of
course, I was accompanied by my mother and brother. We did not get direct train to Kerala. So we took the connecting train from Bangalore.

The first stop in Kerala was Palakkad. And we saw Malampuzha Dam. Brother and I sat on the ropeway and got the ariel view of the dam. This ropeway is a funny thing. There’s a tile on top of which one has to stand and two attendants help one to sit and get down. One opens the door and the other holds the seat. This is because ropeway does not stop anywhere. So one has to be very quick in sitting. After the initial scare of height, the ride turned out to be smooth for me. I faced problem while getting down after the ride as the seat was too high for me. How I managed to jump from my seat without the ropeway taking me for another ride remains a mystery. But it was fun.

The next stop was at Kochi.
Surprise, surprise. I met one of the ilanders. In fact, he came to the hotel
where we were staying at 9 p.m. That’s the time I gave him. He sure is a punctual chap. There was a knock on the door and a bit of introduction. Then he talked with my brother and mother. It’s said that when two elders talk, youngsters should keep mum. That’s what I did. But I gave the parting shot by asking him “When will we see devil back on your iland?” He laughed and we bid goodnight. It was around 10 p.m. when he went back home. I imagined somebody waiting with a stick in her hand ready to thrash him. Sorry friend. This is just a wild imagination of mine.

We hired a private boat. We got to see the harbour, Jewish Synagogue and the Museum near Synagogue. We were told that there was 45 minutes to visit both Synagogue and Museum. The guide did not give any phone number to contact. We were a bit late to reach back to the boat. What did we see? The boat went away without taking us. I do agree that being late was our mistake. One of the reasons was that we lost our way. But was it not the duty of the boatmen to look out for us? We had booked the tickets from the hotel where we were staying. So we went there and lodged a complaint. We did get a part of the money back but the fun was lost. After we were stranded in Mattancherry, we realised that the government boats would have been a better and cheaper option. Of course, you don’t get the coziness of private boats. The seats are harder and too many people sit. Some fellows had brought cycles to take to the other side of the river. But at least, with government boats, we can take our own time instead of being worried about boat leaving us in the lurch because there are lots of those boats. So even if you miss one, you will get one soon. Anyway,that was a lesson learnt the harder way.

The next trip was to Bharananganam. For the uninitiated, this is the resting place of the first woman Catholic saint of India, Saint Alphonsa. We saw her tomb and a museum depicting her life and prayed at the chapel.

Kumily was next in the itinerary.
It is a hill station in Idukki district. I will have to put up a whole new blog about this area and I promise to put one soon. Must say it is an interesting place.

In Thekaddy was Periyar which is famous for its Tiger Reserve. Just a day before we reached the place, it rained. Unfortunately, because of that rain, none of the animals other than a few deer and wild buffaloes came on the river bank. Bad luck, did you say? May be. But that is how it is. You don’t always get what your heart desires.

The final destination was Kumarakom, the backwater. There were house boats but we hired motor boat as we were not staying over there. We got to see some birds, one of them swooping low in to the water and catching fish. It was an amazing sight.

So that is how I enjoyed my trip to Kerala. It was sort of mixed bag. But finally, I gained lot of experience and wonderful memories. Of course, it is a different issue that by the time I reached back to Baroda, I was too tired. It took a couple of days’ sleep to return back to normalcy.