Kerala, 'God's Own Country' as they call it, atlast had its turn to be visited by the 'Devil' When I set out on a 4-day trip to Kollam (Quilon), Alleppey (Alapuzha) & Trivandram (Thiruvananthapuram).
I was supposed to travel by train starting from Bangalore at wednesday 5:30 pm and arrive at Kollam on thursday morning at 7am and attend the wedding of my friend Annie Bennet, my childhood schoolmate & friend's sister. Then visit the internationally renowned backwaters of Alleppy the next day and go to Trivandrum to visit another old friend of mine, Thomas John.
I was supposed to travel by train starting from Bangalore at wednesday 5:30 pm and arrive at Kollam on thursday morning at 7am and attend the wedding of my friend Annie Bennet, my childhood schoolmate & friend's sister. Then visit the internationally renowned backwaters of Alleppy the next day and go to Trivandrum to visit another old friend of mine, Thomas John.
From Bangalore to Kerala : The Journey
However, as fate would have it, I missed the train, thanks to the legendary 'Bangalore Traffic-Jams'. I immediately went to the majestic bus stand, only to learn from a young lady standing at the platform to tell me the last bus for Trivandrum had left just 5 minutes ago. Still undeterred, I went to the ticket booking centre to try my luck, where I funnily met other fellow travellers who missed the same train. I congratulated them that by missing the same train, we were now in the same boat. It took me an hour to accept the fact I did not have direct bus to Trivandrum. I went to the nearby private travel agents, who advised me on taking the next bus to Kochi (Ernakulam) reaching at 6am, then catch the bus/train (4-5 hours) to Kollam.
After purchasing the ticket and going to kalasipalya, it was 9pm and the driver told me on asking him the bus would reach kochi not before 9am, making me realize I was lied to, by the rogue travels' agents. While lamenting to myself about my travel woes, I was lucky to find a helpful fellow traveller in the next seat of the bus, who advised me on alighting at Angamali and try the railway route to Kollam. Accordingly, my helpful friend woke me up the next morning and on discovering there was no railway train, he guided me to the very next bus to Kollam.
This was my very first visit to kerala and these were my first sights of this beautiful place. I had most of my neighbours malayali when I was growing up in my hometown, which is by the way, one of the hottest places in India. These malayali neighbours of mine always told me grand stories of how pleasant the Kerala weather and countryside were, compared to the unbearable heat of my hometown, especially during summers. Therefore, I resolved to myself in 2002, I would definitely visit this wonderful place before I rest in my grave. It finally came to pass on September 14th, 2007.
Kerala - Background
Kerala, has been endowed with the rarest of gifts, nature so abundantly blesses some regions of the earth with. One would find lush greenery, countless coconut trees & countless banana plants & again other countless plants under them competing for sunlight, whose growth is sustained by the febrile soil and perennial rainfall, lakes and an ecosystem that is largely unaltered by human settlements. Kerala is the cleanest of all states in India, which can be attributed to its high-literacy rate (over 90%) and the emphasis the local government places on cleanliness, which also caused me quite some inconvenience, as the reader would read soon...
My bus journey to Ernakulam & Kollam was a miserable one, as the road was not very good, had many bumps, ditches and was very narrow. I only saw traffic-jams on roads back in Bangalore, but it was only in kerala that I heard of 'Highway-Jams'. In fact, when I asked the bus driver,
'Sir, I am in a hurry to attend a marriage this noon in Kollam. Can you please tell me when this bus would arrive in Kollam?'
Bus driver says 'I don't know'
'What? You are the driver and you yourself don't know when this bus would reach? Should I atleast hope 'if' the bus will reach kollam?'
'No, I don't know when the bus will reach kollam. It depends on the 'Jam' '
'I thought we only had traffic jams in congested city roads, not on the state Highways'
'Yes, here in Kerala, most of the days, we have 'jams' on Highways. If it rains, then you are in deeper trouble since it would make the traffic move more slower'
It was 10am and I had not eaten anything. I was looking for food vendors who come to the buses in most cities, but I did not find any such vendors in Kerala, not even in kochi. On being assured by the driver, the bus would halt for 10 minutes in kochi, I went to the only 'Meals Centre' in Kochi Bus-stand. I found cold kerala 'parothas' and very unappealing food. I asked the shop-keeper to parcel my food, and to my great surprise, he said he would not parcel the food, that I had to eat it right there. I forced myself to start eating a cold 'parotha' but in 5 minutes, I saw my bus starting. I left the food and ran towards the bus, stopped it and got into it. Not having the patience, energy or the language flexibility to ask about the driver's reneging on his earlier commit of halting for 10 minutes, I resigned myself to a window seat.
Kochi, like other cities of kerala surprised me over what I had expected from cities of this stature. The bus-station of this city was no larger than a movie theatre in Bangalore. The roads were again narrow and traffic even more less, lacking the hustle-bustle of a tier-2 city, one would expect. The 'MG Road' of Kochi looked to me no wider than a 100-feet road in Indira Nagar, Bangalore, and the bus-station only had one place for meals. Passing through the city, I saw some bridges over the sea and the Kochi Harbour.
Once we were out of Kochi, I turned towards my neighbouring passenger - a young mother of this lovely girl sat beside me. She too was on her way to kollam and inspite of her poor hindi,english managed to get her messages across. I expressed my shock to her over the hotel guy refusing to pack my meals. She laughed saying all use of 'Plastic' was banned in Kochi. I was further surprised to hear littering attracted a fine of Rs.2000/-. I told her I was already guilty of the offense, having thrown some empty bottles through the bus' window (Old habits die hard!).
We talked about
