Travelogue - Down South!

A sweaty may, Family functions, Friend's functions., all caught up with me travelling.!!

To the amazement, it was all fun-filled memories. The first trip was the usual one. It was not a reply to the question.. "When was the last time, you did something for the first time...", but not late, did i find a reply.

I was brought up outside my hometown, which gave me enough reason not to roam around my place. The far off place that i had been away from home in my state prior to my earlier trip was to a place called Pathanamthitta, the home town of Mr. Lal. That was just for a day, to a friend's place. I was well guided and my friend was along with me. So not much of adventures.

Tell you what, the best comes, when you discover something new everytime, and no wonder why do we s/w people get fed up with our job so soon doing the same job everyday. Make "Changes" constant in life.~~.

The second week of may, was me travelling to a friend's wedding at Trivandrum, which was a good 6 hours journey from my hometown. The best things on earth happen, when you dont have a plan and take it as it comes.!! One needs to be a decision maker of whats going to be next ?

I Could not make it directly to Prasun's wedding from Bangalore as i had to visit few of my friend's place after some family function and also visit a relative who was in the hospital. Saturday Night and i had to head out. Mom threw some tips upon how to go and where to board etc etc. So made a decision to travel night, so that i could reach early morning for the marriage and this was only about a 6 hours drive.

Thrissur isn't a big city, but not too isolated also not to find buses, cabs and auto at 10pm in the night. The city bus stop always had the rush and was in full swing, as it was the weekend. There were people travelling to and fro. The best of things are to see., how lightly or seriously one takes travelling. Without much of hopping around, I decided to board the bus to Trivandrum. Infact, it wasn't trivandrum, it was a place called Attingal, Which is 35kms before Tvm. Thats were i could meet rest of Prasun's friend at the lodge that he had booked and another 10 kms opposite direction to Tvm was the wedding venue. I also had at the back of my mind that i should atleast be able to sleep for 3-4 hours or the next day, i would be dosing to glory or I would have to catch my friend's wedding with a faint eye.

The bus wasn't looking too good to travel in taking the amount of space it had and the seats weren't too comfortable too. Afterall, they were the Kerala Sarkar's Transport Bus. The next option was the train., Thanks to internet and GPRS on the cell phones, Getting information is never tough. Looked out for the next train, it seemed like, There was a train leaving at 11.50pm and it was only an hour away.

So decided to hop on to the train, atleast i would be able to sit & sleep and who travels during the night, it was a train starting from Palakkad to Trivandrum. I'd to spend one good hour of my time, waiting for the train at thrissur railway station, I'd never at that time of hour been to Thrissur. Everytime i tried to dose off, There were Radio FM ads being played..., It used to be like "Ticket Vaangelle?... Enni Radio 105.5 ill ki Tune Cheyyu... Thrissur inte Hit Radio Station.." Whats not commercialized now ? The previous day, when i was watching a friend's wedding DVD, there were representatives from MALABAR JEWELLERY, where the bride picked her ornaments from, with a gift pack. They were dressed in the salesmen's uniform and sported a "Malabar Jewellery" bag. Soon, they would be sponsoring marriages or if not anything, atleast having Ad-Banners in the wedding hall.

11.55pm, and the train arrived. Mine was an open ticket and got into a reserved bogie. I thought of getting in touch with the TC and see if there are any berth's free. After some initial conversations with TC, he said, there were not any vacant seats in that bogie and asked me to try the next bogies. While walking through the inner passages, a policemen halted me. He asked me for my ticket and said, U'll have to alight at the next station and wont be allowed in the reservation bogie as you only have a local open ticket.

I waited till the next station arrives, it was too long since i was standing and had to park my LOT somewhere hence, rested it behind the exit door. You never know where good luck comes from, So this time luck was in the form of another TC, who had 1 empty berth and 3 people, including me waiting to grab it. He seen the other person's ticket and noted that they were together and i was alone. I got the edge and he gave the berth to me. Doesn't that seem to be a story of a slumdog millionaire ? Right from the doors to a berth ? not quite, but had a stint of it.

I tried gathering information from the TC who took to give me the berth, He said, Varkala was the place where i should be getting down to reach this place called Attingal. I put an alarm for 5.00 am and went off to sleep. I never knew how the night passed off.. rather how did the next 4.5 hours pass off.., I opened my eyes to find Quilon and hurried up to get down at the next station.

Varkala came and many like me got down. I had not a clue about what next ? Soon spotted the Exit and was out there. Varkala gave me a warm welcome, a welcome which no places gave me. It was early morning at 5.40 am and there was a temple just outside the railway station. It was playing bhajans, the typical mallu ones. I for a moment wished, i was all clean and dressed in a traditional dhoti, that i could be visiting the temple. On the way out, came across many posters which read about ayurvedic spas and resorts, some resorts sported holiday packages. Just opposite to the temple was a tea stall. A Very very local one. It was an old man running the tea stall and had a buzz of human bees around him pestering him for a tea.

The humans included executives to visitors and policemen. Most of them, looking unfresh from the previous night. But, whatever be the case., I asked him for a light tea, a strong tea would have got my pressure down and i would have really landed up in trouble. The crowd was a little more than than probably he expected, hence there was worry, sense of urgency, all sort of emotions of a human, who sees a well-to-do business. As the buzz was getting harder around his little tea stall, he announced.."Ellareyum, Chaya kodethede vedenollo.." (I shall make sure that everyone gets a tea). While sipping the tea, It was always at the back of mind... "What do i do next... ?", I asked a person beside me, who seemed local to the place and he pointed towards me to the first bus, which was at 6 am to Attingal.

This place was a little more than an half hour drive. The best thing about being on the first bus of the day is... It stops at every temple on the way to give offerings. Thats pretty nice... isn't it ? A good ride, could sometimes sense a cool breeze., probably that was coming from the sea. A good ride, got me to Attingal, where i caught up with Prasun's friends and finally made way to the marriage.

Marriage was superb with the Bride and groom looking amazingly stunning. I dont know if they need to thank me for the lie or their beautician for their artistic job. :P The only surprising thing was., the mantap wasn't facing to the audience but, to the left of the audience. With photographers and relatives covering the view., our Prasun, tied the knot with the consent only of his relatives and close friends and photographers. Thanks to Ansar, We could see the pics clicked by him.

Next came the Sadhya, Be it ocassions or marriages, This pretty afternoon meal is the standout of them all., and that day being no exception. Firstly, its a treat to be between friends and eat teasing and being teased. At some point of time is also when a tension comes in about what to have next ?? The sandya started off with an empty leaves served with different curries to taste and no rice. Once rice comes in, You've to first eat it with Dal, then with Sambar, Then with Curd and then Rasam and then buttermilk. They, then come with different types of Payasams. All in all, a busy 30-45 mins of your life.. :P.

Later, all the friends set back to the lodge, where we were put up and for them, it was the time, where they remembered their old good days and all of them had so much to me tell me. I was listening to many of them first time and till the moment we were done, had an eye of a kid listening to Panchatantra, Sabu & Chacha Chowdary.

All was good, till it was time for me to get to the bus stop to board the bus to Bangalore. Was there only single digit minutes before the departure of the bus or Yes, It would have been me an active part of another "Jab We Met..."

Till next travel....... Dhinu!!

PS : Aps, As i was travelling, I hadn't forgotten to call you, but whenever i tried reaching you, Your cell as usual was unreachable.