The train arrives at the Kottayam
station. I had completed another train journey complete (this one 7 hours
long). More golden travel advice. If
possible make sure you have two things confirmed and sorted before you start
your journey. This is relevant if it is a week long journey or a year long
trip.
These two things (Travel Tips) are:
-
Your mode of transportation
(tickets for travel confirmed, multiple printed copies in your hand)
-
Your accommodation (where you will
be staying on each night, contact details of the person, don’t be lazy with
this that is if you are okay with spending a night on the street)
Best Friends in different age groups
An aunt, was to receive me at the
station. I met this aunt at an event back in the city I grew. We enjoyed our
little conversation that night and we decided to meet up after the event to
connect further. We had some common experiences living in that city and that
was a good enough reason to stay connected. Over several cups of coffee, we
shared stories and observations of the other people sipping coffee around us.
We would walk around malls, go shopping together, and have long pointless
conversations.
You don't need to always have friends in the same age group.
This aunt, was much older than me, but we still connected after our first few
meetings. I kept in touch, with short messages and letters, when I moved away
from home for University. Over time, the messages got shorter and life got
busier. A few months later, I got a call from her. She told me she planned to
visit India, and do a South india road trip with her daughter. She asked me to
come along. I wanted to spend more time with them and decided to organize my
all india adventure around their trip. I was going to spend the next week with
them going wherever they went. This would be fun.
She planned to start in Kottayam,
Kerala. They would spend some time in their ancestral village near Kottayama
and then visit and tour the city of Kochi. They would then take a ferry ride
from Allepey to Trivandrum. After a day of sightseeing in Trivandrum, they
would drive to the edge of Kerala and India, and tour the beautiful city of
Kanyakumari. From there we drive to Madurai and then end the journey in
Chennai.
She invited me to come along on
this journey. I was super excited. I was from South India, but I did not see
too much of it myself. We scheduled the trip as such that it would align with
my days on the backpacking trip across India. Thus I was here at Kottayam,
walking towards my friend and her daughter for the first leg of this journey.
There is a car waiting for us
outside the station. The joy of finally open the door of a car, with a working
air conditioner, after, days of being shoved around in auto-rickshaws and
packed trains. I take my window seat and we are off to our next destination
once everyone is settled in. I meet my friend's nephew and get to know her daughter
better on this journey. Her daughter is four years younger to me and she was
like a little sister to me. We ride ahead, and then stop for lunch at road side
restaurant.
The Food You Eat in Dhabas
These roadside restaurants are popularly known as dhabas in some
parts of the country. For some reason the food is always tastier here. Also I
had this notion, that all the dhabas, I visited up to now, were part of one big
national or international brand, like Mcdonalds, but at the dhaba level. But
that was not true. The dhaba I was at here in Kerala, was not out in the open.
It was on the second floor of a newly renovated building. There were glass
utensils on the table and table cloth and crockery too. I remember a big thali,
one silver spoon and a large wood table, at the last dhaba I went too. This was
quite different. This was very different. This seemed like a dhaba for high end
travellers. After lunch, aunty tells me we have a long drive ahead of us. We
are going to one of her sisters homes in rural Kerala. It is quite far away,
like deep deep in the forest. I did not even know how to pronounce to name of
this village we planned to stay in for the next few days
We stop at a human refueling
station (grocery shop). We buy some chips, cold drinks and all the other
possible junk food to keep us alive through the night. The roads get rougher as
we leave the city. Bump - bumpety - bumpety – bump… we go, down this deserted
forest path. I don't even know where we are going now. It seems like my hosts
do. So I avoid being worried and enjoy being lost. It is nice to have some
adults in control of things around you again. I wish I was a little baby for
life sometimes. We finally, take a sharp turn, and I see some village houses in
the distance. We enter the gates of one and are welcomed by a barking dog. It
is this huge bungalow in this huge village estate. This bungalow belonged to
the family we stayed with. Fields where different kinds of fruits and
vegetables were grown surrounded it. It is a beautiful house. Every modern
amenity a human would need is around. Televison - check, Washing Machine -
check, Refridgerator - check, Internet - check. You can live your whole life
within these four walls. The other houses in the village were not as developed. But my hosts were the nicest people ever. My aunt's relatives treat us to papayas, and five to six
different varieties of banana chips.
The conversation around the dinner
table at night is in malayalam at most times, but listening to my aunt over the
past few days, has helped me understand some words in the language better. I sleep well that night
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