On a constant trip

This time, to Fish Pond, Njarackal. With Family and some ex-neighhbours. It’s a backwater picnic spot roughly about 22 kms from our home. The sky is a bit gloomy, with grey clouds and the sun hidden well within its frills. The weatherman (my better half) declares “it’s the perfect weather for some boating, and no it’s not gonna rain today”.

There’s a small foot-over-water bridge to get there. From there, we take a row boat to get to the other side of the fish pond. The men do the rowing. The rest of us do the yapping. The seat that I’m seated on is broken, and I’m trying my balancing act to keep my butt fixed somewhere, lest I slide to the centre where the wood is almost in splinters. Baby adds to the woes. She’s excited to be on a boat and jumping all over me. The sights around momentarily keep me preoccupied and I forget the butt on the broken wooden seat for a while.

Tranquil waters lined by coconut trees and mangroves. There are a couple of platforms built in the middle of nowhere (the pond) where we can stop by and drink-in the view around. But they were wrecked, so we ditch the plan. We reach a place by the shore where there’s place to sit down, fish, lie on a hammock, and generally enjoy the beauty of nature, so we dock there. We wade through the water, as we get closer to the shore. I almost lose my slippers in the sticky mud beneath the waters. We relax, snack, the kids try their hand at fishing and actually manage to catch one fish (we jump with excitement!), lie in the hammock tied between 2 coconut trees and while away time with no cares in this world.

The men take the row boat across and decide to bring two pedal boats instead (No, the men in the picture are not our men, they're fishermen rowing on their boats in search of their prize catch). We get in and pedal across the pond. Simply serene, beautiful and yes, very intoxicating (hope it doesn’t get addictive!). We sort of laze about, not wanting to go back to the concrete jungles and the madness. Then we get to food. We’re famished after the hours of pedaling. So dig in, without waiting for the word ‘go’. Fish curry meals. Daughter eats twice more than her usual capacity. Icecream for dessert. All of us grin silly.

We then head to a beach closeby. The place is called Milky Way. No Galaxy this. But a world of its own. Baby refuses to get out of the water. We linger on. The clouds get darker. There's a brief lull. The clouds close in and break into a drizzle. We dash to the car and drive away. Ah, a weekend spent well!

Monday, as we’re trying hard to get rid of the Monday morning blues, getting ready to get back to work, news that our maid is not coming back hits us like the storm after the calm. We’re wondering what to do, who takes leave to manage the kids et cetera, when hubby comes up with the idea that we could all take a trip to Alappuzha (where my maid is from) to speak to her, plead with her to come back. We jump into the car and get ready for the trip.

When we get there, she tells her sob story. Son and daughter-in-law fighting with each other when she’s away that it almost came to divorce, 2 little grand children, so she won’t be able to come back, and stuff.

We tell our sob story. Both of us working, baby is now used to having her around, it would be difficult to find another maid in a day’s time, school going to reopen in a week’s time and stuff. Baby adds to the sentiment by crying when we leave the place. We are desperate. We tell her that we’ll give her son a job as well. And she promises to come with her son the next day. We leave with hope resurfacing. Our spirits are lifted.

We go shop-hopping (Kallu shop, i.e., Toddy shop). Plenty of them around the place. Toddy shops are popular for their spicy-yummy delicacies & side eats – mostly fried fish, kappa and fish curry. Slurp, slurp! And then some pure sweet toddy. Daughters too have big gulps of the local drink. Now did they get tipsy? Must’ve, bcoz they sort of crashed in the car, soon after.

And what have we...some fine trips - some planned, some at the spur of the moment.

Heavens...here I come!

It was an outing I didn't quite look forward to. Some of our neighbours and my family set out to this destination that was tucked somewhere up the hills. It was Saturday. I went to work as usual. By about 1.15 pm I got out of office, reached home in a jiffy with my foot on the pedal, had a hurried lunch, changed clothes, grabbed my baby and jumped into the car with my hubby. It was a long ride. We caught up with the others enroute. Had some Chai & Vada.

The journey from Vadankacherry to Nelliampathy was lovely. Lush green paddy fields on either side. The majestic mountains in the backdrop. It was indeed a visual treat for my weary eyes. The Pothundy Dam was again a ravishing sight. When we reached the foothills, there was this Forest Guard check post, where they make a note of all the vehicles entering the forest area (Yeah...we were actually going to tread the territory that belonged to the wild and the unknown). Here's where the unforeseen and the untoward occurred.

We had our cars parked one after the other and a few of us stepped out of our cars to straighten our legs. Suddenly, the tranquil setting was interrupted. We heard the kids cry out "Baba, baba...". We saw one of the cars (part of our entourage) moving in the reverse direction, slowly but gaining speed because it was a slope. The quick-on-his-feet (he had some presence of mind) Baba (father) - ran, opened the door, jumped into the seat and screeched the car to a halt. The car right behind veered to the right in the nick of time. Phew. Our hearts had skipped a couple of beats. We were all shaking our heads, in total disbelief of what had just happened and glad that we were all safe and heading again to our destined destination.

We took in the beautiful sight around us. The lake below, the hills and valleys, the greenery around, the occasional springs and waterfalls, the winding roads, the hairpin bends, the tea plantations on either side, the chirping birds...we went higher and higher up! Loved each moment of it.

I almost thought I would turn into Wordsworth and churn out a million poems at a wave of my pen...but alas, got caught up in the hectic schedules that followed at work, and just managed this measely bit of a travelogue, that I know wouldn't do full justice to my journey. Nevertheless, something's better than nothing!

At about 7 pm, we reached our Destination.
A Bungalow sitting pretty amidst the coffee and tea plantations at Rajakkad Estate, Padagiri, Nelliampathy (Palakkad District, Kerala). We ventured about the bungalow...spacious rooms, high ceilings , not a single fan but nice and cold, each of us picked our rooms and dumped bag and baggage. A bonfire was set outside, perfect for the weather. We sat around, sang, danced and played games and downed some shots to sort of warm up. Chicken Biryani followed. We then ventured out into the wild. Got to see some deer. We retired to bed.

Next morning, we were all up quite early. 5.30 am. Washed up, had some black coffee, and decided to trek up the hill. There was a stream closeby. A couple of guys pretended to fish, fishing rod and all. We walked and walked. There were some leeches that kept us worried, the bloody blood suckers! I got pricked by 4 of them, but managed to get them off my legs before the damage was done. We got to see some wild goats on our way. Plucked fresh oranges and ate them. Sugarcane too. It was a refreshing walk. The experience cannot be expressed in words. It was awesome.

When we went back to the bungalow, breakfast was served. Puri-masala. We gobbled it up (lost count actually!) and set out on our next adventure ride. On a tractor. In fact, I got to drive the mean machine (a few metres backward and forward, that's all, but was sure good enough). It was a roller-coaster ride, but fun all the same, as we were riding right into the forest, with no path - gravel nor muddy. We got to see lion-tailed monkeys and a palace in ruins.

Next on our itinerary was the organic farm. Then the view point at Seethargundu Estate. It was mind-blowing. We felt on top of the world. The sight below was fabulous. Picture perfect I must say. We got to see the mist blowing from below, wrapping the mountains. We took a deep breath. Fresh air and perhaps a fear of heights. My head was spinning, intoxicated perhaps, with all that beauty around.

Greenland Estate next. We got to see a few exotic species of birds, among them, emus, flying ducks, turkeys that let out a chorus croon (like in an orchestra) everytime we whistled etc caught our attention. There were some breeds of dogs too.

Our legs were begging for mercy now. And we were famished. Midway, on our way back to the bungalow, one of the cars had a small problem. By the time we had lunch, it was 4 pm. Time to wrap up our vacation and bid goodbye to the heavens. It was drizzling. Maybe the heavens shed a few tears, as we were leaving.

The sights were just as beautiful, top to bottom. Earth....here we come!

Okay, Big Brother. You First.

He is big. He sports a rather gory shade of outfit and wears an ominous look that instantly spells danger. His usual garb - red complemented with cream or white. He maybe rash and reckless in his ways, but accommodates anybody who would dangle the thumb pointing upwards or put a hand out amicably.

Big brother would chase you around town, breathe down your neck, hoot behind your back, is always in a tearing hurry, goes many places on business, prefers to stick to his schedule and doesn’t care a damn of what his impatience would cost others. He wouldn’t mind scraping his butt against anything that came his way.

The cops don’t frighten him. The thugs neither. He was arrogant down to the letter t. Doesn’t let go of a challenge easily. And he seems to be forever on the run. Sometimes, we come close to having a brush, but I’m usually the one to let go. Until I see the tiny speck fade out into the distance, I pull up, take a few breaths, regain my composure, and set out to wherever it is that I was headed.

And yet, it seemed like a million people depended on him. In spite of all his erroneous ways. So big brother he stays. And he always gets to go ahead of me. I do not begrudge him, rather keep a safe distance.

He tried to give me a chase today. I was glad he was stopped by those amicable people who put out their hands for a ride. I honked twice to express my glee as I overtook him. He didn’t get a chance to get back at me, for I was home, safe from the clutches of the big bad brother of all roads in Kerala – abhi ‘bus’ kar bhai!