The trip to kerala was eye-opening, subtle in many ways. The friend who was supposed to come with me ditched me at the last moment so I was pretty much alone and the only outsider traveling in Kerala. Another person in my situation would have backed out but I did not because of two reasons. One, I wanted to honor my word given to my friends in kerala that I would come. Two, because this kind of solitary traveling suits me because it leaves me with my thoughts for sufficient intervals.
My trip started on a disastrous note. I was supposed to start from Chennai to Kannur, my first stop, with a friend. The friend didn't note the train timing properly and missed the train! I was badly disappointed. But managed to reach kannur the next morning.
I had expected that I would ask the directions of the house of the Muslim friend at whose place I was to stay, and reach there by bus or by auto. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my friend was waiting with his car to receive me at the station. My first taste of Kerala's hospitality.
It was cloudy in Kannur. My friend took my to a beach. Another friend had a "Shashtibhooti" or "sixtieth birthday" of her father and had invited me over to her house. I went not so much as to meet her as to meet her father, an economist and her mother, a doctorate holder in Chemistry. I only wondered how the only child of such educated parents was working in a run-of-the-mill IT company after just Engineering.
I had a nice chat with the father on issues of the current economy, the american economy, the communists, his own life and M.N. Roy and his Radical Humanism. I had just to prod him with a few questions and he spoke at length over the topic most close to his heart- economics and philosophy. And I the interested and patient listener listened with rapt attention till I realized that it was the function that I had actually come to attend.
Talking to her mother was wonderful in many ways. Both husband-wife complemented each other. The mother talked about the father and his influences on her. And with so much love she spoke! Having met couples who have stayed with each other for as long and tired of each other's trifing habits, eccentricities, meeting this couple who had mutual love and regard for each other was a great experience. I remembered the Guy de Maupassant's short story Happiness.
By evening, I returned to my friend's home. He had come all the way to pick me. On the way home, we talked of how the communists ruined Kerala, of the politics in his district and the friends from school we were still in touch with. We had dinner at a food court.
We left for Kochi the next day together by train. The family had come out to see me off. I was touched. It was a muslim family and all the myths of uncleanliness, hostility that Others associate with muslims were shattered, at least for this wonderful family - where the ladies smiled and talked beautifully and stayed without any purdah or burkha despite conspicuously conservative attire.
In kochi we took a lodge as the local friend had gone out of station. It was raining. A friend had come down from Trivandrum just to meet me. By night we were sitting over a drink and fondly remembering old times. I didn't realize when I dozed off.
The second day we went about Kochi with the local friend in his car. We went to the Fort Kochi area which is probably where all the tourists come to. Interestingly, we four friends belonged to four different religions. I came to know that there were many more sects within Christianity that the Roman Catholic and Protestant sects that I knew. We went to a Syrian Orthodox Church. There was also a synagogue that we wanted to see but unfortunately it was closed.
Two friends left the same day and I was left in Kochi with the local friend who took me home despite both his parents being down with viral fever.
At his home, it was interesting to meet his dad who had travelled the world and currently worked as the Chief Marine Engineer in an American Shipping company. He shared some invaluable insights from his experiences of some paper mills he had visited in Brazil.
With the local friend I was helping him get over his broken heart from his first love failure. The girl was someone I knew from school. He was visibly heart broken. Nevertheless, he dropped me and picked me up from the city where I spent half a day with an old classmate who stayed in Kochi. The two of them for some reason I didn't understand well were not on talking terms.
Half a day with the old class mate was memorable as she took me by ferry from Mattancherry to Fort Kochi. We share a passion for literature, poems, Cultures and nature. So were never at a dearth of things to talk about. She took me to buy spices, helped me get gifts for two of my sisters. We also visited the synagogue that had been closed the previous day.
The next morning I left for the last leg of my trip to Trivandrum. I was alone. And the guy I was to meet had been our batch's head boy. Interestingly, he was not as much of a friend to anybody as much as he was a leader and someone every one took as an idealist. He had a penchant for being unexpectedly moody and unpredictable. My kochi friend's last words had been "Pray that Sujith is in a good mood tomorrow."
So you can understand the state of my mind as I reached trivandrum. Sujith not only came to receive me at the station, he was there with me all the time. His exams were round the corner and yet he had taken the pain to take the entire day off just for me. He had come to specially meet me when I was in Pune and I had taken the day off for him. He took me by his bike to Kovalam beach and didn't let me sleep on the ground in his one-bed-room and insisted I sleep on the bed and slept on the ground despite my repeated protests. I gave up keeping in mind his mood-tendencies. Nevertheless, this was the most touching part of the whole trip. I'd brought a book for him which he accepted excitedly to my pleasant surprise.
He dropped me at the airport the next day in the morning. I concluded a memorable trip. Even before the trip started I had told myself I am not going to Kerala as a tourist but rather to strengthen old bonds.