To Kerala in June

A trip to Gods own country Kerala , in the month of June is unthinkable but had to take one owing to a family affair .(my cousin’s house warming ) The reluctant monsoon was arriving in bits and pieces and so the heat was bearable,so we were told .So there we were all packed and set for the exhausting trip From Bangalore to Kannur(rhyming isn’t it ?) .I even packed sandwiches for lunch as we would have entered the hartal loving state by noon .As we sped leaving Bangalore behind ,I felt as though I was seeing the view for the first time ,technically …yes .I was viewing it through the lens of a camera attached to a cell phone .The road was much traveled by me but this time it had a new look or was I looking at it through different eyes (cataract and all )…whatever !Leaving the city behind in good time we were soon on the road to Mysore

.We turned off soon to use the shortcut ..The traffic was at its best ..almost nil . and the road taken (the short cut ) bad in many places which had the driver (my husband )using choicest words to curse the trip ..
From the bird sanctuary at ranganthittu(the bird sanctuary ) the scenery began to change .so did the road bringing a sigh of relief to the lips of the passengers The road side was festooned with carts laden with ripe mangoes ..red ,yellow and orange ..resembling balloons of different colours piled up like tiny pyramids .The traffic was at its best ..almost nil.The road took us towards Hunsur ..using the by pass we py passed the town .
The roadside was dotted with huge mayflower trees in full bloom …carpets of yellow and red were spread under each tree .Quaint villages with their clusters of tiled houses nestled to gether under huge trees giving it a picturesque effect ..The bus shelters fascinated me .They had an old world charm about them
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The time being early morning …bullocks stood free of their carts in the courtyards and under the trees .The carts rested along side Now the carts….They were fascinating They were painted carts..the likes of which I hadn’t seen before ..The sides of the carts were painted with different pictures .Some had different forms of Ganeshas ,others had sceneries and yet otheres sported scenes out of the epics ,Ramayana and Bharatha ..Passing at 120 miles an hour it was so difficult to get a good shot of them .even then my Son inlaw managed to get a few for me



At the end of the last of the villages we spied a serene lake with a tiny island on it .Herons perched on it, in patient wait for their breakfast to jump up There was barren land between the villages which is typical of most countryside other than Kerala .

.Leaving the villages behind we entered the forest area .It was almost magical .Bamboos created a world which looked untouched by human feet . I almost felt that at any time an elephant or a deer would come crashing out of the undergrowth .There were elephant droppings on the road which were fresh .I expressed my disappointment at not spying a single animal .. “its possible that they are aware of your passing through ,after all who is not scared of a lioness ?”guffawed my husband .He never loses an opportunity to take a dig at the fact that I am a Leo and a female at that .I laughed at his PJ ( I believe that its best to humour a maniac especially when he is the one driving )

At the end ,where the forest area ended there stood a tiny temple of The guardian of the forest .) The greenery was dense and thick without any gaps .The road climbed on to enter the beautifu lof land Coorg This was Gods own country indeed ..There was a dramatic change in the scenery again but this time it was not just beautiful but well ordered .Well pruned hedges bordering the coffee plants which grew under the shadows of huge trees .Tiny tiled cottages with their neat hedges and potted plants on the window sills ,flowering creepers on the fences and walls …oh coorg the beauty of the South.One just broke into sunny smiles at the daintily spread beautiful scene one passed through .


Daintly dressed ladies of Coorg(famed for their beayty ) draped in sarees a la coorg style ( with the pallu from the back to front pinned at the right shoulder ,walked along the side ,all on their way to a wedding ,it looked like We sped on through the tiny Goni kuppe drinking in the morning sights of a bustling town .Leaving it behind we turned off to the road that led to Peruvambadi .The road narrowed to a lane at some places . we reached the check post at Peruvambadi, was flagged off to the road newly opened to the public which would take us through the western ghats to Kerala.
Right after the check post we stopped or rather we had to stop to enjoy the mesmerizing beauty of a lake .A few others too were there drinking in the natural beauty of the lake with its deep green waters bordered with trees .Well as much as we wanted to stand and stare the mystical lake we couldn’t as time did not permit us .

..Driving through that piece of Western ghats felt as though I was on my own drive way as the road winded down through the middle of gigantic trees and dense bushes .The newly tarred road at some places were so narrow and had no adequate space to maneuver .A miscalculated move by the driver would have the passengers count the leaves of the tree , from limb of which they would be hanging if they were alive or conscious enough .So we ,especially me, held my tongue in my head till we winded down to a safer piece of road .Before we touched the bottom we spied the huge black rock named Nari Para ,by the locals

.Panthers (nari ) were often seen atop it .Now it had a small shrine of Hanuman and there was a tiny lamp burning just above the shrine .We also spied a couple of tribal colonies amidst the greenery .


We sped down and reached a most welcoming sight …the quintessential teashop (chaya kada ).It looked warm and welcoming with a curl of blue smoke rising from it We stopped and refreshed ourselves with hot cups of tea .The menu included Puttu –kadala ,Kerala porotta and curry(a favourite fare for Keralites ) .There were a couple of cars other than ours enjoying the healthy food .

We started off again and reached the bridge that connected us to Kerala….the kootupuzha bridge .


The scene from the bridge was picture post card perfect .
It again made me wonder at the artist called God .The blue mountains, the green hills and even darker green vegetation and a ribbon of river tumbling down over the rocks

Crossing the bridge the first thing that caught my eye was the Toddy shop right round the corner …a common sight in Kerala .The road had narrowed …for a highly populated state the highway was rather narrow .Shops on either side looked as though they would tumble down on to the road any minute .The vegetation was unruly ,a blur of green ,from darkest to the lightest giving us a feeling of speeding through the middle of green curtains

Amidst the greenery were brightly painted houses that seem to vie with each other in size and style .Most of them looked monstrous , examples of insensible architecture ,of pomp and possession of gulf money .The colours ranged from bright pink ,green ,electric blue, yellow and orange some of them almost gave us an eye sore .A few of them even sported roofs resembling Pagodas .Which had us feeling that we were at the gateway of Tibet .(Whatever happened to our simplicity ?our good old tiled roofs ?)The buses rushed past like unleashed beasts on a mission .We narrowly escaped being smothered down by a couple of them .



A wonderful aspect of Kerala is that it feels as though its one whole town .There are no barren spaces between one town and the other .One cannot rightly say where one ends and the other starts .unlike towns and villages of l Karnataka and Tamilnadu .Pockets of areas with red flags instead of gardens are a common sight in North Kerala (also known as Malabar ).At some places the road sides were festooned with red banners and flags which told us that we were well and truly in Kerala..
Old fashioned churches dotted the country side There were mosques and temples too side by side proving once more our secularity to the world .


Thus we sped on passing Iritty with its cool rubber plantations on either side of the road the small crowded town of ,Mattannur and reached our destination Kannur by noon where my cousin stood greeting us at the entrance of her new home..in true malayali style.