Kerala Travels

This is a 6-day account of my trip to Kerala with my school friends after our class 12 exams got over, before everyone went their own ways to different cities and countries for college. :) Amazing 6 days that I will always cherish!

Day1

It all started with my taking a flight to Chennai. In Chennai, Pranati picked me up from the airport and we feared having caught the swine flu as we walked out and into our vehicle which took us to her place. We met Anuttam & the three of us walked along the roads in Annanagar till we reached some park which happened to be shut to our dismay. Without even thinking twice, we sat on the footpath while onlookers probably passed comments in their heads about how lowly we might have been. We chatted about the old times in school, discussed the usual “which college and course do you plan to do?” plans, gossiped, etc. Then, we came home and I napped while she started her packing for the trip which we left for an hour later. Soon, we were on our way to the train station and unable to get through to Ronak(Igu Soni) who would be our bodyguard on the train journey to Kerala for a small RV post-12^th get together, organized by Kutta(who stayed in Trivandrum…Very sweet boy!). The train started moving even before it was our departure time of 8.00 p.m. because they were testing the engine. Igu was nowhere in sight. Panic stricken, we tried calling up his relatives. His family was as clueless as us! In fact, his father hoped that he had gone to the right station! Suddenly, he emerged with his now crew cut hairstyle from amidst the crowds. We got on, laughed at some entertaining children in our compartment, had chips for dinner and slept. I screamed in my sleep and woke up my fellow passengers, apparently. Lies, I tell you!

Day2

The day starts with us finally reaching and waiting outside the station for someone to take us to Kutta’s house! He comes 20 minutes later with Abhiroop trying to look like a stud with his ‘cool Cudappah sunglasses’ on. Did not look like one, Poopy! Went to the guesthouse, met everyone(Trilok,Sabu,Kittu,Kutta,Abhiroop,Madi)caught up, and then had lunch. In the evening, we all went to the Kovalam beach.Igu’s pants were torn in a very inappropriate place but he still ventured into the water. Abhiroop tried to show me disgusting things concerning others on the beach but I ignored. After an hour or so of tireless whipping by the waves, we changed and went and sat on a couple of rocks along the beach. Then, we went somewhere for dinner and waited a while but the food was worth the while. Chinese food all the way!

Day3

Next morning, we got up at 4 to go to Cochin for India’s best amusement park! I’d agree! 5 hours away with a 20 minute appam eating and for some, a shitting stop. Some of us received immense pleasure after the latter while others got disgusted by the same. The journey, though uncomfortable as hell, was worth it! The not-so-scary Balaram cave, the fun but puke-causing ride where we were turned back and front and upside down, the bumping cars where Sabu & I smashed everyone, especially Kittu, who never managed to escape us, the silly roller coaster, the spinning roller coaster which turned at weird angles off a cliff, and above all,The Space Gun, in which I nearly dug my nails into Sabu’s hands due to fear and an inability to breathe! We were suspended upside down in the air on top for 10 frightening seconds but I started laughing because of Kittu’s long upside down Banquo hair in the other shuttle besides Igu’s silly smile.:)

Then came the water rides. Though we lost Kutta and Trilok for a short time, we went crazy in the wave pool, the water slides, the mat race that I won because I was the fattest(I’d still say it is Igu, but people denied it then and I was having too much fun to bother arguing), the water pendulum, the tunnels, and to top it off, the water rollercoaster! Brilliant rides! In the wave pool, I nearly drowned because I was dunked once by Madi, once by Trilok and thrice by stupid Sabu! I beat everyone except Sabu in a swimming race though! My memorable feat for that day! Prono and I freaked out in the pendulum and the circular path water ride where we were chucked into a water hole from a height by the ride managers! It might be hard to picture some of these but it was the best time I’ve had for just 360 bucks in a long long time! After that, we went to Kutta’s favorite cousins’ house where we hogged on great food and were treated with amazing hospitality. A little crazy conversation on our way back kept most of us up and sadly, cribbing because of lack of space. A conversation about a difference in perspective of talking about something. Secret’s not getting out. Great day but tiring as hell so we all slept off as soon as we got back.

Day4

Woken up to Madhuri and Babu’s arrival. Did nothing the whole morning but went to a nice resort after lunch. There, we were greeted with grape juice. Quite delightful! Then, we all went to the pool! Had a great time swimming, racing and defeating Kutta & Madhuri, almost beating Babu & Sabu, having  water fights, etc. Then, we got coffee by the poolside, which was really nice and hot. After that, a few of us went to the beach while the others went to play pool/air hockey. I’m sure they had their own kind of fun but this beach was one of the prettiest ones I have ever seen! A clean, private beach with very few people. The only sound was that of the crashing waves. We were not allowed to enter the water but some of us went in to get our feet wet anyway, and came out completely drenched! Went for a short walk alone by the water which gave me a lot of inner peace. Missed some people and then, went back to the group. Got ready after that and finally, had an amazing dinner…A buffet with great pasta, sauted vegetables, gratine, and the like. Lovely desserts too! After that, we reached the guesthouse, waited for the fuse to be fixed(due to overload because both the ACs in the guys’ rooms were on for too long!),did college entrance work(I’m studying there now!),and slept!

Day5

We got up and were supposed to go to Kanyakumari, but for some reason, that got cancelled! Instead, we decided to go watch some Mallu movie which was silly but had great cars. Well, I suppose it was worth seeing the cars but the movie was not worth it! It was called Sagar Alias Jacky(Yes, that long sequence is the hero’s name).He is some good hearted don who kills one of the villains with a twig! Cant dance coz he’s too fat and so, walks around like a macho man! Sabu explained the dialogues to me though. I pity the guy. Bugged the hell out of him in an attempt to understand it! Came back, had lunch, and saw more movies the rest of the day. Watched another crappy movie called Surf School. In  the night, I saw The Great Debaters which was really good! We had RV style Maggi for dinner, saw the match, and then slept off!

Day6

Kittu came to see us off at the station but did not come with us to Kollam. Kutta did not continue with us since he had to go to Mumbai for his TISS interview. Kollam was really pretty! We had nice, long dosas for breakfast and then, went to a house-boat we had booked on the backwaters. It was like a mini-cruise with 2 rooms and a sit-out downstairs and upstairs. We were all enjoying the sit-out upstairs when it started raining. We had to rush back into the rooms on the lower deck. We stopped by the banks of some island or something like that and ate lunch. After that, it was all blank for me because I slept in the room while my feet faced the window and were being cleansed with the gentle drizzle. That night, after reaching Trivandrum again, we all packed our little suitcases since we were leaving for Bangalore the next day for Sujay’s birthday, which was another story altogether. We made RV Maggi at night, watched a couple of movies, and crashed till the next afternoon, when we had to leave the beautiful state of Kerala.