3 weeks in Gods Own Country.

So it has been a while since I have posted something on my BLOG. It has been 20 days since I have landed in Gods Own Country. The experience so far has been like a fresh new day, new with each instance. So what experiences am I talking about here?

1) Practice the language before you reach a new place. Learn a few important words. And even after you have done then learn to see people laughing at you for your pronunciations! And just in case you haven't learnt any words then invoke the blessings from The Gods of Dumb Charades. I've been doing just that.

2) "When in Rome Be Like The Romans Are" So it's time for lungi /mundu. The natives still wouldn't accept you completely obviously because you are out of place. Confidence matters but with the fear of what would go faster, the Mundu or your IZZZAT, tell me where is the scope to have confidence and walk!

3) Learn to cook and eat. Unfortunately I am in a land of non vegetarian food lovers and me being an eggetarian struggle to find some good food. Funnier is when you DARE to EAT some North Indian dish and then spend time in the loo. :P It isn't as funny as one might feel on reading. I was MIGHTY PLEASED when I visited a 4 Star with an ambience which could give some of our Mumbai restaurants a run for their money. MULTI CUISINE RESTAURANT, they declared on their Tariff Card and I promised the Manager I would come back soon. The next time I visited the area I made it a point to visit the MULTI CUISINE RESTAURANT. "Paneer Kitne Din se nahin khaaya." my heart shouted!

Waiter: "Sir would you like to have some dish in Paneer for the main course?"

WTF???????????????

Me: "Ah well yeah. Get me a dish of Paneer Butter Masala along with a dish of Appam."

I waited patiently with a wish to have Paneer after 3 weeks! *Slurp*

The wait was't worth, the Paneer Butter Masala completely drowned my desire to come back to this MULTI CUISINE RESTAURANT. So from there I head to my meeting. All of a sudden there is some "hul-chal"

KAHAN?

Stomach dear had an immediate Mood Change due to the food at the MULTI CUISINE RESTAURANT. :( The rest? The lesser said the better!

4) Get ready for an overdose of the local actors on television. Movies, TV Advertisements, Hoardings, you will see them everywhere. If that wasn't less you would see them in the most funniest of poses and clothes!

5) Be ready to meet some visitors who might give you creeps. They are in plenty here. Thankfully the one's that I am scared of, haven't REALLY made their presence felt.

Is it all that bad?

1) The Peace here cannot be bought by any amount of urbanisation. All that we miss in a city like Mumbai is some peace which is in abundance here. :D A day full of working from home and then a walk with an elder to the local temple, the knowledge that you get while talking to them, the fields that you pass by, the local houses from where the kids come out running to see a person whom they haven't seen previously and all the customs and traditions which we as city dwellers can never experience. They still, also, use the traditional methods of cooking with the dried up wood what we call as the "Choolaah"

2) The smile and the warmth of the people whom you might not know and yet they would stand and explain to you, how they are related and then their favourite statements "How would you remember us? The last you had seen was when you were 6 years old!" What memory!!!!!! :-o

3) The weather during evening times is absolutely awesome! I have been experiencing breeze which we "could probably" experience only during Winters in city.

4) The sanctity of the holy places would have to be seen to be believed. The precision with which people follow each of these practices shows the power of beliefs! At many of the temples, including the local one,that I have visited the people still don't cross the path if they see the priest coming. The temples still haven't been commercialised. I have been completely bowled over by a group of 3 kids who used to come ever evening, until their schools started, to recite Bhajans. I doubt if this could be ever seen in the city.

5) Everything over here is so planned and organised in their own little way. We as city dwellers never get time from our usual schedule to have lunch on time, to have tea on time or probably to reach home for dinner on time. But here day in- day out,their schedules never go wrong. Breakfast is sharp at 7 (not for me though), another tea session by 11, followed by lunch at 1pm, Snacks at 4 and finally dinner by 10 pm. They plan for their day-to-day activity in advance. Like for eg. cut the wood and store well in advance before rains for cooking purposes. And to add to it they live a HAPPY (content) LIFE. Makes me wonder, what is it that I am searching for in life?

Each day that gets me a new experience, good or bad, has only reinforced my decision of having taken up a rural internship for my Summers.

Change

"Three veg and one non-veg Chicago Hot Dogs." we ordered as we decided to stuff ourselves before boarding the plane on 6th of February 2010 for a one night two day trip to Kerala to attend a marriage. An electronics Engineer, a Mechanical Engineer, one failed Engineer and a Finance Fanatic were all excited to attend the wedding of one of their close friends' sister. "Yuck!" exclaimed the Finance guy as he took the first bite of his hot dog. The taste had really not impressed him. Instantly he moved to the next outlet serving ice cream to rectify the bad taste left behind by the hot dog.

As we moved towards the security check it was so different than what it was last year when I had travelled in an airplane.  The security had increased multi fold. The 26/11 attacks had brought the impetuous once again on the security and whatever possible loopholes existed were minimized. The change however was too much to be neglected which actually made me feel more scared. It meant that there were more efforts being made by the extremists to push their point by harming the innocent. I tried to appease myself by putting forth the thought that more security means lesser possibility of anything bad happening but somewhere in my heart it said that if these guys are putting so much efforts it also means that other side wouldn't fall shy of trying something more. I wasn't able to adapt to change even though it was for my own good.

As the flight descended the scenic beauty of Gods Own Country mesmerized me. I was happy to be in my mother state (I call Maharashtra my home state as I was born here). The thought did cross my mind to bow down and kiss the land but felt it would be too much for my friends who as it is feel my actions are nothing less than "A Nautanki". Once again I resisted change.

The journey was told to us would be a short one, however to our surprise it took us an hour to reach Le Meridien Kochi. Hungry as a famine hit person, we headed straight to the restaurant. Thankfully the Buffet was still on. The hotel was running on 100% occupancy owing to the marriage. As we settled with our lunch word arrived that, the 4 of us had to share a room. At the first place I was a bit skeptical but realized that this time I have to try out how it is to adjust and adapt to the changed circumstances. What caught my attention was that we had to cross the backwaters on a boat to reach our tower.

The change which I had to adapt wasn't too difficult. The beds even though were small it wasn't small enough for two. ☺ It would have been LUXURY for one and IT WAS COMFORTABLE for two!  Spring beds are never too late for any age and soon enough we were testing its durability. Thankfully it adapted to the change in the weight it had to carry. Finally we gave up and decided to rest out backs. Phew! We got ready for the evening where in another new tradition awaited.

Sangeet which is a never heard tradition in South of India, especially in Kerala was nothing short of a full on Concert! Sivamani performed and the crowd only wanted more. "Jugalbandi" between a 'Percussionist', a 'Violinist', a 'Chenda' artist and a 'Thavil' player was an icing on the cake which actually got the audience to their feet.  The audience had accepted the change in tradition. We slipped into the night with bated breath thinking what would happen the next day.

Day Two was welcomed with a fantastic and heavy breakfast. Good Morning easily transforms into Great Morning if the breakfast is good. Happy Hearts, the four of us moved towards the Convention Centre to witness the Wedding Ceremony. As we discussed about the marriage traditions across our country we realized that slowly and steadily the hall was getting empty. Even before we knew the depleting number was because the marriage ritual was kept short and sweet.  The rush had now moved to the lunch area. The noisy crowd was now substituted with some good light music being played by the live orchestra. Suddenly the crowd in the hall, which should have been lining up to wish the newlywed, was lined up to eat food. In native style it was typical "Naadan (pronounced as naa-done) Food" served on the Banana Leaf. Another change from the usual style that we see in Mumbai ☺ but a pleasant one as well.Happy Hearts once again, we left the dining area and seated ourselves at the entrance. It was 'Bidayi' time.

Emotions were running high. The Bride was being led to the car by her father and her brother followed by her mother. The scene ran in my head when I had first seen her as a child, running around the house. She was notorious as a kid and pampered. Her wish was her father's command and yet she wasn't a spoilt kid. Everything came to me in a flash of a second and disappeared in another flash. Suddenly the reality was right there in front of me. The little kid was now a grown up woman who was being led to a new life. Her perfect smile was now replaced by tears running down her cheeks. She stood in front of the car and hugged her father. Her mother cried but remained strong. She looked around for her best friend and called her near but she couldn't gather the courage. She managed to move a few steps further and stopped. The bride sensing that she was running against time took her steps towards her friend. She hugged her and hugged her tight! She cried! I cried!

My thoughts at this time moved to the new life that she would be starting to live. A changed life, surrounded by new people, new relationships, new traditions & Customs. And pretty soon she is going to accept this change. Soon she would be the lady of the house and no more the kid who used to run around the house in a playful mood. She would be changing to a completely new life.

As my senses began to understand the gravity of this change that the bride would accept, I thought about all the changes that I accepted on my journey to Kerala and said to myself that nothing that we do, could match up to the change that women adapt and adjust to on getting married. I thought, once,twice, before accepting or rejecting change and thought about it a bit too much at times. That moment opened my eyes, hopefully for the rest of my life.

Happy Heart, now Heavy, moved to the hotel room to prepare for return journey. As we boarded the bus the back-benchers (the four of us) decided to keep the window open in the AC bus. The wind brushed past me, thankfully the typical smell with it had not changed! :)


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