I am here at my hometown now and I am totally amazed by all that happens here. My hometown is a small village called Thirumeni in Payyanur in Kannur District of Kerala. This is north Kerala, the violent part. Guess what the main topic of discussion these days over here. A cat died. Everyone in the village knows about it. People meet and address straight away, "So sad that your cat died. How are the kittens faring? Give one of them to us, we'll take care of them".
I have been hogging like a pig since I have been here and have met atleast 20 odd people who are my relatives but neither do they know me nor do I. I am the grandson or son of people they know which is pretty normal introduction here. With this introduction I can get a free ride home, eat, get in the line, blah blah I hope you got it. Have been here for two - three days here now. I traveled for the first time from the Railway Station to my place alone. For that you need to get down at the station and take an auto to the bus stand. Imagine paying Rs. 50 for travelling 3 kms. and I thought auto fares were high in Delhi. I hate auto guys here or wherever. Here, you can't even bargain with the auto guys whatever fare they say that is the fare. They are the ultimate boss.
Oh between my train journey was awesome. Had a good travel partner in Sumana. Travelling in a train from Delhi to Kerala shows you the diversification in India. The beginning of the journey started with a small tiff, pretty common if you are travelling with a reservation ticket. In this over populous country of ours half the population is a bunch of free - loaders, but you should check out their confidence. They would walk in, keep their bags on the first vacant seat that is up for grabs preferably the upper berths. Once, their a very nice, neatly folded shawl or bed sheet would come of their bags. Lie down on the berth, put the blanket on top of you and sleep off for 2-3 hours or till wherever they are going. If you are able to stop them in this time (between them climbing and till the time this blanket is on top of them, you MIGHT have a chance to take them down, otherwise your seat is gone). The confidence and bluntness with which they carry out this is really something. And the bahanas, "
Arrey hum toh roz ke jaane wale hai (if that is a licence to travel for free),
Arrey bhaiya adjust kar lo thoda,
Arrey aapko baat karne ki tameez nahi hai kya?" (as if illegally occupying my seat is a measure of your manners). If I had my way I would stop the train in the middle of the journey and kick these guys out personally but whatever.
Back to my hometown, this place can be virtually converted into a bird sanctuary. I have seen different types of birds since I have come here. I don't know their names though and neither do I have an awesome camera to capture them. But really nice birds in different colours. Saw real nice fishes too, there was one which was half a centimeter thick in diameter but atleast 15-20 centimeters long. It was silver in colour, really shiny. They swam in a group. My nani says that they are called Kola but I don't know what they are except that they were a delight to watch.
Planning joke - It will be really convenient to conduct a land use survey in Kerala, except that most of it is plotted. So if we can somehow get hold of a bike and ride and keep mapping, it will be really convenient. Why I say this is because, here every educational facility is marked with the type and every medical facility is marked with its type. A school is not just a school, it is primary school or secondary school or senior secondary school or higher secondary school. The distinction is pretty clear. Similarly, a medical facility is clearly marked a primary health centre or a hospital or a maternity centre. We won't have any confusion with that, we can just keep marking them out without thinking or being clueless about which hierarchy to put the thing in.
People who haven't seen vermicompost or septic tank. Just come down here, almost every house has it all this stuff. Almost all the issues these guys have are also planning stuff if you listen carefully.
I made coconut leaf roof today. Making criss - cross pattern with the leaf and making rectangular blocks out of it. Stacking them together shall give us an awesome roof. Temporary of course. Making a shed for conducting a puja soon. I am going to Sabarimala soon. Barefoot life going on right now.
I have been to atleast 5 temples since I have been here in 2 days. The rituals lack almost all kinds of sociological imagination. Half the temples are biased about women entering it. The ones which allow have certain time when they can go. Further I went to this temple called Raja Rajeshwara Temple which is like a big shot temple here where people like Yeduriappa and Jayalalita keep visiting once in a while. Women can only enter at 7 30 pm to 8 30 pm and only after making some offering. There are special reservations and skipping the line options for people who make richer offerings. I guess this is pretty much everywhere now, "rich skip the line". The temple is grand and from an architectural point of view very pretty to look at which delicate and nice carvings.
Adios for the time being, will keep you guys posted.
