Alone but not alone!

 It all began from a film festival at Trivandrum,  Kerela , My journey to explore another new place . After a 45 hour train journey from Kolkata we reached our hotels late in the evening . Had some scrumptious dinner and crashed. Next day we headed to have the local thali in one of the finest restaurants in Trivandrum -   Mother’s Veg plaza . What we did in the morning was insignificant. What’s worth mentioning is the variety of items on a big banana leaf that you have to pull the chain to stop eating. The next day we decided to go to the tip of India - Kanyakumari .  Next on our list was the beautiful and serene Ponmudi hills , 3200 feet above sea level .The greenery and mist made it a divine experience, a photographer’s delight, and a hot destination for pre wedding shoots.

However my thirst to explore a few places continued. While others had their tickets booked back home, I decided to travel to Fort Cochin, perks of not planning . Well the thought that drove me was ‘ How can one come to Kerela and not see the backwaters !’ . So I took a train from Trivandrum to Ernakulum and then and auto to Fort Cochin to I one’s home stay. I had my stay all sorted ,thanks to my batch mate at film school.

As soon as I reach the homestay I was hit by a disappointing news that there isn’t any backwater trip the following day . I had only one day at hand. What to do?? Looking at my keenness , after a while the owner managed to contact one tour group and got me a booking . The next day I was ready at 8 am to be picked up . We sat in a mini bus with an Australian family and two boys from UK and began my voyage to the back waters in Viakom, Kottayam district of Kerela.

Beautiful as imagined, I couldn’t resist the tempting scenery and started capturing everything onto my camera. On route we visited the Lime powder factory and the rope factory , bought some home made taprioca chips.

And once again had the local thali  , after which we shifted into a smaller open boat and went deeper into the narrow streams of the backwaters . The visual treat was the blue Kingfisher which I saw for the first time.

Very tired, yet fulfilled, I returned to my room and after a good nap I went to one of the best ‘tourist’ restaurant in fort cochin – The fusion bay . Never imagined that I would travel alone and meet some interesting people.  However after scanning through the menu I ordered Prawns molly and Appam. While I waited for my dinner to come I began conversing with a lady , Serah from New York who had come to visit the child she sponsored from Munnar . What interested me was , she worked in her family run business . A chocolate shop ! and she started sharing with me her experiences with chocolate lovers. We talked for two hours and as she left another gentleman walked in and sat on the adjacent table. I was finishing my dinner when I heard a voice  “Are you from Mumbai? “ . It was the same gentleman who had just entered. From there I began a new conversation with Robin a drummer by profession . He was in India to teach drumming in a music school in Mumbai .So the topics traversed from Chocolates to Music. Robin was from Amsterdam and starting teaching drumming from the age of 17 . Also I learnt tat abroad boys and girls prefer moving out (staying away from their parents) at quite an early age. Something that was hard for me to fathom .But as he went into details I realized how differently people perceive life and their relationships .Interesting isn’t it?

Such were the perks of travelling alone , we get to meet a bunch of new and interesting people who touch or enrich our lives in a small way . We never know whether we will meet again , but the time spend is worthwhile .

Ponmudi Hills

Viakom Backwaters