Well, this is what they call a short trip.....Even I couldn’t find any reason to believe that I had been away for a while, except for my mail accounts....overflowing with all those news alerts and group mails...in that sense, Gmail is a god sent, of course, u can still arrange your mails in outlook as conversations, but then I cant use my TAPMI id for group subscriptions...juz cos I would have to change them after 2 months....also, I don’t want my mails to be scanned by my mail server...Gmail does that for you and believe me, its an awesome mail service...the design has been consciously made to increase the person's effort in deleting a mail, that he would not think of deleting them...though I prefer not to have useless mails for long...
ye!! All those lesser mortals who said, "I don’t want a Gmail!!"....you have missed/avoided a wonderful opportunity......
The trip on the whole was great.....There was absolutely no rush in the temple....I started from Manipal by around 12.30 PM and reached Calicut by around 8.30 PM....by bus....sheece...I love bus journeys...I feel very close to freshness in a bus..trains feel like a closed cell to me...though it is more comfortable...I dont like the bars in the train windows, effectively restricting the outside from you...also I got used to bus journeys...may be coz I don’t like waiting for a train (that too it comes late 11/10 times)...In Tamilnadu at least, you have a decent connectivity by bus, no matter when you start from wherever, you can always find bus for your place....but in Kerala, it is just the opposite....the entire life seems to move with the Train...
The noticeable difference in two years is that the bus service has improved a lot in Kerala....there are buses more often than then and the quality of buses too has improved...
That apart, more interesting things about Kerala is the food and the accompanying stuff....the first time I was in Kerala, was when we went on a tour in our engineering college....then it wasn’t Kerala tour..it was just Cochin and Athirapalli....But when I was in Calicut, the first thing that terrified me was the water they give in hotels.....the first time I saw the water, I took a vow never to have water in a Hotel...God, the water was pink in colour and hot....Seeing a Pinkish water(looked like Potassium Permanganate Liquid) would never had made you thirsty for the day...I was scared to take that water....also the only word I knew was "Vellam" and when I ask for it, the bearer used to bring more of it....I was even scared to touch it...I wondered how the hell on earth do these people drink such a water....and Then I came to know it has some medicinal powder and all....but, for the day, I didn’t had water in the Hotel, how hot the food might be...but the water is tasty...I loved it now.....how I missed it...
I met Amrita...so cute...she has changed a lot....I simply Love her...she is awesome...the last time I met her was when I left Calicut....It was on May 30th..my birthday...when I resigned and left for Manipal....she then gave a hug and was all tears....was asking when I would come back....when would I call her....she even made me promise I would call her every week...I didn’t keep that promise though....happened to meet her...she had grown....she was in 3rd standard when I left...she had grown taller and now had reached my shoulders....She is the daughter of my ex-colleague and a damn sweet girl in that..."Krishna Mama...nengal enthuna Phone Chiyaathu???..Enikku nengale vilikkan pattitilla....nengalude phone number ennikku ariilla"..well I didn’t had any answer for that....except for a sheepy smile...but then got her out for dinner and treated her with Prawn and Fish delicacies...Though I am still a pure veggie(not even egg)....six months of Calicut had made me loose all inhibitions towards sharing the table with Non-veggies...now I can at least eat with non-veg on the table.....a nice and a beautiful dinner it was..enjoyed every bit of it...
Reached Guruvayoor by around 9.30 AM on 25th and was done with the darshan by around 10.15AM...had the morning breakfast after Darshan and started immediately to Calicut...the interesting part is that I returned by the same bus in which I came from Calicut...the conductor remembered me and was asking..."So you are back...so soon???"...went to the office(Ex-Office)...met all there too...many things have changed...many people had left...new faces...new issues...Started to Manipal by 7.30PM by Bus....ofcourse I didnt want to wait till the ghostly hour for train...reached Manipal by 3.50AM......on the whole enjoyed the trip...