For long I have been delaying on my piece about my recent trip to Kerala. I knew while I was travelling that I would be a writing a piece, but on what topic exactly, I wasn’t sure, for Kerala is so green and such beauty on every nook and corner, you can’t help but feel an urge to write. But well, I’m not here to talk about the beauty of the land and perhaps compel you to take a trip or make you regret about not travelling to the God’s own country. I’m here simply to state a few of my observations and perhaps amuse you a little with them.
In case you are visiting the place for the first time, be assured, you shall be confused, for the place, or to say, the state looks identical, you would find similar winding roads, the same old tea stalls, similar toddy shops, identical houses, and what’s more, identical houses with similar colours! This was still not my first observation; my first observation was about the paint. I do not give here credit to me for my observations for it was the colours that were strong; the observation was forced upon me. There was a mixture of myriad colours that were forced upon me like a cop flashing a torch into my eyes in the dead of night to check if I’m drunk. There were mild colours adjacent dark ones, and fluorescent ones here and there, all for the same house, each competing amongst themselves as to which one’s more disgusting than the other. Each house gave me something to smile, to grin and sometimes even to laugh aloud making people around me wonder about my mental stability. I found it all the more amusing that there weren’t people outside or around the house as if the owners were ashamed of showing themselves in public- “No sir, we aren’t the owners of the bungalows you are laughing at!”
My frequent bus travels allowed me to sight-see not just bungalows but shops too. Some of the names were really interesting, it is perhaps the lack of creativity or perhaps sheer laziness, I feel, that forced them to keep such names. One shop carried the name Linkin Park Shoes. I surely admired the band once and still like listening to their music, but wearing Linkin Park shoes doesn’t seem quite acceptable to me. Boyzone is another band that was converted to a Boys’ Club. Some of the hotels and towers there were self-proclaimed. Smart Tower, yes, the tower was smart or maybe you suddenly felt smart after you got inside it. Famous Hotel, yes, everyone knew about it, or so they claimed. Silly Bakery, well, need I add anything to that? Spicy Hotel, no, you don’t get anything else there. With such specifics mentioned, people would perhaps already know whether they ought to visit the place!
But my trip was enjoyable, you can easily deduce that. Alas, I couldn’t feel like writing about the waterfalls, mountains and greenery, the social life interested me more. All the same, I ended my sojourn happily remembering all the names I had encountered and what I planned to do with them!
