5:30 am
When I got up in the morning many were sleeping and the driver had stopped the bus to have a puff of cigarette and tea as he was sleepy. Slowly everyone got up and we were only few kilometers away from Guruvayur, our 1st destination. Kiran was explaining about Abdul’s snoring. I was very happy to see the environment of Kerala because it was very similar to our NorthKanara district. I was watching all the hoardings. And majority of hoardings had photo of local hero MohanLal. Jayashri, Maheshwari & Kala began their camera work again. By 7am we reached Guruvayur.
Went to a lodge to get fresh, had our bath there. All had to wear dhoti and girls had to wear saree to get into the temple. But I didn’t wanted to wear it. So somehow managed and didn’t go to the temple. Abdul was with me. Girish took our snaps. Our group photos impressed localites’ also. I took Girish’s photo.
It was nearly 9:30 everyone entered the temple. We were very hungry, we came out and had orange juice. The juice was so bad that we decided not to drink juice in Kerala again. The price was also very expensive. Rs.21/- per orange juice.
So I told Abdul not to tell anyone about it, as it was insulting and everyone would tease us. We were feeling bored out there. So I went to a security person, Babu, and asked him about Guruvayur. He told that Guruvayur got its name from Guru & Vaayu. He also told me an interesting fact that long back Guruvayur temple was under sea water & the idol was carried and brought by sea water. He also told me about elephant race which was held couple of weeks back. Interstingly he knew nearly 10 languages including Bengali and Manipuri. We were so close that he gave me his cell and asked me to check whether its in good condition.
Then I went around the temple. The place was very nice. I went near the shopping area. Abdul was waiting for me. So I’d to return quickly. I then challenged Abdul that our friends who had been to temple would return within 11o’clock. We were hungry and frustrated\. Exactly at 11 I saw Kala & Jayashri rushing towards the room. We were without our slippers. Our feet were burning like pancakes. We went to the room. I and Yentu were felt very bad when we came to know that everyone had their breakfast. But we were happy when they told that their food was not that good. We had a chance to eat in a better hotel. But we got the first shock of Keralean food.
We packed our bags and left from there. We had to go to Kalady, the place where Shankaracharya was born. On the way Girish was sitting next to me and we were listening some melodious songs. Some were playing cards. Girish collected another Rs.500/- in Trissur. It was very hot out there and everyone sweating very badly. I was the most comfortable of all as I was adapted to humidity.
We reached Kalady and there was a 'stupa' like thing there. There were more than 100 steps to go to the top and I, Kiran and Karthik were the first to reach there. We rested for a while and then returned. Everyone was still going upstairs. We saw tender coconuts. The red one, Kendali, we call it. I and Kiran had two coconuts. Pandey and Karthik joined us. Karthik paid for it. Next we went a place on the bank of river Poorna. The crocodile ghat. The ashram was closed. So we just saw the river and sat for a while in the bus. We were teasing Yentu. At 4pm we had our food in hotel Indrprasta. I had veg biryani. As soon as we began our journey towards Munnar we had relief from heat. Few sitting in the first row began playing dumb shrards. I didn’t join them. I was just helpline. Helping Kiran’s team. We saw a beautiful falls and ent there for photographs. A monkey attacked me there. Uttam and Girish advised me to walk without staring at it. After a photo sessions near the falls, we began our game again. Uttam started to tease me by telling me about monkeys. At 7:30 we reached lodge. We were just a few miles away from Munnar. It was chilling out there. As soon as we got down of the bus we had coffee. I drank the coffee so quickly that everyone started staring at me. The coffee was really hot. Pooja was holding Lays pack. Her trademark. Ha ha.. We went to our room to have rest. I, Scary and Karthik were in a room. We came down for food at 9, but no one was interested in having it. Again I saw Pooja holding Lays pack. So I started teasing her Lays Pooja. Received call from home. Talked for a while. Abdul kept on coming to our room to play some tamil songs. He was acting as if he had never seen tv before. Girish, Pooja, Chandan, Ranjini and vishwa were busy playing cards. Scary and Karthik were discussing about the stock market. Ananth, Uttam and Pandey stayed in a room downstairs. And others joined in a room to play dumb shrards. This time even I joined them and I never knew that I was so good in it. We played till 1:30am. Abdul was most entertaining. We were making lot of noise. The hotel manager might have thought of throwing us out of Kerala itself.
After playing I went to our room. Scary was hugging Karthik and sleeping. I didn’t leave place for me to sleep. Somehow I managed and slept. A wonderful day came to an end.
To be continued...
