Am back

Well, surfacing really between industrial quantities of neymeen and kappa. All the bad fish karma in the universe I am bent on collecting. Anyway, quick update on what I have been upto:

- One all-Mallu flight from Gelf to Trivandrum. First timer on one of these things and must say that it is way too much fun (as long as you are not the flight attendant). For some reason, food was served before beverages which created a huge uproar with everyone complaining (in Mallu) that the travel agent had promised them beer. The flight attendant tried to explain beer is on the way but somehow couldn't get her message across as she could speak only English and Mandarin. Apparently in a flight that was more than 95% Mallu, the crew spoke every single language in the world (incl. Swedish) except Malayalam. Anyway they finally started serving beverages but the beer got over before row number 22. These Mallus!

- Two propah fights with auto-drivers in Kochi. It always happens in Kochi. Probably because I had already fought with every auto-driver in Trivandrum that no one dare fight with me nowadays. Also think its something to do with Central Kerala being slightly xenphobic because the minute they realise that I am Tam, the price goes up exponentially. And explanations of how in Tamland they cheat you more start happening. Soon they realize that's bad argument
to use with me but its already too late. This time, among other things, I nearly whipped out my Std X marksheets to show him my Malayalam marks but the Don stopped me. He is a little soft on such things. Its because of people like him that auto drivers think they can do what they want. Anyway.

- Kappa, karimeen, and fish curry meals at Grand Hotel. Which is really the only real reason to visit the city.

- Trains, yes trains. So Don and I took the 6.25 Janashatabdi to Ernakulam, reached there at 9.45, went our separate ways, finished visa appt/meeting at 11, regrouped somewhere on MG Road equidistant between the two Ernakulam stations (Jn and Town or South and North) Don had forgotten to take the railway timetable with him and so we made our own. We wrote down all trains that go from Ernakulam to Trivandum, back calculated Ernakulam timings based on the arrival time in Trivandrum and whether the train is routed through Kottayam or Alappuzha, and wrote down whether the train stops at North or South. Based on this timetable, we had about 2 hours which we spent very diligently (at Grand Hotel), and then turned up at North station at 13.05. Three trains in the next hour as we had calculated - Parasuram (yes, from Mangalore, look at the name, where else will it be from?), Sabari and Korba. Caught Parasuram and got home for late afternoon tea. Checked railway timetable, we had gotten all trains to TVM, and all of them were within 20 minutes of estimated time! Cool, aren't we? (The only train I missed that the Don caught was Sabari which is supposedly a relatively new Hyd - Tvm daily)

Other than that, everything seems to be the same in God's own land. Rains are still around though the ferocity is gone as this is August, fish season isn't great but Rani manages to get the good stuff, Don and Amma are fighting over everything as usual, and the thirteen thousand nephews and nieces are all around. Things have quietened down a bit and the Rooster stories will continue soon.