Cochin - Munnar -Thekkaddi - Allepey - Trivandrum - Kovalam - Kanyakumari
Well, the next destination was Cochin - we took an overnight train from Goa - we had planned the trip in such a way that we travel the nights and see the place during the day - we were travelling like people who eat for they don't know when is the next they would get food. Ok, Cochin or Ernaculum was hot and humid so much, so that Surender will all of his 95KG stature was always drenched with his own sweat all the time. We checked in a hotel - we had got the list and planned for our stay before hand - and then went for a boat ride into the sea. And for dinner, Surender had already started missing 'Roti' so after we realized we cannot have 'prawn fried in Coconut oil' and Surender cannot have everything in coconut gravy - we decided to check out the 'Taj cochin' and how upfront did Surender ask the 'Guard' at the gate - 'bhai roti milegi' - once he confirmed they serve 'roti' - we had our dinner with some live orchestra playing in the background - naah wasn't a piano or saxophone player - but 4 men sitting in traditional dhotis playing the violin, mrudangam and dholak - yeah yeah it was fun after all we had rotis! Little did we realize (we saw the pictures later) that Taj Cochin is located at one of the most beautiful locations - overlooking the sea~~~ Next day we took a trip to Jew Island, the old Church and the famous Chinese Fishing nets. The next day we took a taxi to Munnar. The drive is one of the most memorable one - and Surender slept throughout. Well, Munnar at that time wasn't very popular so there weren't many people around, we had an amazing time. A small hill station with Tea estates - cool, breezy and GREEN!!! Here we checked in a hotel next to a 'nullah' with a view of the tea gardens. In Munnar, you could travel in taxi or Auto - we decided to take the later one - reason, we met this interesting guy - the auto rickshaw driver who promised to take us to the places where the taxis don't go. He said 9 a.m (or was it 8 am) next morning! We were ready after a good south indian breakfast and waited for him - he was 15 mins late - but he arrived in his khaki uniform, with three lines of chandan on his forehead, his hair all oiled and well combed and the thin moushtaches... he first said sorry for being late and then discussed the travel itenaries for the next 2 days - with a promise of taking us to places where good and local south indian thali are available. Then started the conversation - he asked me if we were from Delhi - I looked at him curious to know what made him guess so - he pointed to the red chuda - saying Delhi wala pehenta hai... he was quite interesting with his bragging of the adventures he had - how he told about the story of a couple - where the man would kiss a wife when his auto lost control - woh usko chummaah diya - and how he saved his wife. Then he clicked our photos making us pose for him - the typical Tamil filmy shtyle - 'mein bahut honeymoon couple ghumaya'. And then I asked him 'what is your name' - he smiled and I said what happened - he said why do people ask my name and then laugh - I said I won't - after much coaxing I managed to convince him that I won't - and he told me and I started laughing - his name was 'Prithvi Raj Singh Chauhan' -
....... To be continued...
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