Blessed !!!

This is something that I wrote on my laptop on 29th May 09 in a mud hut in Kanthalloor.

Here it goes :

I am not feeling any typical flavor of the state that I am in. It’s not the typically green coconut/banana/rice plantations all around and neither are there any backwaters here. But again, its exceptionally green……I am in Kerala. This district is called Kanthalloor, which is around 50 kms from Munnar and comes after Marayoor. This place is called PeruMala. I am in a mud hut on a hill which is surrounded by forests. There is hardly any electricity and the only sounds around are the insect noises and the typing noise on my laptop. Since I am not really a camping enthusiast, I haven’t had such kind of an experience before i.e., being completely with nature. The skies are clear today unlike yesterday. The crescent is shining in all its glamour.

On this journey to Kanthalloor, which was purely by accident, I was happy to meet an ex IT professional turned restaurateur and organic vegetables farmer. I am not a herbal tea/cuisine connoisseur, but I had one of the best herbal tea here. The leaves were simply plucked from the plant and put in boiled water. That’s all. It was an amazing drink. I think it was called lipaya. With this experience, I hope to educate myself more about organic farming. He gave me a stem of the same, which I am trying to bring to Delhi and grow it there. This would be the birthday gift to my mum. Lets see if this works in the climate of Delhi.

Considering that I love animals, I was really excited to meet a really interesting dog. This dog belonged to the owner of the cottage that I lived in and was popular amongst all the farmers and workers and everyone around multiple plots of land in the neighbourhood. While scouting around the place and on my way back, I saw this dog and she actually started directing and taking us to the cottage we lived in. It took a route which was difficult for us to follow. And hence we didn’t follow it and took another route. It came back from its intended route and then again guided us on the route that we were taking.

Earlier in my journey, I had met another amazingly friendly and socializing dog at my uncle’s place. It had many peculiar things to its credit. This was the first time; I had seen a dog with a fetish for carrots, tomatoes, mangoes and banana’s. This dog would feel sad when its not allowed to mix with guests and asked to go to its cage. Once it was made to feel alienated the entire day, it simply pushed as hard as possible and was successful in putting away the food from its cage. Again, this was the first dog I had ever seen, who would eat the drumsticks used in sambar (a curry recipe in South India) in a technically correct way. It could teach people, how to eat the drumsticks used in sambar.

My trip this time covered kannur ( pallikunnu and cherkunnu), thrissur, cochin, munnar and kanthalloor. The relaxed air, the lush greenery and the comfortable and helpful people are the perfect recipe to de-stress oneself from the craziness of the city life.

The temple in Cherkunnu, is a very famous temple. I remember coming here while I was a kid. I simply relish the payassam ( a sweet dish ) made out of jaggery at this temple. One can get payassam as a prashaad (food offering at the temple), but the taste here has been distinct and has remained the same since last 25 years that I personally remember. I think I had this payassam after around 18 years. J

On this trip, I really felt connected to my home town and would like to keep this connection in the future as well. I am feeling blessed to have my roots here. It’s seldom that one’s roots are in God’s own country and I am happy to realize it. J