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The Hindu Times - 26/01/05
Its been a long time. Since leaving you in Muscat I have been wandering around a portion of Southern India.
Flying over Kerala was a beautiful sight. Whereas before I flew into Trichy (In Tamil Nadu, very red, dry and barren), flying into Trivandrum meant a view of the lush green countryside, jungle and hills of the other side of South India. Landing in Trivandrum, the state capital, I soon found myself immersed in India once more. I managed to battle through the crowds, flagged a rickshaw and was soon holed up in a cheap room. Trivandrum was a reasonably relaxing and low-key entry to India. Kerala being quite an opulent state means the hassle factor is lower. I still experienced culture shock event hough I had been before but it was a minimal amount. A reasonably clean city, Trivandrum houses some interesting sights, not least the Sri Jenardhanaswarmy temple and the large park in the north of the city.
From Trivandrum I took a night train to Madurai in the state of Tamil Nadu. Having spent time here before on my last visit I simply used it as a connection to get to Rameswaram, a city on a small island that almost connects to Sri Lanka. It is attached to the mainland by the massive and impressive Indira Ghandi bridge. Surprisingly Rameswaram received little Tsunami damage, I guess it was sheltered by Sri Lanka, so my plans to help out were not realised. Rameswaram is an important pilgrimage site and as a result it is a strange mix of religion and Blackpool as a seaside temple town. There was even an elephant inside the temple. It is a strange town, of course it has the usual areas and surrounding slums, but it some way it seems smaller than it actually is.
Little Donkey in Rameswaram
After a second transit in Madurai, this time long enought for me to become re-acquianted with the Sri Meenakshi temple, I journeyed to another seaside pilgrimage site, this time to Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of India. Although nearly 2000 people died in Kanyakumari district alone, again the Tsunami damage was minimal, most of those that died were at sea at the time and the cliffs protected the town. A few tourists were stranded on the temple and memorial islands just off shore and had to be helicoptered off. The ferries that transport the passengers to/from these islands were both damaged and the services were suspended until further notice. I spent most of my time in Kayakumari sitting on a wall on the clff, watching the sea and chatting to the discerning locals on the subject of big waves, tourism and India in general. Kanyakumari contained the same Blackpool ingredients as Rameswaram - tacky souvenier stalls, candy floss and donkey rides. The problem is the pilgrims lap it all up!
I must add that visiting these two places in Tamil Nadu was simply completing the more extensivce tour of the state that I undertook last time.
Needing to relax a bit after a hectic Xmas and New Year my next stop was at the coastal resort of Varkala. Becoming quite developed (following the lead of Kovalam further south) it is not the backpackers paradise it once was. However it was nice to sunbathe for a few days and the food was good, eating fruit muesli and yoghurt whilst watching the ocean is always my favourite. I also managed to catch a showing of Fahrenheit 9/11 in a Thai-resort style restaurant. You may have noticed I have been quiet on the subject of President Dipshit lately, still reeling from the shock of his re-election. The problem is that he and his cronies (you know the suspects - Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Condy) are too easy a target, I suggest you just watch Fahrenheit 9/11.
Escaping Varkala I stopped next at the small town of Allepey in the Keralan backwaters. Kerala must be the only place in the world where something called "the backwaters' is actually an attraction! Allepey is a small town based around a canal system, although unfortunately it doesn't quite live up to the standard set by Venice! A brahmin philosopher tried to arrange to discuss Hindu philosophy with me but the moment he talked about a "special festival for one day" I realised there was going to be a monetary catch and fled.
My sole reason to visit Allepey was to travel the backwaters, and the next day I did just that, chugging upstream to Kottayam, passing palm tree-fringed sand banks, and isolated communities with lots of life, boats, huts, animals and people. It reminded me of the Mekong Delta, the Sundarbans of Bangladesh and also in some kind of a way, the Norfolk Broads!
Keralan backwaters
Cochin was the next stop, a cramped and sweaty General Department train ride from Kottayam. Fort Cochin is set on a peninsular and is a beautiful town of small winding streets, colonial architecture (much of it Dutch) and more waterways. It is also very touristy, meaning that sometimes you will be treated more cynically, more as a walking dolalr, and also everything is more expensive, But most of the time these places become touristy for a reason. In this regard, Cochin reminded me of Oaxaca in Mexico. The palace is particularly impressive, with an amazing collection of murals portaying scenes from the Ramayana. Downstairs in the female sleeping quarter are a collection of "erotic" murals depicting actions of Shiva having a bit on the side and Krishna pleasuring 16 gopis (milkmaids). Why do the women get all the excitement?
A long train journey took me from Ernakulam (the town nearest Cochin on the proper mainland) up to Karwar in the north of the state of Karnataka. Again I had toured this state before which explains the brevity of the visit. I took a bus from Karwar to the village of Gokarna, just by the sea. It has been becoming more popular for a while now as the hordes trickle down from Goa looking for that paradise lost. This was the highlight of the trip so far. Gokarna also reminded me of Mexico, but this time of Tulum on the Caribbean coast. This is because the beach is away from the village and so you are isolated in the community, a 20-minute hike over the headland back to the village. The beach exuded a positivity in its seclusion and I found it very hard to leave. It took me four days just to visit the village. I was staying a small "community", I had a palm hut with two straw mats, the toilet was a heap of straw behind a big rock and the camp was littered with travellers, the (typically extended) Indian family, cows, chickens,cats and dogs. I spent most of the time talking with an Israeli guy, Jonathan, who was obsessed with the Israel question and the actions of Israeli travellers and also with an Austrian guy, Matt, with whom I tried the Kerouac-style conversational method that I last tried with Tomic (in Oaxaca). He was very similar to Tomic in that he was so intelligent he was on the verge of insanity! This produced some interesting, humorous but often challenging results over the five days. Very enjoyable.
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