This picture was taken after we came out of Valliyoorkkavu, Jyothi’s family deity temple, at Wayanad
It was a vacation in-the-making for some time now.
Ending the year with a break
My wife, Jyothi, and I felt we needed a solid, unwinding break.
As both of us love driving (though I love driving long distances much more than her), we wanted this to be a road trip in our SUV. A road trip allows minimum distractions for an uninterrupted conversation between the two of us…rather, a carversation!
Carversation!
As a writer in English, I consider myself entitled to coin a new word if there is no word in English to aptly describe the situation or activity in question. Therefore, I have gone ahead and coined the word, ‘carversation’.
So, what is ‘carversation’?
Carversation
/kɒrvəˈseɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
a talk, inside a car, especially an informal one, among the members of a family, during which news and ideas are exchanged.
Usage: ‘Our family went on a long drive in our car and we had a great carversation.’
Kerala – God’s Own Country!
We chose Kerala for the month-long vacation this time around. This happens to be the best season to visit Kerala.
Although both Jyothi & I hail from Kerala, over the years, we have been pretty much going to the same places in Kerala as there were clear family commitments and obligations – for a long time, my in-laws were settled in Kochi and then in Thrissur and therefore, our stay was mostly focused in and around these places. Also, we have some family deities that we visit regularly.
We took the help of our dear friend-turned travel-curator, Manoj Vasudevan ([email protected]). Manoj was now back in the travel business after having suspended his enterprise in the aftermath of COVID. We gave a candid brief to Manoj – it was meant as an unwinding trip, not a tick-in-the-box of all the regular touristy spots. With Manoj’s help, we mapped the entire state of Kerala and picked out some special locations for a variety of experiences. As this was a road trip, we combined convenience, access and flexibility. We recommend Manoj highly for any travel-related arrangements.
Planning for the trip
I consider myself a planner by default. My travel adventure begins with the planning and ends with writing about it. The actual travel happens in between.
I created an Excel sheet with a detailed itinerary including the driving distance – both in km and the time taken – and sent it to Manoj for his input. I wanted to make sure that I don’t drive very long stretches – as we had a month at our disposal, we could afford to take it easy. Given Manoj’s expertise, he added his special recommendations. This was also high season and we had to book our accommodation and pay 100% in advance. I made sure that was done quickly. Now we awaited confirmation from the respective properties. Manoj helped us map the check-in and check-out time of the various properties so that I could plan the drive accordingly.
Closer to the departure date, I got the SUV serviced, got the pollution certificate as I learned that the Kerala authorities are quite particular of compliance in this respect.
Packing for a month-long trip needed a lot of planning. Jyothi is an expert at this. We had 2 big bags (suitcases) and 1 small one. The small suitcase was to be opened only towards the end of our Kerala trip – in Kalady, where we were to attend Jyothi’s uncle’s 80th birthday celebrations (Sadhabhishekam). One of the 2 big bags contained stuff for the first 10 days of the trip while the extra stuff was in the other bag. We would get a chance to repack the bags during the trip. In addition, we carried many loose bags. We were carrying 2 laptops. In addition, we were carrying extra footwear, extra power cords (to charge many devices at the same time), snacks, reading material, some medicines including a first-aid kit, and some light blankets. I was carrying my Insta360 camera and the heavy-duty tripod.
I removed the tray from the back of the car so that we could stack one big bag on top of the other. The smaller bag fit well in the available space at the back. As there were only the two of us in the car, we could use the backseat for all the loose bags. As the car would have to be parked at various public places along the route, we spread a bed sheet each to conceal the items both in the boot of the car and on the backseat.
Itinerary
The itinerary was planned as follows:
Bangalore – Wayanad – Coimbatore – Kalpathy – Nurani – Puduruthy – Thrissur – Kochi – Vagamon – Thekkady – Munnar – Thattekad – Alappuzha – Varkala – Thiruvananthapuram – Poovar – Kalady – Nurani – Coimbatore – Bangalore
We were to travel approximately 2200 km in a month.
Dec 10th, 2025 – the start of the trip
We left Bangalore in the morning and on the way to Wayanad, we stopped for an appetising breakfast at one of the old and iconic restaurants in Mysore – Hotel Siddharta. These are old-fashioned places when time crawls leisurely – perfect for us.
Manoj had also recommended this restaurant to us. His personal favorite was Pongal that is served with Vetthakuzhambu. We followed his ‘instructions’.
In addition to Pongal, we ordered Chow-Chow Bath. For the uninitiated, Chow-Chow Bath is not a Chinese dish. It is Upma and Pineapple Kesari served together.
Wayanad
Our road trip had started off well. At Wayanad, we checked into Jungle Bay Resorts & Spa, a very well-appointed property.
The stay here was very special. Every member of the staff was welcoming. It felt very good.
One of the main ideas of this vacation was to relax including soaking in the sun.
It had been a long time since I sat in the sun. We were so used to sitting in the sun in the New Delhi winters but ever since we moved to Bangalore over 20 years ago, given Bangalore’s salubrious weather, sitting in the sun was no longer appealing. At Wayanad, I could enjoy my Delhi winter’s pastime once again. With a cool breeze blowing, it was so pleasant to sit in the sun. I was holding a newspaper but honestly, I wasn’t focusing on world affairs.
I was living my moment in the sun.
Jyothi wasn’t going to be left behind.
We headed to Mananthavadi to visit Jyothi’s family deity temple (Valliyoorkkavu). The route was scenic.
We had a good darshan.
Chayakada
In Kerala, a Chayakada simply means a tea stall but it’s much more than that. These corners are buzzing with conversations – politics, cinema talks, and local goings-on accompanied by steaming glasses of chai. There is a deep nostalgic connection to the Kerala of the 80’s, a time when life felt slower, warmer, and beautifully simple.
At Jungle Bay Resorts & Spa, they have replicated a Chayakada inside the property. It was tucked away in a corner and the staff there served the ubiquitous Paruppu Vada and Chaya (chai) in the early evening. A radio was playing old film songs just to complete the effect. Just being there took us back in time.
Later, as our journey progressed, I found the Chayakada template in other properties as well.
We enjoyed the Kerala meals at Jungle Bay Resorts & Spa. As we were to realize later – by the way, it was only to be expected – this Kerala-meal template was the most popular – if not the only – lunch option for vegetarians like us during this trip.
Before leaving Wayanad, I shot a video of the property.
I used my Insta360 camera and did some post-production editing work to create this video. The AI features of this camera continue to amaze me. Of course, I am still learning. The video was finally edited at 4x speed which shows me walking around in quite a hurry.
Please don’t be misled by technology.
Let me assure you. We had a really relaxed time at Wayanad. Time really slowed down for my wife, Jyothi, and me. We were ably supported by the courteous – and smiling – staff of the property.
We checked out of Wayanad and headed to our next destination – Coimbatore.
Stopping at will
One of the benefits of being on a road trip is to stop at will.
For instance, on the winding road from Wayanad to Ooty, we stopped to have tea. What was fascinating for me was that I stopped to have tea with my ‘pondadTEA‘ (‘pondadtea‘ is ‘wife’ in our language) at a location that boasted of a backdrop of verdant tea gardens. We had tea made from the local produce. How more authentic could it get?
Further ahead, we saw a clump of eucalyptus trees on either side of the road that were in the process of shedding their bark revealing an array of colors. It was an enchanting spectacle. People stopped there to take pictures.
I took a picture too standing in the middle of all that arboreal action but then I had the benefit of my unique camera that created a kaleidoscope effect – post production. You can spot me at the center of the picture.
For lunch at Ooty, we had received a recommendation to visit Lakshmi Illam but when we got there, we found the eatery to be on a very busy main road with no parking. I relied on my old traveler trick – of checking with the locals – and based on the recommendation, headed to Hotel Durga that had ample parking space. We enjoyed the food there. Locals never let a traveler down!
Coimbatore
Coimbatore was a minor detour into Tamil Nadu to meet my childhood-friend-turned-family-friends. What’s Life without our dear friends?
At Coimbatore, our friends, Mohan & Padma, had booked us into a very well-appointed guest room at Nana Nani Homes – a senior-citizen residential enclave. They had been living in a villa in the same property for a decade. My parents and Mohan’s parents were great friends. Mohan is my childhood friend. Both Jyothi & Padma are great friends. Their daughter Pooja is our son, Sid’s friend. It is quite a special relationship as you can imagine.
Pooja is married to Shrihari and they were expecting their first child – any time. So our plan was to visit Pooja as an expectant mother at the beginning of our trip and return to Coimbatore on the way back to see the mother and the child.
At Nana Nani, we got a good sense of how life was for the senior citizens. There was a festive mood all the time and with a lot of activities going on for the senior citizens, I am sure they are having the time of their lives. At Nana Nani while having lunch, I was ‘recognized’ by a gentleman, Mr. Suryanarayanan, who was in the habit of reading my posts on Facebook. He invited me home and we had a brief chat.
As is normally the case, when the two families – Mohan’s and mine – meet, we lose track of time. Our conversations extend well into the small hours of the morning. The only difference in this case was that we had to be respectful of the timings for meals at Nana Nani. Else, we defaulted to our regular format.
As we were in Coimbatore, we also met my parents’ old friends, Adi Mama & Vijaya Mami and my cousin Kasturi and her husband, Venkiteshwaran Athimbar.
We checked out of the Nana Nani Guest House after a very comfortable stay and headed to Kalpathy.
Coming up next: We get to experience life in the Agraharam (village where two parallel rows of Brahmin homes face each other) and our very own Palakkad Iyer dialect and cuisine, our experience at the temple at Nurani, our trip to Jyothi’s ancestral home at Puduruthy, and Thrissur.
