What’s Life without some playful indulgence!
Continued from the last post…
My wife, Jyothi & I are on a month-long road trip through the length and breadth of Kerala. Read on…
Kochi
At Kochi, we checked into BTH, an iconic vegetarian hotel located at the center of the city. The advantage of being located at the center is obvious – everything of importance is within walking distance…well, almost!
In Kerala restaurants, by default, the glass of water placed on the table is always lukewarm. In many of the restaurants, it is mixed with Ayurvedic herbs that are boiled with drinking water to get a slightly dark coloured brew with a unique flavour. This kind of water is known to aid digestion. At such restaurants, if one wants regular water and/or water at room temperature, one has to ask for it specifically.
We headed to Kalyan Silks on foot. Jyothi wanted to buy me some vesthtis (dhoties) that I could wear on special occasions. We planned to buy one with a silver border to replace a similar aging one at home but ended up buying three – one with a silver border (as originally planned), another one with a golden border, and yet another one with a copper border. The sales girls tried tempting Jyothi to enter the saree section but she flatly refused. Thank God!
We came back to the hotel and had a sumptuous buffet lunch and watched a movie of Sreenivasan, a gifted Malayalam actor, who had passed away recently. What a talented actor we have lost!
In the afternoon, I had a coaching call to take. I was carrying my laptop during this trip because I am committed to coach several senior leaders of a new MNC client with an ambitious timeline. While I was taking the coaching call, Jyothi caught up with some of her Kochi friends. It was all planned in advance.
We were slated to watch the movie, ‘Dhurandhar’ in the evening – the one we had missed at Thrissur. But before that, we headed to the restaurant at BTH and ordered Vegetable Cutlets.
As soon as I saw the plate of Cutlets, several memories came flooding in. My late mother who passed away in April ’25 loved them. At New Delhi, we used to order these at the India Coffee House eatery located at the Mohan Singh Place terrace, Connaught Place. And of course, anyone who has taken the train in India would have been served by the in-house pantry staff.
We took an auto from the hotel and headed to Cinepolis Centre Square to watch the movie, ‘Dhurandhar’. What a movie it was! Superlative!
On Dec 23rd, we had a leisurely breakfast. I had a coaching call at 11:30 am. After lunch, we left in a hired cab driven by Krishnakumar for a short tour in Kochi.
Kochi Water Metro
The first stop was Kochi Water Metro – both Jyothi and I were fascinated by this idea.
We took the Kochi Water Metro from High Court to Fort Kochi. It is organized pretty much along the same lines as the Metro Rail. It was a great experience. It was air-conditioned and the the ride was quiet and smooth. All over coastal India, wherever possible, the waterways are now being explored as an alternate means of transportation. I thought the Kochi Water Metro is a smart idea.
I wanted to try some photographic tricks with my Insta360 camera but in a couple of minutes, I heard a piercing whistle from behind me. A lady in a Security uniform came rushing towards me. I was not allowed to take pictures there. Anyway, I had clicked the below picture by then. It shows me in a kind of space capsule that has just landed in the ocean from space.
Krishnakumar met us at Fort Kochi and we continued our tour. We headed to Pandhal Cafe & Deli. Jyothi wanted to buy a Matured Plum Cake from there.
We had tea there and picked up the cake.
Social visit…again!
Kochi was a little too warm for my comfort and I felt a little fatigued. We went around a bit near the Fort Kochi area and finally headed to meet Prema, Jyothi’s cousin, to spend some time there and have dinner. We met Prema, her mother-in-law, and her daughter, Neha. Prema’s husband, Sridhar, is a railway official posted in Thiruvananthapuram. We planned to meet him there as Thiruvananthapuram is also on our itinerary.
As the conversation began at Prema’s home, I felt unusually sleepy. Although it was early evening already, I took up the offer to hit the bed and fell asleep in seconds leaving the sisters, Jyothi & Prema, to carry on with their lively conversation.
I woke up at dinner time and we had some great food at Prema’s home before bidding them goodbye.
Krishnakumar, the cab driver, was waiting and took us to the hotel where we retired for the night.
Heading to Vagamon – for ‘doing nothing’
On the next day, we had a sumptuous breakfast at BTH, Kochi, and checked out. Our next stop was Vagamon (3900 feet above sea level), a serene and picturesque hill station in the Idukki district of Kerala. It was at a distance of about 100 km or 3 hours from Kochi, given than we were passing through narrow roads and a winding uphill stretch closer to the destination.
The check-in time at Winter Vale Green Stay Resort was 2 pm. It suited us as I planned to drive in a leisurely manner, stopping on the way for some tea.
It was a lovely drive to Vagamon. Kerala is unusually clean – and green – by average Indian standards. The weather is right now very pleasant.
We checked into the Winter Vale Green Stay Resort. We had a cottage room with the door facing the eastern direction.
The Vagamon destination was earmarked by us for ‘doing nothing’.
‘Doing nothing’, in my view, is a necessary part of any unwinding vacation.
No duties or obligations, no established plan, no timelines – everything out of the ordinary, a real break from the routine.
Except for some coaching calls that I had to take for a client.
This was the view from our east-facing room. The sunshine flooded the room in the mornings and we enjoyed our tea sitting just outside the room bathing in the sunshine.
My wife, Jyothi, and I were reminded of the innumerable vacations in the hills of North India where we have had similar experiences.
Rekindling happy memories is also an integral part of any vacation.
We did nothing in Vagamon. We just caught up with our sleep, took it easy, lazed around, and spent time with each other.
On the Christmas eve, the resort had arranged a gala dinner. Before the dinner, the staff dressed up as Santa Claus knocked on our doors and did a small dance (in which I also joined much to their and Jyothi’s surprise and amusement) and invited us to the gala dinner. We enjoyed the dinner and returned to our room.
It was another day of ‘doing nothing’. Of course, I had 2 coaching calls to take. Jyothi did some reading and watched TV while I was on the calls.
Our son, Sid, and our daughter-in-law, Prerana, regularly called us to know about how we were spending our vacation. It is heartening to note that they were very keen that we enjoyed our break.
Thekkady
On Dec 26th, after breakfast, it was time to check out of Vagamon and head to Thekkady, our next stop – a distance of 46 km or 1.5 hours. However, we saw some dense traffic towards the end – owing to the Sabarimala pilgrimage rush – and reached Thekkady a little later than anticipated. We checked into Serene Horizon, a plush property at Thekkady. As we checked in, we were told that the resort’s CEO had upgraded our room to a suite. Wah!
We were welcomed into the room by an elephant.
I had looked up a Gujarati eatery – Bodhi Vihar Bhojanalaya – for lunch closer to our destination but we couldn’t make it on time – I had a coaching call to take. Therefore, we ended up having lunch at the property before I quickly changed into formals to take the call. There were some last-minute glitches as my phone’s hotspot was not working and there was some challenge with the Wifi access at the resort. Thankfully, things got resolved just in time and I had a great coaching call.
In the evening, the CEO, Mr. Jiju James, met us in our room and we had a great chat. He seemed ideally suited to his profession – interesting to talk to and very social. Our chat spanned the hospitality industry, the local politics and its effect on the industry and so on.
Later in the evening, we headed to a Kathakali show. It was just an average experience. We have seen better Kathakali shows.
On Dec 27th, at Thekkady, this was the early morning view from our room’s window. Looks like a painting.
On the previous day, at Vagamon, at this hour, we were bathed in warm sunshine and now, in Thekkady, we are enveloped in mist.
What’s a vacation without a variety of experiences?
Variety – the spice of Life!
We were offered a boat ride at Thekkady but for that we would have to reach the boat at 6:30 am. We flatly refused. No sightseeing was worth the missed sleep. We wanted to jealously guard our sleep time. During this vacation, except when we were to visit a temple, we were in no mood to wake up so early. Instead, we went for a spice plantation visit at 10:30 am arranged by Thaju, a plantation owner and spice exporter. Anitha, a young lady, took us around the plantation on a Lecdem (lecture cum demonstration). She played the role of a gentle teacher as we learned about the different spices – their cultivation and processing. At the end of the 2-hour tour, we were taken to their in-house shop where we purchased a few items.
For lunch, we chose Bodhi Vihar Bhojanalaya for a Gujarati Thali – the place we had missed on the prior day. Amongst many Sabarimala pilgrims at this eatery, we enjoyed the experience.
We came back and slept.
The next day, we were to head to Munnar for a tree house experience. We received a set of instructions from Naturezone Jungle Resort in advance. Based on the instructions, we were to leave our SUV 7 km away from the property and therefore, we had to repack our bags as all the stuff in the SUV would not be readily available to us.
We watched some TV, had dinner, and slept off.
To Munnar for the Tree House
On Dec 28th, we checked out of the hotel after breakfast. Thekkady to Munnar is a 3-hour drive but given some road construction work happening, we could expect some delays.
As soon as we left Thekkady, we informed the Naturezone Jungle Resort folks.
Naturezone Jungle Resorts is located on the highest peak of Munnar, at 5700 ft. above sea level on top of the Pulippara Hill.
We were to park our SUV at a designated parking space overseen by the Resort folks and a jeep would pick us up from there and take us to the property on a 40-min journey – a total of 7 km of which the final 4 km was an off-roader.
The drive to Munnar was, as usual, great. We made it in time. Meanwhile, we had already inform the Resort folks of our likely arrival time. By the time we got there, the jeep was waiting for us.
We parked our SUV in the designated parking space and hopped on to the jeep driven by Subhash and headed to the property. Subhash, a Tamilian, had been born and raised in these parts. He was accompanied by a friend on the front seat but as soon the friend got off the jeep, I occupied the front seat.
The jeep drive was certainly not for the fainthearted. The first 3 km was fine but the 4-km off-roader meant that we were traveling over boulders and rocks. It was a 12-year old Mahindra jeep but in great condition. Subhash was proud of his jeep and he was telling me that this particular model was best suited to that terrain. I was sitting in the front and holding on to something or the other with both my hands. Jyothi, sitting at the back, was doing likewise. We were swaying violently from side and side and I was concerned that I might fall off the jeep – it was a distinct possibility. I managed to capture a short video. You can judge the violent movement from how difficult it is for me to hold my phone steady while shooting the video.
We were warmly welcomed by T S Mahesh, the Head of the property and his staff.
We were booked into a tree house. It was my idea. I had always been fascinated by the idea of a machan – a tree house used originally for hunting large animals and now for watching animals in wildlife reserves.
Our tree house happened to be located at the farthest end from the centre of the property and overlooked the jungle. A fully-grown tree was passing through the room.
To reach our room, we were to do a mini trek and as there was no room service, we had to trek to the central restaurant area for breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner, and trek back. It was an arduous journey but we got better with each trek. It was also a sobering reminder of our fitness and stamina levels.
As can be expected, the tree house was a tiny affair. But it was quite well appointed. They had made good use of space. There was running hot water powered by a battery-operated geyser and the small bathroom was modern.
Here’s a video that I took with my Insta360 camera. I didn’t add any music background to the video so that you could get a natural feel.
Incidentally, when I was taking a coaching call for one of the senior leaders in the balcony, he couldn’t help notice the lush green background. He wanted to know where I was. Upon learning where I was, he wanted to know more. I sent him all the details.
Dec 29th – ‘Yeh kahaan aagaye hum yuhin saath saath chalthay!’
Walking to the Sunset Point at the property, I used some camera tricks to create the below picture.
We went on a trek to get a 180-degree view of Munnar.
We were accompanied by Dileep, a guide, who was taking us to 2 spots – the 180-degree view and further up, the 360-degree view. Jyothi and I decided not to go for the 360-degree view that would have involved a steeper climb. We were happy with the 180-degree climb. Given our regular city life, we didn’t want to push our luck.
Dileep turned out to be a great photographer. Using my mobile phone, he took some great pictures of us. The way he expected us to pose told me that he would make a great wedding photographer. When I complimented him for the pictures, he was so embarrassed he didn’t know where to hide. Simple, uncorrupted folks!
A wild bison, Kattappa, was doing the rounds at the 28-acre property surrounded by the Sholayar Reserve Forest. It had made the property its home. We were told that it had grown old and its vision had now been badly affected. Given its condition, it trudged up and down the property and occasionally destroyed the paths painstakingly created by the Resort staff. We happened to spot it.
Although the trek was absolutely necessary – there is no Room Service and no eatables are allowed to be carried into the room – we found ingenious ways to ration our efforts. For instance, once we came down for tea at around 5:30 pm. we hung around till we had our dinner at about 8 pm.
As can be expected in such properties, the restaurant was quite basic but the items served there were fresh, hygienic, and tasty. An attraction for us was the old Tamil film songs that played in the background. We were in the Tamil maestro, Ilayaraja’s presence, while we were at the restaurant for our meals.
The staff at the Resort was extremely empathetic and helpful. At night, one of them – on most occasions, Manas (from Orissa) – would accompany us when we returned to our tree house to retire for the night. He made very good conversation – he was happy to meet Hindi-speaking folks – and gave us snippets about Kattappa and other matters. Conversing with him made the trek relatively easy – and extremely interesting.
We struck a chord with T S Mahesh – it is indeed surprising that sometimes it doesn’t take much time to really connect with someone. Mahesh, being in the industry for a long time, had spoken to some of the other property managers where we were to stay and thanks to him, we got extra attention during our forthcoming stays.
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary
On Dec 30th, we checked out early immediately after breakfast so that we could get a jeep back to Munnar. We were heading to Thattekad, a bird sanctuary, for one night.
We had very modest expectations of Hornbill Camp, Thattekad, as Manoj had already apprised us of its basic format.
We were in the tented accommodation, Bulbul, overlooking the Periyar River.
This is the view from the restaurant area.
The Camp was a simple affair. I was reminded of the Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) properties spread across Karnataka. Most of the staff at the Hornbill Camp were on leave owing to Christmas and the year-end but the main person, Suresh, seemed like a lone man standing showing up everywhere. Of course, he had a couple of assistants.
We didn’t do much as we had to rest our aching limbs from the Munnar daily treks but I utilized the stay at Thattekad to catch up with my travel writing backlog. It was so inspiring to be in the midst of Nature. It was certainly worth doing nothing else.
On Dec 31st, we headed to Alappuzha where we would ring in the New Year.
Coming up next: Ah! the two high points of our month-long vacation. Let me keep you guessing…
