This year Thiruonam fell on sep 12th – a Friday. Every year by the time of December I am already checking the new year’s calendar to find if I can make it a long vacation. The company’s list of holidays is eagerly awaited to check if it’s a holiday; there is bunch of “marunadan malayalis” working out of this DC! Thanks to the strong bus lobby out here, there are still only 2 inconvenient trains to Kerala. And I have a long journey to reach the capital city. It is irritating, tiring and boring! This year’s journey was a little different. Due to the last minute commitments for an onam program at the DC, I had to cancel my train tickets and book it in bus for another day.
I started off from Bangalore after a very busy week on Friday evening. This time around I had booked in a sleeper bus, and I discovered that sleeper bus means u have to lie down all the time. You have no option to sit at all! :D esp. if you are on the upper birth!. Else you have to sit in the bus like an inverted “C”!!! anyways, I ignored this fact and was sleeping away to glory when …THUD…clink …clash and scream of a girl woke me up in the middle of the night…errr morning rather. It was close to 3 am when a lorry driver came on the wrong side and hit our bus on the right. One whole window glass broke and fell on the lady passenger at the window side. Her scream was what woke me up. Luckily nothing more serious happened than a broken window and a problematic engine. Ac in the bus wouldn’t work after that. After 2 hours of argument / compromise ( in between I slipped back into a quick nap again!) the bus started moving. When I woke up at around 8 am I was somewhere near angamali. There was apparently some problem with the “pick up” of the bus after the accident. Somehow they dragged it till EKM and asked us to wait till the next bus they arranged comes there. Time was already 9.30. Like murphy’s law, when things go wrong, your phone battery is also totally out! I managed to call dad and ask for some expert advice on which trains to tvm I could catch from there. Quickly decided and got into an auto with a family who also decided enough is enough of the bus journey. As soon as we got into the auto, it started raining. Man…Mr Murphy really had some very bad experiences himself to write those rules!. I was half drenched by the time I was taking tickets at the railway counter. In the half an hour that I had to wait there for kerala express, I got talking to my new friends. Anjana and govind got married 6 months back. Infact, they have had some really amusing bus journeys as track record! For their engagement last year during onam time, they reached around 3.30 pm. Their engagement was planned at 5 pm!! Gosh…close…!! If I knew they are regular latecomers by bus, I’d have taken another travels! :P
Kerala express- a train that connects the capital city of the country to capital city of gods own country! This Saturday it was more than just crowded. There was absolutely no place. We three managed to get into the train and then lot of push and pull…my bag falls of my shoulder into an elderly ammachi’s leg. She scolds me for being irresponsible. “ithokke evidunnu vannu kayarunnu” enna look! The laptop on my other shoulder gives her an idea that im a software engineer! She understands where I came from and gives me an even colder stare. I ignore and try to find some place for my left foot which has not yet touched the compartments floor! Finally I managed to get to the upper side birth which was stuffed with some bags. I pile them up to a corner and find some place to sit there and watch the scene below. Anjana and govind have been washed away in the push and pull to the end of the compartment by now.
As I sit there and the scene below sinks in, I realized that the train population is dominated by ” fouji bhais” who have been at the borders, army offices and medical camps in the north and workers who have earned their bread at Delhi. Some of them were coming back after more than a year. Some others, are military mahabalis who and come visit their home towns in kerala once a year during onam. A lot of them are young, mebbe in their early 20’s. They have boarded the train from Delhi almost 2 days back. All of them look tired and worn out in those military cargos and T-shirt. But I notice that as their destinations come close, they go and freshen up. The cargos and T are replaced by kasavu mundu and a well ironed shirt. Some go for the formal look. With the well polished shoes, crew cut, full sleeves and black trousers, I see the smart faces of the Indian army! In their eyes, I see the joy of ONAM. There is a Thomachan, a Kuttikrishan and an abdul in them, but it doesn’t matter. The festival is homecoming! Friends parting at stations, calling out ..”milte hein bhai…” in a typical mallu hindi! I smile to myself. It makes me happy. The spirit of onam has sunk in. Once the train crossed kayamkulam, I land down as its less crowded now. I reached home at 3.30pm , the military effect still in the bank of mind, im quick to narrate them to my dad. The rest of the weekend is spent in eating and sleeping mostly
Worked from Trivandrum dc for three days. There was nothing much to remember there , all friends had left the ground for me to play. Either they went onsite/were on leave. But inspite of it, I liked the change. On Thursday, uthradam day, I put the first athapoo of the season. Last year I was accompanied by rajiv and bhagya too for athapoo designing. This year, both of them were busy. Bhagya landed only on tiruonam day. Rajiv got too busy with work, so it was an onam without close friends and hubby jaan for me. The rest of Thursday went in helping mom in making chips, sharkara varatti, diamond cuts etc etc. All onam special. Chummathalla mahabalikku ithrayum kudavayar! Ithellam koode thinnal pinne aaranu balloon avathe! After a long time, tvm city celebrated onam in style; most of the main roads were beautifully illuminated. The star attraction of the evening was a nice thattu dosa Its my favourite food after kappa. He he.
Its been raining ever since I landed in kerala, but the rains are beautiful here. The sound and smell of the rain is pure, musical. enikku vattayilla…. He he
Here I wake up to the most awaited day….tiruonam. we learn that bhagya’s train is delayed for 2 hours. So I start putting the tiruonam-athapoo. With my best efforts with the flowers I had, I managed one. After a light breakfast and little bit of helping mom in kitchen, I sit back to enjoy the special programs on different mallu channels. One program I remember is an interview with adoor bhavani, a veteran actress of Malayalam films. She is retired now and is not quite healthy, but still managed to give a decent interview. Admired her energy to do so at 85 years of age. She laughed, cried, mocked….but was still very lively.
Lunch –sadya : mind blowing and heavy! I can describe that best by only those two words. Upperi ,achar thottu pachadi payasam vare...More is not required!
In the evening we went to our family hangout place on tiruonam day- the kanakakunnu palace. It’s the hub of all cultural events in city as part of tourism week. I got to see glimpses of mohiniyattom, ottamthullal ,tiruvathira and bharatnatyam. Then I learn that the next day, shobhana is going to perform her contemporary dance movie- maya ravan. I was elated. Yipeee …finally I get to see her perform and there are no hurdles here. It was like a dream about to come true… I had missed her performance in Bangalore, but like I told rajiv, she usually gives a performance during onam at tvm- and yes here it was going to happen. from there on, the only thing I remember is the long wait till Saturday evening.
Just as I was about to leave the house with dad to watch the show, a few relatives arrive on a surprise visit. I crash landed from my dreams of watching one of my favourite performers on stage live! I compromised and consoled myself and promised that next time, I shall not give myself in to such silly matters and will definitely go and watch her. I was sad for a lil while, but forgot about it slowly as I sat and chatted with my cousins.
Come Sunday and it was bye bye time. With my ticket getting confirmed at the last moment, my hopes of spending some more time at tvm and catching up on friends too ended. Island express was on time and I settled down to my seat in no time. As the train crossed Varkala , it started to drizzle. A small drizzle on the beautiful backwaters makes it look even more inviting and stunning. It is so green everywhere. Tiny drops of water dripping down the coconut leaves…a small kingfisher bird sitting on the electric lines…semi flooded paddy fields which are cleared off after harvest….the tiny thumba poo which sways to the wind as the train passes by ….I have crossed these routes …seen these sights n number of times...but each time its beauty strikes me with a new freshness…and I thought ….until next year it is….
Love,
Dhan
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