Sunday, 6th February - 10:00 am
I am in Ernakulam in kerala - my Uncle is staying in one of the suburbs called Palarivattom here. The place is not what you see as God's own country in CNN. It's not all back waters, boats and narrow channels surrounded by women dressed in white and lush coconut trees. But it's still special. A few subtle differences

• The moss that gathers on the old walls that make the whole place looker greener than it actually is.
• The sweetness of water. I know tasteless, colorless and all that. But the water there is innately sweet and is so soft, the soaps keep foaming all over!
  
• The abundance of sickles and CPI notices matched only by the number of men who walk around wearing lungis and newspapers
  
• The extremely narrow roads where not more than one vehicle can go at a time.
  
• The total haphazard fashion in which the roads have been designed making it clear how the roads fit the existing pattern of houses than the other way round.
  
• The more than usual number of huge houses that are built, I presume, in "Gulf money" (the easiest way of affluence in kerala is to have a relative in the gulf countries. gold flows like a liquid!)
  
• Apart from Surds, kerala probably houses the highest number of people with a beard (none of those frivolous frenchies. This one is as good as those sandalwood forests that veerapan would be proud to stay in)
  

- posted by Super Ted @ 1:45 AM