The Trivandrum Diaries - Day 7

This morning Mony and I skipped breakfast as planned and we had planned to go to Mother's Veg Plaza at Bakery Junction, for some authentic Malayali vegetarian lunch in the afternoon. I told Mony I would head out to see the Kuthiramalika Museum near the temple and catch him up for lunch. But before that we headed out pretty early to see his college, the Arts College which was a lovely old structure.

Arts College with Mony in the foreground (his veshti colour matching the background)

Another view

Then we went to meet his aunt and met his bright and energetic seven year old nephew Govind who was into a surprising lot of stuff  - music, Sanskrit, Gita chanting, tennis and a whole bunch of stuff which he was handling very well indeed. Govind insisted that we play some cricket with him which ended abruptly - while Mony was coaching him on batting in the classical style Govind whacked one ball out of the park in the new IPL style and that was it! We bid goodbye to him and came back home with Mony's aunt who wanted to attend the function at their colony temple. Then the faithful Surendran once again took me to the temple area where I asked him to drop me at the Railway station and I would walk from there. The plan was to meet Mony at 12 somewhere there and head to Mother's.

The Trivandrum Railway Station

Indian Coffee House

Iconic theatres- Sree Kumar and Sree Vishakh

Pazhavangadi Ganapathy temple - check out those old pillars to the right

So I got off at the Trivandrum Railway station which is an imposing structure, walked past the Indian Coffee House (where Mony and I planned to have a cold coffee and forgot), old theatres Sree Kumar and Sree Vishakh which were was not operational I think, the Gandhi park, and then figured that the Padmanabhaswamy temple was visible through one of those gates, the RV gate perhaps, walked over to the gate, walked back and headed to the Padmanabhaswamy temple and took pics. Being the Painkuni festival time there were large idols of the Pandavas before the temple.

The Painkuni festival is a 10 day festival that is typically celebrated at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple during March-April every year. The festival has large effigies of the Pandavas erected before the east gate of the temple. The Pandavas are believed to propitiate Lord Indra, the rain god. On the last day, a procession is taken from the temple to the Shankumukham beach where the effigies are immersed in the sea. The royal family's head and other male members escort the procession to the sea ( a distance of 5-6 kms).  

Gandhi Park

Check out the Padmanabha temple framed in the gate

Closer look

East Fort Gate

I went into the Kuthiramalika (Mansion of Horses) museum and spent a lot of time there, clicking pics...really worth it (they charge 500 bucks for the camera). Paintings, sculptures, artifacts, gifts, ivory work, glass and ceramic work, weapons etc. Apparently they built the palace and then the king took ill and they never used it again as it brought ill luck. 

Entrance to the temple

The Pandavas

The Padmatheertham pond in front of Padmanabhaswamy temple

Methan Mani (Muslim face clock)

Sahadeva

Nakula

Arjuna

Bheema

Yudhisthira

I went to the art gallery behind the museum as well which was also very interesting with old pictures of the royal family when Mony called and said he would pick me up in 15. I hurried through and went to meet him.

Tusks

Sword gifted by Sambhaji

Ivory throne

Crystal throne

Vijay and me and the Mother's Veg Plaza

Mony, Vijay and me

At the Shankhumukham beach en route to the airport

We headed to Mothers Veg Plaza as planned, ordered lunch, which was served by very considerate and thoughtful servers. Vijay came to meet me at the hotel just after the meal - he was supposed to join for lunch but had a night shift and could not. He brought me a bunch of banana chips and stuff - just too much - and again showing how thoughtful and generous a person he is. I bade him good bye and thanked him for all the love and time and headed back with Mony. Flight is at 535. Mony's flight was tomorrow morning.

Packed up, bid goodbye to the house, the room. Loved every bit of my stay here. Sent a deep, heartfelt thanks to uncle and aunty and their house they built with so much love and thought, the world they had created and that Mony now let me into. We headed out at 330 or so, stopped for a moment at the Shankhumukham beach and then he dropped me at the airport.

I went in, bought myself a couple of books and headed back.

What a lovely, hectic trip.

Thanks Mony. Easwar.

Surendran. Veeramani. Mahadevan. Chasers. Padmanabhan. Kannan. Rajesh. Rakesh. Fantastic experience. One of the best.