The idea finally fructified - Tharian and I have been making plans of visiting him when he was posted in Cochin (his hometown) the last time he was there, in Vijayawada (when we planned to see the Konaseema), in Delhi (where we planned to see the Taj Mahal together - I never went and he saw it off by himself), drive to the North East (planned but never spoke about it again). One gets the idea by now - we are great at planning but not executing - which anyone who knows us will probably know by now. But this time around my vague plans of visiting him in Kochi got some finality when that dormant part of my mind (which normally nods off when decisions have to be made) decided that enough is enough - move forward with purpose and clarity - and I told Tharian with purpose and clarity - give me a date and I shall be there - and he was flummoxed to see this new decisive person emerging after four decades. April 18, 19, 20 work for me, he came back equally decisively. I'll be there I said. And that was that. By land, sea or air we shall see, but I will be there. Promises were made, and followed up on.
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| View from Marine Drive, Kochi |
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| A boat |
I also realise that it is time to make drastic decisions like this, like spending time with people who matter to me, and Tharian is one of those I really enjoy spending time with. It has been that way since our first job at Calcutta back in the early 90s, in Mumbai in the mid 90s and sporadically ever since. Marriages, children, grey hair, mellow eyes followed - I wonder if there is something to that order!
The drive to the Hyderabad airport turned out to be rather interesting. Our Uber driver called a little before time and informed me in polished and accented English that he was at the given location and we could step out whenever we are ready. Hmm, I thought. Soon as I stepped out I could see him, helpful, smiley, a 45 year old man with the look of someone who has seen more than he will reveal. He spoke a little again as we took off, in an American accent about things in general and I could not resist asking him his story. Ali said he had lived in Hyderabad, in the Punjagutta area, studied, went to the US and worked there as a software developer and in a University and had been doing quite well when he had to come back for his son. I did not know what the events were that led to him coming back for his son and did not ask, but it was clear that he knew what he was talking. He lives with his mother and son at Attapur he said and was quite knowledgeable about many things - astronomy, history, religion. He said the stress of working an IT job was telling on his health so he quit and took up this job of driving Uber - at his hours. He told me how he would climb up the gutta (hillock) at Punjagutta and enjoy the beautiful views. He also told me that there was a punja and a ghutna on top of that hill and that's why it is called Punjagutta. I thought I should check it out. Hopefully we will meet again Ali.
The flight was pretty uneventful except that we met Gowri and Raju at the airport which added to some excitement - they were visiting his family at Kumarakom and Raju gave me some idea of what to do in Kochi (beyond Fort Kochi with which I was obsessed since my last hazy trip there a few years ago). We bid goodbye to them when we landed at Kochi (Raju told the bewildered Taxi guy to take care of us) and went off in the cab. I called Marina to tell her that we had arrived and she said Sanjana was back from a short visit to Bangalore just then (Sanjana finished her graduation and is now on the way to doing her MBA). Rahul, the first born, was away on his first job in Delhi or Gurugram or Noida else it would have been great to meet him now as a young man stepping into working life - telling him of how we went about our life which is a template not to follow. The last time I met him in Mumbai was when he was just done with a course in Milan, just before Covid. I had gone visiting because Tharian was living in Nerul and I had been to a U2 concert in Nerul!
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| Water Metro Station |
The place Tharian and family lived in was close to Fort Kochi so I was secretly happy at this happy coincidence - I could go there everyday. Marina welcomed us and served a lovely lunch and we were all up chatting, until after five in the evening when Tharian came home after work. He and Marina had to go back to an office farewell party and we were left in the able care of Sanjana who told us up front - treat me like one of you - like a tourist (which translated into 'don't expect me to know too much about anything, I am also learning along with you guys). That worked well for us and all of us sported dazed touristy looks as we went about discovering the place.
The hunt for the day was for parotta-beef fry and Tharian had suggested a place called Pandhal. This was if we did not fancy eating at those road side small joints called Thattekadu or something like that. We dragged ourselves out and Sanjana drove us to Marine Drive where we saw some boats (offering us a boat ride), the Water Metro station etc. It was a nice, breezy, quiet walk and somehow got the hunger pangs going.
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| Sanjana and Anjali checking out the menu |
We ended up at Pandhal which is a fancy little cafe with a lovely menu (nothing like beef-parotta though). I did some rice and beef curry or something like that and we all ended up having a nice meal and some dessert too if I am not mistaken. I was all ready to crash and wake up for my morning tryst with Fort Kochi.
Thanks to the exertions of the day, and my insightful theory (which is a ground breaking one but one hat few take seriously) that I sleep better in places where I have no responsibility (such as other people's houses), I slept like a log. Come to think of it, logs are always sleeping right? Or do they mean that they have waking hours and sleeping hours? If they are sleeping always, it is a bad metaphor to use I feel.
Just saying. (Being in close proximity Tharian does this to me.)
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