The Trivandrum Diaries - Day 3

I went for a short walk and went to the railway station which we never visited in our fifteen day stay in Tirunelveli, and came back in time for a shower and breakfast.

Tirunelveli Railway Station

We checked out and went to Hotel Maruti  for its famous coffee and the even more famous Tirunelveli halwa. and then headed out to the Udhavum Ullangal Foundation Hospital site which was on the way to Trivandrum.

Easwar and Mony with filter coffee at Maruti Restaurant

It was an impressive beautiful facility and belied our expectations. This hospital is going to be specialty cancer hospital serving the entire populace in the areas linked to Trichy, Madurai, Tirunelveli districts and will be a big boon to the people in these areas, whose only refuge now is big hospitals either in faraway places like Chennai or Trivandrum. Their man showed us around and explained things very clearly. To hear that the project outlay is close to Rs. 18 crore and is supported by eminent organisations like Tata Cancer Hospital Mumbai, SBI Foundation, ICICI Foundation etc. was mighty impressive. This is indeed serious stuff. We spent close to an hour there and then we moved on. Easwar has been roped in to help them with their corporate communication and he asked many questions to understand how he could help them better in their noble endeavour.

At the Udhavum Ullangal Foundation

Then we were off, cruising down the Kanyakumari road, turning off at Nagarcoil and stopped for a bite at a quaint joint - tried some cake which seems to be their specialty, vadas which is another popular snack that both M and E were sinking their teeth into at every place we stopped. I tried a dahi vada along with my other stuff and coffee and then we moved onward to Trivandrum.

Chai stop

One idea was to visit the Padmanabhapuram wooden palace which is on the way and then go to Trivandrum where we were to meet the Chasers Club for a small interaction with the players. Both Mony and Easwar played their cricket for the Chasers and feel strongly about their club. We all do, about our clubs, like I feel strongly about MCC.

We got to Padmanabhapuram palace by 1230 and realised they were shutting for lunch and would only open at 2. For a while we decided to wait it out. I went exploring the outside, which looked exquisite enough and soon got a call from Mony saying that there is a change in plan and we better get going and come back later for the palace visit which made sense because the place was packed with tourists being a Sunday.

Padmanabhapuram Palace

More pics of the palace from the outside

I got back and we took a leisurely drive back into Trivandrum, stopping for a coconut water stop, until we finally came to the place where the Chasers were practicing in a lovely setting. In the middle of rolling hills, Anantha Padmanabhan, who had served and led Kerala for many years and is now a BCCI and ICC umpire, had carved out a little place where there were nets and place enough for catches and so. He also has a lovely weekend getaway home there.

Chasers Club at practice

Mony and Easwar in serious conversation

We met Mahadevan, one of the founder members of the club, watched the boys practice for a while, interacted with some of them, spoke with them after the session. Mony announced a cash award to the boys who did well. The Chasers had won the C division games last year and were now promoted to B division.  

With the Chasers team - Mahadevan, Mony, me and Easwar in the middle

Sharing a couple of points with the youngsters

We planted dreams of winning the B division this year and then headed out, but not before drinking fresh lime soda in one of the biggest, most refreshing glasses of lime juice I have ever had. Most refreshing fresh lime juice drink in my life - ever.

Best fresh lime juice ever

Onwards then to Mony's home in Vinayak Nagar, where he grew up and where he met all his childhood friends. Now the house was empty after his father had passed away last year. Aunty had moved on a few years ago in an unfortunate accident.

On the way home we stopped to meet his neighbours and friends who he grew up with - Kannan, Padmandabhan, Anand aka Veeramani (we would meet Rajesh, Rakesh later). And then we made it home where Mony's man Friday Surendran was waiting.

All the houses in the colony took me back to the 1970s houses we all grew up in - a side staircase that led up to a terrace, a small verandah in the front to meet people and keep chappals, and one at the back to dry clothes and use as a store room, plants, coconut trees, a letter box. Things like this were what I remember from our house in Eluru where we grew up in and I was surprised at how similar middle class life was then be it Andhra or Kerala. Inside, there were cute signs of the old household - a sewing machine, a wooden box to put old clothes for wash (we had those too) and stuff like that which sent me on a trip down memory lane. Mony said - its eerie for me to be back here without anyone at home. I could well understand - every part of the house would speak to him, have stories for him.

We figured out our sleeping arrangements and Mony patiently organised everything. Veeramani came by and I am not sure if we had a drink or two before we headed to their local restaurant Samtrupthi and ate a lovely meal.

Mony took me on a tour to an agraharam there, to a temple near the river Karamana, to the school where they would come to practice tennis ball cricket. Easwar, I could see, was a popular man in Trivandrum and people would recognise him even though he does not visit frequently - Bhasi or Easwar they would call out to him - the pan wala, a couple of guys who just came for an evening smoke. Easwar, had left a promising cricket career behind, I am sure he would have played for Kerala if he had hung on longer. But he left Trivandrum, went to Delhi and got a job (thanks to his cricket prowess) with TERI, worked for a couple of decades, married a colleague and now is back in Chennai!

Day well spent. Back to the house and into dreamland.