April 1 is Dad's birthday so I shared my blog about Dad with family soon as I woke up. Mony had planned a morning drive to Kovalam and Easwar joined in so we headed out at 630 am or so. We drove the 12 kms or so it said, lost our way, drove up and down here and there and finally landed up in a small beach which was certainly near Kovalam beach but not exactly there. Mony was sheepishly apologetic that he could not nail the main Kovalam beach, which he conveniently ascribed to being out of Trivandrum for such a long time.
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| Road to Kovalam |
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| Grove Beach |
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| Mony making a point to Easwar |
Later I checked maps and found that it was called Grove beach. Very small and rather rough. We walked up and down the beach. I left the two friends to walk by themselves while I did my own time by self. Leela hotel was on one corner and the other side led to another beach. The lifeguards were quite active and strict about those red flags. There was also a nice temple near it which I went close to and checked out.
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| Cute temple close by |
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| Interesting boat |
On the way back Mony and Easwar realised there was this place that they would eat breakfast when they were young, Thampi's, and we went there for breakfast. Dosa, omelet, vada, banana bajji...heavy stuff. Another nice thing I find is that everyone is expected to carry their own banana leaf or plate in which we eat and drop in at a prescribed place kept for that. Everything is clean. Hot water to drink.
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| Thampi's |
We stepped out and indulged in one of my to-do things in my list – a lottery ticket. Kerala State Lottery is a government run programme reputed to be one of the most popular because of its transparency and frequent draws. There was a roadside vendor – anman likely well into his 70s – just sitting there with a few cardboards on which various lottery tickets were displayed. Easwar mentioned that he always prefers to buy his lottery tickets from small vendors, because if our ticket wins, apparently the vendor gets a share ! We hobbled across to select a few and help out the old man (and if the God of Lotteries wishes, ourselves!).
Google info on Kerala Lottery gives us super insights into how State has turned gambling into a fine business. According to the lotteries department, the Kerala government prints over 1.8 crore tickets every day.The state runs a daily lottery — seven weekly tickets and five bumper draws throughout the year. Apparently, one in three people in Kerala buys a lottery ticket daily. At least 1.5 lakh people earn a living from Kerala’s lottery business. If a ticket wins, the agent who sold it gets a share of the prize money, as Easwar correctly informed us earlier.
The draw is broadcast daily on four official TV channels, as well as the government department’s YouTube channel. There’s a new set of judges every day, comprising elected officials or important panchayat/zilla zone leaders specially invited to press the all-important buzzer. The buzzer is also sensitive to the force of the finger pushing it, so it is reset daily to prevent malfunctioning.Once the lucky numbers are out, the list is uploaded to the government’s website; it is then downloaded and printed by agents and vendors across Kerala. Wow! No wonder, this is such a sought after activity in Kerala.!!!
The keys to fortunes safe in my pocket courtesy a Rs. 300/- ticket. We set out for home, when Easwar remembered one of the houses he used to live in was nearby, and wanted to have a peep at the place.
On the way there we bumped into another member of Easwar's fan club - Easwar certainly was a star in his time (still is), very passionate about what he does and believes in. Enjoys his drink, his food, a joke, cricket, writing. He caught up with his friends and yesteryears fans and then we moved on. To me he is a bit like how Milton Balm was to us when we were in school - a legend who would always remain like that for us. We headed back home and then I headed out to my actual viewing of the museums which I had missed the day before.
The Napier Art and Natural History Museum was first on the list and it had a ton of good stuff to see. The Napier Museum began its journey in 1857 in a smaller building commissioned by the King which was demolished in 1874 and the new building was envisaged. The architect was Robert Chrisholm and his vision for the newly constructed building had influences of Chinese, Mughal and Kerala architecture. It was ready by 1880 and named after the Governor of Madras Presidency Francis Napier.
Sree Chitra Art Gallery was inaugurated in 1935 by Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma and it is a beautiful gallery which showcases mainly the art of Raja Ravi Varma. Other painters on display are Nicholas Roerich (beautiful landscapes), Svetoslav Roerich, Jamini Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, VS Valiathan, C Raja Raja Varma, KRS Panicker etc. Apparently there are 1100 paintings in the gallery with works from Mughal, Rajput, Bengal, Rajasthan and Tanjore schools of art. It has 43 originals of Ravi Varma including that of Shakuntala and Damayanti talking to a swan.
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| Chitra Art Gallery |
There was this young Indian mother from the US who had come down with her two children - a girl who was probably twelve and a boy who was probably nine - and they patiently checked out most of the paintings. I took pictures, soaked in the art and was inspired enough to buy a coffee table book on Raja Ravi Varma (he had one painting of Hussain Sagar too - he came to Hyderabad during the time of the Nizam's when there was great patronage for artists)
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| Hussain Sagar Lake |
Then I walked across to the Keralam museum which is a joint venture of Kerala Tourism and Kerala State Department of Archaeology. They gave a nice brochure along with my ticket which I regretfully lost - and I walked in and saw Ion age artefacts, Roman coinage (the dinari), palm leaf manuscripts. There were models of typical Kerala architecture and village life etc. Interestingly it also gave information about other museums and stuff. By now i was pretty tired and stopped by in their canteen for a drink and they offered me one new grape juice that was in the market - nice and pulpy grape with juice.
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| Horse carriage |
By now, Mony was ready to pick me up and he did and we headed to meet Easwar at the Medical College ground which apparently was that place where they played most of their matches - Mony got a 8 wicket haul there but did not make the zone. Could imagine him bowling in that ground.
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| Indian Coffee House near the Medical College |
Mony and Easwar could not leave Medical College locality without paying homage to one of their regular post match eateries of yesteryears. Both were genuinely amused to see the Indian Coffee House still at the same place, pretty much in similar condition a little more run down, but still drawing in the masses like before.They ordered some of the most unique dishes there – a masala dosa with beetroot filling and some classic cold coffee and a bite of egg biryani. Post a satisfying lunch, Mony went to the bank to take care of some of his dad’s pending accounts. Easwar and I headed back and stopped to meet a relative of his on the way. Mony's old pals would drop in for a drink that evening. Vijay also said he would drop in for a bit.
Back at home, we cleared up the place for the evening get together. Kannan, Padmanabhan, Rajesh, Sundar and others dropped in. It was fascinating to hear their stories - there were about 30-35 kids who grew up in the colony, played cricket, met every evening at their meeting place they called “Vettumukku” – “vettu” for small talk in their slang and mukku for junction. Essentially this place was the first junction when one comes in to their housing colony. Mony informed me that in the old days, they had found a thick cement slab and hoisted it up at mid wall height supported by flat stones at both ends to convert it into a makeshift seat. And there it stayed for many many years as a symbol of their meting place. With the passing of time and the advent of technology, that vettumukku has gone virtual into Whatsapp group format.Vettumukku is something and that bonds all of them still together - almost four, five decades down. A case in point - Kannan sends his car for Mony every time Mony touches down in Kochi and he drives down to Trivandrum in his car. (Mony is an excellent driver and loves driving) Rajesh, I remember meeting in Mumbai when he worked in Ferguson Consulting in Cuffe Parade where we also worked - now shifted back here and has a nice practice. Padmanabhan is a CA too. All of them well settled in life. Apparently one of Kannan's uncles left a house of his for them to use in their youth and Mony says for five years he never slept at home - always in that house. Can imagine what fun they must have had. Fantastic stories. Someone should write about them.
The party went on till late and Mony and I decided to drop Vijay back home. The idea was to have a quick dosa at one of the ‘thattukada’ joints in Poojapura near his house. ThattuKadas (thattu meaning plate and kada meaning shop - essentially roadside eateries – la Kerala style dhabas) came up many decades ago as small mom and pop outlets serving fresh delicious delicacies to passers by later in the evenings after traditional restaurants down their shutters. They have now grown into a massive industry and no visit to Kerala is complete without a dip into its zillion thattukadas. and It was already past 11 pm, and Mony mentioned local police regulations force these shops to close down by that time. Still we found one joint open, gulped Kerala parotta and omelette, dropped Vijay and headed back. Tomorrow Vijay had a free day so he said we could go to the Padmanabhapuram palace. He said he would pick me up at 8 pm. Perfect!
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