This is not the 1st time i am visiting Kerala. This beautiful journey didn't start today when I boarded the aircraft. I would say it rather started the last time when i left Cochin. I had never traveled in a propeller aircraft, such a smooth experience, like never before.
This time, i wasn't thrilled like last time but the aircraft which took me to Cochin from Bangalore made it memorable. Since then, i m feeling perfect! I was traveling by Jet Airways with pilot Krishna Mahadeva and co-pilot Rohit in a propeller type aircraft yet again. What a smooth journey! I could never forget the pilot crew as i had never seen anybody driving that good. I could remember my rival Dylan and Bob from Need for Speed! They picked up such a speed at the Bangalore runway, even while taxi-ing! Smooth touch down as well, but the memorable part was the journey. I have never seen Indian pilots taking such a steep turn confidently, which was towards the side I was seated. I got a lovely view of the earth surface, a breath-taking moment. Right in the middle of the air, pilots stopped the engine, with no atmospheric turbulence, we were gliding down, what a feel again! Addressing of the passengers was very polite and informal by the pilot crew at all instances.
I got a gift set on scratching a card and got a lady watch at the airport terminal.
Let me now introduce you to Mr. Mani aka Manikuttan, my chauffeur. He took me to one of the finest resorts to have a filling meals which was typical keralite(i could make out by the way rice was cooked). Village kind of ethnic ambiance was the key point to be noted there. After ambiance, the micro-climate inside the resort made me more hungry! After heavy lunch, I took some time to relax in an easy-chair and then lied down on a swing. Swinging gently and cool breeze kissing me. I felt like building such a house and spending all my life there. Mani then said,"Sir, its time to leave. You already got 2 phone calls from the place where you have to go-MES Ponnani. Slept all the way in the car and reached the customer site where my business partner and his service engineer had also come. Conducted a site survey and advised about the network setup for the site and devices to be used. Spent major part of the day working at the site giving my customer an excellent wireless coverage!
Mani now suggested that Guruvayur is just 30 mins away from where we were. I, at once, asked him to drive me to Guruvayur. This was my 1st time to Guruvayur. He helped me with a fine accommodation where I could sleep with less comfort as I had to wake up early to see and meet the Almighty-Krishna. So, checked-in, had a nice dinner and dozed with no further delay as I had lots of appointments the next day as well.
Got up at 3am, reached the temple at 4am to see a huge crowd. That day was auspicious, people were pouring in from all across southern India and from other parts as well. Unbelievably, I did "japam" of gayathri mantra and "hare krishna" till i got a lovely view of the almighty, which was for about 3 hrs. Lord was so small, so dark inside a tunnel kind of arrangement. I could only see his golden crown HE had worn. Then on the way back, had a nice breakfast and started for Cochin. Unfortunately this time, we didn't cross that resort else I would have become lazy for the rest of the day! It was Milad-un-Nabi on that day so we could see small school kids singing songs, doing roadshow, dancing. It was a treat again as we passed by.
Reached Cochin, addressed few of our business partners located there in the cruel, hot sun! Then, got my back moving towards the airport. I reached well before time. Heard songs, ate some crap to while away time. I will not mention what else I did there to kill time. ;) Again, enjoyed a lovely low-altitude flight back to Bangalore and the drive from airport to home was like a smooth drink passing via my throat. It seemed much soothing as I was dead tired working and traveling all day in the sun. Reached home, threw my bag, changed clothes and jumped onto the bed!
Curtain falls!
