To Kerala and back

(This post has been lying around for weeks, waiting for an introduction. Feeling too lazy, so kindly consider the post introduced.)

Kerala!!! Yes! I went on a vacation. A totally unnecessary, unjustifiable trip to coconut country! Or as my friend has named it, cheta land. Home to my true love, banana chips. Where a house doesn't become home until it is pained orange. Or green. Or purple. Preferably all of the above. And where buses present a strange paradox. You see one thundering down the road in defiance of all rules and boundaries and also some laws of physics, and you will, not a little fearfully, move out of its way muttering size does matter. How the driver of the monstrosity gets it to snake through traffic almost making you believe you were watching a long haired youth showing off his shiny yellow bike, i'll never know. (Disclaimer: The last two may be specific to Kozhikode, my host city.) On the plus side, the city has a domestic airport that puts all other airports i've seen, including mumbai international airport to utter shame. (Not that i've seen that many. This was the second flight of my life. The first one was also to kerala. What is it with me and that place? Wonder if I was a coconut tree in my last janam. Or maybe, i was God) I got to stay in an unbelievably beautiful campus. "i voluntarily woke up at 6 a.m on a vacation to walk around" beautiful.
I got to act as the guide. Or the navigator. Or whatever it is you call the person who asks people on the road for directions. Not that i would have done it voluntarily, but however fraud a tamilian i may be, i was still the best they had to connect with the locals.
We went to a waterfall and a beach! I can still hear the buffalo in me moo in content. We drove around 200 kms (okay, okay, he drove, but we all made sure he didnt fall asleep) to get to the fall. It had the perfect amount of water, enough for you to get close to the water and not get washed away. This guard with very a strange gender bias wouldn't let me get close to the water while all boys were allowed. We carried out an argument for a while, me whining in Tamil and him shooing me off in Malayalam. Finally, i gave up and sat down on some rocks. And re-learnt one of life's great lessons. It only stops those who let it. Every person who went passed him was told not to go on, but the only one who listened and stayed back was me. So, when he wasnt looking, i leaped ahead and gave him an apologetic grin. Which he returned!
On the way back, car sickness struck as usual and so i sat in the front seat. I'd taken some medicine, the thing worked like a charm. It knocked me off so bad that i had to be shaken awake when we reached campus.
A wonderful, if somewhat short vacation that left me thoroughly campus sick and grateful that ex-colleagues could continue to be friends across time and space.

Nero

Rome burns while i play the fool.

Whats worse, i've sort of learnt to live with the smell.