To the sea in the beckoning, in Kovalam - Kerala

 

It was an impromptu travel plan as usual. Even though the yearend holidays are earmarked in the school and office calendars and rolled out well in advance, we as a family, are abysmal planners(at least I am, and the rest of the members kind of get towed into my shadow - wonder why? Where I have failed to wield a positive influence on my family with regard to veganism, spirituality or others of the like, it is attributes such as "zero-planning", which have been imbibed. At this instant, my family seemed to me like blind bhakts, who take to following a con guru).

So, with a last-minute booking in a beach resort in Kovalam(Kerala), we hit the roads. Believe me, it was the at the 11th hour we decided about whether the road journey would be within the next couple of hours or the following day. So, we got our caravan-sized luggage ready(it was just for a 3-day trip, but even then bound by habit, we ended up building a giant jenga of holidaying essentials - Here too, I fail to wield an influence on the minimalist policy and its positives! Nay, some of us fail to see reason, and staunchly uphold our beliefs about inflicting on others as an extra loaded cheese burst burger! So, shoving ourselves in, into one monstrosity of a vehicle, we set off to Kerala's Kovalam.

Google Maps, Where art thy destination?

Though Google Maps and self have had a cumbersome past(With a bitter break up over misleading cues and wrongful directions), we took refuge in the Maps'(as last-minute riders, to lead us right on the roadways to visible and distinct cities like Thirvananthapuram and therefrom Kovalam. Google saved us the trouble of having to stop frequently for directions from  passers by. Though, we did occasionally, knowing the Maps erratic tendencies of re-routing , by-passing the unconventional routes - GMaps is yet to scale up, to the explorative scope of captain cook and his team,). And lo,  within a record time of 10 hours, thanks to the other half's whizz-past-the-highways mantra, we reached our destination - spent, wrung, and bedraggled by motion sickness!

The star-studded resort and the sun-soaked beach - Where would you luxuriate?

I will not delve much into how a 5-star beach resort boasts of its plush exteriors or makes its guests luxuriate in a host of amenities, but I will pipe in a line or two and not more.

 The resort was a sprawling property with pathways flanked by manicured lawns, carved out of a hill, facing the Kovalam beach.  The facade seemed to jut out of a rockface, with its roofs appearing in a neat staircase fashion, in an aerial view. The topping aspect about the resort was the traditional feel, with the roofs and ambience which resembled a typical Kerala heritage home. It was a blend of the contemporary and traditional, with interiors lavishly splashed with Kerala Murals, elephantic brass lamps, and antique show pieces. I soaked in, all of these while ambling around waiting for the long drawl of procedures to establish our authenticity as credible tourists(with no checquered records in our past) to get over. Once it was completed, we were escorted in our suite, with our cargo alongside a retinue of attendants fussing over us(Sometimes, I wonder how a queen bee feels, when the worker bees are preoccupied with pleasantries, than carrying out their designated duties in quietude. The buzz was only making me feel even more queasy and well, I tried my level best not to retch my guts out, on the uber-pleasant-mannered retinue of "minions", at our disposal).

Day 1 : Lazing by the beachside

By the time we settled in, it was early evening. It left us just enough time to review the list of places, which we could visit(thanks to the enthusiastic duo of kids, who mooted us for the trip, had also highlighted the attractions of our destination). The travel brochure from the resort helped fine-tune our listicles + the concierge desk, being indigenous to the place, sealed our itinerary for the next day, with exact details about timings for entry, closing, and activities associated with that place. So, we lazed for the remainder of the day, nibbling on what was available, trudging along the sloping pathways, and soaking our feet wet in the semi-private beach(the name gives a feel that the beach is exclusive to the residents of the retreat, but actually it is not.  It is only semi-secluded from the beach bummers )  

Day 2: New Year's Eve - Padmanabhaswamy temple, the Beach Gala dinner or the unknown trail to wilderness?

Wherever we trip to as a family, tradition rings in with fervour - it is a must that the local deity is visited and propitiated.  It is usually the Mater who firmly believes in consecrating auspicious occasions with temple visits. As we were staying in close proximity to Trivandrum, the  famous Padmanabhaswamy temple made it to our listicles. But the resident deity of the temple is like a wirepuller of sorts. He witnesses a Tsunamic surge of devotees especially during December - otherwise known as the Sabarimala season(which attracts another set of ardent devotees, who perform austerities and observe abstinence and climb the Sabarimala to propitiate their favourite deity - So, while they peak in religious fervour, they embrace all the good Lords in the vicinity in their devotion and well, become the crowd and clamour of every place of worship in Kerala, basically)!

So, we were tipped off by the locals in the resort, to seek appointment with Padmanabha, in the wee hours of the morning - the Brahmamuhurth - when the cosmos is believed to be reverberant with the energy of the gods. The eve of New years coinciding with the grand occasion of Vaikuntha Ekadasi, it was decided that rendezvous with Lord Padmanabha would be on the dawn of new year 

This left the evening to explore the unexplored. There was the Jatayu rock park, which was an one-hour drive from our place of stay, the Poovar backwaters, which boasted of serene landscapes and breathtaking natural beauty. The eulogy about the backwaters from the resort's concierge, made Poovar the next item in our travel itinerary to cover in the forenoon. While the kids and the other half, braced themselves for the sun-scorched forenoon, I retreated into the hideout of my room, the hangover of a long road journey had started to show effect - with the headache and retching. So, I welcomed sweet slumber, dreamily drifting away into the backwaters  in my sleep and wondering what the trio would be upto(with no tether from my end, they were sure to embark on some misadventure or the other).

When the trio returned, it was early evening and I was refreshed with the last residues of  hangover, spewed out. I was not ready to let go of the evening, idling away in the resort. While browsing the net and going by the name boards of places, the previous day, we chanced upon Neyyar Dam. Reading about it online, we just assumed that it would be one of those typical reservoirs housing a mini sanctuary, with little but coracle rides for entertainment. But we were soon to be proven wrong.

Our Neyyar sojourn was a discovery of sorts! 

 

Day 3: Our last day in Kovalam

Kaboom! No, it was not an explosive that was detonated in our vicinity but New Year sparklers that lit up the night sky at 12:00 AM, 1st Jan 2023. It jolted us awake but we soon drifted away for, in another 3 hours, or so, the kids and their father had to get ready for  their rendezvous with Lord Padmanabhaswamy - a 30-min drive from our resort. While they woke up for the spiritual awakening, I was groggy  and vacillating whether to accompany them or not, to seek the divine connect or not, to mark the auspices of a new beginning with the grace of God or not. To do the customary "Chipko movement" with fellow devotees in the Q leading to the sanctum or not(That is one thing we Indians excel at -  "Not to maintain social distancing" be it respecting others' privacy or encroaching on another's territory or simply piling on a fellow being like a climber plant looking for support!)...To be or not to be like Shakespeare's confused Hamlet, I drifted away to welcome sweet slumber.

C'mon, I was in God's own country, where Nature was bountiful in the mountains, the plains and the luxuriant expanse of the sea. I had been embraced by the untamed wilderness  of the Neyyar river. I could not have sought a better divine connect, than in the silence and calmness of the natural beauty that enveloped Neyyar. IT was definitely a sanctum with no human footprint.  

And I was sure that somewhere in those mighty hills surrounding Neyyar, Lord Padmanabhaswamy was in his Anathashayana, meditating(I wonder whether it would be about how to preach his devotees about the soupcon of social distancing) and reflecting on creation and preservation of the mortal world!

Ruminating thus, we packed our bags from Kovalam that day noon, after a hearty breakfast, to head to witness the confluence of two major seas at the Indian Ocean - in KanyaKumari. What we brought out from the ocean deep, is reserved for my next blog. Till then, Happy Reading!