Best Moments Elsewhere - Chapter 1

I am not a travel guy. Totally not. I have taken like five trips in my entire life so far, four of them in the past four years. I have always traveled with a different set of people, probably that was the problem. I never found people who would like to just sit somewhere, peacefully gazing at the sandy beach shared by the giant sea or at the snowy mountains looking down at me, making me feel weak and amazed at the same time. I don’t like the travel part when you are in a car or a bus or on a train. Flights are fine. They are entertaining in themselves, but road travel sometimes makes me feel annoyed and restless. I like to stretch my legs & spread my arms.

Anyway, so I went to this place in Kerala, geographically the southernmost point I have ever traveled to on this planet. I would say it is a highly underestimated place. Look for yourself.

This is Kovalam, a sandy beach some fifteen kilometers south to Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala. As soon as I stepped out of the airport, I could see the vast cultural contrast from the rest of the country (at least places I have been to or lived in). First of all, everything is written in Malayalam. It was very difficult to really understand anything printed or displayed due to the huge language barrier. Luckily, I had an amazing person to spend my time with and Uber was operational there. Luckily, the app was still in English, even if the driver had no clue what we were talking about. Technology really has taken us into the future where language barriers are just boundaries, not borders. 

The communist posters were everywhere, with Stalin’s portrait painted on almost every corner of each road. Sometimes, I was worried if it was safe to talk about me being from Delhi or saying things like ‘Oh! This city looks very feudal. Where is the McDonalds here?” or “The roads look really empty here. Aren’t they celebrating Republic Day today?”. I arrived there on 26th January, long weekend you know.

Moving further, we reached a weird location, where our bags were taken out and we were asked to move down a slope, told that we will reach the sea in a few yards. I was a little skeptical and concerned, not knowing what was to unfold. As I went down the slope, I was feeling this might be a scam to get innocent tourists into a corner and then rob them. I had a pretty lady moving along with me and she looked pretty confident, so I kept my hopes up. As I took a right turn, suddenly the sea was upon me. The big, giant, ferocious wavy monster was asking me to shake hands and I was afraid this might be my last one. However, as I started moving along the coastline towards the location on my Google maps where my accommodation was booked, I was starting to like this place. At 11 in the morning, with the cool sea breeze caressing my cheeks and the glimpse of lazy caucasian tourists (not a single Indian tourist in sight), I was beginning to think this might be a trip to remember.

As I checked into the hotel and entered my air-conditioned room (a nice open Pappukutty hotel), I realized that hotels do put a lot of effort into their hospitality. I had very low expectations, but when I opened the balcony and sat on the cushioned chair and gazed at the sea roaring gloriously, I started giving respect to this beach. In a small budget, it was giving me experiences for a lifetime.

The best part came when I ventured out to find some good food to eat. I have never been a believer in room service (that defeats the whole purpose of the holiday travel) and hence I started moving across the coastline. Clearly, seafood was the specialty here, but my “friend” was a vegetarian, so pineapples and Hakka noodles for her. The first day was ordinary, as it was almost night by the time we stepped out. After a boring and uninteresting dinner, we called it a night, hoping for something more exciting the next day.

The next morning was spent in the sea, collecting seashells, away from my phone & laptop for a few hours, being alarmingly surprised to see such clear water around my feet. 

I never touch the waters when at a beach, but this time I did. And I regretted not doing so before. The beach was empty, not many people were around, mostly caucasian tourists (Am I racist if I can’t tell which country they are from?). They were sunbathing in minimal wear, not caring who was around to look. After the sea bathing was done, I headed in for a quick shower, then was out again exploring the beach and the lighthouse.

It was a landmark on the beach, highly claustrophobic from inside, majestic from outside, stellar from below the hill it was up at. The entry fee was merely Rs 60 and the breeze at the hilltop was spectacular. Never ever in my life had I enjoyed the breeze as much as I did there. The view of the beach from the top was peaceful and serene. 

But the best part came after that when we went food scouting because we found the best place to ever eat at that beach, The German Bakery. Unfortunately, I did not click enough pictures of it, but it had the best view any cafe could ever boast of and its food was the best food any cafe could ever boast of. Its Masala Chai was the best any cafe could ever boast of…. and so on. You can figure what my experience was when sitting there, sipping the best tea I had had in my life, eating the best Shrimp recipe I had ever tried and sitting across the most beautiful woman in the world. It was a moment I wanted to be frozen in time and space, wanted to live that forever.

After so much excursion and a little shopping from some handmade craft shops, we both bought some souvenirs from the beach, clothes actually. I bought a saffron beach kurta, she bought a simple white beach dress. The rest of the day was spent chilling in the room balcony, hands in hands, looking at the might of the sea and what lay beyond. At the night, we ventured again to find some good north Indian food and although it was not the best, we did find a hotel which served good Dal and Palak Paneer and some soft rotis. That closed a perfect day.

The next day was hectic, we had to check-out by noon, but the hotel guy was nice to let us keep our luggage at the reception till we returned around four in the evening. We again indulged ourselves in the food at German Bakery, tried the best barbecued pineapple in my life. I could never imagine such a taste existed in the universe. It felt like being melted and then being reshaped. Once the time came to say goodbye to the beach, I did final feet dipping into the water, promising it I would visit it soon. 

Then we took the luggage and ordered an Uber to take us to the bus station in Trivandrum. The bus was cozy, it brought us back to Bangalore the next morning. I went home, slept for a whole lot and then back to the office on Monday.

You know what, I will write more blogs on my travels. I think it is exciting not just to be somewhere, but also to remember being there. I really enjoyed writing this. I hope I have something more to write soon enough.

Tada.

(Pictures taken from Google Images {Not a good photographer am I}, except one)