Date with Nature (Munnar, Thekkadi, Alappuza) Concluding part

Defying the prescription of travelling light on a mountain-drive, we started from Guruvayoor on a rather full stomach to Munnar. Fortunately we got off to a good start with Aunty and I taking turns to share with Ragu and Padma what little we knew by way of sthala puranas of Guruvayoor and Mammiyoor.

Rows of furniture shops on both side of the road in a particular stretch arrested our attention, half way through the journey. I have always been looking for an easy chair to relax and read newspaper, or watch TV before dozing off in a few minutes. After all, rest and relaxation is one’s birthright more so at the second half of one’s retirement, I insisted. Alas, the easy-chair we selected - teakwood, elegant, sturdy, at Rs 2700/- as opposed to what Ragu bought online for Rs 6700/- - would not get into the dickey.

During the climb the ladies asked us to stop at shops that sold spices and herbal oil that promised lustrous hair, if not at least arrest hair-fall. Aunty’s similar collection bought from Ooty two months ago still awaits inauguration, by the way. But their acquisition-spree went unabated.

The hotel in Munnar is elegantly located and majestic in appearance. I played the senior citizen card once again. I asked the desk manager if, as seniors, he had any plans to upgrade the rooms for us. He smiled and said, “Sir you are booked for rooms without balcony, but I shall give you with balcony.” That was more than what we could ask for. The rooms had beautifully finished cane chairs, with tastefully made simple, elegant teakwood cot. Once again, that set me re-think on my furniture back home, bought on a life-time basis just two years ago. The breakfast, dinner, ambience, everything about the hotel was good. 

In sharp contrast, the hotel in Thekkady just looked just a shop from the front. We were disappointed. Luckily we had not paid any advance. So we insisted on seeing the accommodation first. As he took us inside, it was like the Jambhavan cave where the front was deceptive and inside it led us to a series of stone steps before it culminated into a four-floor structure. We checked in, and decided to watch IPL match before going out for dinner. Alas, that was not to be. The plug-in facility allowed you to either enjoy fan or TV, not both. And the Manager attributed it to the historic flood that swept the area last year.

Next morning we roamed around Thekkady to be on time for the 3.15 pm boat ride. The passengers of the 1.15 ride saw among other things, a herd of elephants drinking water at the banks. “They will still again be thirsty in the evening,” the optimism in us reassured us.. All that we could see in that 1-1/2 ride was a solitary elephant at a distance drinking water, and herds of wild buffalos moving around. “Not a lucky ride,” we wrote it off.

In Alapuzza, apart from sightseeing, we had booked for an Ayurvedic whole-body massage. That meant taking us by boat for about half an hour to reach that centre on the banks. This to and fro exclusive ride in the same boat gave us an opportunity to interact with the boatman - a young man in his early twenties - on the political scenario in Kerala. He, and a host of his friends, had apparently availed of a particular loan scheme that the Government at the Centre had initiated, and their minds seemed set.

On return to Bangalore, a message awaited us from the airlines. The Civil Aviation ministry has grounded all Boeing 737-Max planes because of a few accidents over the world on a software issue, and asking me and Aunty if we would like to re-book or cancel our Bangalore-Kolkata-Bangalore trip scheduled to start on 26 April. This is an arrangement with yet another sister-in-law and her husband, also in Bangalore, for a week’s holiday. We rang them up only to hear them shout, ‘cancellation, the last resort.”