The Kerala beat

December 23:
The first bit of good news is that our friend (Haseef, friend since primary school) is getting married.

The second bit of good news is that the day has arrived. The day when we will start our travel to Kerala. To us, Kerala is an exotic location with some interesting landscape and some oldest structures. Our train reservations were not confirmed and we had to chose an alternative, the not so comfortable one in bus. We started at 9 PM to Thalassery, a town in north Kerala and Haseef's native place.

December 24:
After a bumpy ride we four sleepy heads reached our destination at 6 AM. We prayed Fajr (morning prayer) and took a nap. I tagged with Umair (another friend since primary school) while my seniors cum friends (Tausif and Shahmir) were in the adjacent room.

We found Kerala as we were told. Hot at the end of the year, friendly people all around, no restrictions in eating beef and banana treated as a different food altogether.

Breakfast in Thalassery

Thalassery Fort

We visited Thalassery Fort, prayed Namaz in Thalassery Stadium Juma Masjid and just an hour before the sunset we returned back to our hotel to get ready for the moment we all came for. While on the way we were greeted by a loud Hindi music being played in the municipal stadium and colorful flags all around. We spot some young footballers getting ready for the football tournament. The road leading to the stadium were filled with hoardings with pictures of Neymar, Messi and Ronaldo. I then realized the strike similarity between this state and the state from where I hail from. Fishes, hills, beaches, literature, communists and football!

Thalassery Juma Masjid

I have attended a Mallu wedding before and that was the reason why I wore a white shirt. My friends missed it, not their fault though. Nikah was after Maghrib (evening prayer) and we reached Haseef's place on time. I was so overwhelmed by the crowd gathered and all the simplicity there. Haseef handled everything well after all he was the man of the moment. We enjoyed the delicacies, ate the food to our full not realizing that it will be difficult to walk 2 kms back to our hotel.

Haseef's Nikah

December 25:
Cheraman Juma Masjid (link for history) have been highly recommended by friends and colleagues. It was my dream to visit this Masjid since the day I got to know that this is the first Masjid in India.

We took Shatabdi train early morning from Thalassery to Kochi. The Masjid was just 40 kms from our hotel in Kochi. We reached much before the time of Juma Namaz (Friday prayer). It feels simply amazing to pray in a 1400 year old structure.

Cheraman Juma Masjid

We had plentiful of parothas and meats in Abu Dhabi restaurant and fantastically prepared ice cream dessert in Kuwait Haji Ali (highly recommended place).

@Kuwait Haji Ali

We spent the evening in Fort Kochi, enjoying the cool breeze at the beach, watching the ships pass by, wandering the lanes and peering into the local shops. Here also we got a chance to pray Maghrib in one of the mosques from 13th century.

@ A Masjid in Fort Kochi dated back to 1284

December 26:
If you have visited Kochi and not visited Alleppy then surely you have missed an opportunity. That was what we were told. We checked out of the hotel early morning and caught a passenger train to Alleppy.

We had very less time to explore the backwaters hence the boat house was out of option, even shikara's price was sky rocketing if we were to take it for only an hour. After much bargaining we boarded a shikara. The owner knew Hindi but the driver know neither Hindi nor English. He took us around and just as we were going to enter Vembanad lake which would have mesmerized us even more, he turned around.

Yes, he made a u-turn and then the fun started. We started asking him why, he replied something in Malayalam. And then again we asked him why, he again replied something. That went on for sometime, neither of us understanding each other. But the boat had already made a u-turn and we were already returning back, just 20 minutes into our journey. We then called the owner who explained that there were certain routes to be followed and since we only opted out for 1 hour, the package didn't cover the lake.

Surrounded by house boats in Alleppy

In our shikara in Alleppy

It was a tad disappointing to our well planned and near to perfect tour of Kerala. But that's okay, I guess. We rushed back to the station, caught an express train, stood for one hour long journey in a crowded compartment which to our surprise included a white couple holding their bags over their head.

Outside LuLu Mall

I know I had only couple of hours before my bus would come running to pick me up near LuLu mall. The traffic leading to the mall was too much to handle. I started to realize why the administration have started to build the metro railways in the city. We wasted half an hour there and another half to enter the mall and wait for our order of some Turkish sandwich from Doner kabab. Once done with lip smacking sandwich and naan I had to rush outside for my bus. To my disappointment I received a message from my travel agent that the bus was delayed by an hour.

I missed buying mundu and perfume bottles from LuLu mall. I hope I will be back. Maybe my friends too.