Trip part I…….Kochi…..meeting a food blogger and aqua delusions!!

It was Saturday, officially the day I was waiting for ever since valentine's day (since we planned it that day…) ….imagine the bombshell when K tells me bright and early that he "had to go to office for some earth and life shattering meetings" I was flabbergasted …. And also a tad bit annoyed…I mean didn't he ? then why this at the last minute?? Anyways…supportive wife that I am, is said please go….so we postpone our flight for later that day and I was left to lock up the house and pack….. oh I must add that it began with giving clothes to the dhobi for ironing!! In between all of this, I managed to finish and hitch a ride with a friend who offered very generously to drop me at the airport…..i'd warned K that if he didn't turn up at the appointed hour at the airport, I'd simply leave with the first hot guy I spotted at the airport…..anyways…I was sorely disappointed (;)) to find a beaming K waiting for me at the airport….pretty soon we were airborne….

Cochin I was going back to after a year….last year around the same time K and I went to Varkala and we drove through cochin…stopping for lunch….we reached the place we were staying, freshened up and popped in next door to D's…..my friend from college….as reunions usually are noisy…there were too many things being said at the same time….and god help you if her 3 and a half year old daughter M is around…the little pet will not allow anyone to get a word in sideways!! J her brother who is 13 months old entertains himself and lives comfortably in the shadow of his sister….M wanted to know if Amma and Anu aunty went to school together, how old we were, was I her only friend, and if no then how come she had'nt seen any other of her friends? We decided to catch up the next day as D's hubby had to catch a train…..

Our tenth floor service apartment had a fabulous view of the backwaters along which it is located…so K and I sat in the balcony talking under the stars and faint nightly noises….what I noticed this time is that usually when you drive along Kerala, the single most reinforced imagery encountered is that of hoardings announcing the million jewelery stores…all the way from pallakkad to Trivandrum….this time I noticed that the love for bling has given way to mammoth real estate advertisements…..there are as many boards as there are projects…each one promising you the home of your dreams to a little place of heaven and even an "address you can finally be proud of" …no I didn't make that up…villas, apartments, condos, water facing bungalows, backwater apartments…..you name the kind of abode, and they all seem to be custom made Kerala style…..

Next morning…bright and early a phone call woke me up…apparently, alarmed at the impending departure of us without partaking of a meal at D's household, aunty decided to have us over for breakfast…..with our plans so fluid….we had told the family the previous evening that we'd leave on Sunday night so as to not risk not being able to make it on time to catch our flight to Male from Trivandrum….aunty had planned to host lunch for us …. But that became breakfast……so much the better cos after gorging on all that fabulous breakfast….i couldn't have slept a wink had I agreed to dinner!! A colossal table filled with puttu, payar, egg roast, vada sambhar, pazham (carmelised) and stew awaited us…..to say that we had a wonderful breakfast is the understatement of the moment!!

Uncle and aunty went off to celebrate the 80^th birthday of a friend, K who was totally in love with M by this time…smitten…spent time entertaining her, playing with her and making her feel like supergirl….because he kept throwing her up in the air and generally doing whatever she wanted….the whole room was filled with shrieks that only little girls can let out!! All this din while D and I tried to catch up…..

We had such a packed day and I really looked forward to the evening because I was to meet Aparna…a fellow blogger….she came with her daughter, a delightful young lady who thankfully for today's generation lists reading and books as her favourites!! A few days earlier, while chatting online, I'd mentioned to A that we may be related for all you know cos both our husbands had the same surname and came from the same region of Palakkad in Kerala….imagine our shock…and subsequent bizarre delight when it turns out that they share the same family name, come from the same ancestral village and their houses were 4 doors or something like that apart!! Infact when her husband came by to pick them up, we got Appa on the phone who was more than intrigued by this uncanny meeting!! Food blogging sure has its surprises!! Aparna came bearing a gift like a true blue food blogger….some fabulous chocolate and walnut brownies / muffins….which we had some and took the rest to devour in Maldives……

Lots of debates and deliberations later, we decided to fly from cochin to Tvdm as we found a later in the night flight……..After such an action packed two days, we didn't want to over sleep and rick not being able to catch the early morning train…..so off we went to Tvdm…checked into the ginger hotel by the tata's which I was so impressed with….and slept a lovely fitful sleep full of aquamarine dreams………. Ah bliss!!