I opened my eyes. There was light now, and it was starting to get warmer. And, well, there was this strangely familiar hue to everything...I jumped up to look out the window and yes, there she was...
The green, green grass of home. The cows, the trees, the lungi-clad people - all racing into the landscape with the speed of sound even as the sun peeped shyly through the rustling sky above. We were in Kerala now!
Yes, I was in God's Own Country and even the fact that I was sitting in a bus - breathing tinned air - wasn't making me miss any of it...
Though my parents were born in Kerala - not I; though I learnt the language (supposedly) just a couple of years ago; though I swear I hate anything remotely Mallu - there is something in me that just can't get enough of the place.
It ain't just the greenery or the air. It's also the elderly lady squabbling loudly with the fishmonger on the street, the drunkard staggering his way to a pissed wife under the setting sun, the smoke from kitchen chimneys trying to roast the coconuts dry, and the loud ammachis enquiring about your identity from the other side of the rubber plantation.
Kerala, whatever ills it may have, is still Kerala. Do whatever you want to with it, O rulers of this land, just don't make it the concrete jungle you are threatening to...
Greetings from the greener side :)
5 comments:
grass is not always greener on the other side, eh? r u in kerala now? wow, am so jealous.
i know what u mean, i love chennai...
If dats a real picture you clicked by yourself, you just reinforced my desires to vist the place...
@Rama: Hiya, kid! Well, i dont know if its greener on the other side, but this side it certainly is :)
And I like Chennai too. I almost belong there now
@ Life: Well, actually.. the pic is from Google images but believe me, what you see is true! Do come along sometime...
What are u doin there?? Celebrating new years there??? or are u in blore?
Man, i missin the place myself..why, i miss the whole country!!!
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