Vellayani Lake – A Greenish Hangout

You will surely love the solitude, greenery and the misty, yet warm climate of this lake. Vellayani Lake, some 15km from Thiruvananthapuram city offers a nice hang out for the local people and for anyone who loves to spend some time, detached from the maddening pace of life.

Taste a tender coconut. Sit there idly. Watch a stroke or a kingfisher lifting a fish or a crab, which surfaced at the wrong time. You will instantly know this is the place of water and coconut trees.

Tens of thousands of coconut palms line the waters – you just can't take a photo here, without coconut trees in your frame. You will also find a stretch of islands, each one offering home to one or two coconut trees.

Drive or walk the unpaved path that divides the water into two. Move away from under the scathing sun and to below the shade of coconut crowns, where you feel the warmth that no air conditioning machine in the world can match.

Also find how farmers here grow plantains, vegetables and fruits of various kinds. And learn from where our food actually comes from.

The place has never been a tourist destination, except for a day or two of boat races. It is better left that way, we can drive in any day of the year; spend as many hours as we want and return home as a refreshed soul.

I say this, even after fully knowing the place has everything it takes to make it to Kerala tourist map, as a jewel to the string of much touted Kerala backwaters.

My trip to the place was with a friend of mine, from near this lake and hours just flew by, before we knew it is sunset and it is time to say goodbye to this blessed village.

Narmakairali: Laughter & Food for Thought

Narmakairali (or Narma kairali) continues to amuse Thiruvananthapuram folks with clean humor for quite a long time now.

Their latest event was at VJT Hall, where the audience smiled, laughed and occasionally smirked at the thoughts of some well known humorists headed by Sukumar, Jacob Samson Muttada, etc.

For those people who forget the art of laughter, and for the people who really don't have a venue to unwind, the laughter club events like the one conducted regularly by Narmakairali is a relief.

Though generally it was clean jokes all the way, occasional sexual innuendos and explicities really robbed the fun. I was sitting next to a woman of almost the age my mother and it was really tough on occasions.

The following photograph is from a comedy skit performed by the team.

Golden Shower Baths City in Yellow

It is run up to Vishu. The signals are on the trees shading the city roads from the sun. The avenue trees cover themselves up with golden yellow flowers. The star among the trees is golden shower (Cassia fistula).

In Malayalam it is kanikkonna (or kanikonna), the auspicious flower to make it to the presence of Lord Krishna, to be viewed as Kani (an auspicious sight) on Vishu. April 14, Sunday (tomorrow) is Vishu, the first day of Malayalam month, Medam.

The festival signifies prosperity. Everything is golden this day. People open their eyes before an idol of Lord Krishna, surrounded by gold coins, fruits, golden shower flowers, new cloths, etc arranged on a big, bell metal pan.

No one can miss this season. You see the golden shower trees blooming everywhere. They are on roadsides, courtyards of houses, parks, etc. When you see the golden shower plants bloom and cover themselves with nothing but yellow flowers, you know Vishu is round the corner.

The first two photographs have Golden shower trees and the third one is some other plant. I like when it blooms yellow.