Trivandrum Tidbits Blogpost

 

This is one of the other blogs from when the blog bug bit years ago.

 As you can see it was in 2007. That was interestingly the last year when work related travel was restricted to local train and cab travel within Kerala and I never got around to doing the local photo walks I had in mind for this blog! 

 Like other 'Ripples and Shuffles' blogventures this didn't go any place but is  a fond memory. Interestingly both the books I have mentioned, Under the Tuscan sun and An year in Provence have remained favourites and my own copies have the look of a well read and well loved book.

 Interestingly, CC got me the 20th year special edition of 'Under the Tuscan sun' because I accidentally left my copy on a flight.

 The kannikonna or amaltas or laburnum flowers bloom just before Vishu which is generally on the 14th of April each year. 

 

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Monday, April 16, 2007

Happy New Year!

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!

We have just celebrated "Vishu" the regional New Year here and the festive atmosphere is still lingering. I thought it was a nice day to start and here goes...

It was one of those enlightening moments (perhaps the effect of local homemade grape wine) which all of us have - "Well, I should put up this blog and here it is".

Frances Mayes and Peter Mayle have this impact on you where one wants to run to the sunny south and buy a house and spend hours renovating it; but then I am from the middle middle-class and can't afford holidays abroad - forget buying property; but then I am already in the sunny south and have been here for some time now. It was not an easy journey with a new language, a different culture and of course a sultry climate where you pull out your woolens from their bags once a year to air them, where it rains at all odd times of the year and one often wonders at the dust that accumulates on everything around. And yes, when I think about it, definitely an adventure.I would love to share with all my friends, my experiences, the good and a few bad and share with you all a lot of things that I have learnt along the way. The cultural differences, the recipes, the architecture...I am actually talking about Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala state in India. It is only about 90 kms away from Kanyakumari, the southernmost point of the country and hardly any distance from the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border.As of today, the sun is blazing hot and the temperature here is at an all time high. The trees have a droopy look though the whole place is ablaze with the yellow "kanji Kona" flowers. So bienvenue and join me in this adventure...

Posted by Ripples and Shufflesat 

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