A Marriage

Blink. Journeys which I enjoyed most were the ones which I never planned. They just happen.

A marriage between a Thakur boy from the UP heartland and a Catholic girl from Cochin. Here was a chance to be part of an event of which great tales are made off. But what made this so inviting was the love of adventure the love for the highways . The bike trail to nearlyooty had started it all. This time it would be a car.

The journey from Bangalore to Allepy and back is roughly 1200 kms. The Santro had clocked a mere 1000Kms. The drivers new. Mid Monsoon. All this added that extra bit of adventure. Packed a few casuals. http://maps.live.com/

Day 1
We start at 2 pm from office. Since the entire team knew of our journey we had a grand farewell. It took sometime before we hit the highway to Mysore. Getting used to the highways took sometime. But slowly we picked pace with experience. Crossed Mysore at 5:30. The evening was fast approaching and our destination Coimbatore was still far. Driving on State Highways from Mysore to Coimbatore in night would be the first hurdle. Nanjangud(25Kms south Mysore) is a temple town with a beautiful Shiva temple. From Nanjangud , to make matters worse we took the wrong exit towards Gundulpet while we should have been heading for Chamrajnagar. The road was deserted. I enjoyed the sunset from the backseat of the Santro. For dinner we halt at Chamrajnagar. This would be our last halt before Coimbatore. The terrain was now getting hilly. The roads curvy. We now only meet trucks on the road. A typical problem of driving in the night is most vehicles use high beam. So it was very difficult when we cross vehicles coming from opposite direction. As we near Satyamangalam the road now climbs through the hills. From the top of the hills Satyamangalam glitters. We are running out of time so we give it a miss. We take a bypass to Coimbatore. After nearly 10 hours of starting from bangalore we reach coimbatore. The night we spend at a hotel. Snores and body aches. Well nothing can stop sleep tonite.

Day 2
Early morning we start after a light breakfast. Kerala border is 15 Kms. It takes us nearly 30 minutes before we can get out of the heavy traffic. The roads get narrow and crowded. The way is scenic. We stop for breakfast 100 Kms from Cochin. I have never been a fan of the Kerala style of cooking. While Himanshu and Sidharth feast on appam with egg curry I turn to the tried and tested masala Dosa. This sounds a warning of things to come.

We hurry for the marriage. Reach the church where the ceremony has already started. Unlike Hindu marriages its fast. But the ceremony ends without any drama you would expect from a movie plot. We head staright for the reception. Bolghatty Palace is set in the middle of the back waters. Beautifully decorated, great food. This time its the desert. Shadi karo ta aisa karo.

From here we head for Allepy aka Allapuzha. Its 60 Kms to the south of Cochin. Known for its houseboats and backwaters. We book a house boat. Beware of thugs. At the Boat ferry we meet characters. Most Drunk. Very rude and very cunning. Bargain as much as you can. For Re 3000 we find ourselves a spacious and decent houseboat. Legs spread. Light breeze. Pale sky. The boat glides over the clear waters. Scenic Kerala. People returning from their work on their canoes carved out of coconut trunks. We wonder for a moment on the their life. Later in the evening we chat long hours. Our chef does wonders with the fish fry on board, chicken curry.

Day 3
Woke up a fresh morning. The day is beautiful. Motorised boats are the means of transport. Kids jumping into the waters. We hungrily eat our bread and omelet. A light drizzle starts. It was one of the best coffees as we kept refilling my cups. The backwaters has this mystique appeal. As I bid adios to Allepy my heart yearns for more. I promise to return.

The day is long. We had taken roughly 15 hours to reach Allepy. We had gained some experience. We hoped to make the trip back in quick time. We decide to avoid the Satyamangalam route as the hilly tracks had taken a lot of time. This time we take the Salem (pronounce as Selam) route. Though we did not find the road to our delight. The most difficult part of a trip is the return journey. Exhausted. Longing to back to the comfort of the bedroom. But we did pretty well. We kept up the fun mood. The santro didn't have a music system but still we enjoyed the drive. This time we take nearly 14 hours.

My discovery still remains incomplete. It has just begun..