We took an early morning flight to Trivandrum and reached there by 830 AM. The cloud cover made it difficult to catch a glimpse of the beautiful spread of coconut trees from the flight. The cool breeze was a welcome change for us after having suffered the hot and humid conditions in Mumbai. The weather was quite pleasant with a slight hint of early morning showers. We took a cab and headed straight to Taj Kovalam,Vivanta. The event was scheduled to start at 1030. We waited patiently for a while to get a room but had to shift to a temporary room since other rooms were not vacant. The room opened into a garden with a coffee table surrounded by coconut trees. This was just the right place to spend a perfect weekend.
Without much delay, we headed to the literary event. I am not an avid reader and have certainly not read any of the books written by the authors present at the event. After having spent half an hour at the event I decided to venture out and explore the city. My first halt was at Napier Museum. The museum has sculptures of vishnu, shiva and other Hindu gods which were excavated and age back to 2nd century AD. The museum has recently received the sword used in 1808 during the freedom struggle in Kerala. This sword was first handed to the first president of independent India and was kept in a museum in Delhi till July 2010.
The next halt was at Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The temple, quite surprisingly, only allows Hindus to go in and the devotees have to wear a Vesti/Dhoti to go in. I decided to leave and not come back to a place with such stringent rules. I reached the palace to attend the literary festivals and really enjoyed Manu Joseph's interview by renowned sports journalist and writer Suresh Menon. Other talks in the day included an interview with writer Lijia Jhang from China. By evening I had started having a splitting headache and we decided to go back to the hotel. We were starving and were really looking forward to eat something.
The Bait Restaurant at Taj is probably one of the best sea food restaurants in that region. The restaurant is alongside the lagoons and offers a magnificent view of the private section of Kovalam beach.We ordered Mangalorian Fried Chicken and Fish Curry which were simply amazing and we literally licked the food of our plates. I woke up early next morning and decided to go out to click a few pictures. The blue water in the lagoons and the coconut trees along the coast made for a perfect capture.
Breakfast at the Jasmine Restaurant in Taj was lavish. There was a huge spread on offer and we were overwhelmed by the variety. The swimming pool by the restaurant at Taj is also quite extraordinary. We headed to the literary festival. I was eager to attend the talk by renowned former BBC journalist Satish Jacob on how journalism has changed over the years and modern day news/tv channels are governed by corporates. This was followed by an interesting interview with Anish Tripathi, a less renowned author and marketing/sales expert in the insurance sector. The discussion was based on how he had used his skills acquired at a B-School had helped him make a strategy to write a book and sell it. Book reading session and interview with Daman Singh, the daughter of honorable prime minister was also quite interesting. Post lunch session included an interview with Mohammed Hanif, author of Case of Exploding Mangoes. This was followed by the much awaited event of the day - a discussion on the future of Indo- Pak relations, which included the likes of Shashi Tharoor, Deborah Parker and Satish Jacob. The discussion didn't quite make any sense to me and was a sheer waste of time. I decided to make a move and headed to the Kovalam beach.
To my surprise, rikhshaw drivers in Trivandrum have stopped using the meter and have started charging exorbitant amount of money.In the inclement weather condition I was slightly hesitant to take my camera out. But the huge waves and the spread of coconut trees made for a perfect moment worth capturing through the view finder of the camera. I roamed around on the beach and reached the light house. I was quite disappointed to learn that entry to the light house is allowed upto 5 PM.The areas surrounding the light house offer the most breath taking view of the entire beach. It also offers a glimpse at the mosque located on other side of the beach, Fisherman's village. The light was receding quickly and it began to pour. I quickly started towards the fisherman's village to get a closer look at the mosque. By this time it had started raining quite heavily and my camera got wet. I managed to reach the village and enjoyed a few moments underneath a lamp post, protecting myself and my camera from the rain.
I decided to return to the beach and enjoy a chilled beer at a shack. Later, we decided to head back to the hotel and enjoyed the evening at our room.
This was a short but quite eventful sojourn and I would certainly come back to God's Own Country next year.
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