As we had a long weekend we suddenly planned a trip to Kerala! But we read about the floods in Kerala so we cautiously planned the trip with enough breaks in between and carried all necessary items… I eagerly packed my notepad and pencils along with my snack supplies!!! I already wanted to write and share it with you all!!
So we began the morning after we cleared the Varamahalakshmi pooja arranged the previous day on the occasion of the festival! The drive was pleasant as it wasn’t too sunny or rainy either! We reached our native- Gobichettipalayam by evening and relaxed as we met some friends and relatives and had our dinner. So Tamil Nadu is the second state as we started from Bangalore Karnataka!!
The next morning- the much-awaited trip – we began early just to have enough time to explore and reach safely… so a lovely sunrise en route- oh how I love the colors changing in the sky!! How often do we notice sunrise and the colors amidst our routine in cities and skyscrapers!! The mountains, the clouds, the many shades of green!!! The slight drizzle was oh so cool. Hey look, we are going through a tunnel!!! It’s so cool!! “There’s always light at the end of the tunnel, ” Amma says!! But I feel we are the light ourselves wherever we go!! We used google maps to reach our Hotel- we got repeated warnings about Kerala floods and de routes… Anxiety was there on everyone’s minds but I realized we all cheered each other up and enjoyed every moment together!! We reached Hotel Srivar- amazing ambiance and paintings everywhere. We had many friends and family calling us often to check if we were safe amidst floods! We miraculously had a safe trip!!
We had lunch, freshened up, and had a good nap… By the time I woke up amma had done a round of shopping and picked the Kerala-style dress for all of us!! We had a quick dress-up and photoshoot – memories are screenshots of our experience amma says and clicks tons of pictures always – I used to get irritated, but now when I look at my baby pics I realize why it’s important! I even carried my Polaroid camera!! We headed to the temple- the experience can’t be expressed in words!! So calm, serene! After darshan, there was a deep Utsav where they lit 40,000 Diya’s around the temple! We all got lucky and had a chance to light them too!! Which was unexpected!!! We prayed, and felt grateful for every moment! Now I understand why guruvayur is called BHOO VAIKUNTAM- It’s indeed heaven on earth!!!
We also visited vadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur-a very large and spacious campus!! Siva, Parvathi, Vrishaba, Krishna, Murugan, Ayyappan! All stood tall to bless us all!! Hey, there’s even a Vyasa muni spot where we can worship for wishes to be true!
We always try to explore and try local foods when we travel- so here in Kerala, we enjoyed vellai appam, idiyappam, puttu with kadala curry, and also idli dosa vada. My thatha always says on every grain of food our names are pre-written by god!! So we got to eat yummy food as destined!! Grateful isn’t it!!
We visited Mammiyur Sivan temple the next morning- another amazing temple- my grandparents say there’s a belief that our trip to guruvayur is incomplete without visiting this temple! I always like the stories associated with every place!! So much to learn now??
We headed to the Yanai thottam next – omg!!! Soooooo many elephants in one place!! I saw elephants doing chores, an elephant enjoying eating, and another baby elephant dancing so happily!!! Another one taking a bath!! Some were standing! A few were undergoing some sort of training!! For some temple pooja, they said!! Hey, there’s a clinic inside for them too!! We can feed them too!!! I took so many pictures!! I loved this place!!!
We visited Bhagavathi temple and headed to visit my most awaited part of the trip THE MARINE WORLD- India’s largest public aquarium. We reached at 10 am and realized it opens only by 11.30 am so we took a detour and yayyyy beach wasn’t on our list due to floods but the time mismatch we all decided to explore chavakkad beach- a blessing in disguise isn’t it!! I loved the beach for its view, the sound, the sand smell!! Oh man we spotted fishermen coming back with so much of their catch – we opened nets and saw they had caught crabs!! So many varieties!!! And also we spotted a turtle hatchery on the beach!!! The sky and the sea looked like they met!!
Ok, so we got tickets and entered the MARINE WORLD AQUARIUM- India’s largest public aquarium!!! It’s so big!! Omg!! From the outside, it looks so simple!! There are 11 zones of aquariums here!! Each different theme!! We could spot almost every type of fish on earth here!!!! There’s also a children’s park and play area, a birds park where we can also feed the birds and take pictures!! We fed the koi Carp fish- they just jumped into our palms to take feed!!!! It’s so nice… koi carp is one of my favorite fish! There’s a tunnel aquarium here too!! Oh also there is a rain forest zone, igloo zone, and fighter fish zone, I forgot other names already!!! Also, there’s a separate zone for fish therapy- it’s so refreshing, all the fish nibble on our feet, it’s ticklish and so much fun!! We all enjoyed it!!! Anyways I loved the lionfish the most!!!! And also lobsters, aba, starfish, live she’ll, silver Arowana, shark, neon fish, fighter fish,
We half-heartedly bid adieu to the aquarium and cleared our room and packed and all set to head back to our native Gobichettipalayam.. on our way we picked all Prasadam, snacks like banana chips, jackfruit chips to give to all friends and relatives.
We reached our native by evening and relaxed while we met friends and relatives and shared our experiences with them. Had dinner with them and slept.
Early in the morning, we started back to Bangalore after visiting the party temple- remember the ducks from the previous story? We saw them today too!! And we spotted 3 peacocks sitting in a row!! How beautiful!!! Also, every time we pass by a village where we can see muniswaran idols sitting at the entrance of every village- they are huge with wide scary eyes!!! They are protectors of the villages!!! Like we have security for our apartments!!! Interesting stories everywhere!!!
Loved looking at green paddy fields all along! And hey the matter dam was brimming and gushing with water!!! It was very scary indeed!! We stopped and watched in awe!! Admiring nature, thanking for every moment, and being grateful for such a life, I happily thanked my family for this lovely trip.
Traveling always helps us realize how small we are on this big beautiful earth! And yes- please don’t use plastic!!! Carry your bottles everywhere, use all reusable things, let us reduce pollution, and save our earth!!!
Where did you travel this monsoon??? How do you like my trip? Anything similar? Please let me know.
Aaryan Vittal, Grade 4A, Ekya School, JP Nagar