Sights, sounds and smells of “Ente Keralam"

                                                      

‘Beep’. I heard a message alert on my phone. Of all the million  messages I have received and continue to receive from my loyal service provider, this was the best in a while..probably the first ever that I was happy to read! “Welcome to Vodafone Kerala”. My train from Bangalore had crossed over to Kerala. The Bangalore- Kanyakumari express that I was on had reached familiar terrains.  It felt like bliss. My joy knew no bounds!!

 And I was welcomed by droplets from the skies above.

..................................................................................................................................................

I couldn’t balance myself and it felt as if every cell in my body was being tossed through a blender or a washing machine. Struggling to maintain my status quo, my efforts to cling on to the metal bar were in vain and I jerked in all directions; practical implementation of principle of inertia taught in Physics classes in school. I hadn’t been through a comparable feeling for quite some time now and it took my senses a while to comprehend this phenomena.

Eureka! I was back in one of the private transport buses in my small hometown in Kerala. Being away from the state for an year, my body had grown out of habit of this balancing act. Despite this momentary struggle, I was smiling to myself; for reasons I’m not quite sure of. I guess I missed this ride during the past year and the experience of being back on the same had brought out a smile from its hideout.

When I left the state an year back, I was not very fond of returning.

However, during my year long stint in Bangalore, I fell in love with “ente Keralam” and realised that there are certain sights, smell and sounds of God’s own country that I missed unknowingly.

The rush of adrenalin while on private transport buses that are participants in a crazy race popularly referred to as  a race towards death, the ‘ting-ting-ting’ ringing sound of the bell in the buses that marked each destination of this crazy race, the familiar call of the bus conductor “chengannure, chengannure” or the even more interesting “aluva aluva, nere aluva”, the sight of a coconut tree( a proud possession of every Keralite) in the front or back yard of every little house, the sound of the plunge of the metal bucket into the deep water of the open wells, sound of mustard cracking open in hot coconut oil; the aroma of this seasoning is one that brings you home...and do I even need to say I missed my "Kerala meals"?

The other day, during a walk with a friend, a thought popped up in my mind. “There is something else that I missed about Kerala,” I said.

As she looked at me eagerly, I continued, “The art of preparing a lime-soda drink. The beauty with which the shopkeeper beats salt in  the lime juice with a steel spoon, slowly adding soda, the fizz, the sound of steel hitting the glass and intermittent ssshhhh sound of soda. It’s a beauty.”

She laughed out loud. “This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard someone say they miss!” she said.

Well, it is true. Nowhere else have I ever seen such passion in making a drink of lime soda!! And I’ve always  been an admirer of the process.

It is difficult to explain these simple feelings to my city-bred friends in the metro, who may not understand the close- knit association between these sights and sounds and a so-called Mallu’s soul.

..................................................................................................................................................

The summer rains have been a relief that drenched the soul. The sounds of heavy torrents at night, lying down on a bed listening to those torrents drain down from the slope roof with clay tiles into the puddles again, watching it through open wooden windows of the old paternal home...an experience of rain that can never be compared to the same from the balcony of a high rise.

And now it’s a wait for the monsoons....and many more sights, sounds and smells that connect my soul to home.