Drive vans drunk in Trivandrum
INDIA | Friday, 20 August 2010 | Views [428]
Thiruvananthapuramm, Trivendrum or Trivvy was a pleasure to arrive in, even though we were pretty grimy and tired after the overnight train. We headed straight to the Maveli cafe, a marvelous spiral building (though a cafe built on a spiral has some practical service limitations as staff can only see 10% of the tables), and our first introduction to the Indian Coffee Company, a co-op chain that operates throughout South India. The city felt immediately more relaxed than other stops in India - even around the station there were less beggars and less rubbish (note less, not none!). Kerala is one of two communist strongholds in India, and has much lower rates of poverty and unemployment than neighbouring Tamil Nadu and an amazing 97% literacy rate. In many ways, kerala shares more in common with SE Asia than other parts of India, much better informed and richer. Women walked on the street like normal people and everyhting. It's quite refreshing to see a working 'communist' system again after Cambodia. The Maoists aren't well-regarded here at all, the ruling party is the Communist Party of India (Marxist). CPI(M) signs and calls to strike are everywhere, as are people working and not just hanging around. We even saw a mini-demo. Nuala had the hotel room next door to us, and was happy to accompany us on our various unsuccessful missions like searching up and down dark alleyways for a restaurant that turned out to be closed, or trailing round the fort to find the Margi Theatre for a non-existant show etc...
Luckily they weren't all non-starters. Our meander through Trivvy, past various impressive buildings and the delightful School of Arts with a garden filled with paper flowers, took us to the public gardens an Napier Museum which we eschewed in favour of chai and chat in the sunshine. The park had a commendable no plastic policy and after miserable Tamil Nadu, it was great to see people using and enjoying public space. Another 6.30 am start was rewarded with a hushed welcome to the kalarippayattu martial arts school, where we watched swaddled men, one a gora, practicing their strange dance-fight routines. The leg-to-nose marching, stick thrashing/hitting and wooden knife swirling were almost mesmorising. It was a little disappointing not to see an actual fight, but still special to witness this sweaty training.
The Hindu-only temple is not so exciting from the outside, especially as it is being renovated, though an eager 'guide' talked us through what we might have seen had we been allowed in, then demanded money for his services. We enjoyed the Palace - our initial qualms when Oli was summoned back from looking out at the garden and told we had to join the guided tour, were dispelled by the intricately carved teak interior and a surprisingly interesting guide. He even managed to pique the interest of those who often rebel against any form of organised activity, whoever those people might be.
Onam is a massive festival in India, especially in Kerala where it seems to take on almost Christmas proportions. It's essentially a massive harvest festival, celebrated with dancing, boat races and processions. The start dates vary from place to place. We arrived 2 days before Onam festivities began, but couldn't find out much about what was in store and opted to head on to Kochi and see more en route. We all managed to keep straight faces through a laughable encounter with the tourist information officer - perhaps he was just filling in for the day - he thrust an ever increasing number of increasingly unhelpful leaflets at us, and asking him a question caused him to snatch one back and jab at random bits of text that didn't tell us anything. He fielded all questions by simply giving information about something else. The performance was enhanced by regular phone interuptions, though it didn't take any understanding of Malayali to know he wasn't helping them much either.
It was sad to say goodbye to Nuala part way down the train line, as she slowed to see more of Kerala while we sped towards Fort Kochi.
If you are going:
Don't bother with the tourist information
Maveli Cafe is right opposite the station
Maveli is also part of The Indian Coffee House chain which are good and nice to their staff
There are various internet cafes (all slow) on Manjalikulam st
The Margi Theatre lists its performances on their website. Don't believe anyone who tells you there are other shows.
- Url of Indian Coffee Company
