Au Revoir!

It was disappointing to read that Jose Marie Cortes, director of Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum and his lovely wife Sayoko will be leaving for Japan. Jose Marie did such wonderful work for Alliance Francaise. The cultural programmes and music concerts held at AKG Hall and Vylopilli Samskriti Bhavan, under his tenure, would remain in one's hearts forever. French is beautiful language, quite musical to me, amidst all the european languages which has a number of students learning it at various levels at Alliance Francaise at Vazhuthacaud. I had learnt French in my school days from an Egyptian teacher. Egyptians and Lebanese have French as their second language after Arabic. Both my children enjoyed learning French for 2 years back in their school days. My son used to encourage me to revive my knowledge of French by enrolling at Alliance Francaise. Unfortunately my busy schedule didn't permit me to persue the beautiful language.

The musical interludes held on World Music day, where anyone could regsiter and sing was an opportunity for non-professional singers whose voices were heard and appreciated. The painting and sculpture exhibitions held at Alliance Francaise are things an art lover should never miss in Trivandrum. They made Trivandrum their home and Jean Claude takes back to Japan with him a Ganesha and the knowledge and benefits of yoga. He calls Ganesha, the God of Help. One of the unforgettable experiences I had was enjoying a Kathakali puppet show organized by Alliance Francaise. Shadow shows, poetry recitations from poets hailing from various parts of the world, pop and rock concerts, photography exhibitions, French film screening and so much more. I hope we would still continue to have all the cultural fete even after Jose Marie moves to Japan. I was surprised to know his wife plans to carry with her the 'puttu kutti' and even more surprised to know that she prepares 'puttu' . And they would carry for ever in their hearts memories of Trivandrum.

A MOTHER'S PRESENCE

My maternal uncle's wife and favourite aunt came to spend a week with me and touched my life with the kind of companionship and love only a mother would impart. Aunty has always been there in my life. As a child I was in awe of her whenever I went to spend holidays in Chennai. I loved accompanying her to the Navy Office where she was an Officer. Like a fairy godmother she would grant my every wish and take me to places of interest and movies and pamper me with icecreams. I remembered describing very poetically to my mother about Aunty's beauty, poise, elegance and her kind heartedness.

During her visit to Trivandrum last week, I wanted her to have an equally memorable time close to what she gave me as a young child. Her visit was like a blessing. Together we visited many a magnificent temples and the most memorable being Nagercoil, Suchindram and Kanyakumari. At Nagercoil, we feasted on fresh hot jaleibis being made at a temple festival. At Kanyakumari she enjoyed the peace and tranquility at the Vivekananda Rock. The Tiruvalluvar statue was under renovation. His quotations and poetry are as powerful and spiritual as Kabir's dohas. We didnot miss washing our feet at the Triveni Sangamam, the confluence of the Bay of Bengal, Arabian sea and Indian Ocean. Across the Arabian sea is my other abode I thought, when a dumb and deaf lady thrusted some beaded chains at my face trying to sell them with hand actions, to which I said 'no'. My attention shifted to her walking away to join a man selling tea and I saw her sipping tea and talking quite well. Would have been a perfect subject and story for a 5 minute mobile camera movie (with permission ofcourse).

Although Aunty believes Chennai to be the best city in India, I know she had a great time in Trivandrum as well, her very first visit having been for memorable darshan of Padmanabhaswamy and Pazhavangadi Ganesha before she toured our little city. As I bid goodbye to my lovely aunt, I couldnt help feeling the same...she is so elegant and poised, both sweet and soft spoken. As she hugged me and thanked me, she parted with 'you are like my daughter' . I was reminded of my favourite sloka in Hanuman Chalisa...when Laskhman was revived by Hanuman with herbal medicines from a coma, Rama hugged Hanuman and said, you are to me like my brother Barath.

WHAT'S THE PRICE

My aunt wanting to buy a pair of sandals, my daughter and I guided her to a shop, where she found the sandals of her choice. I noticed there was no MRP marked on the sandals nor in the box it is packed in. Don't we have municipality inspection to ensure regulations are followed, to protect the consumers. For a simple pair of sandals, the salesman quoted an exorbitant price of 495. I wondered why wasnt it being priced at a round figure of 500 instead 495. His sales techniques to encourage my aunt to purchase the sandal bore fruit as I found her making up her mind to settle for the sandal she felt she would walk in comfort. He promised the sandals would last till eternity (to our amusement). When she asked for a discount, a whole drama unfolded. He said the last price would be 460/- and my aunt was prepared to buy it if it were 420/-rs to which he moaned and pleaded that it would be impossible and they would make no profit. My aunt returned the sandals took her money back and was leaving the shop, when the salesman told her she can have it after trying to cajole her to pay 430/- to which she refused. However, she did eventually come home with simple, yet elegant sandals for rs. 420/-. I felt he still made a good profit. There has to be a way to check rising prices and ensure that MRP is marked. Until then, consumers beware!

24 HOURS

If the day had more than 24 hours, a lot more could be done or there would more time to sleep or relax. But since it isn't the case, one has to suffice with and do whatever one wants in 24 hours. Every day you have this allowance of 24 hours and sometimes you wish it flew by quickly and sometimes you wish the day shouldn't end. In my case, the 24 hours I get, speeds by ever so quickly. Everyday your experiences within 24 hours is never the same as any previous set. What you chose to think, say and do, the varied choices you make conciously or subconsciously, wisely or foolishly, selflessly or selfishly, caringly or uncaringly, intelligently or unintelligently, kindly or unkindly decides your tomorrow, decides your relationships, in short makes or mars.

Whatever be it, you are given a fresh, a whole new set of 24 hours each day to sow your seeds and reap your harvest.

SIX WONDERFUL HOURS AT FORT COCHIN

My first tryst with residents of Fort Cochin was in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion of 1990. Visiting them and spending time in their company sometimes made us forget we were caught in a war with enemy soldiers all around, all the time with guns and ammunitions. Perhaps it was their humour laden dialect and accent that amused us profusely. The laughter filled conversations, humourous anecdotes and their positive vibrant energy must owe to the general carefree and kind spirit of the people of Fort Cochin. The stories and history of Fort Cochin resonated in my mind as I travelled in the cab from Ernakulam city to Fort Cochin.

It was raining heavily and I couldnt make out much as the sky and the sea were so grey and merged to appear like a dark grey blanket. Yet my determination despite the rain manifested into sheer joy upon visiting so many places. The Dutch palace hardly seemed like a palace from the outside, but some renovation could restore its outer deteriorating appearance. It was filled with awesome paintings, guns, knives and war equipments from the past. The Jewish Synagogue wasnt too far from there and I felt blessed to visit the place and sit on the benches where, way back in the past must have sat jews who prayed for their bretheren and themselves to be able to return Israel. I was told there are still eight jewish families residing in the Jewish street. Every Saturday they would gather to hold their prayers from the Torah and Talmud. I have always found hebrew script fascinating - and the speech so close to arabic. Infact the hebrew script can go for an improvised version of hierogliphics. I exited from the synagogue and headed for the explicit antique shops in the Jewish streets.

The rains had stopped and the streets laden with tourists are different from any other streets compared to our cities. The infrastructure and layout is perhaps from several centuries ago influenced by Dutch and Portuguese invasions.

My next visit was to the Jain Temple. A lot of Gujarathi jains were present there. The priest was pleasantly surprised to see a non-jain and he was kind enough to take me around the temple, the interiors of which was entirely and exquisitely tiled with superior marble imported from Jaipur. There were statues and paintings of the ten teerthankaras and I looked for Mahavira and there was this beautifully and gracefully adorned Mahavira statue. The priest gave me pedas and besan ladoos as prasad which I ate in the taxi. The driver refused to partake any saying he was a 'christian'. The St.Francis Church is a fine example of a great architectural work from the past and a visit there would have one experiencing a certain divinity and calm.

A stroll in the Princess street is exciting and interesting with shops selling a variety of handicrats, artecrafts, curios, brassware, tibetian buddha paintings, semi and precious stones, carpets, wall hangings and so on. A lot of hotels and home stays are an attraction due to enormous presence of tourists. Antique and carpet shops are in plenty and a visit to well established ones would leave you spell bound at the collection.

The Chinese fishing nets are quite interesting to watch. Couple of fishermen would lower the nets into the water, wait a while and raise the huge nets and find that the catch is just a few fishes. Its tempting to go and try it out yourself and experience fishing - chinese style !!! On the pavement are spread fishermen selling their catch for a huge price! They were selling 6 medium sized prawns for 200 Rs. Across the ground are young men bargaining with european ladies and men towards their services of guidance and sightseeing. As I relaxed sipping tender coconut water that seemed like a litre, a young Arab girl from Oman began to talk to me. She had just visited Kovalam and was preparing to go to Munnar from Fort Cochin. Her family and she was having a fantastic time vacationing in Kerala! I didnt miss that opportunity to converse in arabic after a lapse of 3 years. The name Kuwait had her mother talking to me with great comfort. They were already addicted to tender coconut water. I had lunch at Anne's Residency, a homestay with a restaurant beside their well landscaped lawn and beautifully designed garden. The restaurant had a soothing waterfall. Then I went to the Portuguese museum housing various crosses and belongings from churches of europe.

A visit to an exclusive antique shop (which are in plenty by the way), had the Kashmiri salesperson take me to beyond the 5th floor, the terrace where the open view from there is just breathtaking. I noticed a lot of buildings and homes in Dutch and Portuguese style and in one part slums and another part in the far distance, the high rise buildings of Ernakulam city. The last visit was to an art gallery to culminate in returning to ernakulam city with a mental promise to come back with my soulmate to experience the wonder, warmth and historical extravaganca of Fort Cochin.

A MEMORABLE DINNER

Ten years or is it eleven...an unexpected joyful reunion of friends, a definite delight laced with nostaligia of a time gone by yet so fresh. I always knew they visited Trivandrum city every summer but this time I got the number and the meet up with two good friends and their daugther, an unforgettable brilliant student of mine was the one of the lovliest things to happen. My friend reminded me of strange cosmic coincidence that my son and their daughter share the same birthdates! There was so much to catch up at the dinner I hosted for them and we talked till late and it felt asif life rewound and returned to 10 years ago. We don't need a time machine to travel back and forth. Our memories and mind are quite capable of doing so. We didnt leave out the shawarmas, kebabs and arabic food and irani khobuz. Still nostalgic with one leg in Trivandrum and the other in Kuwait.