In My Orbit

Back in Malluland...

“Gods Own Country” said the board behind me as I walked out on to the sultry road with chaotic traffic and welcoming signs of 'BAR' all over on either side of the road.. “Things haven't changed much!” I thought on my visit to Kerela after a gap of 7 years. There was more of the familiar - my mind didn't have to do much of a recap - it was easy slipping back into the old familiarity - the Kappa and meen curry, the kitchen table and the alcohol interspersed with fish fry all seemed to seamlessly fall in place.

The next day as I got up early for my 7 o'clock meeting - I had another dose of how unchanged things still are - I waited till 7.15AM before I called up the person I was supposed to meet at 7AM. "I should be there in another 15 minutes!" on that optimistic note I waited until 8.15. The rest of the day followed a similar pattern. The way business is done in Kerela doesn't seem to have changed...what seems to be changing is the landscape - a lot of Mallu's who had gone to foreign shores are coming back to Gods own country to invest, grow and prosper - will these expats from Manhattan and Dubai change the way mallu's do business in Malluland or will they fall in step with them? Wait and watch is what I am doing but I must admit I am curious to know....

The wonderful thing about the trip was to see the orchids and the chrysanthemums growing like wild flowers all over the place, the peace and quiet in the by lanes where people still live in sprawling bungalows; and neighbours still worry about who is coming for dinner in the house next door and the way women still comb their hair -the twist and the curls are still the same! Less polluted, less noisy, cleaner then other cities in India and reasonably modern Cochin seems to me the ideal mix.

I've always maintained that a city can only be as good as the friends you have there - and as I settled down to an evening with friends I wondered how it would be to live in Kerela!