Jan 6, 202417 min read

The Kerala Voyage: Were the Chips Delivered successfully?

Updated: Jan 28, 2024

ReDkp

6th January, 2024

"The Coin Placements are meant to be shuffled if it demanded."

Disclaimer: This story is based on actual events, for convenience certain events could be twisted.

I have a sizeable number of friends and mutual friends from God's Own Country and they were all quite long friendships. It was a cool idea to visit their place all alone.

OPENING CUT:

October 11: As my eye lens saw its daylight on the second day of the TNNLU Onam Celebration, an important notification popped up... Thaan Thada Thaan...! The reaction to the same was being...

The Plan:

The context was clear, as soon as the mail from NUALS Kochi about the event reached his Inbox on 1st October 2023, the action plan was formulated. No questions asked! I searched for a team, but an unsuccessful attempt meant it turned into another solo mission. This time though there was a precedent to the planning since a contingent from TNNLU had travelled to NUALS earlier in 2023. That travel itinerary inspired this travel plan.

Side A: The D-Day Arrived

That weekend of October could easily be called a weekend for missions since many of my batchmates were off campus for their respective missions to different parts of the nation. I was also set for my small mission amidst the biggies without any expectations or pressure.

Carrying on the vibes of the two-day ONAM celebration at the campus, arrived the D-day on 13th October. To avoid the previous D-Day errors, the man left the campus as early as 17:30 hours despite extra classes up to 16:30 hours. As soon the time ticked 17:00 hours, the man turned to Agent Mode with a trimmed beard, bags packed and strapped. 17:45 and there he boards a crowded 120 A! No risks taken!

120 series ft. TNSTC KUMBAKONAM: The lifeline of TNNLU students

Refreshment Break at 18:15 hours ft. Bombay Badam Milk branch opposite the Central Bus Stand near KMS Hakims Biryani!

As the agent was energized, he started walking towards the Railway Junction. He reached there by 18:35 hours heading towards platform number 1 and entering my Thalaivan, the White Horse of Indian Railways, i.e. Vande Bharat Express. Train Number 20665, Chennai Egmore-Tirunelveli VB, was spotted entering Trichy Junction.

Starting from this Junction point for the An= A+(N-1) D times now! This is just some throwback to one of my Academic exes called Mathematics and her characteristic known as Arithmetic Progression. No Idea about the values of A, N & D though.

Some Insights from the newly inaugurated block in Trichy Junction. Left: A2B is superbly jam-packed at any time of visit. They offer both Self and Table Service (5 rupees more than the Self Service Rates). Right: A Village Foods Outlet.

16187: Karaikal-Ernakulam Tea Garden Express at ERN(Ernakulam Town). This train used to run between Udagamandalam to Cochin Harbour Terminus Initially.

Just as time turned some 4:50 a.m. just as the train set crossed Thrissur, my eyes saw the daylight for a long day. To not waste any time, those eyes took up further power naps.

The Train Entered Platform Number 1 of ERNAKULAM TOWN STATION. For anyone travelling to Kochi by train, it needs to be ensured as to which station the train has a stop at since the Kerala-bound trains tend to either take a bypass from the town's cabin and join the Kottayam-Kayamkulam Line or otherwise would be passing via the Junction to join the Alapuzzha Line.

As I deboarded from the station around 6:45 hours, I proceeded towards the other platform and refreshed within the next ten minutes. The mission always has some professor's coincidence. As I came out refreshing, to check the phone, I found a missed WhatsApp voice call from my Contracts Professor at 6:49 a.m.

As I gave a call back at 7:10 a.m., I heard a bleakish voice, "Hi, I heard you reached Kerala." The voice was heard with the thuggish effect of an LHB coach. The Agent was quick to realize that his professor at Ernakulam Town spotted him and since Tea Garden Express terminates at Ernakulam Junction, the North station was an important interchange point to go any further into Kerala. Sir had also boarded the same train and deboarded there to probably interchange for Chennai-Trivandrum Mail.

Views of Ernakulam Town (or) commonly referred to as Ernakulam North in Kochi's context

As this call ended, after a wait of 20-25 minutes, he moved towards Ernakulam North metro station which is half a kilometre from the Railway Station. The Pickup Point was said to be the CUSAT Metro entrance. As I arrived and reached the Pickup Point, I found nothing but a high road filled with KSRTC Superfast buses.

I contacted the allotted Point of Contact, I spotted the NUALS labelled Van. I found a surprise packed inside. I met my friend Steel 11256 who was a former TNNLUian, which was not so anticipated as a crossover. As all the participants were onboard, the discussions around the over-hyped India-Pakistan clash since 14th October have been counted for some time now. We discussed our hey TNNLU days as the bus pushed through a small forest-like stretch to pull into NUALS. As I turned around, the bus was filled with many experienced professionals. For one second, there was some apprehension in my mind about whether it was right to attend this event!

That Apprehension grew stronger as I entered the bull ring where the event was to be held. As time passed, I began to understand why it was an open event. As the Teams consisting of wisdom whites began to enter, the apprehension became a sort of soul-free approach since I had nothing much at stake. This was an opportunity to understand my range without any pressure.

Interestingly, the brochure had a familiar name to our batch among the organisers. A good friend of many in our batch, I did spot her but pretended to be a bit busy on my screen since it had been a long since I met the person and we had only a few words of exchange in the time at TNNLU and also didn't want to disturb them during the busy schedule. But my familiar polos and the lenses would get spotted anywhere and to my surprise, I heard a gentle tone...

HI!

I realised that it was the same person, despite her busy schedule as an organiser, I got addressed in person by my former batchmate, which was a reflection of humbleness there. I was overwhelmed since it was never easy to remember someone with the briefest interaction ratio even after a year. A brief moment of interaction made me realize that my confidant in the last mission had all the plans chalked for participating in this event, but due to certain circumstances, the Tea Garden Express was missed! My Honest Reaction was nothing but "Just looking like a wow!" throughout the two-minute interaction.

Finally, after all the technical delays, the quizmaster arrived and also a sudden team merge request. Looking at the circumstances of the open quiz, it was smart to accept that unlikely collaboration since there was nothing much to lose as such. We were promised that the event would end before the commencement of that much-hyped Indo-Pak World Cup clash. With the promise, the teams geared up for the event on their blank sheets.

From the experience of battling it out alone in the past, I always knew that a question would never be difficult, it is the way one approaches the same dictates the same.

For instance, in a video question on this song, the name of the director of this film (His recent work is Gadar 2) was mentioned and what was questioned was the character name of the corrupt police officer who was being humiliated in that situation. The Hint that was given to this question was pertinent to the history of India-Pakistan cricketing history.

We answered a good number of questions, and one of them was this question! For an agent nicknamed or mocked as the "Harsha Bhogle of TNNLU," and as someone who took the initiative to explain components of vectors during the physics lecture with an example of pitch rollers, something that happened in class 11 during the online classes, this question was to be a cakewalk right! Well, certainly not, since this was a team event and convincing my team with conviction was always a task since we were initially leaning towards IMRAN!

Logic: The last time Dharam Paaji looked this young should have been in the late 80s and Anil Sharma should have started his career around the same time. Looking at the Indo-Pak cricketing rivalry was fueled after the Sharjah Cup defeat that India faced in 1986. The VILLAIN of the defeat from the other side should have been the most hated Pakistani, and Anil Sharma's ideological reflection made one point clear. Javed Miandad was in general the most hated cricketer at that point. So....

Final Answer: INSPECTOR JAVED TO BE LOCKED...

It might look like the Kerala High Court, but entering and exiting TNNLU always hits differently. Nothing matches the agent's emotional ties with TNNLU and K.V.D.R.D.O. though!

After facing the question set, our proceedings ended within round one. We lost qualifications by four to five points from the score that we should have secured post all the corrections and discussions. Shaking hands with my one-day teammates and moved out of the hall accepting my defeat, despite there being an option to be seated as an audience in the proceedings of the final round. I met my friends earlier and clicked a selfie with them as a token of memory to convey warm regards to the TNNLU Community from our neighbours NUALS. After a brief exchange of thought processes, feeling like visiting a home centre, I left the campus for the voyage ahead!

Side B: Procuring Yellow Chips

The time-stamped 13:30 hours and understanding that I had of Kochi by that point was that though there existed a decent metro network, the bus connectivity was very bleak. There were just private operators for urban transit and this became a big headache since I prefer to travel through budget-friendly modes of transportation, to save up the rest of the budget for food and accommodation.

As per my friend Steel 11256's advice, I searched for OLA and Uber to Kalamassery Metro from the campus, but looking at those fares seemingly burst the budget meter. The distance between both points was 5.5 kilometres as per Google Maps. So, I decided to cover a distance of two kilometres to try my luck of getting a bus to reach the nearest metro. Else, plan B was auto upto the metro after walking those two kilometres. Did luck favour the brave? I had already too much, so it was not to favour so?

After 20 minutes of walking, realizing it was getting too late, so I executed plan B and by 14:30 the agent was found procuring yellow chips packets at Aluva since he heard that the chips were famous in that locality of Ernakulam or Kochi (Whatsoever it should be). After loitering around for an hour at Aluva, I realised that for any further exploration, I had to decrease my shoulder baggage.

A Typical setup of a backpacker's hostel! Bunker Beds, Common Area and all! THE BEST STAY OPTION FOR SOLO OR FRIENDLY EXPEDITIONS!

So, I proceeded towards Maharajas College Ground located some one kilometre away from the Ernakulam Junction, and arrived after a good 45-50 minute ride in the Kochi Metro. Then came the accommodation point that I had chosen to halt for the day. As I checked in, I locked my baggage to security and resting was always a choice, not an option or vice-versa but certainly a mini-exploration was the norm since I had already missed a probable Jodhpur travel either.

As per the plan, water metro exploration was all but certain with the possibility of a Fort Kochi visit. This came into being after a discussion with my best friend ANNABOND ( Just his code name changed from Aditha Karikalan to ANNABOND for certain combinations. ANNABOND in memories of APPU could be some tribute though). He happened to visit Kochi a couple of months after this mission. So his insights proved to be imperative for the whole plan as whole.

The Kerala Lotteries and instant connect date back to the Contract Law lectures!

During the Hyderabad mission, I felt the shaky effect of travelling on trains for the next three to four days as a side effect of consecutive travelling. Hence, a visit to God's own country had to be relatively hassle-free. Though destiny had other ideas, this move proved to be a masterstroke that prevented me from getting water washed...

Side C: The Rain Gods had other ideas...

After setting up everything, the next task was to find the nearest water metro route from Maharajas College. The research showed that the High Court Water metro was the nearest and there were frequent operations of Vessels to Vypin. The next moment I uttered:

Les GO! KA KA KA PO!

The distance by walk was approximately 2.5 kilometres via MARINE DRIVE. Though metro connectivity was available, it also demanded 1.5 kilometres of walk to the water metro station. Moreover, why would one miss the breezy late monsoon evening? But this dud proved to be the turning point of the whole voyage. Before stepping out, near the reception, I gazed into the much-hyped clash running on the TV set. My cricketing predictions turned out to be true since the Indian Bowlers and the Crowd were humbling the Pakistani Batting Lineup. The stage was almost set for a Pakistani Humiliation, which seemed to be the most predictable script around.

After crossing all the beautiful views of God's Own Country, came the D-location. But by then, the time had already clocked 17:30 hours. This meant that the uncertainty around Fort Kochi came to an end as the plan stood to be cancelled. But the entry into the ferry striplike station delivered a shocker as there was a long queue for the purchase. After a 20-minute long, the ticket worth rupees twenty reached my fingertips. We were carefully guided to the Vessel all along in a queue. Our vessel was set to take off at 18:00 hours towards VYPIN.

This ride rekindled certain nostalgic instincts since I was travelling with the school kiddos who were on a day's excursion. A request to click a group photo of expeditors reached me and by the time all the formalities came to an end, the ride also ended. After a travel time of 15-20 minutes, the vessel pushed into Vypin. Since the return vessel; was 20 minutes later, I clicked certain visuals around Vypin. As I returned to the High Court Metro around 18:50 hours, the shock of life awaited me.

The Kerala Monsoon showed its true colours. What ra Sudeep, how come everything is coming together so well was something I thought and the rest was history. Initially, it looked like passing showers but then... Rain God was in a mode to test the agent's dare and temperament. As time passed, the intensity of Rainfall increased and as a consequence, the water metro operations were cancelled. My Voice in my mind was like:

God Evans, what if I were a bit late starting from Vypin? What if I were in FORT KOCHI and the rain unleashed... would have maybe turned Robinson Crusoe for a day! MASTERSTROKE! SAB CHANGA SI JI!

Damn, wasn't I not packing my umbrella,but why on Earth did I unpack? Why did I not wear veteran K.V.S. BLAZER, it was in the secured baggage!

The authorities were kind enough to let us stay in the station itself. By then, the match had already concluded, thanks to the aggressive intent of our team throughout the match and Rohit Sharma was in his best flow on the big day. But the rain never seemed to pause! Now it was to either wait for the rain to subside or to take an adventurous route towards the accommodation. This proves that even an Elephant could have a downslide since I did this dud of not checking the weather update before leaving my bunker!

The intensity of the rain seemingly decreased around 20:15 hours, but there was good enough water to watershed my shoes. Choosing the latter route, I began running on the scary Marine Drive to reach the M.G. Road metro station (It was 1.5 kilometres away!). The sea was not seemingly in a happy state, maybe it was mood swings! Just for a second, I spotted a mart nearby, so I decided to buy an umbrella to reach safely. But after a hunt, the price tag suggested...

" Better get drenched in the Rains! God Evans."

That decision to enter the mart proved to be a dud in a masterstroke. As I neared the exit, the intensity of the rainfall was again exemplified. The time was already clocking at 20:30 and the train was scheduled the next day morning at 9:00 hours from Ernakulam Junction. The recovery time would be clocking less than 10-11 hours before the departure from Kochi and here at this point there are questions about my escape into the shell without a washout.

At that time, I spot a man with an umbrella, standing at the entrance. Without any hesitation, I initiate a conversation, asking for help to reach the nearest metro. Like a fairytale, both of us tried to exit through the main entrance but we were refused exit since our bags were untagged to be moved around the mart. As a hack, we proceeded to the other side got our bags tagged and somehow crossed to the other side to reach the High Court Junction Point.

The Intensity of RAINFALL didn't see any dawn it turned more intense. The Roads were flooded enough to drown my shoes. We tried to look at Uber or Ola, but every attempt failed. So taking refuge under the umbrella, we walked down the road. Amidst the adrenal rush, we spotted a bus at the opposite bus stop. At lightning speed, bidding thanks to the Calicut Man, I boarded that bus and reached the bus stop. As the bus stopped at Maharajas College stop, I had no option but to jump off the bus considering the water level.

After all the adrenal rush, finally reached my bunker bed, all drenched to make peas with the chaos around. HUH, that evening was so haunting! Never travel anywhere without rainwear and an umbrella during monsoon tours. Else, the struggle will be real.

Side D: The soggy travel day!

Time-stamped 7:00 hours, after enjoying a good recovery time at my bunker, my eyelids saw daylight for a long yet greeny travel day. Just as I was about to check out of the facility, I found that my shoes were much damp and the onward journey to the campus was almost going to stretch upto twelve hours. In an attempt to reduce the dampness, I decided to walk as much as possible in the sunlight. Firstly, walking through the streets of Ernakulam for one kilometre, I reached Ernakulam Junction. But the dampness never seemed to have reduced, since the intensity of the sunlight was not that intense in the morning.

Something that was a must before starting the journey was a light breakfast. Worth 40 rupees, the bill consisted of the displayed items of a typical Kerala breakfast as displayed above. As I was waiting, to resist that boredom, I texted humane being to indicate my presence and that I had tasted the Kerala Monsoon as well! I had some instincts in my mind at that point, someone else also should be in Kochi, but I never saw this coming...

Through the chat, I got to know that the person was also in Kochi, stayed near Ernakulam Junction and the God of Coincidence was this text that popped up...

Arey Idiot I was there in NUALS TOO!

This meant that another crossover was always on the cards, but my logical silence and the person's logical Instagram inactivity meant that this didn't materialise! Anyway as I received my breakfast, I spotted the train rakes sailing into Platform number 2. I sailed through quickly either.

Train Number 12678, Ernakulam-KSR Bengaluru Intercity Superfast Express enjoys the highest priority after all the premium trains on the Kerala route. This happens to be the fastest train to cover the 305-kilometre distance upto Erode Junction. This train covers the distance in five hours and ten minutes as per the schedule. This train is also popularly attributed to the Gatimaan of Kerala. The train departed sharply at 9:10 hours from Ernakulam Junction.

Cloudy sendoff from Kochi, the third and Fourth Snaps happen to be the Cochin International Airport, located near the 'Angamaly for Kalady' station.

Daytime train travel on such routes is a visual treat in itself. The Kerala stretch gets much more beautiful on monsoon. The views are stunning for snapping at God's own country.

The Lightning quick Level-Crossing of the Alternate rakes of India's only Saffron Vande Bharat (The main rake was under primary maintenance in the Pit Lines of Trivandrum! Tough Luck) between Thrissur-Palakkad around the time frame of 10:30-10:40 a.m. at Mulangunnathukavu.

Then came that forest stretch of Palakkad-Coimbatore stretch. Line B through which our train passed was an elephant crossing zone.

It just looked like a wow! One Would end up humming Raja sir's classics to Harris Jeyaraj's melodies and whatnot. This was a dream click that sort of rejuvenated my photography interests since I am no expert. I remembered these lyrics as I gazed at this snapshot!

" Nethae thendral kaatraalae

Uyirai karai udaithu potaalae

Enaku enaku ena vaithaalae

Ae le le le le!"

Crossing that stretch meant that the train had officially entered the 'Kongu Mandalam'. That slang I heard in movies like Chinna Gounder could be heard in the station. As time stamped 13:00 hours, the train pushed into Coimbatore Junction and this region of TAMIL NADU has some connections with my life as a whole. ANNABOND, my long-time friend is a native of Coimbatore. One of my first friends from the University is from the north suburb of Coimbatore. A friend who surprised me with a Birthday Cake in 2023 is also from Coimbatore. I have had certain inspiring project collaborators from the Kongu Districts in the past.

As I recollected all the good things of the region, the train had already neared Erode Junction with a ten-minute delay. It was all sun blazing its guns in Erode. Such was the blaze that the dampness of my shoes had all dried up within 15 minutes of wait.

I exited the station around 15:00 hours and proceeded towards the entrance. I had to reach the bus stand to board a bus which was some 4 kilometres from the Junction. Since I was an absolute newbie to the town who was just there for transit purposes, I had some confusion about the directions. So I asked a man standing nearby in Tamil where would I get a bus towards the bus stand. He replied in Hindi saying:

Yahi pe Aayega Bhaiya!

He was a person who was speaking in Tamil on the phone just a minute ago! I could not help myself but had to perceive him to be a Tamil Speaker based on his Kongu Tamil Slang. Either he hears too much Hindi around or I was perceived to be a North Indian! Many of my friends on the campus realized extremely late that I was equally comfortable speaking both Tamil and Hindi.

I asked him again only for him to realize that I speak Azhagana Tamil Slang as well! But guess what, the information he provided was wrong! I realized that I had to cross the road to board a bus! He was confused either. The buses were to be boarded from the opposite side.

That man cannot be faulted as Erode Junction caters for a lot of northbound trains too. There are many northbound trains whose points of origin are from Ernakulam or the Trivandrum Division of the Southern Railways Zone (Not to be confused with the primary rake maintaining Railway Zone or Railway Division as such) that pass jam-packed via Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Salem and pass up northwards via Gudur Junction in Andhra Pradesh.

I then understood in that one hour there that in these districts the concentration of Hindi speakers is quite higher than one would have anticipated. This is no secret and this is not a recent development as such! Since the whole of Kongu Mandalam is very much an industrial belt. There is a significant downward migration to these districts from various parts of the Country.

Without much contemplation into the reasons for such migration, since that accounts for a separate universe of debate and discussion, and it requires I realised that the Kongu Slang was much sweeter to hear than its representation in the Kollywood pop culture. I concluded that Tamil is a beautiful language and every slang has vivid colours of a VIBGYOR and it is about enjoying the colours rather than comparison.

As I reached the bus stand, in the trichy lane, I spotted this famous NPS bus that runs between Erode to Trichy, so I made up my mind to try out this option via Nammakkal. As a consequence, I did get the Nammakkal Fort view. This bus covered 150 odd kilometre distance in some 3 hours and 50 minutes. Everything will be smooth but getting a 120 series as soon as possible without a tiring wait is next to impossible at later hours of the day. After waiting for half an hour, a 120 series bus finally reached the campus at 21:00 hours. The first thing I did was to throw all the fish load of clothes to wash and refresh. It took thirteen to traverse down the stretch.

The chips and regards both were delivered successfully to the concerned people! Eternal satisfaction! Feeling purer and reborn and all though after getting drenched in God's Own Country.

A SILLY POST CREDIT (CALL IT CRINGE OR WHATEVER! HAHAHA...) :

Finally, it's all PEAS or... something else was brewing...

August 7: Incomes a brochure... A shaky ReDkp from that hell of a Hyderabadi mission ignores that brochure. Time-stamped 22:00 hours and he hears a door knock... He finds his friend Spartan Bhai waiting outside with the intent to discuss the same brochure... Post that discussion, he signs in for the mission with the intent to work undercover until it gets official. This time he gets a partner in crime either...

October 11: As ReDkp's eye lens saw its daylight on the second day of the TNNLU Onam Celebration, an important notification popped up... Thaan Thada Thada Thaan...! The reaction to the same was a teary-eyed ReDkp. The Mail said that it's official, you are invited to a three-day party with the specification of the code of reply to be " I am waiting!" to confirm the receipt of the invite. We confirm the receipt. Travel Planning for the mission gathers momentum in parallel with the enjoyment of Onam.

November 8: The Desktop folder titled "Mission Redfort" saw its daylight!

December 3: Good to go Chief! Les Go! He heard from back home ..." This mission is the biggest, longest and toughest expedition undertaken until now, the conditions will be harshest,... It will require Tenacity, Tolerance, Judiciousness, Adrenal Rush reactions, and importantly Calmness. You should do it for them because you are ReDkp because of them..." He lifts the baggage and sails downstairs from his home to...