opendurbar

Tirthan Valley, Himachal Pradesh

Just an overnight bus ride from Delhi, we disembarked at the small town of Aut, 484 kilometers away from the polluted environs of the plains. Sipping tea in the early hours of the day, we breathed in the nip in the air that inescapably brought back fond memories of previous travels into Himachal.

The place we had our early morning tea was on the banks of the Beas river, at the bend towards Tirthan valley, is quite aptly named Gateway Homestay and Chicken Corner. It is near the Aut end of the tunnel on the Delhi-Manali highway (NH 3). The river coming down from Tirthan valley is the Sainj, which is what the Tirthan River merges into at Larji, and we hired a cab to take us alongside this river to the quaint town of Banjar.

The Blue Sheep, Tirthan was our abode for this trip, and what a trip it was! For self-promoting reasons, I implore you to check out their Instagram in the link above or here: https://www.instagram.com/thebluesheeptirthan/

Why self-promoting? In the first picture on The Blue sheep Instagram feed at the time of writing, yours truly and a friend grace the top of a rock overlooking a magnificent view of the Himalayas. It’s “candid”! 😀

Upon arrival with jovial pleasantries exchanged, the sight of freshly plucked persimmons arranged neatly on a table for ripening in the sunlight greeted us. The Blue Sheep has great self-farmed produce, including a greenhouse situated just below the home. Apropos, I got a dried chestnut that I have added to my collection of souvenirs at home. In short order, we had settled in and were ready to breathe in more of the pristine mountain air. The activity for the day was decided: we would drive up the road to Bahu, a little beyond Jibhi, and descend on foot.

The view from Bahu was, as could be expected, spectacular. The range directly across from us bifurcated the view, with two valleys leading off to either side. Snow peaks were just visible over the left-side cleft, far behind the rolling greens. We had Chehni Kothi at eye level on the opposite mountain. It is a fortified tower, more than 3 centuries old, dedicated to Shringa Rishi, the locally revered deity (the Naina Bakery we bought cream rolls, biscuits and puff-pastry style fen from in Banjar had an inscription of the deity’s name above the shop, too). This is the reason why Himachal Pradesh has the epithet “Dev Bhumi”, or Land of the Gods.

A person our host knew offered us crisp apples, and away we went, munching like a bunch of Tom Sawyers. We literally took the path less traveled, the stones leading into the dense firs and pines seeming like the opening shots of The Blair Witch Project. I kid, of course – barring a couple of places where the view was barred by the firs and pines, we had a relatively picturesque descent to the road leading back to the bridge to Banjar (since we had crossed the valley at Jibhi to turn towards Bahu while going up).

At an outcrop hanging above a small village with a shiny new temple gleaming silver, we clicked a few bonhomie pics, and I got my ritualistic feet-dangling-off-a-cliff picture at this spot. The crepuscular rays painted a dappled picture on the mountains before us. Resuming our walk down, we adhered to the zero-trash policy and carried our plastics wrappers and bottles all the way back to Banjar. Every little bit we do helps keep the Himalayas pure for a little while longer.

A passing cloud cluster treated us to thunder and lightning, its little bit of rain passing over by the time we stepped up the shortcut to The Blue Sheep. The setting sun produced a chiaroscuro effect in the sky, and we ensconced ourselves indoors to dry out and play with Veg Momo – the canine-in-residence at The Blue Sheep.

Next morning began with a hearty egg-fried rice and persimmon pickle breakfast. The agenda for the day was momos – spearheaded by our culinary rocket of a person. I am all thumbs in the kitchen, so I could contribute little more than shelling peas. The massive undertaking was like one of the Masterchef Australia team challenges, and the outcome was ludicrously delectable. A variety of momos in the hundreds – I kid you not, others’ pictures shall show – with two dips satiated our stomachs to the point of bursting, fueling the age-old dilemma of craving delicious food without end! I expect some of us dreamt of momos that night.

Going off to sleep and then waking up with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance makes me ponderous. How do we attain Quality, or arete, in life? It’s similar to the problem of trash in nature – you must do your bit without succumbing to the overwhelming obstacles, or expecting a reward.

The tried-and-tested combo meal of rajma-chawal was eaten, and our host took us on a short walk to a teela, a vantage point overlooking the stream below Banjar. I took a time lapse of the shadow of clouds meeting the shadow of the mountain while we sat in the pleasant wind. Returning to The Blue Sheep, we munched some fried chicken in preparation for our departure, to the vicissitudes of sea level, and football!

Throwback to 2 years ago: Chandertal in Spiti Valley (Kaza)!

October 20, 2020 by opendurbar

Jojo Rabbit: Dressed Down

“It’s going to be intense.” Right off the bat, we know we are in for a rousing ride when the 10-year old protagonist monologues to his reflection. The German version of The Beatles’ I Wanna Hold Your Hand leads us into the opening credits after Taika Waititi, who is just smashing the ball out of the park and into space with all that he does these days, peps up young Jojo with Heils. It’s Hitler Mania, after all, and the upraised Hand is crucial. A power packed cast awaits us. Let’s begin Jojo’s weekend.

Taika Waititi’s latent talent has just erupted over the past decade or so…

One fun propaganda and training montage later, Jojo is face-to-face with the Herculean task of killing the eponymous rabbit. Of course he can’t kill it, and out comes the inevitable father-son comparison from the sadist seniors. He runs away, but pumped up by Hitler, rushes back to be the cunning rabbit. His bravado backfires, blowing up in his face, leaving him blemished. As he recovers, his mother gets him feeling useful, working as a literal poster boy. There is a delightful blink-and-you-miss-it switcheroo of Waititi and the real Hitler in one of the posters he is pasting. Returning home, his trusted dagger helps him reveal a hidden hole in the wall, inside which is hidden a most unholy Jew girl.
Intense angst and familial pantomime follow, culminating in JoJo progressing towards ‘becoming a man’, put almost exactly in those words by Sam Rockwell as Captain K (like the main protagonists in Kafka’s novels), who then sends him out as a metal man.

Kafka: where would we be without him, if ever we were to get there?

The obligatory Gestapo visit is meted out by Stephen Merchant with his usual self-mocking finesse and thin-lipped smile. An audacious gambit by the rabbit girl works only because of the unexpected help of gay Captain K.
The colors turn drab – blue, brown, grey, green – as the town prepares to be invaded, and Jojo’s mother’s shoes (red and white, my favorite color combo for a plethora of reasons) slide jarringly into frame just as a blue butterfly flutters out of sight after leading Jojo to her. The eyes on the rooftops look down upon the public hanging square.

The air raid begins, and the town is reduced to rubble because of which Jojo is reduced to foraging. Yorki, Jojo’s adorable second-best friend after the Fuhrer, accidentally adds to the detritus when distracted by Jojo. India is apparently one of the countries coming at them according to Yorki, but that’s small potatoes compared to Yorki’s bombshell: Hitler blew his brains to smithereens.
As a disillusioned Jojo wanders about the destroyed town, the German Shepherds, pun literally intended, are there at the end, as is gay Captain K and his paramour Finkel, in fittingly glorious flamboyance for the theater of war. Jojo rabbits into a hole. When the dust settles, the Americans round up the Germans, including a now-disheveled Stephen Merchant, and Jojo is saved, once again, by K.
As can be expected, brains-blown-hither & thither Hitler appears again as a dithering apparition, only to suffer defenestration. Jojo learns to tie shoelaces and snap his fingers, the mirror monologue and out-the-door scenes spiral back into the climax, and as promised, the rabbit girl and Jojo Rabbit dance to David Bowie’s (We Can Be) Heroes, which is also the name of an upcoming Robert Rodriguez movie starring Christian Slater, Pedro Pascal and our very own Priyanka Chopra, who was born in erstwhile Bihar (India), my home state, so there’s that. I dig spirals – the more convoluted the better.

The Last Word

A great watch, mainly because of Waititi’s irreverent treatment of a ghastly chapter in human history. Pinpoint production values, superb cinematography and an excellent adaptation of the source material (hence the Oscar) make this a must-see movie.

Fleeting Thoughts

* Caging Skies, by Christine Leunens, is the book adapted by Waititi. So there’s the New Zealand connect. Ever since Peter Jackson shot The Lord of the Rings out there, I can’t (hardly) wait to visit.

* Personally, I love the use of “correctomundo”, which I use all the time IRL. The matching mom and son PJs are a nice touch, too.

* There is heaps of snark, both in the script and the screenplay. Waititi’s over the top (OTT platforms are all the rage these days, aren’t they?) Hitler is a scene stealer in almost every scene he’s in, including the throwaway pan of him eating a unicorn as Jojo feeds on scraps.

June 3, 2020June 3, 2020 by opendurbar

Paatal Lok (Amazon Prime Video)

Paatal Lok

Chock full of vulgarity and mostly devoid of humanity, this series is a concentrated dose of most of the things that plague the elephantine and labyrinthine Indian “system”, which is a well-oiled machine, as opposed to the chaotic mess it appears to be, as one major character puts it in the denouement of the series.

It reminded me of Seth McFarlane’s Family Guy: it seems today, that all you see, is violence in movies and fornication on TV. Over the top platforms like Netflix and Amazon have made it trendy to create and promote shows that have gratuitous obscenities and mostly unnecessary graphic violence. I mean, where’s the subtlety that goes into treating the viewer as an intelligent human who can derive meaning from a scene? Instead, the creators go for titillation while staying just above the line that makes it fully pornographic or exploitation content. Adding controversy by using – yes, using – Muslims seems so easy these days, and yet draws accolades from many quarters. The mantra for these flagship series seems to be the good old “any publicity is good publicity”. I feel it’s a lamentable state of affairs as a viewer who feels uncomfortable watching such series with family, and yet that is the point: the makers want to portray the harsh realities of criminal India. Well, Ms Anoushka Sharma and team, mission accomplished (to say nothing of the stray dogs being ‘taken care of’).

Objectively, though, I must concede that production values are superb. I’m ‘Amaz’ed that Delhi police vehicles, settings and branding are liberally used. The ‘Prime’ character, while not exactly Elephant Man in terms of acting like the late John Hurt, can certainly take hits, both mental and physical, like the strong pachyderms. His path of redemption leads him through a maze and , ultimately, to the ‘door of heaven’ in the series finale. The story is good, with quirky characters and family matters galore. Fine actors – most of them probably happy at being given a chance to be profane on screen because that’s what grabs eye’balls’ these days, haha – come through superbly. Amazon spared no expense, and there’s a good amount of suspense.

Very little imagination or effort in naming the episodes, which irks me like much else about this series, except the main character. Let me give a rundown:

Bridges: ok, sure, nothing wrong about that, quite literally the setting of the main action sequence of the episode.

Lost and Found: again, cliched but true, a key suspect is lost and a key piece of evidence is found against all odds.

A History of Violence: ripped off. Blatantly. Look it up, if you will. It stars Aragorn.

Sleepless in Seatt-sorry, Seelampur. Wow. Just…wow.

Of Fathers and Sons: apart from being a Syrian documentary on terrorist training, it’s a little on the nose.

The Past is Prologue: is there a pun I’m missing or something?

Badlands: do we see a pattern here? Terrence Malick directed and Martin Sheen (more famous today as Charlie Sheen’s father, quite unfairly) starrer.

Black Widow: a tenuous link to a character’s behaviour pattern, and referenced by a politician in a rally, of all places. Plus, Marvel brownie points.

The Doors to Heaven (Swarg ka Dwaar): the most apt, perhaps, and fitting for the finale.

But enough deprecation from me. It’s no Godfather or Sopranos, but for a short, self-contained web series designed to drive up subscriber numbers, it’ll certainly (as far as I feel) net Amazon Prime quite a lot of the young, hip, escapist crowd looking for Gangs of Wasseypur thrills with gory kills and goosebump chills.

May 23, 2020June 11, 2020 by opendurbar

MCU Re-View: Avengers Age of Ultron

A full power action scene puts all 6 OG Avengers in one place, retrieving the Mind Stone disguised in Loki’s scepter given to him by purple nurple Thanos. Back at base with the scepter, Stark and Banner make a hybrid AI which, predictably and instantly, goes rogue after some introspection and a tete-a-tete with JARVIS. It busts them up, then teams up with two super twins: one fast and the other weird, aptly put by Agent Hill. These three chop off Ulysses’s arm, steal vibranium and give Hulk a bad trip, giving Iron Man a great excuse to break out the Hulkbuster, named Veronica. The Avengers get R&R at Hawkeye’s countryside place, Thor also takes a bad trip in a hot spring, while Ultron starts body building. He puts the Mind Stone to use, but half the Avengers interrupt him and get the body back to base. Thor gives the body some electro shock therapy and jolts it into the Vision, who is basically JARVIS and can pick up Mjolnir, just like Captain America (finally) does in Endgame, so he’s a good guy. They assemble to fight Ultron and his army of mooks while clearing out the city with the help of Flying Fury and SHIELD. Hulk is ‘leaving on a jet plane’, the first superhero death in the MCU happens, and the Witch-Vision shipping fandom is established. Ultron is vaporized and Thor lets Vision have the Mind Stone as (kind of) a third eye.

Joss Whedon had a lot of experience with the ensemble cast, so it was only a matter of having a good, tight script and screenplay. James Spader had the perfect voice for a philosophical AI villain, and mo-cap is just everywhere nowadays. Paul Bettany gets a body in the MCU, and the additional cast that would go on to feature prominently in Infinity War settled into their roles.

Stan the Man got Pan Galactic Gargle Blasted with his veteran friends from Thor’s round Asgardian hip flask, saying his catchphrase – Excelsior.

End tag: Purple nurple Thanos puts on the Infinity Gauntlet, setting up Avengers 3, or as we now know it, Infinity War.

My Avengers Infinity War review playlist: Avengers: Infinity War – MCU Review https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4xJ71rFfQQnI7Sm7Vj2NVPn7DsCFBuQn

Avengers Endgame – Up To Time Heist https://youtu.be/G4QMIaAjPjQ

Avengers: Endgame (part 2: Time Heist to Far From Home) https://youtu.be/4uPZGHiSsos

May 3, 2020May 18, 2020 by opendurbar

MCU Re-View: Iron Man

The one that put the MCU juggernaut into motion, which shows no signs of slowing down, just like RDJ and Team Downey. Tony Stark is a suave go-getting bomb-dropper, no doubt, but his funvee-in-the-war-torn-desert plan doesn’t pan out, leaving him with shrapnel in his chest. Ho Yinsen, who will be retconned into the opening flashback of Iron Man 3 five years later, saves Stark’s life for his captors, the Ten Rings (who speak Hindi, for some reason). Unfortunately, he also gives up his life to aid Stark in escaping inside the arc reactor-powered Mark 1. Getting back to the States, Rhodes, Pepper and Stane can’t hold a candle to JARVIS for fabrication tech, and oh yeah – Phil Coulson shows up at just the right moment, starting his breakthrough role in the MCU. With a shiny new Mark 2, Iron Man visits Ho Yinsen’s village to set things right with his own brand of justice, and gets rear-ended by an F-22 Raptor, but that’s small fry. Stane has got the bigger fish to fry, with a Hulky armor. The bald Dude needs an arc reactor for Hulky, so he takes the one in Stark’s chest, leading Stark and DUM-E to replace it with the original that was still in the box that Pepper put it in. Some metal-crunching later, Stane is hoisted by his own petard courtesy Pepper overloading his large arc reactor like a pro, and at the new dawn, Tony Stark declares “I am Iron Man”, kicking off the MCU proper.

RDJ was a huge gamble, which paid off handsomely for all involved, particularly Team Downey, who are now at the top of my “Want To Work With” list. Gwyneth Paltrow is a far cry from her Shakespeare in Love days, but to be fair, Pepper don’t need no Oscar (that’s Buster’s puppet, Franklin, in Arrested Development)! Jon Favreau sowed the seeds for their romantic arc pretty, pretty, pretty well (that’s Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm). Jeff Bridges got to shave his head and keep a beard – but not the Dude attitude.

Stan the Man looks like Hugh Hefner to Tony Stark, and with good reason – right down to the pipe and party!

End tag: Jules from Pulp Fiction has walked the righteous path on the way to becoming Nick Fury. He gives Tony a Stark reality check and launches the Avengers Initiative.

May 3, 2020 by opendurbar

One-Day Lightning Trip – Trivandrum, Kerala, India

I flew in on an early January morning from New Delhi, disembarking at Thiruvananthapuram airport from the flight at 8:30 in the morning. Just the previous day, my Nepali friend had enriched me with a gift from Delhi Duty Free, and with it driving my enthusiasm, I had packed my fav Unibic biscuits along with Alo Frut litchi and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Taking off from IGI Terminal 3, I had to go through the ‘domestic passengers on international flights’ route, which was something new to do, which I really don’t mind [when it] happens now and then
(Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down). A huge Buddha head is smack dab in the middle of the terminal, and makes for an excellent selfie background. I took a normal pic for the archives, and ambled on down to the gate.

A slight holdup at the entry to the plane let me take a pic of the passenger tunnel controls, which I will not upload. Suffice to say it was an SM PaxWay. SkyChef was the caterer, as written on the side of the delivery truck that was unloading food into the belly of the plane.

With the moon still high up, we took off as I made myself comfortable. Chilling as is my wont, I read an article about the Great Ocean Road, which is in Oz, my fav destination. I had the row to myself, and splayed out accordingly to catch forty winks. That wasn’t about to happen.

Our way in the sky saw us go through (and narrowly avoid) a massive thunder cloud, and I took a few storm cell videos. Around a quarter past six, the sun lit up the horizon on our left, and the moon hung around till seven.

A rudimentary meal later, I made a time lapse of the landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport.

I was part of the majority getting off at Thiruvananthapuram. Immediately on getting a network, I requested a visitor’s pass online, for the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Space Museum. A banana fritter and a cup of milk tea let me go through the official work without hassles, and I walked out of the campus.

Spotting a road sign that put Kanyakumari (we had visited it in March last year) at 111 kilometers, I also espied a doppelganger of my car in the by-lane on the way to the Space Museum.

There are strict no-photography rules in place, so I deposited my bag, phone and everything else except my wallet. ID check later, I hitched a short ride in a vehicle and was dropped at the Museum.

I wish I could have taken pics, but most of the exhibits are virtually viewable at the website. I watched the movie in the theater and went back appreciative of the Indian space missions.

Wandering out, there was a Delhi Darbar restaurant, which brought back some memories of Patna. A lunch later, I headed to Shanghumukham Beach. The waves were good and I tweeted a video of them rolling in and out of the beach.

Tracing my name in the sand to be washed away by the tide, I reverted to the airport and clicked the Kathakali dancer and Nandi (steed of Shiva, if I’m not mistaken) statues at the escalators. The sun set as we flew north, and I made a night-time landing time-lapse.

And that, my dear patient readers, brings this lightning trip to Trivandrum to an end.

I also made a lightning trip to Ahmedabad, and a fortnight trip to Manali – Leh – Ladakh.

June 27, 2019 by opendurbar

Vaishno Devi, Jammu, India

The True Call Of Vaishno Devi Makes All Pilgrimages A Success

There is a longstanding belief that once you have been summoned to the Darshan of Vaishno Devi, nothing can come between you and the glimpse of the trio of natural pindi that depict the goddess, deep inside a natural stone cave of the Trikuta mountain above Katra, in the Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir.

Katra is just over an hour away from Jammu, almost 50 kilometers of serpentine roads through low mountains separating the religious hotspot leading up to the holy shrine from the winter capital of the state, connected to all of India via the Indian Railways. A mass of humanity is ever-present in Katra, either going up to the Durbar at Bhawan for making the obeisance to the natural incarnation of the goddess, or returning after having done so.

Extraordinary Travel Experiences

CANNOT MISS: Darshan, or the viewing of the minuscule stone outcrops that represent the titular goddess. Straight after you achieve this main goal, it is imperative (according to prevalent mythology) to make the 2.5 kilometer climb to Bhairo Nath temple for your pilgrimage to be complete.
Ardhkumari: the natal cave here is also considered important for devotees to pass through at least once over the course of their pilgrimages to Vaishno Devi – many folk, including yours truly, make multiple visits over the years.
Banganga: this spring sprang forth from the place where the arrow of the goddess pierced the Trikuta Mountain – an arrow shot to quench the thirst of a Hanuman langur!
Sanjhi Chhat: about two-thirds of the way up to Bhawan, and the location of the helipad currently in use.
Shiv Khori: a natural shivling inside a cavernous cave that can only be reached by twisting and turning through the small entrance through the side of the mountain. Also part of Reasi district, make travel arrangements beforehand to utilize your time fully.
Rafting on the Chenab River: The chilled waters make for an exhilarating splash, even if you forego the thrill of body-riding the rapids between the Siyad Baba waterfalls and the bridge where the rafting concludes.

Out-of-the-Ordinary Tourism Options

Take a helicopter ride, very reasonably priced at INR 1,005 per person for each leg of the Katra-Sanjhi Chhat trip. Online booking is encouraged to avoid having to wait, but the high frequency of the choppers means even the wait times (especially at Sanjhi Chhat helipad) are punctuated by the exciting arrivals and nearly instantaneous departures of the artificial birds.

Visiting The Vicinity

Best Months To Visit: All year-round

Height Above Mean Sea Level: ~5, 200 feet, 1, 584 meters

Cities: Katra (base town), Jammu

Airport: Jammu; Heliport: Katra

April 9, 2019April 6, 2020 by opendurbar

One-Day Lightning Trip – Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

On the still super-moonlit night of 22nd March, it being just past the spring equinox, I got out of my comfy bed in the wee hours to wake and shake myself into action for another lightning trip – this time to Ahmedabad, India’s first UNESCO World Heritage City (or Amdavad, as they’ve taken to calling the city, led by its municipal corporation changing their name a few years ago).

There was still a tiny of abeer left on my face, a tiny souvenir from Holi the previous day. I got underway to the airport before half-past four, and had checked in for my 6 am flight by 5. Reading the in-flight magazine, I serendipitously chanced upon an article for Bluetooth speakers, which are on my to-buy list.

The sun rose over the clouds during the hour-long flight to Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport. It has quite a fetching interior decor, seemingly newly-built. Hailing a cab and setting off towards Gandhinagar, I crossed the Sabarmati River. There was light morning traffic, lessened by the surely huge number of people who had taken this Friday sandwiched between Holi and Saturday off from work.

A Beetle on the near-empty roads to Gandhinagar

No such respite for me was in sight, but it was nonetheless a productive meeting. A tableau of faux tigers in the lobby increased my sense of positivity, so I headed off to lunch at a Subway outlet nearby.

Gujarat is famous for the Gir Asiatic lions

Returning to Ahmedabad, my next (and only) stop was at the Gandhi Museum and Memorial, called Sabarmati Ashram. Situated right on the bank of the river, the eponymous historical site is tranquil, save for the occasional cries of children. The approach to the actual riverbank is gated, but the panorama admirably captured a wide swathe of the river.

Sabarmati Ashram entrance
Sabarmati River panorama

The quaint huts in the sprawling courtyard are testament to the simple living of Mahatma Gandhi and his cohort. Vinoba Bhave dwelt here for a while, and the photographs on display in the museum encompass all leading politicians leading up to Indian independence.

In a charming cottage was the shop offering cottage industry handicraft items. I picked up my usual keepsakes: fridge magnets, as well as a couple of soaps made or infused with
khus and lavender, individually – not in a medley.

The outside of this cottage had charming garden installations of plastic soft drink bottles dangling from three quite distinct metal frames. The bellies of the bottles had been cut away to plant creepers and small plants in a bed of soil inside them.

I took my time (it was hot outside) in the museum, brushing up on the struggle for independence, and finally stepped out to eat a late lunch and go back to the airport for the 1730 flight back to Delhi IGI.

Tagore, a luminary par excellence
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was charisma personified
The last Viceroy visited my alma mater in 1947

March 25, 2019March 26, 2019 by opendurbar

Kerala pt. 5 – Houseboat (Alleppey) & Fort Kochi + Ernakulam

Part 1: Trivandrum & Poovar backwaters

Part 2: Ponmudi & Kanyakumari

Part 3: Munnar & Periyar

Part 4: Thekkady

A houseboat is a pleasant affair, to put it mildly. Right from the outset, the well-natured crew of three made us feel at home, taking us along the coconut-tree horizon shore (which is ubiquitous on the Kerala logos and T-shirts, having seeped into popular culture as a representation of ‘God’s Own Country’ – with good reason) and near an island which lay just off the shoreline. Family pics were done above the prow, on the upper deck.

I got some great shots of the setting sun, including one in which the shoreline was reflected in the metal of the spheres that topped the guardrail posts, and the V’s of birds returning inshore to nest, long trails of black, fluttering wings making a beeline for their nightly haunts. Pynchon shows up everywhere, doesn’t he?

As dusk fell, we moored at one of the crew’s native village, going ashore to check out the sole handicraft shop and fish hut – just three freezers with prawns and fish. Selecting a tiger prawn was a no-brainer, along with some flattish fish for frying – I forget the name. I guess it is more than possible to identify it from its edible incarnation from the picture, but I am somehow less than inclined to do so.

The ocean sky at night is a wondrous sight, especially on cloudless nights such as the one I was fortunate enough to witness from the deck of the houseboat. Constellations are apparent, and the pinpoint stars bring to mind both Carl Sagan’s views on our perception of our significance in the vast universe as well as Incubus’s Wish You Were Here: “…the sky resembles a backlit canopy with holes punched in it…”

Satisfied with a restful night’s slumber, we awoke to a hearty breakfast laid out for us. I entered the appreciative comments I could think of on the spur of the moment into the guest book offered by the crew, and we reversed into the backwaters for the concluding leg of our southern sojourn towards Kochi.

Resuming our road trip with Saji, we passed variously-sized towns en route Kochi. A moment of serendipity, which is always admirable once experienced, made me glance up and catch sight of “Palakandi farms”, reminding me of a long-time school friend with Keralite and Italian heritage.

Kochi stands out with its brand new shiny Metro. After a meander through one of the malls for southern silk sarees, we left the city part (Ernakulam) and headed to Fort Kochi. Worth noting here that the mall entrance was framed by two tall multi-tiered dweepams with a Ganesha idol in the middle, and that the saree mall was on the ubiquitous M G Road in most Indian cities.

Crossing a bridge or two, we alighted near the Chinese fishing nets.

The graffiti on the exterior of the Cochin Aquatic Club was diverse, to say the least. A couple of signs marked out a neighboring restaurant-lined street as either Princes or Princess Street.

I’ll need to consult botany-savvy friends/people to identify the tree with huge, round fruit and large, open-petaled red flowers. We sauntered into Bastion Bungalow, home to the Ernakulam District Heritage Museum. A performance under the aegis of SPICMACAY was scheduled there, reminding me inescapably of their astoundingly mesmerizing performances at Sanawar.

A couple of photo opportunities presented themselves: Mom’s head got framed by stark (Marvel shout-out) tree branches forming a crown reminiscent of Hela from Thor:Ragnarok (incidentally played by Cate Blanchett, Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings’ film adaptation and an Australian thespian – I have a high affinity for all things Down Under). Also, a chameleon sunned itself atop the barrel of an ancient cannon still mounted on the Bastion’s rampart, facing the sea.

A truly beautiful graffiti of angel wings led to a Hulk pose for juxtaposition of power with purity.

We visited the church where Vasco da Gama was interred before his remains were taken to Portugal.

Coming back to the main part of Fort Kochi for a tour of the Dutch Museum, I espied a sign proclaiming the world’s largest varpu, a vessel made of metal. On that pursuit, I walked through the Jew town and crossed the Pepper & Spice Trade Association office.

The airport was a breeze as usual and I spiraled back to The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with this reminder in the in-flight magazine: