The day after my Kerala Show Business Debut at Dr. Thomas Mathai's house, I packed a backpack full of comfy clothes and headed off to visit an Aunty and Uncle about one hour away, in the town of Meenachil. Meenachil is named after the lovely river that flows through it... and thanks to the Kerala map now hanging in my bedroom, I know it's north of Kanjirapally and south of Palai. One hour away probably means it's like 35 miles or something... because of the condition of the roads here, traveling any distance takes a substantial amount of time. But our drive was pleasant... the trip was made with Chackochen Uncle, Ruby Aunty, and their daughter and grandaughter Sunitha and 3 year old Saira. Saira is an interesting child... she rules that household, deffffffff-initely - and we'll leave it at that. (read between THOSE lines, Mom!)
Saira and I had not hit it off in the previous week worth of visits... but over the drive we became fast friends communicating in some rediculious combination of english nursery rhymes and random Malayalam words - mostly I would make my hand like a snake, say "Pambh" (snake) and then pretend to bite her. She would then giggle madly and stealthily attack in return, chanting "Pambh! Pambh!" Luckily I know the word for "hair" too, so we had a little more to talk about (ha ha).
We reached the home of Lissama Aunty and Joy Uncle, and daughters Tintu, Taniya, and son Thomas Ooty. Tintu I had met previously... she's a rather serious elder sister type with a super giggle and a teaching degree. Taniya is a babe, like somebody from a Mallu movie that Mohanlal would fall in love with... and Thomas Ooty is the prettiest little boy the world has ever seen. But he's 11 - and I'm sure (and I hope for his sake) that his pretty days are numbered. Anyway, sweet kid - he kept both me and Saira entertained with porch swings, bicycles, rollerskates (over which he maneuvered the entire downstairs of their marble floored home with ease) and various other knicknacks. We went down to the river, which is about a city block from their home... a quick trek down through some coconut trees and bee hives, following along a creek, and we came out on the prettiest, greenest, most tropical setting one girl from Ohio can imagine. We waded into the river, right next to a family of about 4 girls, mother, and a little naked boy all bathing and doing their laundry. Three of the girls were having quite a time, giggling and then taking up a bit of staring at me as I waded in after Thomas Ooty... so I snatched out my camera and took their photo. I didn't really realize then that they were, very literally, in the process of taking a bath, and the resulting photo features the youngest one grinning from ear to ear while her sisters attempt to duck under the water for modesty. Very, very very very sweet. The mum then asked Sunitha and Thomas Ooty where I was from... the regular info was related, and we headed back to the house with a wave of goodbye and a couple giggles.
This trip was a fantastic example of simply going with the flow and getting fantastically rewarded with a kickass surprise journey: after the river, Tintu asks me "Do you need to get ready?" and I think she's talking about being ready for dinner. I put on some powder, wash my hands... and everbody's heading out to the car! Whoopsie... didn't realize that we were going all together to Ayyembara (sp?) - a place near Uncle's house, on a very high point, that is about 24 acres of exposed black rock. That description was very, very lousy. Try and imagine coming up a winding one lane road, up up up among pine trees and scrub grass, being surrounded by other higher hills and soft mountains, and finally at the top having the land open up to reveal a church (Little Flower of Ayyembara) and then the equivalent of an open, treeless field that slopes downward from the road, finally disappearing over the edge to reveal the entire vista of Kottayam district and it's hills and rivers and valleys. It was FANTASTIC! Take the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, turn them into dark lovely granite, and make them 2x as high and it's something like that.
We wandered onto the black rock after parking at the church. Apparently there are normally some vacationing foreigners there... but that honor was held by me and me only on this occasion, and a gaggle of drunk Malayalee men noticed that straight away and began yelling random phrases in English. Tintu explained them away by saying "They only have the guts to speak in english when they're drinking..." and we made our way down towards a point where one might not be comfortable taking a 3 year old.... so after a few photos there at the edge, we wandered up and back towards another end of the mountaintop, where a small temple to Krishna was being built. It was my first temple in India! But it was getting darker by the minute, and while the sunset was lovely from our spot I could only think of watching the sun set on Pacific Coast Highway 1 - lovely, but then you have 30 more miles of hairpin curves head of you, in the DARK. Little did I understand my hosts' plan - we would picnic on the rock, stay until the stars came out, and make our way back to the car by torchlight (flashlight). As dusk turned to deep, black starry night, we all sat and lay on the warm earthy rock of Ayyembara, sometimes talking and laughing, and sometimes singing... everyone except me joined in on a Malayalam song that sounded so pretty and sweet, especially in such a blissed out place. Saira started crying and saying something (she speaks only mostly Mallu) - and it seems she wanted to know when HER turn to sing was. She then repeated the chorus of the last song in the sweetest, prettiest three year old voice... apparently forgetting the words in a few places but otherwise making a very good impression amongst 3 year old musicians of the world.
After awhile the Mallu drunk fellows moved from singing film songs to straight up spirituals... a Ayeppan pilgrim started blasting "Swamiiii!" tunes from his parking spot on the road, and we decided to make our way back to the cars.
All in all, it was a very good night.
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