Pensive

    Train journeys provide ample opportunity for good conversations, either be it in a long journey or a short one. While travelling by train I could see complete strangers getting acquainted and involving in many interesting conversations with topics ranging from cinema, philosophy & politics, mostly the later & you unwillingly or unconsciously become a listener.         In year 1999, I was travelling by a passenger train to Vijayawada from Tenali along with 3 of my collage friends to attend a training session. To make the 50 min journey interesting & to make us forget that we didn’t get any seats and were standing in the aisle, I put a question to my friends.    “ How far can you see?”, I asked generally. First friend said immediately “1 Km, I can see the bus coming into the town from the highway”.     Second friend said, “ I can see the hill from the roof of my house which is 5km away”. Third friend was of a philosophical nature & said, “We can

 I had heard that Kerala is a beautiful state & now I know why its called God's Own Country. Below I present  my experience of the places I visited during November 2012. Itinerary  Bangalore  -Guruvayuoor - Kondai Lip Resort,  Cochin  – Alleppy –Trivandrum- Kovalam -  Kanyakumari.  Day 0 - 01-11-2012:  Bangalore to Guruvayoor.      To reach our first destination Guruvayoor, Thrissur was the nearest railway station. We took the Bangalore – Trivandrum weekly express & reached Thrissur next day 0445hrs. We had booked a local taxi in advance  for the entire trip till Kanyakumari. Drive to Guruvayoor was 40 min.     Day 1 - 02-11-2012: Guruvayoor - Kondai Lip Resort.     Guruvayoor is a small town with the temple in the center and lots of hotels & restaurants around it within walking distance from the temple. There is a strict dress code for visiting the Lord Krishna temple in Guruvayoor. Men have to wear Dhoti with no shirt. Ladies have