Arabian Nights 3

Rendezvousing

At last!

The time had finally come for me to head back to the capital of Kerala, Trivandrum, to meet my friends.

Random scenes from the bus window.

Kerala is one of the most progressive states in India, as a whole. Literacy rates are the highest in the country, at 94% (compared to only 61% in Bihar state, the least literate state).

Since Indian independence, Keralan state politics has been dominated by the Left Democratic Front, a communist-led alliance, who have governed the state on and off since that time, occasionally conceding power to the Indian Congress Party. The current ruling party of India, the BJP, a strongly pro-Hindu nationalist party, doesn't get many votes down this way.

So the Keralan state government funds a widespread welfare, transport and education system, and you notice it. There's very few beggars. Everyone seems to live in ok homes. The place is (relatively) clean and organised.

As a Westerner here, people don't look at you as if you're a rich alien from some weird other world. They don't feel the need to watch your every move. They pretty much ignore you - although they're super friendly of course, if you wanna engage.

There's a comfortable plurality of religious worship down here, with Christian churches, mosques and Hindu mandirs dotted all over the place.

Christian temples

Old Trivandrum

The cooling rain!

Uttapam (like a fermented rice flour savoury pancake), and fried noodles. The uttapam was amazing, the noodles not.

A Hindustan Ambassador, a local car manufactured in India till 2014. They used to be everywhere, albeit only owned by the very rich. Actually, they're gonna launch a new electric Ambassador this year. I'm shocked.

Idli brekky. Idli are little soft steamed discs made from fermented rice and lentil flour. Super delicious, with chutneys of course. The little donut thingy is a wada, or vadai, also made from the same flour and deep fried. They're the absolute bomb.

I walked to the airport to collect Ajuna, Frankie's daughter.

Beautiful temple

Bust of Indira Gandhi, India's first (and only) female Prime Minister, who ruled twice, and was assassinated in 1984 whilst still in office.

Local youth organisation flag.

What can you see?

It's a beautiful kingfisher

Keralan (speccy) martial art, kalaripayattu.

Modern greenery

Many young Keralans leave their homes to either study or work overseas. The most popular work destinations are the Gulf states - Qatar, UAE, Oman, etc. They can earn so much more in those countries than they can at home.

Trivandrum's new name is Thiruvananthapuram. It's no surprise that the old name is still widely used.

Friends Again

So Ajuna was the first of my friends to arrive. It was great to see her, and, like most of my friends from Oz, I haven't seen her for over a year.

We took a ricky to our hotel, and then went off exploring.

Ajuna, happy to drink coffee at the Indian Coffee House, an amazing art deco building, which has no stairs, just a long circular ramp that winds its way up, right to the top of the building, with dining tables all the way up.

The waiters wear the best gear, and actually the whole business is a co-op, owned by the staff.

Downtown Trivandrum

Big Ganesha temple

Sri Padmanabhaswamy

Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, a very sacred temple in Kerala, is, despite its humble-ish exterior, widely regarded as the wealthiest place of worship in the world.

It's true.

There's at least eight vaults under the temple, stashed with gold and precious stones. They've opened five of them, and the three larger ones remain closed. But just these five smaller vaults already hold what is considered to be by far the largest collection of items of gold and fully precious stones in the recorded history of the world.

The treasure was accumulated over thousands of years, donated to the temple deities by a whole succession of royal dynasties.

They include a 1.1 metres (3.5 ft) tall solid pure golden idol of Mahavishnu, studded with hundreds of diamonds and rubies and other precious stones. There's a 5.5-m long pure gold chain, a gold sheath weighing 500 kg, a 36 kg  golden veil, 1200 'Sarappalli' gold coin-chains that are encrusted with precious stones, and several sacks filled with golden artefacts, necklaces, diadems, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, gemstones, and objects made of other precious metals.

There's ceremonial attire for adorning the deity, in the form of 16-part gold anki weighing almost 30 kilograms (66 lb), gold "coconut shells" studded with rubies and emeralds, and several 18th century Napoleonic era coins.

There's an 800 kg hoard of gold coins in there, dating to around 200 BCE, each coin priced at over US$340,000. There's a pure golden throne, studded with hundreds of diamonds and other precious stones, meant for the 5.5-m long deity. Several of the largest diamonds there are as large as a full-grown man's thumb. At least three, if not more, solid gold crowns have been found, studded with diamonds and other precious stones.

Even without the larger chambers, the treasure inside the temple is estimated at around $22bn Oz.

Imagine how that could be used to alleviate poverty around India.

More local residents

Colonial era archway

Sidewalk puzzle. Why the condom? So random.

The old and the new. Families spend a fortune on sarees and jewellery for weddings.

Hand made birds nests for people's gardens

The latest Bollywood hit

Kovalum

Ajuna and I decided to hit the beach. We had to wait ages for the local bus, for some reason. And then when it finally arrived it was a shitshow to get on there, arms and pointy elbows jostling all over the place.

Kovalum is not as developed as I expected, considering how close it is to the large city of Trivandrum. There's a relatively small stretch of sand that was pretty chilled, we just sat around and watched the world go by, tried panni puri, little balls filled with a spicy savoury liquid. Ajuna loved them.

We hung out for the sunset, and then made our way back to town, and to the airport, to pick up Frankie. Exciting!

Decorated department store

Well I'm not going there then

Husband and husband, happy to finally be together again.

Father and daughter in the same state.

We dropped off our bags, Ajuna crashed, and Frankie and I headed off for chai, despite the lateness of the hour.

Of course we did.

Eyeing off

Phil arrives tomorrow, and we're all embarking on a new amazing adventure, a few weeks together, exploring some new and incredible parts of India.

How lucky are we? How lucky am I?❤️

Oh and yeah, thank you thank you thank you.

Thanks so much to those of you who have supported my writing by clicking on the link below and buying me a coffee (or beer, or tea, or shake, or juice, or any other delicious drink I fancy at the time).

Whenever I get a donation it makes me feel really good because it lets me know you're enjoying having some vicarious travel vagabondage with me.

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I love you unconditionally, and always will, you legends ❤️❤️❤️

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