Back to Sri Padmanabha’s land

It was 13^th August 2011. Manu, Aman, Ayush and I were on our way to Pothencode in Thiruvananthapuram to spend a couple of days with Manu’s uncle’s family. The moment we crossed Kollam, memories came flooding into my mind. After all, it had been almost 5 years since I had been to Thiruvananthapuram. Since I had left home in September 2006, I never had a reason to go back there.

The uncle’s house was located in a great place full of banana and rubber plantations. Aman immediately connected with their grandchild Kashinathan whom they call Akku. This sweet little boy was a real chatterbox. His mom is a nurse in the Medical College and his Dad works with Gokulam Chits. The family really pampered us with their care and hospitality.

On the second day of our visit, all of us jammed into our car for a trip down to the Shankhumukham Beach. It was a truly memorable evening. Seemed like the entire people in Thiruvananthapuram were at the beach. The waves were huge and came crashing down, sending fine mists almost up to the road. All of us joined hands and ventured a bit into the water. The kids shrieked with joy each time the waves drenched them. When we had enough of it, Aman spotted the ice-cream wagon.

After a round of Cornettos we all were relaxing on the sand and waiting for our clothes to dry off when a stray dog strolled by and sat by Aman - probably attracted by the chocolatey mess on his face!. Then Akku started pulling his Dad towards the kids’ park. As soon as Aman saw the rides there, he was out of control. He wanted to ride on the train, the car, the plane, the horse and everything else that caught his fancy. We had a tough time controlling the kids. Finally we managed to get them out of the park with promises of ice-creams, chocolates and masala dosa at Akku’s favorite restaurant!

 

Although we adults were tired after all that hungama, the kids were still full of energy. Thankfully Aman and Akku dozed off as soon as we reached home. As I packed our things to leave the next day, both the kids looked upset. Akku came up to me, gave me a tight hug, a small peck on my cheek and enquired if we really had to go. I assured him we would be back after a few days.

It was a nice trip that Aman thoroughly enjoyed. He simply cannot stop talking about Akku to our neighbors. My only regret was that I couldn’t go to the Sri Padmanabha temple and Pazhavangadi temple. It was something I had been planning for a long time. But then there is always a next time…