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Labuan Bajo – the next Bali?
Silent Wally It was a rare event – Wally was quiet. And Wally was never quiet, as his friends vouched, unless he was sleeping nor still if he wasn’t staring you down enquiring after the ‘angle of the...
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Floats and feuds of the Pala Jubilee
Wrecking idol Trading and religion have always gone hand in hand – the unpredictability of one unfailingly appealed to the vagary of the other. Pala, flanking the fertile banks of the Meenachil River,...
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#KeralaCoastalWalk
As far as office rides go this one takes the cup. The fibre boat crested every wave at somersault angles and landed with emphatic thuds, each a sledgehammer blow from below deck. I sat close to the...
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Hawa* beach hacks
One of the funniest stories my dad told me from his younger days was about Sosamma who ran a roadside eatery. One day Sosamma made 10 puttu, hoping to sell each for one rupee. For whatever reason, she...
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Lighthouse tourism: Mind the steps
Dangerous steps It reminds you of a Grimm tale illustration – red and white striped delectable candy on the outside, lurking peril inside. When a ‘revamped’ Kovalam lighthouse – officially Vizhinjam...
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Dashing polyglot, brutal rapist / Some seasoned advice
East don’t meet west In most tourism hubs the underbelly comes cleverly right beneath the nose. It is rarely that removed from the ordered façade – that ever-smiling and well-groomed veneer which makes...
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Who will save the lifeguard?
When the rest of the country celebrates saving a life with gallantry awards, honours and cash tributes, there is a bunch for whom saving lives is everyday. Other lives are their living; on any given...
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One grand dream
The reception Extreme travel situations have sometimes forced hunger on me. While I don’t know about tasting blood as an outcome of absolute, continued hunger as some say, what I do know is that it...
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Your guide to a small Kerala hotel
“Hello! I am THE guide here. The writer was just trying to be more smart than what he really is by giving you some big ‘Lonely Plant-like’ impression with the headline. Like he knows everything there...
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#KeralaCoastalWalk: The warm, curious, sea
The earth may be cruel but the sea is heartless. Henry Miller, The Colossus of Maroussi. Heartless Filming the artisanal thattumadi way of fishing was secondary, the foremost task was to not come in...
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The great affair
Nothing moves like the road. From where I sat, staring ahead, I felt like I was hurled bodily into a wide-angled void. Into that bluish-green miasmic space between heaven and earth. Trees and houses,...
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Work, Love, Varkala
(This is a post on some people and events that led to my eponymous travel short. If it is the sights that interests you, just click on here here: Here.) Let’s wrassle The view from my embowered window...
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Zen and the art of motorcycle riding
You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig Riding out The mangy mutt watched me pack my...
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One night in Mannat
The balmy gale that was lashing at me, trying to throw me, became a full-blown storm now. Motorcycling toward Delhi along the NH1, I was the only one on the road. Everyone else seemed to have scuttled...
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#TomMama: Lessons by the sea
The young sand sculptor was visibly chuffed as he stepped back to enjoy his creation – a mermaid. Recognisable as one from all angles. It was his first ever work, he claimed, beaming. I expressed a...
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Ghost train to badland
The only woman passenger in the entire coach was furious and scared. Maybe she was furious because she was scared. As she huffed her way to the next, more inhabited, coach on the Patna Rajdhani, she...
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Snakeboat racing – the passion, the future and a controversy
On the ‘wrong’ bus My favourite pastime while riding public transport in Kerala is listening to conversations of co-passengers especially when they are talking into their mobile phones. Then, this is...
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Art Meens conservation
We are on the Kumily – Munnar route, one of the most scenic drives in Kerala. I am being introduced to a large canvas – from where smaller ones originate. There are two via options – Kattappana and...
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Oh, blogger!
(Buoyed by the inclusion of my short ‘Highway 666’ in ‘Have a safe journey – The world’s first collection of short stories on road safety‘ I thought I’d do another zany one. While the first one takes...
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Bird brain? Ask the butterfly!
Butterfly, butterfly Fly in the sky Butterfly, butterfly Flies so high Butterfly, butterfly Lands on my thigh Butterfly, butterfly Motionlessly lies Butterfly, butterfly Gracefully dies (Full...
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