After an interval of 5 years I got a chance to visit Kerala once again and spend some days. When it came to choice of transport, I decided to travel by Indian Railways, I wanted to relive those memories of Engineering days when we would travel back and forth on Konkan Route four times a year. Konan is my favorite railway route, with over 2000 bridges and 90 tunnels, this not only in an engineering marvel but provides one of the best views in the world. Throughout the Western Ghats the big question is which side of beauty one should capture – Sahyadris on left or Indian Ocean on right. Since this was just after the onset of monsoon, we witnessed lots of waterfalls, streams and flooded rivers passing through lush green mountains. Konkan Route Photographs

Ten years back when we first visited Kerala (or actually entered South India) we named the whole area as ‘Jalebi Pradesh’ based on resemblance with characters of Dravidian languages. But it took only first three days to realize that we were studying at one of the most beautiful locations in the world. This chance to visit Kerala to attend 3 weddings was a golden chance to live those memories once again and I exactly did that.

Things were a lot different this time though, instead of going through the bad quality hostel food I was staying with a friend. The quality of Apam, Putt, Kadla, Idiappam and many more Kerla delicacies that I used to like had improved drastically. Luckily I reached Kerala on day of Onam, so I was able to enjoy Sadya. Not only once but thrice in just 20 days. It was also interesting to know different way of eating Putt and other dishes, with different bananas. And definitely I did not miss my favorite Malayalee dish – Payasam.

Sadya prepared by a friend

Talking about food, there is one thing I miss a lot, Sharjah Shake from Premier Junction shop. That shop used to be our favorite during college days. The milkshakes were so delicious and rich that if one has a milkshake from that place, he will have to skip at least one meal. To try the same we friends travel for more than an hour, hopped two buses only to figure out that shakes were not available at that time. That was a disaster, but we made up for that by visiting our other hangouts.

I had a chance to go to Marine Drive and take a boat ride as well. Marine Drive is an absolutely amazing places, I like to go there and watch sunset. It is one of the most calming experiences. Sun setting in the sea and lights coming on other side of city and islands, makes it a memorable experience. Other places I visited were the new malls that have come up in the city. I am not a big fan of the malls, but wanted to see how has the city changed in last five years. It was a surprise for me- inside the mall the atmosphere was totally different. Not different from other malls but from outside. It was exactly same as any other mall that one would find in every city, same brands, same toys and same people, it all feels like coming out of an assembly line. Photographs: Sunset at Marine Drive

For other weddings I had to travel to nearby places and one of them was Alappuzha. Even though I did not get out of the bus but tour through the city and going through all the places where I have been and highways near backwaters were enough to bring back those fun holidays we had at Alappuzha. Alappuzha is very beautiful places, a place where I can live. Only issue being my language constraint and vegetarianism.

My language was not as much tested as my last experience, but I had to travel alone, switching buses, but my GPS came in handy. One interesting incident was when a friend tested me in my Malayalam skills. I tried my best and asked for water but instead of vellam I said vallam.  Instead of getting water what I got was laughter from other side with a question – how are you going to drink a boat?

Overall it was a great experience, after years I was able to meet a lot of good friends, be in God’s Own Country one more time and enjoy the dishes made in coconut oil. I love the fact that India hosts so many different cultures, different geographies and visiting these places provide a new perspective and lots of learning. Obviously this visit was for a greater reason, to celebrate four of my close friends getting married. Congratulations to Anju, Cijal, Geo and John and wish you all great married life. And of course thanks a million to my hosts, John’s family and another friend for hospitality and making this trip memorable.

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Installing Chrome OS:
1. Install VM Player
2. Create a new Virtual machine (Blank)
3. remove HDD from settings
4. add new HDD ( from existing disk and point it to Chrome VMDK file)
5. Change network adapter settings to ‘Bridged’ to make network work.

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As usual, source this breaking news of Sri Lankan cricketers attacked in Lahore was twitter. I was watching India – NZ match and suddenly lost interest in everything. The first thought that came to me was Munich 1972. I prayed to God, not again. News poured in about some players being injured and death of security and I knew Cricket would never be same in Pakistan. Sports is for entertainment, we play for the peace, the game of Cricket is one thing that brings joy to everyone. Cricket is one thing that brings Indian subcontinent closer.

I pray for all those who lost their lives and for the speedy recovery of Sri Lankan Players. I am glad we canceled the tour. As Prem Panicker pointed out in his article “what-if: A headline reading ‘Sachin Tendulkar injured in terrorist attack in Lahore’ would have had cataclysmic consequences: nationwide rioting, and on overwhelming political consensus in favour of war.” I can’t imagine the consequences,  might be Indian Army getting ready for something big.

We all know now that PCB is in big trouble and when will next international match take place in Pakistan. And I see that will have a big impact on next generation of cricketers coming from Pakistan. One develops interest in the game by watching it a lot and when you don’t have local international games, it is very hard to achieve.

My biggest question is, what does one try to prove by attacking people. Specially when the other party is not involved tension. This time those terrorists can’t try to justify themselves, they try to justify always for wrong reason but this time they even don’t have that. Terrorism is no way to solve any problems and to attack people who have come to you country in faith is horrible. I agree with article above, this is all about Terrorism and no politics.

I just wish it all stops. Peace.