Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Kerala - Kasargod


BISMILLAH HIR RAHMAN NIR RAHEEM

Its again quiet a long time that I m posting on my blog... I've become quiet a sort of lazy. Yup that's the correct word to describe me as of now. Long hours of work, deadlines, stress all this has made me quiet lazy in my free time. I just wanna sleep or else watch t.v. dts it.....  Though there were so many things my heart really wished to post but then I would postpone it, some other time...

I really wanted to share my trip's pics but kept it delaying. Finally today I have the mood to do it. Yup therez work too but let the work take a back seat today...

BURKHA FACTORY








The place where we stayed had a lill burkha factory nearby. We visited it and me and my mom were really amazed to see quiet a good lot of work going on there. Neither me nor my mom had ever seen a burkha factory, we simply loved it. While I was busy clicking pics the above guy insisted to click his pic too. When I clicked he was not sure whether I really clicked, so he asked me to show it to him... So short of trust this guy :-)


BEKAL FORT

The owner of the burkha factory offered us to show his city around. I was a bit hesitant initially bt later on agreed. Alongwith my parents he first took us to bekal fort saying "kasargod aake bekal fort nahi dekha to kya dekha".  I was really amazed at his hindi as it had a heavy malyalam accent in it. I literally had to be all ears to understand what was he saying. He being a talkative fellow kept on talking all the while and I was simply smiling.. trying hard to understand his talks. If sometimes I couldn't get what he wanted to say, then I would simply give a blank stare at my mom who too in turn would smile.



This is the outside area of the fort. Here we parked our vehicle.


This is the main entrance..



Passage to bekal fort. Taking a right turn from here would lead to the ticket counter gate..



Here we are... the very main entrance to a very beautiful aura of the past..



Besides mountains, I love forts like anything. More details on this fort can be found here.



I simply went crazy clicking the pics....









I loved this space..... Was just trying to get the feel of the past....







We climbed up this slant structure.Though my mom was a lill apprehensive whether she would be able to climb it up or not, bt being a sport she did it. I just love her spirit.









The front view of the slant structure.



This is the chor darwaza. Its a small passage that leads towards the sea. My mom was not allowing me to go through it, bt like a kid I was adamant. So then yusuf ( the burkha factory owner) stepped in. He said nothiing will happen and then my mom had to give in to my demand. Later even she came along. I just don't have any words to express my happiness when I went into that tunnel like thing. I just wished I was born in dt era.



This is the way out towards the sea through the tunnel.























Yusuf was demonstrating every bit of history. He told that the soldiers would fire from these gaps and he practically demonstrated it for us. :-D






This is the outside of the fort facing the sea.








Lovely... isn't it?






























ANANTHPURA RESORT

Next day we went to Ananthpura resort. A calm and good place to rewind oneself.


This place is usually used for wedding parties, so a stage is built here.




















This thing fascinated me a lot. I loved the bulb placed inside the log.

















This is made of cement but the look is like of a wood.






Well my dad loves to play tabla. Spotting this matka, he started to play and with the sound of music yusuf started dancing. Though I missed the scene as I was busy clicking pics elsewhere, we had a good laugh later on..












This is the house of a very old king and this house is believed to be 100 yrs old.


ANANTHPURA TEMPLE


Same day we went to see ananthpura temple. It was in the afternoon and quiet hot. We had to walk without our slippers on, I would appreciate yusuf for being such a good entertainer. He never missed a moment to entertain us, even in such a hot afternoon..

























COCONUT





This is something which really attracted me as I've never seen such a kind of coconut. Having grandparents and parents from the coastal regions I thought I knew everything about coconuts ( Coastal people use a lot of coconut in their everyday diet). I've seen quiet a lot of variety bt I was amused to see this. I loved it.

When my dad asked yusuf what is the speciality of kerala, he replied wafers of various types. I said dts very common and we get it everywhere. So after some time he stopped the car at a roadside stall where these coconuts were kept hanging. He bought a few and gave us to eat. It didn't look appealing to me at first, so I told my mom to try it first. When she ate and the expression I saw on her face, I immediately took one bite and was estatic. After we ate, yusuf told us that we won't get this thing outside kerala, this is the speciality of this place. I asked him how is it made and he replied that the coconut is kept to dry for a long time. The water in it gets soaked in and the result is this soft and mushy coconuts. I did not buy his theory as I was very sure that if a coconut is kept for a longer time, it becomes a dry hard coconut and not a soft mushy stuff. I started questioning and questioning later on became arguments (healthy ones) as I was not able to understand his hindi properly so I cudnt know what exactle he wanted to say. Later on mom stopped our arguments saying dt it might be some other variety of coconut found in kerala only which when kept for longer times becomes soft. Gave Up.






I would really love to have this one more time... I just cannot describe the taste. Somewhat sweet, oily and mushy.... I told him that I will take some of this home while going back and he replied that it will gets spoilt the next day if kept outside. And in fridge it stays good for 2 days. I felt dejected as I had planned to make a sweet dish using this and agar-agar. Friends, if anyone is staying in kerala and if this type of coconut is available to you, I would request you to please try something out of it and post on ur blog... I would love to see it.



A HOUSE IN KASARGOD



I dunno why but I felt so attracted towards this house that I asked yusuf to take the car back and I clicked this pic.


MEHENDI DESIGN OVER  CAKE



Well, it is fun to be our crazy self at some new place where people don't recognise us. Out of my craziness, I clicked this pic in a shop and everybody there stood looking at me in astonishment. :-D I loved the mehendi like design over the cake.


SCENES  FROM THE TRAIN








Well now I don't remember at which place I clicked this pics, bt this pics were clicked in train while returning back. Trains are my favourite mode of transport and I just simply love the feel of travelling in it.