Pooram in Thrissur

Traveling without adventure is not fun, right? Well here’s a good one: we were emailed two days before our arrival to Thrissur (the location of Pooram- a gathering of hundreds of thousands of people) that our hotel booking was canceled.

Had we already received a confirmation email over a month before? Yes.

Were there any other hotels available for a reasonable price? No.

Were we really really frustrated with booking.com? An understatement, but yes.

That little bump in the road was a miracle in disguise though. My friend Brianna had been “couch-surfing” before we met and had amazing experiences to report. By the way, couch-surfing is an online community connecting travelers with local residents who are open to hosting people at their home for free. I had heard her amazing stories and was intrigued and excited. So, we went on the website and started messaging folks in Thrissur. Within a day, Aniket emailed us back and confirmed that he, his mother, and auntie would love to host us- unfortunately, his wife was out of town. His sincerity was evident as soon as we met him at the train station on Saturday evening.

He picked us up in an AC car and we all exhaled in relief of the cool air. He drove us around and showed us some of the decorations that were up for Pooram.

We arrived at his home around 10:30PM and his mother greeted us with a smile, broken English and mango juice. The next morning at breakfast was when we got to know more about the family. They are actually Maharastrian but relocated to Kerala about 25 years ago. I learned they were Jain (religion - same as my family) and began asking more questions about the religion and sharing what I knew and learned with Brianna and our other friend Mona who was traveling with us. Then I learned Aniket has a brother who in an architect in Ahemdabad. I left the breakfast table stuffed (so many mangos) and feeling very much at home.

Aniket walked us down to the temple area where Pooram was taking place. The festival is a competition between two temples (Krishna temple named Thirumbady and Bhagwati temple named Parmekavu) and involves 51 elephants adorned with decorations to show dedication to the temples. Here is a quick video from the day before of the showcase displaying what would be used to decorate the elephants. 

The festival goes on for a day and a half straight (7AM Sunday – 4PM Monday). The first event we attended was around noon where somewhere between 9-13 elephants walked up to the Thirumbady temple. From there they receded back to Swaraj Road (a 3 km road encircling the temple). After the event, we walked around and found some of the decorations for the next event. 

One of the elephants leaving the temple

Some of the decorations that would be used for the event in the evening

The second event we attended was Kudamattom (kuda – umbrella, mattom – changing) where 15 elephants from each temple compete in the changing of umbrellas. Each temple takes turns showcasing an umbrella (the middle one is always a different color). This went on for about an hour and a half as each temple showcased over 50 umbrellas. Over 100,000 people gathered to witness the competition and the crowd cheered for whichever umbrellas they were most impressed by. Each temple started off with mildly decorated umbrellas and concluded with polka dots, neons, and even LED lighted umbrellas.

The first elephant (of 15) coming to greet the audience of thousands. The center elephant always enters first and is adorned more extravagantly than the others.

All fifteen elephants lined up competing with the other fifteen elephants located about 150 yards away

Note the crazy crowd (entire crowd was probably 50 times this many people) and the fact the center elephant has a different colored umbrella and additional decorations

The final event we attended is called Vedikettu- a firework display at 3:30AM. It was a…memorable experience. Aniket reserved tickets for us to view the fireworks from a building on Swaraj Road. We were required to be at the building by 11:30PM, so in true India form we arrived by midnight. The fireworks, as promised, began around 3:30AM. What we realized first was that our definition of fireworks was different from Thrissur’s definition. What went off at 3:30 seemed more like bombs to us. I learned later that each explosion was propelled by a 30-40kg bomb that created a crazy loud flash in the sky and shook the crowd with its force. Windows in the building we viewed from taped the windows to ensure they didn’t shatter and car alarms sounded effortlessly. The “fireworks” were done by each side as part of the competition. After about 5 minutes of explosions there was a 15-20 minute break and then the other temple showcased their “fireworks”. After that round most people left. We stayed because Aniket told us the next set were slower and more beautiful. They were- similar to the Disneyland fireworks I’m used to, these were beautiful and colorful.

Aniket, Mona, Bri and I waiting for the fireworks to begin- I feel like 3:30AM in a terrible inconvenient time for fireworks

A collage of the pretty fireworks - after the firework-bombs were done

We were so fortunate to have an amazing host for our time in Thrissur. His mom (Shweta auntie) even gave us a cooking lesson the next day and we tried to make those Kerala parootas we were obsessing over.  More on that cooking lesson later. 

Aniket in center with his mom to the right and his grandfather's sister to her right, Bri and I enjoying the amazing food and company

Comical Kanyakumari

Our first stop on our South India tour was Kanyakumari- the southernmost tip of India. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), known as the wandering monk, opened an ashram there on a huge piece of land. He’s known for bringing yoga and the Vedanta philosophy to the west, as well as bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion.

The ashram there was very quiet and not active, like the one I stayed at in Neyyar Dam for YTT. Our rooms were…modest to say the least. It was there, though, that I learned the importance of plugging in my “Good Knight” (an electronic mosquito repellent) as the one night I forgot, I woke up with 16 mosquito bites…on my forehead. On the plus side, it was located on a huge property with tons of beautiful birds inhabiting the area and enlightening quotes scattered about. 

Peacock posing for us 

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not for every man's greed" Mahatma Gandhi

Sunsets and sunrises are a very popular thing to do in town and we tried to view both. The sunset was gorgeous. The town is known for being the meeting point for the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and Bay of Bengal. While that doesn’t actually mean anything when you’re staring out at the water, it was a beautiful sight nonetheless. The sunrise, however, was more of an experience than usual. First of all, there were probably 200 people trying to view the sunrise from the same location. Secondly, the sky was crazy hazy so the sight wasn’t really that spectacular. Lastly, and most amusing, everyone stared at Brianna and I felt like I was traveling with a celebrity. Multiple people asked to have their photo taken with her. So, I did what I thought was reasonable and took a picture of them taking a picture with her. So much comedy. I felt like her spokesperson sometimes.

Brianna being a celebrity, me being silly

The beautiful sunrise

With less to do in town, we ended up grabbing pomegranates to munch on and walking around the town close to shore. It was beautiful to see all the colorful homes and try to communicate with the kids and families.

Colorful homes along the coast

Dinner was eventful both nights we were there. Night one was another episode in Indian hospitality. There was a group of travelers on a yatra (spiritual pilgrimage) that wanted to take pictures with Brianna. We obliged and as they were communicating with her I realized they were speaking Gujarati. I was so excited to try and communicate! They asked where we were from and what we were doing there and then invited us for dinner. We accepted and dined with them later. It was such a sweet gesture and I was excited to explain Gujarati cuisine to Bri.

Typical gujarati meal: kitchidi, roti, sabji, and athanu

Dinner on night two was amazing (I’m drooling as I write this) because it was our first encounter with Kerala parathas. Oh my god. They are delicious. Our obsession continued throughout the trip and I’m pretty sure I have a pound or two to attribute to that obsession.

The most delicious streetside treat: fresh parathas 

Sakhat South India Travels

Sakhat means wonderful/awesome in Gujarati and Hindi

Post yoga teacher training (YTT), I met up with my friend Brianna who I met while working at Deloitte. She is spending 6 weeks traveling in India and we coordinated to spend time in Kerala together. It was so great to travel with her and we definitely created some lifetime memories. One of her first world traveling trips, when she took a 5 month sabbatical almost 2 years ago, was an inspiration for my trip. Check out her blog here: whereintheworldisbabyjewel.blogspot.com

Brianna and I en route from Trivandrum to Kanyakumari - Day 1 of the trip

We met at India Coffee House in Trivandrum on Sunday morning, April 14th. The architecture of the building is quite interesting- built in a spiral formation- and the food was tasty and inexpensive, just like the other branch I went to while in Jaipur.

Enjoying breakfast at India Coffee House

Building view from the outside- almost directly opposite the Trivandrum  train station

Note the spiral architecture

Stripped

I have stripped myself from the corporate perks. Officially turned in my company phone, laptop, and mifi. Will be deactivating the credit card soon. I feel lighter already. Cheers to a new journey and redefined values.


Heat & humility, here I come.