After hours of online research at various travel forums, endless discussions, and with lot of dilly dallying, I have finally called off my trip to Kerala. The cancellation hurts but then sometimes it’s better to listen to your head than your heart. I was planning this trip in Feb 2010. Before I start defending my reasons behind my cancellation let me first highlight the reasons why I planned this trip in the first place. The first reason is obviously our company guest house at Munnar. We have two suites available at the Yellapatty Bunglow at Munnar, which employees can book for a maximum of four nights. Munnar is a nice place and lush green. And green attracts me like water attracts a duck. So when one has the opportunity to avail such a nice bunglow free of cost inside a captivating tea plantation, one is bound to get a little greedy. And after endless attempts and lot of troubles I managed to book four nights at Munnar. I took great satisfaction in telling my entire near and dear ones about this booking…that this is Rs 6500 per night room and it is free for me. In fact I forced people to listen to it. I told everyone that I am going to Kerala in February. Kerala Kerala here I come!!The next reason is the backwaters. Honestly, even the biggest critic of Kerala will admit that the Backwaters, especially during sunrise and sunset are mesmerizing. And both I and my wifey wanted to see it.
The last reason was few Kerala episodes in my favorite program ‘Highway on My plate’ on NDTV Goodtimes. For the uninitiated, this show is about two hungry people scouring the highways of India in search of local culinary delicacies. The two guys (anchors) Rocky and Mayur had an amazing time inside Kerala. The cuisines they tasted were mouth watering. I am extremely jealous of these two Guys! I feel they have all the fun in the world while I rot in my office desk. I hate them. I will strangle both of them. Why not? They have the job which is mine dream job. Travelling and eating free. Ah! What more can a mortal ask from allmighty? So I wanted to enjoy what they enjoyed in Kerala. Ya ya….you are right…the competitive spirit. If they can I should too. Why should they have all the fun?
So far so good. Now why did I cancel? The reasons might look shocking to you all but to each his own. And you have to respect my points. Democracy. Don’t forget!
The first reason behind the cancellation is the stupid airfare. From Delhi to Cochin the lowest price air ticket quoted Rs 4500…that too in one and a half months advance booking! So for two the return airfare comes to Rs 4500*4= Rs 18000. I guess it’s on the higher side…at least for me. Last year I didn’t get a hike…and my salary went down a bit…the company tricked its employees playing the recession card. Sorry for grumbling. Coming back to the topic…well airfare was beyond affordability. And train will take two whole days that to after spending a little over Rs 2400 for a 3AC ticket. Too much! No affordable way to travel for me. I looked at Bus options but gave up the search in few minutes. I will grow old by the time I Reach Cochin.
The next reason is seeing loads of pictures of Cochin via google images. I have spent twenty years of my life at Haldia. And Haldia has a big port. Besides I have done lot of trips to the sea courtesy my school friend whose father had few fishing trawlers. So the sea at Cochin didn’t excite me. For people coming there straight from Rajasthan…it’s a great ‘Oh my God…so much Water’ situation. For me it was just a sea with dirty water. I have seen better beaches at Digha and Puri.
Munnar was exciting. Such lush green Landscapes excite the hidden poet in me. But then my travel writer friend directed me to similar landscapes near home. Nainital, Palampur, places around Manali have better landscapes. I compared the pictures with Munnar. Yes they are similaralthough Munnar has a little upper hand but then considering the huge distance and the expenses it calls for….well home is where the heart lies I guess!
The other reason is the various discussions I read in http://www.indiamike.com/. This online travel forum is one of the few respectable India centric travel forums. And there is a lot of discussion, hotels reviews, travelogues related to Kerala. Strangely most of the users discussing about Kerala are not Indians. Let me give you an example. A guy from UK have asked in one of the discussion thread regarding some good budget hotels in Fort Kochi area. There are total 21 replies. And twenty replies are from Foreigners – Russia, Australia, Canada, Toronto, USA. Only one reply is from a guy whose location showed as Mumbai. I went deep to unearth the reason for this. After some thorough research I realized that Kerala was never projected as a tourist destination to its fellow countrymen…to us, Indians! The state is more interested in Dollars than Rupees. Almost like Goa. And here lies the problem. I am unwilling to go to any place where Indians are not much welcome. I think ‘not welcome’ is a bit harsh when Kerala is considered but then this was the impression after browsing lot of hotel websites. Most have their prices in $...you need to convert it into Rupees.
So I have decided to cover Rajasthan, Himachal and Uttarakhand first and then proceed further. Kerala has to wait for some time. You might think this is a classic case of “Grapes are Sour” case. Probably it is. But then I simply cannot afford such expensive stuff at this stage. So dearest Kerala you enjoy the dollars while I enjoy more value for money stuff near my home.
