Saturday, 14 February 2015

Journey To The Tip Of India




How does it feel to begin your career in your favourite city? Exciting it was for me...As I stepped outside the railway station and looked around, I saw the same canvas that I left untouched 10yrs ago. No, Trivandrum was not at all new to me...afterall,6yrs is enough to fall in love with a city. The AH SO FAMILIAR breeze blew my heart away...as it used to do a decade back. Something inside me always seeks a friendly wave, a warm regard from every place I go to. It's like asking permission to enter the marveling demography of the place, to turn the pages of its history and make my spirits aloft..my way of welcoming myself into a place and to stay.

 My itinerary was already charted inside my head. Shankhumugham beach.... Kowdiar Golf Club...Le'Delicious...Sindoor.... BVB...Kanakakunnu Palace...Pazhavangaadi and the Padmanabha Swamy Temple of the recent fame.. my heart craved to go back there, to get back all those moments that I once cherished and later left behind for something else. Least did I know that old memories always make way for fresh moments,which will again be sidelined for the new and upcoming ones.


ILP Trivandrum was a wonder in itself...being a Keralaite, the news was not as breaking as it was for one of my friends as I recall sitting back in my bed 4months  later..."As soon as I knew its gonna be Trivandrum, I Googled  and the map was guiding me down ,down and far below what I ever imagined...Hell yea Trivandrum was actually at the tip of India!!" .That was her reaction. No wonder there, coz Trivandrum to Northies ( this is not meant to be a discrimination..its just an easier word ) is what J&K is to me...far beyond my reach, up there waiting for my eye's retreat.....
 
Well, coming back to ILP, I can positively say that ILP Tvm is the only place in Kerala where you would see more Northies than Keralaites... Funny isn't it? I came here seeking my old city and its people, and what I see is a whole new world within itself, with people from all over India, much to my joy than shock ( I have an edge for Northies as I love to speak in Hindi ). And  thus began my three month long training at Tvm....with a tinge  of  nostalgia, a few apprehensions and heaps of  excitement!!!!What came next is something that I never ever expected...adding newer dimensions to my Ah SO BELOVED CITY, punching its mark forever in my heart.... I thought maybe I should pen it all down ,while the memories are still brewing inside me....