Wednesday, March 22, 2006

U Know U Re In Kerala When....

This post is dedicated entriely to the good old God's own country. N my own state!!!
It's actually pretty easy to figure out when u reach Kerala. I mean, other than that u'll see green all around. Few pointers though. Non-mallus please excuse. Mallus, please dont beat me up!!!

U Know U Re In Kerala When...

U see all the chetas n ungles on the road wearing their shirts tucked out, full sleeves, unfailingly (is that a real word???) folded up, regardless of whether they are wearing trousers or gud ol' mundu

All chechies n aundies with hair shining black with coconut oil, n a gold chain around their neck

Compound walls of all houses will carry painted advertisements, or the words "evide parasiyam pathikeruthe"- "stick no bills"

Every house, regardless of the size, will have one maavu, one thengu, n if possibel one plaavu

Every other house will have the roof made of oodu (mangalore tiles, i think!!). The modern ones, will have a cemented roof, with oodu fixed on top...chumma oru ethinic style ;)

Every second hoadring on the road will advertise some jewellery shop "Bhima Gold, Pure Gold"


There will be more bakeries, sorry, "bakers" than medical stores.

Shops will have names like Vee Tee, n Kay Bee, Jay Yem. (seriously!!!)

There will be more private buses on the road than KSRTC ones, And every single one of them will be lovingly christened "Robin" or "Shlimar" or "Gurudeva", or if u re in Cochin- Kottayam side, it will be "St.George", "St.Jude", "St.Joeseph".

Oh well, guess thats what makes this place so damn special!
No place like home!!!

14 comments:

aswin said...

you forgot to add somethin .....
U Know U Re In Kerala When....

There is a strike every week if not atleast every month....
good blog... goodluck..

ToOothlEss WOndeR! said...

Good one there...
I know i\'m in kerala when i get down from the bus, and my glasses perspire in phase with my body, when the wind invariably brings a smell - of the sea, of the nishagandi, or the coconut husks rotting in the thodu.
Gwaad, i love that plce i call home!

maximus said...

when gayyrls look like hiyevan in that typical mallu saree and when stared at by guys , they say "poda!!"

Scoot said...

hahahaha this was fun

crumbs said...

@ toothless wonder
hw cld i ve missed the point bot the humidity!boy i feel like jus like the double boiled rice i eat!!
@ max
looks like ur speaking form experience.man, hw much trouble did u make in the 2 weeks that u were here!!???
@maya n timberwolf
thnaks :)

Anonymous said...

Hey Sneha.....Nice one ya...Although I din get the mallu phrases part of it....but good observations :)

Sreejith Narayanan said...

nice one ;)... and good observations too!

a couple of points to add on:

There will be shake shop (coolbar) in every nook and corner of a road.

hoardings with mohanlal in lungi (narasimham style) or mammootty with cooling glass (rajamanikyam style) for a studio ad or some other ad.

Likewise the bakeries, hotels will have names such as sixer, everest, bouncer, runs, sapphire, topaz :)

vidi said...

I LOVE KERALA... PATTAMBI ROCKS!
the feel of the place is great, coconut trees, malu audies and ungles.... like christ collge, only bigger and better. :)
drop in blog sometimes.

Me Thinks.. said...

i feel like i just went on a trip to palakkad! good one.. you forgot to mention those people sitting on outside their homes whose only job is to ask each passer by "evede kiya? or engane undu?" he he he
Nalle post aanu!!

£ijo Isac said...

Nice Observations , good Post

Jim said...

I actually took a notebook along once to write down the names of some of the shops. The funniest by far was an ice cream parlour in Kochi named... "Snoosh" :)

One more very typical Mallu thing for me is the guys who sell lottery tickets on cycles, and have this battery powered contraption that rattles off a lottery advert at breakneck (or is that break-vocal-cord?) speed!

crumbs said...

@ sreyo
well, those are unexplainable!
@ sreejit
oh yeah, i forgot the point bout film stars grinning at u from every shop hoarding.the current fav is i think kavya madavan.prithvi ra makes a guest appearence once a while too!
@moi
look who's talking miss visiting prof!
@me thinks
lol...that has never quite happened to me.maybe thats coz they feel i'm a "gone case" anyways!!but nandri ;)
li...thanks!
jim...oh yeah!mallus have to come up with the weirdest of names for their shops!

Anonymous said...

I realize I have reached kerala (while coming from bangalore by train) when the platform vendors say...with coffee...coffee...and tea...tea....empeeethree....empthreee....(seriously...at palakkad)

Mind Curry said...

lol..this was hilarious..you forgot the red flags!