A Trip to God's Own Country & Our Own Home
We took a day off to visit our in-laws after around 2 months, not counting the one time in between that they came to visit us ... It was the most bestest thing that could ever happen admist a busy, scurried, harried and frustrating week of work ...
Mannarkkad is where this little abode of my P-in-law's is nestled..... This tiny little valley town bordered by mountains on two sides and flanked by two cute little rivers (called Puzha in malayalam) was the most pleasant sight to my eyes and we meandered through the sharp U-turns in the rounded hill called "Notta Mala" ... The first glimpse of Mannarkkad is sure to take anybody's breath away(other than Mellus of course) .... A sheer drop from the mountains brings one to this beautiful , green carpeted town-to-village kind of place .. The town extends on both sides of the highway from palakkad to Kozhikode .... The 50 ft road lined with shops of all kinds ranging from vegetables & fruits - to groceries - to cloth shops and of course not forgetting the innumerous jewellery shops ...
My In-laws place is a pinky cute abode right at the top of one of the sloping lanes of VIP Conlony ... It has the best garden in the entire colony .... Variety of flowers adorn the entire place and vegetable plants push and seek their own space to grow .... you can find everything from 12 varieties of roses to zinia to 5 varities of hibiscus - to around 6 banana trees - to 4 papaya trees - to long beans - to two varieties of brinjal ... and not to forget dozens of crotons and about 10 hanging pots ..... it is amazing how my father-in-law has the energy to maintain all this ... It is a treat to walk through the garden... I had my best time capturing the beauty of each one of those flowers into my technology pudhayal - my digi cam ! ..
We spent the best part of our time watching a fish give birth to kids. They also have a big fish tank. FIL taught us how to identify which fish was pregnant. It is important to move the fish into another separate bucket so that it is not pestered and disturbed by the others.. And it was shocking to see that the mother ate the kids as soon as they were born, as it did not know they were its own offsprings... So, we had to be vigilant and transfer the kids, not more than a cm in length into a third bucket using a tiny net ... Oh! it was so much fun. We were the doctors and nurses for the entire day and brought into this world around 50 living organisms ... It is totally impossible to think of a fish about 3 cm in length giving birth to around 70 kids.... !Just imagine it! ...
I have never had a more idyllic vacation as I did have in those days - all I did was Eat, sleep and laze around. It rejuvinates one so much and makes me one feel so energetic to get back to daily routine .... I did my fair share of helping Ma-In-Law in kitchen ( the dutiful DIL I am he hee hee).
Today, when I am back to the daily grind of Excel sheets, Java Applications and tools; I wish I can go back to the land of birds, flowers, air -free of pollution, those lovely temples and rivers and wonderful laid back days of Mannarkkad ...... So, till another vacation I remain hopeful...
Mannarkkad is where this little abode of my P-in-law's is nestled..... This tiny little valley town bordered by mountains on two sides and flanked by two cute little rivers (called Puzha in malayalam) was the most pleasant sight to my eyes and we meandered through the sharp U-turns in the rounded hill called "Notta Mala" ... The first glimpse of Mannarkkad is sure to take anybody's breath away(other than Mellus of course) .... A sheer drop from the mountains brings one to this beautiful , green carpeted town-to-village kind of place .. The town extends on both sides of the highway from palakkad to Kozhikode .... The 50 ft road lined with shops of all kinds ranging from vegetables & fruits - to groceries - to cloth shops and of course not forgetting the innumerous jewellery shops ...
My In-laws place is a pinky cute abode right at the top of one of the sloping lanes of VIP Conlony ... It has the best garden in the entire colony .... Variety of flowers adorn the entire place and vegetable plants push and seek their own space to grow .... you can find everything from 12 varieties of roses to zinia to 5 varities of hibiscus - to around 6 banana trees - to 4 papaya trees - to long beans - to two varieties of brinjal ... and not to forget dozens of crotons and about 10 hanging pots ..... it is amazing how my father-in-law has the energy to maintain all this ... It is a treat to walk through the garden... I had my best time capturing the beauty of each one of those flowers into my technology pudhayal - my digi cam ! ..
We spent the best part of our time watching a fish give birth to kids. They also have a big fish tank. FIL taught us how to identify which fish was pregnant. It is important to move the fish into another separate bucket so that it is not pestered and disturbed by the others.. And it was shocking to see that the mother ate the kids as soon as they were born, as it did not know they were its own offsprings... So, we had to be vigilant and transfer the kids, not more than a cm in length into a third bucket using a tiny net ... Oh! it was so much fun. We were the doctors and nurses for the entire day and brought into this world around 50 living organisms ... It is totally impossible to think of a fish about 3 cm in length giving birth to around 70 kids.... !Just imagine it! ...
I have never had a more idyllic vacation as I did have in those days - all I did was Eat, sleep and laze around. It rejuvinates one so much and makes me one feel so energetic to get back to daily routine .... I did my fair share of helping Ma-In-Law in kitchen ( the dutiful DIL I am he hee hee).
Today, when I am back to the daily grind of Excel sheets, Java Applications and tools; I wish I can go back to the land of birds, flowers, air -free of pollution, those lovely temples and rivers and wonderful laid back days of Mannarkkad ...... So, till another vacation I remain hopeful...
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