I’d written earlier about a quick trip to Kerala to see the once-in-a-dozen-years flowering of the Neelakurinji. It was mostly a road trip, but I hadn’t written about the road. Driving from Kochi to Munnar takes you on roads through a continuously built-up area. One village gives way imperceptibly to another, a small town shades into villages. There is no transition, no discontinuity.
Every turn in the road looked vaguely like this: low houses, some palm trees, a church or a temple or mosque, businesses everywhere. It was a holiday so the roads were rather empty for nine in the morning. Businesses were also closed. This part of the country had been hit by a flash flood due to an over-active monsoon less than a month before, so we kept a close watch on the sky as we drove along.
There were some store fronts which seemed peculiarly Malayalee; the photo which you see above was one. We would come across a home depot of this kind every twenty or thirty kilometers. So much kitchenware on display! Was this part of the post-flood recovery, or was it common? I don’t know, and I would have to go back to find out. Or, if you have been there recently or more than a year back, you could let me know whether you noticed these shops too.
We’d driven out without breakfast, with just a coffee at a busy little roadside stall which was doing roaring business. When I drank my coffee I realized why. It was a very good coffee; milky and sweet, like the usual coffee here, but strong and aromatic. Now it was definitely time for breakfast. We stopped at a cluster of shops. The colourful advertisements on this glass box signaled lunch.
Chicken is a big thing here, as you can see from the signage in the photo above. Food and chicken are mentioned separately. Chicken normally sounds good to me but not as the first thing in the morning. We chose a shop which was clearly selling breakfast. Idlis, puttu, sheera and coffee could be seen. While the Family and Other Animals found a table, I walked around to the block. There was a hairdressing saloon with very appropriate photos on the door. If I wasn’t in dire need of breakfast I would have walked in to investigate.
Back at the breakfast table the orders had been placed. I asked for a plate of idlis and another coffee to be added to the order. As I leaned back I saw that this was a rather inclusive place. Kerala used to have a very small but influential population of Jews. They have mostly migrated to Israel about fifty years ago. Now about 55% of the population is Hindu, about 25% are Muslim, and about 18% are Christian. The picture on the wall was politically very mainstream, but was probably not entirely political. It could also signify that the dietary practices of all these groups were understood and followed. Business is business after all.
The drive to Munnar is beautiful.
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And, surprisingly, it doesn’t get more sparse as you go up.
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No, it doesn’t. And the drive from Munnar to Ooty is even better.
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Drives up in the mountains are all quite good.
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True!
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Each part of our country is so different.
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And also, in many ways the same.
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Always glad to hear/read/see stories of religious inclusiveness – especially when the hosts mean they really are welcoming of diversity (“dietary practices … understood and followed”). Thank-you.
From your picture of the three religions I’m wondering if Christianity is typically depicted with a picture of Jesus. Here in the U.S., it’s rarely a picture of Jesus. It’s a cross (no figure of Jesus) or maybe a crucifix (cross with Jesus) or an Ichtys (a symbol of a fish).
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Yes and with Jesus typically looking occidental! Elsewhere I’d remarked about the strange association of snow and Christmas in India.
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Ah, yes, (sigh), to banish pictures of occidental Jesus – here and there.
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Interesting! I don’t know if I could do chicken for breakfast either although over here there are Waffle and Chicken houses!
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Chicken’s a constant across the world then.
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Looks you had a nice drive, and not being interrupted by flooding waters? Am all for different religions being able to live together in peace! Yeah, it’s interesting to see Jesus as he appears different in every culture – often “wrong” as a Caucasian, but he was a Jew, lol.
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Fortunately we got only the usual normal late-monsoon rains during our visit.
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kind of scary if you have to watch that kind of thing – but you are probably used to it?
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Rains are not scary. They are fun.
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I meant floods!
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Why would anyone be used to floods!
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Another vote for no chicken at breakfast here. I’ll have their eggs though 😉
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Yes. For me too, the egg comes first. The chicken later.
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I am trying to think if I have seen such utensil shops in the South, not in Bangalore though. What about T-Nagar in Chennai? Probably you could tell.
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In a big city one would find kitchenware in a departmental store. So you wouldn’t see something like this unless it is an old family business.
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I prefer chicken later in the day, too. Chicken and waffles is an “in” thing in many places in the US, but I prefer my waffles and chicken separately.
janet
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Right. It seems you join an already large club 🙂
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