Trivandrum ZOO

The trivandrum Zoo, that was the last place i would love to go. Theres a valid reason for it. I grew up in trivandrum and this was one of the major tourist spot. So whenever any relative comes to visit us they want to visit the zoo and i being the youngest kid, who everyone assumed would love a visit to the zoo, was always appointed the guide. Oh boy the zoo, you get the smell as soon as u take the ticket. How i hated the visit. Somehow i used to pity the animals there. They had a lot of animals at the zoo, but maintenance was poor. Cant help mentioning it. And not to mention abt safety. I was always thankful to make it back home from the zoo. There had been a lot of incidents involving visitors and animals. Anyone from TVM would know that. Now all these is history.
Then almost after a decade i decided to visit the zoo with my family, main reason to show my daughter and nephew a few animals. And i was taken by shock the change that has happened. The whole look of the zoo has changed. Theres no smell, which i wonder how they managed to do. And animals they looked happy. I am not just joking, they looked clean and close to home. Most of them were not in cages, but in their natural habitat. So this visit turned out to be fun. I couldnt keep clicking my camera. The animals were giving me more good pose than my daughter. They have tiled paths and the ground is all green, i mean fresh green which was very exciting. They had railing made in the shape of vines and most of it had a ditch filled with water so that the animals didnt make it to this end. There were 3 bears , 2 of them fighting, God knows over what. But they were fluffy and looked cuddly, though i dint dare to go near it. There was an old incident where the bear snatched a ladies hand, but that was when it was in cage. Now its free and enjoying life i guess. it looked so..Then there was cheetah which was caged, i guess because its capable of a long jump and that could be dangerous. But the cage was big enough for it to roam around. I couldnt find the king in its place. Guess it was taking a nap or something. Sadly there was only one elephant, especially in a kerala zoo..hmm...There were 3 tigers, which were a bit scary. The fence at the tigers place , i feel, needs to be a bit higher. I guess they were hungry and it gave me a scare. I did dare to take a snap of me and daughter near the railing, but i could hear my heartbeat at that moment. The peacocks were lovely, though they dint dance. It was grt visit. I would now go back there , as it is now a place of attraction. Good job u guys. Who ever brought out this change i thank thee...

Padmanabhapuram Palace

It was a great experience to visit the Padmanabhapuram palace. I have grown up in Trivandrum, but never visited the palace, even though it was less than 100km from my place. Last year i went to the palace with my family. I was excited to c the palace.



It was the palace where the maharaja(king) of travancore lived and ruled the place. The palace is huge, if i am not wrong the structure is spread across 3 acres. Thats huge. There were three or more seperate buildings, it was all so confusing. The path were marked so we dint get lost. It would be a grt place to play hide and seek and i bet that u will never be able to seek here.



To start off, the whole palace is made of wood. You find get art everywhere. And the floor, oh it shines like mirror. To maintain the floor, the guards dont allow you to wear slippers inside the palace.


There is a building called uppirikka malika which has three floors. To think of having 3 floor back in maharaja times is some grt accomplishment. Due to some maintenance and security issues we where not allowed in the 2nd and third floors. But the view from the first floor itself is grt. The passages, i got to say, are very narrow. Most of them allow only one person at a time.


Then the grt kitchen, with big bowls made in stone to serve curd and pickle. There was a dining room where they served 2000 people. Thats a big crowd. But i guess a lot of people would be there in a palace.I was indeed surprised to c a bathroom in the first floor of the palace near the queen's room. I never knew that the palace had bathrooms. It was indian style toilet made in stone. Advanced people, I should say.



The European style guest rooms were really well built. The balcony was so cool and breezy, i guess the Europeans really enjoyed their stay at the palace. I was looking forward to c the king and queen bedroom. But they were not as big as i expected and there was seperate bedroom for the king and queen. I wonder why? Anyway i got some great pics of the cot. The king slept in a medicinal cot and the queen mother in a cot decorated with ivory.


Then there was a saraswati temple and near that was the dance floor and a well(There were lots of coin in that, may be someone had spread the rumour abt wishes coming true if u put coins..people). This palace has been the location for some great malayalam movies like 'Manichitrathazhu' and 'His Highness Abdulla'. The dance floor was wonderful. There was provision for ladies to view the floor either sitting, lying back or standing. Thats great thinking. I guess the ladies were worth the consideration. I really wanted to live there, but its government property nor do i have a time machine to go back in time and view it in its complete glory. It will be one unfulfilling dream.

It was worth an experience, the whole trip wont take more than 2 hrs, so if u r in tvm u can plan to visit any weekend. The route is not properly marked. We sorta got lost. And why wouldnt we, the palace board is kept abt 5inch from the ground. Ya you read it right, 5"inch". How r you supposed to read that from a vehicle, be it any vehicle. And the way is not you expect of the palace road, but the palace is worth a visit. I guess they could do something more abt the route. I am looking forward to visit the palace again.

Sadhya

Yummy, is what i feel whenever i see this picture. It was taken for onam when i was in kerala. What can i say abt the kerala sadhya ? Be it Onam,Vishu or a marriage, sadhya is an inseperable part and for most its the favourite part on these occasions. Many people attend a wedding for the sadhya, esp if its not your wedding, because thats one wedding in which you wont be able to enjoy the sadhya. Believe me i'm married.
And if you r not from kerala you might be wondering a lot of things to start with what is the green stuff on which u have all the food on. Its a banana leaf, that serves as a plate for the sadhya. I dont know technically what makes the sadhya taste more when its served on a banana leaf. But the sadhya wont be complete if you serve the sadhya on you costly dinnerware. You gotta have the banana leaf. And its tip has to face left, i guess i am not wrong. If i'm pls point it out. People are very particular on how to serve the items for the sadhya. Theres an order in which the items are served. I am not a genious in this , but they say the sadhya is not complete if its not served right.

How to serve:

They start filling the leaf from the left, start with banana chips & sharkara upperi (its a sweet of plantain and jaggery). Then u have the small banana and a papad. Then comes the variety of achars/pickles . You may have mango,lime,mix veg, but mostly it'll be mango and lime. Then you have a set of pachadi's /raithas(not exactly but close). The pachadis add a colour twist to the leaf. You can have pineapple(yellow),beetroot(purple),cucumber(white) pachadis. Then comes the kuttu(made with raw plantains and black peas) and avial(all veggies n coconut milk). If you have ever been to kerala , you know what an avial is. You its a traditional dish.Ya ya heard that a lot. Ok back to sadhya. Then you have a thoran(which is a vegetable fried in oil with onion and coconut). The typical vegetable chosen for sadhya is cabbage. Oh i forgot to mention sadhay is completely vegetarian. That completes the side dish. The main dish is rice. Rice will be served thrice during a sadhya with three different curries to go with it. And finally the sweet dish which will be a payasam. Some sadhyas have up to three payasam. You might be wondering how a person can eat all these. Keralites do and the next thing they do after a sadhya is have a lime tea and take a long nap.

Now theres an art to have a sadhya. I am not an expert in it, but will let you know what i know. Of course i cant let u know what i dont know. Make sense. Anyway leave it. First you have rice, add a little ghee, put a little dal(a typical yellow indian curry) and have it with kuttu and pickle. Once done take more rice, now have sambhar, avial , thoran and pachadi. Next mostly have the payasam. Have the banana and papad with the payasam. Then again take some rice, with buttermilk and rasam. Finish off with chips and sarkaraupperi. I guess i covered it all. This is my knowledge of sadhya. I have never made a sadhya on my own. Main reason you know is that i dont have access to banana leaf. Grt excuse rite. Anyway next time i'm in kerala i'll try to make a sadhya on my own. Keep up the grt hope.Ok guys its such a long post. Hey if you guys ever get a chance do have a sadhya, esp from kerala, do have it. Dont think twice.(like i had to whether or not to try sushi, i did and i regret it,uhh..)
You will know what you have been missing all you life, not exactly...but its a grt experience.

Gods Own Country

I really wonder who came up with this stuff, and what exactly they meant. No offense to the person, but for Gods sake Kerala is a state and not a country. Any kid from kerala knows that. They teach this in school, and being a highly literate state i guess everyone would have learned history and geography and still its gods own "COUNTRY". Thats ridiculous. And i have seen keralites who live outside proudly say that "I am from Kerala, U know, the Gods own country" Oh grow up its a state. I think it was the tourism departments idea to attract foreigners. Do they think that foreign people think of kerala as a country. I dont think so, if they r gonna spend money to come to kerala they would do their share of research. Or is the tourism department giving them a hint that' dont believe anything or anyone once u r in kerala'. Oh what am i talking, this is supposed to be 'what i like abt kerala' and not the other way round. But this always bugs me whenever i come across kerala and together comes the tag gods own country. It was long inside me, now i feel happy that i put it out. So i guess from next post onwards it gonna be good