Palakkad, like Kanyakumari, reexamined its cultural identity in 1950, and in 1956, the mostly Tamil-speaking Kanyakumari shifted from Kerala to TN, and the mostly Malayalam-speaking Palakkad shifted from TN to Kerala. Who gained in the process? Who knows?
Today's travel was to be only 125 km, around 3 hrs of driving. We had left at 8.30 am and we would have reached Palakkad by 12.00 noon, even having provided for a breakfast break. So we decided to take a little detour to Thrissur, which is roughly midway. Incidentally, Thrissur or Trichur, an anglicised version of the Malayalam word 'Thrisshivaperoor', literally means 'the town of the sacred Shiva'. So guess what we decided to visit in Thrissur?
Sree Vadakkumnathan temple at Thrissur (10.30 am)
One of the oldest Shiva temples in India stands on 9 acres of ground with sprawling buildings, especially four gopurams standing guard over the central building. This earthy-toned Kerala temple, made of wood and stone and almost in perfect preservation, is designed in an understated style that immediately quietens the senses. Inside, coloured murals and wood carvings adorn the walls. Whereas Tamil styles go for height, Kerala styles go for width, it seems. Lord Parasuram is said to have established this temple. Even if he didn't, it is definitely worth a visit.
South Indian temples have their own rules, and a placard here read that men should remove shirts/banyans. While stripping off my shirt, I noticed the men here interpret 'bare-bodied' in various ways. As you can see below in my efforts at picturisation, these are (i) the Abraham Abs, (ii) the Tiger T-shirt, (iii) the Salman Shirt, (iv) and the Katrina Choli. Ladies, however, could be any heroine from the 50's.
The darshan was satisfactory and orderly, without pushing and shoving and without demands for money. We celebrated our gratitude by licking a couple of ice-cream cones together.
Checking into Palakkad (1.00 pm)
NH544 that runs from Kochi to Palakkad did a great job, except in one spot where construction work merged the three lanes to a single one, and brought out road rage in the whole spectrum of motorists.
We were staying tonight with a Muscat friend of ours, Radha and Somakumar, who live in a beautiful villa in town. Palakkad is not a big town, with more than its fair share of narrow lanes, but I had also gained some serious skills in narrow alley manoevours in the last couple of weeks, enough to be nominated for the epiteph 'Alley cat'. Our car reached their house without a single extra scratch. A special Kerala lunch followed, including avial, koorka (chinese potato), surmai fry, sardine curry, chicken and payasam. To our limited capabilities, it was like Onam sadia.
Evening at Palakkad (4.00 pm)
We also went and met Prasad (my Muscat colleague) and Ranjini for tea, who promptly filled in the gaps in our Kerala cuisine education and fed us ras-vada, alu bonda, elayappam, neyyappam, the last two being coconut/jaggery-based sweets. This small tea meal covered us till dinner, or so we thought.
Back in Radha's house, an evening of karaoke (Somakumar is a great amateur singer) finished with another new item - kozhkatta (rice balls with condiments) making its appearance. Our education in Keralite cooking has now advanced far beyond the default 'appam with stew'.
Tomorrow we will visit surroundings of Palakkad, looking for beautiful spots.
Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray