Is it ok for a leading left politician to enter the Madbaha (altar area) to meet a Thirumeni (Bishop), that too when he is changing his dress? Is it ok to have scantily dressed bridesmaids and usherers for a high society wedding in an Orthodox church in Kerala?
All set for yet another strike in Kerala from midnight, called by several employee organisations. Expect to be stranded at bus stops, airports and railway stations. This is ‘Emerging Kerala’ for you!
Frankly speaking, lost count of the number of bandhs, hartals and strikes in this God forsaken place.
I have been hearing about Chandran Pillai and his famous seafood thattukada (something close to a shack) ever since I shifted to Kerala in 2007. The last time I was driving through Kollam, I decided to check out the place to have some good seafood. Just 3 kms off the old National Highway from Kollam, Thirumullawaram has a rustic and serene setting that’s a welcome break for us city dwellers. You can park the car amidst the coconut trees and walk across the rocky beach to Chandran Pillai’s shack.
Even though the facilities are the bare minimum, it offers the best seafood you can get in this part of the country. Shrimp, mussels, crabs, fish head (thala) curry, fish fry, etc… you name it, it’s there.
Update: This post was published in 2009 after our first visit there and since then, we have been going to Chandran Pillai’s kada at least once a year or whenever we drive through Kollam. There are times when we plan our journey through Kollam just to have food at this place.
Chandran Pillai has since shifted to a much bigger and better place but the taste still remains the same. Somehow, I liked the old settings. Btw, now you can drive straight to his hotel. Click here for some photographs taken in 2016.
Doordarshan has completed 50 years today. It was on this day on the 15th of September, 1959 that Doordarshan first started its transmission.
Congress has lost yet another promising leader in an accident. Well, another helicopter crash and another name to the list of people who went down crashing. Sad and bad that with all the hi-tech gizmo’s we still cannot avoid an incident like this. The former Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi, Madhavrao Scindia, Aaj Tak Correspondent Ranjan Jha are some of the names that I remember now, people who died in a similar way. Great people whose lives were cut short by a crash.