A Toast To The Simple Life

The last time I went to my hometown in Kerala was at the start of the recent monsoons. If there are two things that are common to a weekend in Bangalore and my hometown in Kerala, it has to be the partying and the movies, and they happen irrespective of either place. However, this time things were a bit different.

This was perhaps the first time that I actually realized the beauty of my hometown, obscured somewhere in the beauty of what people call ‘God’s Own Country’. Be it obscured or not, nostalgia hits hard every time I go home, or even think about it. I remember a childhood in Dubai, which looked forward to a full two month break in July and August every year. I spent these two months in Kerala, of course. And till today, I haven’t realized it was this beautiful.

A lot of people say that when they take a break, they try and stay away from their mobile phones, laptops, emails and BlackBerry’s as far away as possible. I do something similar; I do carry my mobile phone, but I don’t get any coverage where I stay, I don’t have a BlackBerry, I can’t check my email since the place I stay does not have an internet connection.

And while partying is a taboo in the more rural areas in Kerala, and while people are still averse to entering bars, they all favor the local brew: toddy. I have never seen anyone savoring toddy with reluctance, and the food at the toddy shop only enhances the flavor.

Needless to say, the monsoon has had its drastic effects in the northern parts of Kerala and caused a lot of flooding in Mumbai. But when it kicks off, it does so in style.

The toddy, the monsoons, the greenery - I haven't decided when but surely I will be back to settle down in Kerala long before my retirement. To the simple life.