Naatil Evideya?

Is there a wrong answer to the mandatory question 'Naatil evideya?' (where in Kerala are you from) that one Malayali asks another Malayali when they run into each for the first time, in another part of the country? If you're from Trivandrum or born and brought up there, like I am, you may know what I'm...

The Ponmudi Trip

Part 1: Tea and Snakes The little hill station of Ponmudi is around 57 km from Trivandrum city, which means I've inevitably found myself running along its misty, grassy slopes on many a Christmas or Onam vacation as a kid and as an adult. I was seven when my parents took me there for the...

The House of ‘The Poocha’

To be completely honest, it would only be partially true if I said that Kandan paved the whole path to fearless furniture destruction and free indulgence in other feline fancies for future generations of cats in my family. Because many freedoms are not given. They are claimed by biting, scratching, and farting on the oppressor's...

Conversations in the Car

When you belong to a family that keeps road-tripping together all the time (even if it is to the nearby Jockey store), some of the insightful conversations that bring us closer happen in the car. And sometimes, the silent breaks are just as unifying. The Naked Ape The other day, while navigating through Karamana, I...

If You’re Appi and You Know It…

There comes a time in almost every Trivandrum kid’s childhood when we do a double take mentally, physically and spiritually as we get adorably addressed as ‘Appi’ for the very first time in our lives. For most of us it will be our first tryst with the concept of duality and the sheer force with...

Do They Know It’s Sting?

I saw a lot of pain on social media over the impromptu Chris Martin gig. People who don’t stay in Delhi anymore are regretting moving out of the city. People who have been to Delhi once in their life are asking themselves why they didn’t plan the visit so that it would’ve magically aligned with...

Coconut Crunch

The other day I was discussing with Amma and Achan, who had come over to take care of a bedridden me, the weapons that were used over the years for warfare in our home. The list that I could recollect involved a saucepan and a curtain rod. They refused to accept it and attributed it to the...

Old School

Our last week in Holy Angels’, before school closed for pre-boards leave, was coming to an end. We stood in a circle at the landing on the top floor with the coconut-tree-expanse view, and the Mar Ivanios clock tower marking the horizon. Or was it the MG College clock tower? It was basically a clock...

Zoo and I

Sometime around the third year of engineering, my friends and I got obsessed with hanging out at the Trivandrum zoo. There was something about rediscovering the place that until then resided mostly in memories from primary school vacations. It is one of the greener patches in the green patch that Trivandrum is. The monkeys are...