To DO or NOT DO in Kerala

• DO NOT take list of things to do while visiting this laid back place. Because, my friends, there is actually nothing to do here. And that is where the whole fun starts. The most interesting experience of my trip was the experience of time. Well, you must be wondering what the hell that is. Let me explain.There is this thing called ‘time’ that we city people don’t have or don’t enjoy. For us our lives revolve around lists of things to do, then spending the whole day doing those things and then spending the night wondering what we did the whole day. In all this thinking and doing we lose time to be with ourselves, to enjoy small things in life, to appreciate people who love you, to read a good book, to call parents and tell them you think of them, to write a blog that you have been meaning to write for a long time, to enjoy cooking something special for someone special, to hold hands just for the sake of holding hands, to discuss random stuff and to be ‘just be’.This is when you need to take a long weekend off and go to a place like Kerala! As the great poet in me says ‘You do it best when you do nothing at all” (inspired by a similar sounding song by Ronan Keating).

• DO carry lot of books to read. Even for our 5 days trip 2 books were not enough. This is linked to point number 1. There is so much time to read, laze around, day dream that books become your best companions. In fact Fort Kochi where we stayed for 2 nights can be called ‘readers’ paradise’. It has some amazing cafes like Teapot, Kashi Art Café which are meant to enjoy a good book with a good cup of coffee or tea and some good snacks. You can spend hours and not realise it.

• DO come with a big appetite. It has some amazing cuisine to offer. I cannot remember any other place where I enjoyed eating so much. The fish dishes are just amazing with wonderful flavours and spices. Then there are prawns, crabs, tapioca and appams. What else do you need in life? We would end up ordering 6-7 dishes among the 2 of us and manage to finish all.

• DO come with a smile. Chat with people around you. They love a good conversation and almost all of them speak English so don’t worry if you do not know Malayalam.