Getting to Kovalam
As I decided rather late about travelling, all the direct flights to Trivandrum (at least the ones I can afford like deccan, easy fares on Indian and economy on Jet) were all full..surprising that so many people are flying back and forth everyday… I had to go to Cochin and from there to trivandrum ....kovalam is in the opposite direction from Trivandrum when you land at the airport..it is 150 rs by auto ( prepaid fixed by the auto drivers themselves) and 250 rupees by taxi. There are autos and taxis parked at one end of kovalam beach..the local dadas will not let anybody else come there..sundeep had a real unpleasant experience where he called a taxi from the city.. his mother couldn’t climb up the slope and so the taxi had to come down (they had stopped it outside earlier) ..there was a physical scuffle between the locals and the city taxi driver….the local transport is a real rip off…even for us who could speak local indian languages. So I think the next time I do the kovalam trip, I will drive down from Bangalore, probably cost close to AC second class or budget airlines, take care of my local transport at Kovalam at half to one third the price plus spare me from being ‘taken for a ride’ by the local auto/taxi drivers! Not that it is any different in Bangalore.. the auto driver demanded 40 rs when he saw me waiting with my baggage..it would have probably been half that if he had put on the meter.
Cochin airport is 37 kms from Ernakulam, so though i had a few hours to spare, I was advised not to into town..apparently there are huge traffic jams on the road and one cant be sure of getting there and back in 6 hours!!..the airport itself was a pleasant surprise for one used to the anarchy in Bangalore airport..when I came back to Bangalore from Paris in December, we stood one hour in the immigration queue and another queue for baggage screening by customs and finally waited endlessly for the checked baggage..passengers from three airlines were milling around and nobody had a clue as to whose baggage it was on the only carousel available..not sure whether cochin airport is new or remodeled but it is huge and air conditioned, with nice bathrooms, several book stores and handloom handicraft shopping, etc. a rather expensive restaurant run by oberois..makes a bangalorean feel rather small that even in the year 2006, our much hyped city cannot provide the kind of infrastructure much smaller cities in other states have (and well, the roads in Trivandrum too).
. It was suggested that I could visit Kaladi(the birthplace of shankaracharya) which is 7 kms from the airport but surprisingly, cochin airport had no place for left luggage and I really didn’t fancy the idea of lugging my bag around town..so I just sat down and waited..the waiting area post security check is very comfortable with nice cushioned seats and a huge glass wall looking onto the tarmac..
the book stores (shankar’s, mathrubhoomi, etc) provided enough material to browse leisurely and choose ....i found an interesting book called ‘the united states of Europe’ ( by an American journalist T R Reid, Penguin books) and the blurb said ‘How did Europe become a superpower while the world wasn’t paying attention?’ ( I think he actually meant when America wasn’t looking) got me thinking ‘how did Bangalore become a IT capital and mega city while me and people like me weren’t paying attention?’ .. here we were growing up and living in Bangalore all our lives and one fine day in the 21st century, we open our eyes and poof! Everything that is familiar is gone..and there is this unrecognizable megacity .. anyway the book was a good time pass and worth a read..
Cochin airport is 37 kms from Ernakulam, so though i had a few hours to spare, I was advised not to into town..apparently there are huge traffic jams on the road and one cant be sure of getting there and back in 6 hours!!..the airport itself was a pleasant surprise for one used to the anarchy in Bangalore airport..when I came back to Bangalore from Paris in December, we stood one hour in the immigration queue and another queue for baggage screening by customs and finally waited endlessly for the checked baggage..passengers from three airlines were milling around and nobody had a clue as to whose baggage it was on the only carousel available..not sure whether cochin airport is new or remodeled but it is huge and air conditioned, with nice bathrooms, several book stores and handloom handicraft shopping, etc. a rather expensive restaurant run by oberois..makes a bangalorean feel rather small that even in the year 2006, our much hyped city cannot provide the kind of infrastructure much smaller cities in other states have (and well, the roads in Trivandrum too).
. It was suggested that I could visit Kaladi(the birthplace of shankaracharya) which is 7 kms from the airport but surprisingly, cochin airport had no place for left luggage and I really didn’t fancy the idea of lugging my bag around town..so I just sat down and waited..the waiting area post security check is very comfortable with nice cushioned seats and a huge glass wall looking onto the tarmac..
the book stores (shankar’s, mathrubhoomi, etc) provided enough material to browse leisurely and choose ....i found an interesting book called ‘the united states of Europe’ ( by an American journalist T R Reid, Penguin books) and the blurb said ‘How did Europe become a superpower while the world wasn’t paying attention?’ ( I think he actually meant when America wasn’t looking) got me thinking ‘how did Bangalore become a IT capital and mega city while me and people like me weren’t paying attention?’ .. here we were growing up and living in Bangalore all our lives and one fine day in the 21st century, we open our eyes and poof! Everything that is familiar is gone..and there is this unrecognizable megacity .. anyway the book was a good time pass and worth a read..