Kochi arrival

As I was arriving at the Kochi international airport, I was curious to find out if the six years of convenience in USA had spoiled me and if I would find myself complaining about each and every shortcoming of India - the unruly traffic, the disorganization, the inefficiencies but instead just as I landed, the rhythm of the very earthy grounding song from Kammattipadam started beating so loudly in my heart that I could almost hear it echo through the Kochi airport. I was also apprehensive about whether I would feel out of place as someone coming back after such a long time and potentially not familiar with Kochi as it is now, but the rhythm gave me so much confidence and made me feel so much a part of the place and I felt really really good and I also felt strong admiration for Vinayakan who had crafted such a catchy number.

As I walked out into the road from the airport, I first caught sight of my mother and then saw the rest of the family.  As I held my daughter in my arms, no words were exchanged. She seemed to have grown a bit taller in the last couple of months and while I have been seeing her daily on skype, carrying her in my arms was a priceless feeling. While Niya knew that I was coming, Kittu had no clue that his father whose skype call he used to wake up to every day was now right in front of him. Kittu could not say a word in the airport. He was shocked and speechless literally while I held him now and all through the taxi ride from airport to home.

The metro work having been completed, the work in progress sights of my previous trip was replaced by metro stations and good roads. We visited the metro pretty soon and it was quite impressive. I was delighted to note that the chimes in the metro were tastefully done by my favorite musician of the time Bijibal.

On the whole, the station looked pretty as well and nicely done. The view from up was pretty good too. I immediately found myself declaring that no place in the world can beat Kerala in it's greenish charms.

We did our Lulu mall visit too and watched the movie "Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum" which was artfully done and if I remember right, I felt had international quality. Professional stuff and some humbling perspectives into lives you don't see directly. Lulu had a really impressive set of options for kids' play as compared to the malls in US in my opinion. Niya spent a sizeable chunk there.

Next up, we went to Bangalore including my parents to collect the keys from our dear tenants who had taken care of the apartment much much more than we would have been able to. They had moved to their own flat which we visited and had dinner. What was most exciting about the Bangalore visit was of course the extra convenience that our own flat offered over the rental apartments we were skimming through while in US. We were proud owners. We had multiple tasks to complete while in Bangalore and hence hardly got the time to really enjoy the apartment. Our neighbors and the relationships planted six years back were intact.
Dinner from Rameez' house, land tax payment, locker visit, Jithu's house visit, Divya's friend Leemu's house visit, meeting my cousin Biji and family at my flat, meeting my engineering classmates Dishkangag for dinner, Khatha payment for flat with Shiju's help etc, meeting Deva, dinner at Joshin's new flat, Maniyan visiting to give essential supplies to my parents who were resting at the apartment while Divya and me were running around with Amey etc was what the hectic Bangalore days were like.
The hectic went on for a while but closing this note as this was meant to be a pure Kochi note and Bangalore spilled in as there were not many Bangalore photos with me.