I am on the train to Chennai last Monday after spending 4-days at home for Good Friday and Easter. Actually it was supposed to be working from home on Monday, but nature decided otherwise and I had to apply for leave, since there was no power in the area due to many trees falling over power lines due to surprise heavy winds + rains. More on that in another blog-post.
After travelling weekly on trains for 2 years or more, I am sick of the commotion & crowd that is typical of the Sleeper class (cattle-class as Shashi Tharoor would put it), with just about anyone boarding these reserved coaches even though their ticket does not entitle them to. So, in the interest of some peace of mind, I have moved to the 3rd AC coaches - costs 2.5 times more, but worth it.
When I board the train, of the 8 berths in my coupe, only 4 are occupied, of which one is a girl travelling alone and the other 3 are a group travelling together, comprising a Mom & son + a female acquaintance of theirs. It's a TamBram group and I reckon they are either returning after a vacation in Kerala or after attending a wedding or some such function. Even without them speaking, it is easy to place them as TamBrahms. Especially the kid, who must be in his early teens and would fit the description that Chetan Bhagat gives of his BIL in the novel "2 States - the story of my marriage".
They are loaded with food (Tamarind rice, pickle, papad etc and ofcourse the inevitable curd-rice) and soon settle down to finish dinner. Like any normal Mom, this one too is making sure her son eats enough and more and the kid is actually pretty obliging. While the food is not really interesting to me (I have dinner packed by my wife - rice, coconut chutney, beef-fry and fish-fry), I cannot help overhearing their conversation.
In between mouthfuls of tamarind-rice, the Mom goes, "I really liked this place. Such a lot of rains. And coconuts are in abundance too."
"And lots of mangoes too", chimes the kid in between.
"Here, have some more puliyodharai (tamarind-rice)", says Mom as she places another helping on his plate.
"And almost nil pollution too, did you notice ?", says the other lady in the group.
"Oh yes, how could I forget that. You know, I said no to moving to Bangalore inspite of the climate there being great. But am having 2nd thoughts about moving to Kerala", says the Mom.
"You sure about that ? You mean you would like to settle in Kerala ?", asks the lady.
"Oh yes, without a doubt. If I had a house here, I would definitely move here".
Ofcourse, I can see that during their short-stay in Kerala, they just about had time to see the good part. Being summer, mangoes & jack-fruits are in abundance. And yes, we get lots of rains and pollution is also much lesser than Chennai and other metros. But there is yet another side to the place, which would be seen only if you are staying here for long and it might make the lady rethink her plans of settling down here.
Let's start with something that any Chennai-ite would take for granted - electricity. We are used to having power 24/365, with maybe a brief outage once in a blue-moon, which is also attended to immediately. Contrast this with the daily scheduled and unscheduled outages in Kerala lasting an hour or more daily. Not fun, eh ? Especially in summer when you have to battle both the heat and mosquitoes.
Coming to the other cool factor for the lady - rains - I too am a big fan of the rains, but as a visitor to Kerala, it is fun to enjoy the rains. But for a normal resident, this can be a real pain as they scramble about their daily routine - getting to work / school etc. The rains in Chennai will be light and maybe last a few minutes usually. But in Kerala, if it rains, it is a real downpour and can last for a long time. Getting to office/school drenched to the skin is not really a good start to the day.
And finally coming to her "If I had a home here..." part, that is a pretty big "if" as far as Kerala is concerned. It's a small state and land is limited, while population density is high and purchasing power is huge with Gulf money coming in like there is no end. Property price keeps increasing by the day and there is only so much of land on sale.
As usual, this is a case of the grass being greener on the other side. Am sure that the lady would rethink her plans of settling down in Kerala, if she knew these facts about how life is in Kerala. I am not even getting into the sudden strikes / hartals called by even fringe unknown political parties, which affect normal life.
Lady, I guess you are way better off in Chennai. If at all when the urge hits you, just catch the train to Kerala and spend a few days here and you should be OK.
