We made it!

After a lot of whining (that I always do) and a lot of pestering (that I can't do without) we finally left to Cochin on Saturday morning. Pah, what a feeling to hear ur fav songs and sing along like no one cares! It was a 4 hour drive which was interuppted by lunch. Lunch. Now when I say lunch, it wasn't a quick bite to get back on the road. It was a long taxing yummy chewy lunch. I tasted Octopus and Fish egg fry for the first time. Heaven it wasn't, cause it was a tiny little place that was on a main road, near a bridge and had almost 6 cars parked in front of it. We shared a table with 2 other people and ate. My stomach was finally happy! (my hands weren't, and I wasnt ready to use the soap they had there)

Back on the road we took 2 wrong turns but reached Cheraai beach resorts and fought to use the loo! It was such a beautiful place. I only hoped mobile phones didn't work there, but they did. We reached with almost 3 hours left for the big IPL 4 finals. Had tea and relaxed a bit. The place does that to you - it makes you hungry and wants you to relax. 'You are in God's own country. Welcome to his permanent address' - thats what the resort says. I stared at the backwaters that connected to the room's sit out.

With too much interest in the match we rushed through dinner and ran to stare at the tv. We had so many reasons to scream shout and say YAY! Chennai played amazingly well, Banglore could have put in some team effort instead of depending on Gayle - the duck.

We booked ourselves a massage for the next day. As an ex-Googler, almost all of you reading this should probably be thinking I have used my birthday free massage coupons in Hyd. Well, hmm no. I was too shy to try out the massages that cost us Rs.200, so I waited to get here and paid Rs.1000. I saved my money, now I'm spending my husbands. Paavam.

We walked into the Ayurmana or the massage parlor and then I lost myself. First, when the massuese told me to remove my clothes. Second, the smell of camphor. Well, I was hypnotized. I did shed some shame and my clothes but had covered every important bit just the amount it required. :D

It was one hour of pure indulgence for every inch of my body. With hot oils and the soothing pressure the massuese just put me to sleep. I woke and I could swear my vision was much clearer, my hearing was better and my stomach hungrier. After the oil massage was the sauna. Summer in a box room connected to a pressure cooker! It was perfect. After a bath, she gave me the only bad thing that day - a kashayam. Urgh.

Padhu was so tired after the massage, he had a little lunch and slept like a baby. I couldn't sleep. One, I didn't wanna miss the sunset. Two, it finally stopped raining. So I locked the door and trotted towards the beach with my camera. I spent a solid 2 hours at the beach watching families have fun. Just when the sun could start setting, it started raining again. I ran back to the villa and found Padhu still sleeping. So I did what one is supposed to do in Kerala - order in and eat.

My club sandwich came with fries and tea. Padhu woke up. Of course we fought for the first bite of the sandwich and then watched a lousy movie on tv. We then went to the beach again and sat on the rocks and took some questionable pictures. I had to sleep. My body was on the verge of signing a mercy petition. We hurried through dinner and got back and hit the bed. Blackness.

At around 6:10am I woke to hear heavy rains from our oh-so-open-bathroom. (I had my quickest showers here) I ran out and watched the rain. Padhu laughed in his sleep. When we had been to Ootyy, I woke to the sound of rains and ran outside and watched. I think he had a deja-vu! I watched for a while and then my pillow called out for me. I hit the bed again and woke just in time to pack and leave. Breakfast, packing. Leaving.

Cute and compact - enough time for me with myself, my camera and oh yeah, my husband. Cheraai is officially the place we go to when we have a day with us, from now.

It wasn't luxurious and loud - but it was a much needed 2 days!

Did I say this? - I crossed the Kerala-TN border and almost cried. Kerala is the place to be for a relaxing retirement or a budgeted honeymoon!