Venu greets us from the 3rd floor, and we enter the apartment. The kitchen is on the right, his sister comes out to greet us with snacks, and we sit on the living room at the left. Our host wants to make sure our trip through India is well planned, so we mention that we don't yet know what to do in Kerala. "Karan," he roars to his son, "go bring me some paper and a pen." "Just a few ideas, we'll only be staying in Kerala for 4 days," we tell them.
30 minutes later we have enough activities and places to go to for more than a week. There is a place highly recommended, the southern most tip of India, which is only a few hours from Kerala. He says, you can find sands of all colors in this region. Unlikely that we go, but Venu takes the time to tell the myth from the region.
Two deities were getting married, and the celebration for the wedding was taking place in this southernmost tip of India. A massive feast was prepared for all the guests, as this would be the greatest marriage yet. However, at this time the bride was at her menstrual cycle. and by tradition it is not good luck to marry at that time of the month. As it happened the wedding needed to get postponed, so all the food was dumped into the sea. Only the spices of the food got washed back near the land, thus coloring the sand of the region; Mustard Seeds (Black), Turmeric (Yellow), Salt (White), Chili Powder (Red), Cinamon (Brown), Cilantro (Green).
We thank them for their insights and ask them if they would like to join us at the temple. "I'm not much of a temple person," Karan replies.
We enter the temple, and following the woman in front of us we go to a window to leave our shoes. I look down; I had brought a cheap pair of flip-flops in case I don't find them when I get back. Down the walkway there is "food for life," a portion of this food is handed to those who come to worship.
The is a 3-story temple in white, with the outside courtyards covered in white and black tile. To the right of the temple there is a stand with snacks, which then leads to the temple restaurant. Following some steps inside the temple, it is an indoor courtyard where people are following rituals, each at their own pace and timing. On the sides, there are fenced off windows depicting different deities, with text in both English and Hindi on the side. In front of the window is a box to donate money. As there are times to pray to different deities, on one side the deities were lonely, on the other side they were full of flowers, roses, and offerings.
In the middle of this courtyard people are facing one side, with very little space to walk through. Instead, we decide to step through a door to an outside walkway. On the outside walls we find paintings telling the story of the deity Krshna in chronological order, with short captions in English and Hindi below. Slowly strolling down the walkway we reach the end, and continue towards a door to continue inside.
Suddenly, a man rushes out, and closes the door behind him. Another man is waiting outside for him, holding what looks like a food on a big leaf. Divya and I are now looking at these 2 men down a dead-end aisle as they sit and start eating. We turn back, heading towards the temple. As we turn, we spot another man heading towards us, empty-handed. He swishes past, and joins the feast. We continue walking, when I hear someone speaking. I look back, the 3rd man waves and speaks to us. I alert Divya, hoping she can help translate. She calmly walks back, me following her, and begins a conversation. The man extends his food, I learn it is the "food for life," and insists we take some. We put our hands to receive it, the man serves us, bows, grins, and returns to his place.
I regret not joining them.
We walk back to the inside, through the door we had exited. There is no-one inside. The doors are closed, the altar is blocked and it's doors shut, lights are out, and we cannot hear a sound. We continue down, cross the courtyard to the other side, where the offerings are still on the ground. We find an exit sign. We reach the door, and it is blocked tightly. We return, and spot some people on the second floor; they are dressed as monks, so we think they live here. We look up at them, while they speak to each other pointing at us. We make eye contact, they put their hands together, smile, and bow. We bow back speechless as they walk off. We head to the door next to the altar, which is also locked. Next, to the entrance, and it is also closed and locked. We are back in the courtyard, and spot another monk upstairs. He serenely bows at us, we greet him back.
We go back to the outside walkway, sit up on a wall, and hop over a fence to exit. We find the place where we left our shoes, and amazingly retrieve them, untouched.
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