Travelog
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Discovering India Through Its Food One Plate at a Time
Ordering without knowing what will arrive is one of the pleasures of this trip. A guide to South Indian food: what it is, what it costs, and why the chutney matters.
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Four Relaxing Days in Munnar
Three days would have been ideal. I had booked four. Top Station, a tea factory, a dawn drive through the Ghats, and an Ayurvedic doctor with a prescription.
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Mahindra: The Jeep That Never Left
It looks like a 1953 American Jeep. The badge on the front says Mahindra. How a 1947 license deal outlasted the original by several decades and ended up in Kerala.
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Buying a beer in Kerala: Local knowledge required
The hotel room had a fridge. That detail matters at mid-afternoon. Getting alcohol into it meant the Bevco monopoly, unmarked shopfronts, and three official seals.
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Local bus to Munnar
I had planned to walk. Uber offered a ride for under two dollars, which settled it. Five hours by local bus into the Western Ghats, no AC, no glass in the windows.
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Leyland, a familiar name from the past
The bus from Kochi said Ashok Leyland on the front. I recognized the name from British roads. How a UK truck brand became one of India’s largest bus manufacturers.
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Royal Enfield: Why India Rides Different
In Southeast Asia, scooters rule. India rides something heavier and has done so since 1955. The reason is historical, and the sound is not accidental.
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The Kerala Backwaters
The tour departed 200 meters from my homestay. I had done my research. Six hours on the backwaters: pole boat, mussel harvest, lunch on banana leaves, quiet canals.
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Back to India
IndiGo had moved my connecting flight. Nine hours of layover added, no warning given. The airline, the check-in desk, and a Modi motorcade all on the same day.