Thenmala Tales (Part-1)

The conditions were just perfect. The early morning ambience, well cooled interiors, comfortable seating, great company… but something was wrong.

A Beautiful Journey Begins…

It was my friend Sharmila who proposed the trip to Thenmala. We would start from Palakkad by road on a Friday morning and get back by Sunday night. It sounded great to me. Both of us had no idea of the place and eagerly looked up the online world to find a few snippets to whet our curiosity. Thenmala, situated in Kollam district of Kerala, is India’s first Eco-Tourism destination. That certainly sounded wonderful!

Not the one to procrastinate things, she immediately got to task and booked up a resort for our stay at Thenmala. Friday morning dawned nice and clear and we were on our way to Thenmala with Sharmila’s pretty daughter, Lakshmy. Suresh, their trusted driver was at the wheel of their Range Rover, and we sped southwards to our destination.

I pride myself upon being a seasoned traveler. I enjoy road trips and am also a passionate driver. This was a trip we were all looking forward to. I shared the plush back seat with Lakshmi, a voracious reader and the owner of a beautiful voice. The conditions were just perfect. The early morning ambience, well cooled interiors, comfortable seating, great company… but something was wrong. I realized that there was a queer churning sensation in the pit of my stomach.

For a while, I ignored it, masking it with a forced enthusiasm, but slowly, that feeling started moving upwards to reach the middle of my chest. My head too started getting heavy, and each tiny movement threatened it to spin out of control. I could no longer talk or even listen to what the others were saying. I broke out in cold sweat and all I could do was lean back close my eyes and pretend that the world didn’t exist, all the while trying to control the coffee that I had consumed earlier, from disobeying the force of gravity. But give up, I had to, and with a quite resignation, I sadly acknowledged to myself that I had fallen prey to that detestable syndrome called motion sickness!

By the time we reached Thenmala, I had forced Suresh to make half a dozen stops by the highway. Sharmila was very sympathetic about it. But in the course of our holiday at Thenmala, we did some off-road travel in a weather beaten Mahendra Thar belonging to the forest department. 8 of us were squashed in the uncomfortable bench like seating of the rugged vehicle, and were mercilessly thrown about when the tyres hit huge boulders or had to go through nonexistent pathways. Surprisingly, not once did I show any tendency towards getting sick. I actually enjoyed the ride. But the minute I sat inside the Range Rover, on our way back, moving through well tarred, smooth roads, I could feel my stomach do a merry-go-round again, and it was a repeat performance all the way back home.…

Somewhere in my semi-comatose state, I heard Sharmila say, “If the Range Rover manufacturers knew of this, I am sure they would die of shame!”

(contd….)