Kerala Calling

Kochi, the gateway to Kerala

He looks badly stressed out. His left leg is troubling him. He is always short of breath and cannot speak a sentence without effort. He is taking medicines to reduce a protruding tummy… But like a man possessed, Hari Singh Shekhawat is hell-bent on preparing from now for an excursion to Kerala, next October-November.
The other day Srichand Arora advised him to take it easy for a while as many people are yet to recover from the frenetic trip of Himachal Pradesh. “Don’t talk of Kerala for the next two months,” he told Shekhawat when the latter approached him to work out a ‘tentative’ itinerary.
Tara Chand Seth put it mildly, though with a dash of humour: “What’s the hurry? Let the karela (bitter gourd) sweeten a bit!”
Today Monthi Serrao repeated Arora’s advice and suggested that instead of Kerala, we should be talking of a day picnic now. “Don’t even mention Kerala,” she instructed Shekhawat. “Bilkul choop… for the next couple of months.”

"But what is your problem with Kerala?"

Monthi informed that last week she had gone for a picnic to Gorai Beach with another group and it was an enjoyable experience. “We had a shack to ourselves and all day we played lots of indoor games. There was no need for us to go out and explore the beach. We left at 8 in the morning and returned by 8 in the evening!”
Significantly, the impetus for the Kerala trip had actually come from Monthi when she gave Shekhwat a tour programme drawn up by a travel agent that covers Mangalore, Kochi, Allepey, Munnar... all for Rs18,900 only.
Now the problem with Shekhawat is that after his Himachal Tour experience, he would rather not trust a travel agent and secondly, he does not want to visit Mangalore. This way, he feels, the costs can be cut down drastically. But by how much? Nobody is giving him an estimated budget – let alone helping him with the itinerary, hotel reservations, transport, etc. And this is making him restless all the more.