Verdure

Eeeek, almost a month of the new year gone already??? January's sun is shining bright outside, cloudy days are too few for my liking and dry grass, dry leaves, bare branches everywhere. My weeding is going on and it's so nice to see the uprooted weeds get almost instantly dessicated in the heat and can be confidently left there to be pulverized into the top soil. Our coconut trees are dropping dry leaves pretty often, provoking startled reactions from me each time. 

What better time to feast my eyes on a little greenery like this...

We were at Ottappalam at the beginning of November. I got it into my head that I would like to visit the Kunjan Nambiar Smarakam at Killikkurissimangalam. So the kids and I caught a bus from Ottappalam and made our way to the old poet's village. I reached the memorial, but the view ahead was enticing, so walked a little further to stop at this curve of the road...

I made the kids sit down and started snapping away madly...

...while answering their innumerable questions about paddy cultivation...

...when an old farmer came by on his even more ancient bicycle and asked us, "Enthedukkyanu kuttyole?" in the lovely Valluvanadan accent...

We saw the Killikkurissimangalam Siva Temple and passed on to this huuuuuuuge temple pond...

There was no way I could fit it into one frame, so here is the other end of the pond...

On our way back, we took several detours...

...to see even greener vistas...

and if it hadn't been for those lovely knots and gnarls in my path...

...I too would have done exactly that!

The very boundary walls sustain so much life...

... like our childhood friends - the mukkutti and the mashithandu all alive and well!

Long have I thought if I had the world to choose from, where would I live... now I have the answer! In Killikkurissimangalam, in an old, dark and cool farmhouse facing the vista of green, green paddyfields, within walking distance of the temple pond. Yup! I hope they have 3G or Wimax capability!!! :)

Okay, I'll leave the greatest satiric poet of Kerala for a later post. Enjoy the greenery!!!

If you want to see the same: Location: Killikkurissimangalam on the route to Tiruvilwamala from Ottappalam. Leave your vehicle on the main road and go roaming into the verdure!