Wander Woman

Kerala - Coconut country. When I first moved to Kerala, the abundance of coconut oil in everything,including food, sickened me. You see, I come from the eastern part of India where we use coconut oil only to condition our hair. To use it as a cooking oil was revolting. Plus its difficult to adjust to the flavour. Thankfully, after two years , I did. And I must say that even though I still use vegetable oil for cooking at home, I certainly don't mind eating food cooked in coconut oil when I'm eating out.In fact, I found that if you do not reuse the oil for frying, you don't even get the smell. People here use coconut oil for everything. They cook in it, they use it on their hair,they even use it on the skin. Coconut oil is used extensively for conditioning the hair. In fact, here in Kerala, people oil their hair after taking a bath. The morning shift buses are full of women going to work with oil dripping hair and a jasmine tucked very aesthetically. Malayalee women

It is verrrrrrry hot in Kerala now.And there is no sign of the wonderful rain clouds. So in an effort to cool my system, i've decided to go vegetarian. A typical vegetarian meal here consists of rice, sambhar, thoran,chutney,poppadum and rasam. A visitor to Kerala MUST have a vegetarian meal once. Its yum,even though there is a strong essence of coconut. I guess after so many years, i dont mind the coconut anymore. Also, if you're having a meal at a decent restaurant, then you wont have to face the overpowering smell of coconut oil.(digression: read somewhere that coconut oil prevents dementia). My favourite part of the meal is rasam and buttermilk. Rasam is kind of like a soup made of tamarind water and curry leaves. Even though its very simple to prepare, when I tried making it at home, it didnt turn out right. I didnt get the right consistency. I guess I have to get some more practice.So until I can make perfect rasams, I'm going to indulge myself in various restau

The Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple is situated in Trivandrum, Kerala. Trivandrum is the capital of Kerala.It dedrives its name from the presiding deity (Sri Vishnu) of this temple. When I first came to Kerala, I heard about the magnificent idol that is so long that it has to be seen through three doors. It was later that I found out that the doors have a different significance. Through the first door, you worship Lord Shiva, through the second- Lord Brahma and through the third-Sri Vishnu. According to Indian mythology, Brahma is the Creator , Vishnu is the preserver and Shiva is the destroyer. It was also much later that it was found that this temple is the richest temple in the world with a treasure amounting to Rs 120,000 crores,locked in vaults beneath the temple. The palace extends on one side of the temple and is beautiful in its simplicity. The royal family of Travancore, as it is known, is extremely unassuming. It is said that they have devoted their lives to the deity and are act

The Aranmula Mirror is unique to Kerala. in fact, it is unique to Aranmula. Aranmula is a small town centred around the parthasarathy temple. this temple is along the banks of the Pamba river. This mirror is not made anywhere else in the world. The uniqueness of the mirror is that it is not made of glass. It is made of a strange alloy of bronze and tin. it is polished to perfection and hence does not have any aberrations. therefore the reflected image is considered to be the purest image and is considered to be very lucky. The secret of this alloy is known to only a few families in the village. They continue the tradition of making this mirror. This is one unique thing about Kerala and a must have as a souvenir.