Love in the time of Cholera

Recently I bought 2 novels - first, because I had some spare cash with me and I was itching to spend it, and secondly, I was travelling by train to Delhi (it is a 48 hr journey from Calicut) and needed something to while away my time.

The first novel was "Love in the time of Cholera" written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel laureate in Literature. The story basically revolves round the lives of three people - Fermina Daza, the girl, Florentini Ariza, the lover and Dr. Juvenile Urbino, the husband. It starts off quite innocuously with the suicide of an old friend of Dr. Juvenile Urbino, but from there the story zigzags through the lives of the protagonists over a period of 70 odd years. It narrates the young and fragile adolescent love of Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza, how Fermina vanquishes everything in a momentous decision that forever changes the lives of Ariza and Dr Urbino, and ultimately, how true love finds its way back. The story is written in the backdrop of the cholera epidemic in the Carribean islands and the simple but lucid narrative recreates those times in a beautiful way.

For those people who love to read, this is definitely one book that they should try out, if only to experience a masterpiece by one of the modern day greats.

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The second book was "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. The subject matter of the book is quite interesting - it studies how social epidemics (or for that matter, any other epidemics) occur and how apparently small and insignificant things can "tip" an epidemic. The author postulates three laws of tipping - The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor and The Magic Number of 150. The author illustrates each of these laws with the help of a number of real life examples. What the author is successfully able to bring out is that by concentrating resources on a few key areas, we can start off or manage an epidemic to our benefit.

However, at times the book becomes too repetitive, with the same few examples being repeated over and over again to illustrate the same old points. Apart from this small glitch, the book is an interesting read - especially for the marketing majors!

Backwaters Trip

Just came back today from a whirlwind tour of North India. The last 15 days were very hectic, to say the least. But to begin, lets start off with the backwaters tour that started it all off.

We (Harish, Ranjan and me) had been planning a tour of the backwaters for quite sometime. It would have been a shame if we had gone back after spending 2 full years in Kerala without experiencing Kerala's paradise. However, the trip almost got cancelled owing to an argument over the issue of the kind of boat we were planning to hire. Ranjan wanted to hire a steamboat with an open upper deck as it would have been the cheapest. However, I was adament that the there was no way I was going to be part of the trip if we did not hire a proper houseboat. Anyways, the other people in the group ultimately bowed before the great man's (that's me, BTW :) ) vision and a houseboat was hired.

We set out on the night of 25th feb. We took a bus from calicut for an overnight journey to Kottayam. Kumarakom, our destination, was a further half an hour's journey from there by bus. At Kumarakom, we boarded the houseboat and set out on our way at 12 noon.

The houseboat had two bedrooms with attached bathrooms and a kitchen and a chef to boot! There was even a small drawing room (??) / lounge to relax and take in the beauty of the backwaters as the houseboat meandered through the snake like waterways. The visual beauty of the backwaters was really breathtaking and there was an added serenity that made the whole experience even more enjoyable. At around one o'clock, we stopped at a small island to have our bath. Lunch was a pure South Indian fare and I have to admit that this was the best South Indian food that I have ever had. The food was simply so delicious that, to quote Ranjan - "The trip is worth it if only for the food itself". The trip continued after a brief siesta following the sumptuous lunch. At around five in the evening, the houseboat docked at Alleppey for the night. Having nothing much to do, we went to Alleppey beach and visited a few local temples. Dinner was another finger licking meal, only this time it was a North Indian menu. By this time, we were seriously contemplating kidnapping the chef and employing him in our mess!

The trip continued the next day morning for another 2 hours before we got off at Alleppey. From Alleppey, we made our way to Cochin. While at Cochin, we visited Willingdon Island and Fort Cochin. There was nothing much to see in Willingdon Island except for a shipping wharf. In Fort Cochin, there were two places worth visiting, the Fort and the Jewish Synagogue. Unfortunately, we reached quite late and hence were not able to visit any of these. We had to make do with a stroll on the beach instead. Karfi was visibly excited when he saw some king lobsters being auctioned off on the beach, but at the end, we didn't have the guts to buy and cook them, so we left it at that only. We caught the 11.30 night train from Cochin and reached Calicut at 5 in the morning - a bit exhausted, but having had the experience of a lifetime!