{"id":238,"date":"1993-02-07T11:12:47","date_gmt":"1993-02-07T18:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.traveller.org\/journal\/?p=238"},"modified":"2009-05-16T11:16:06","modified_gmt":"2009-05-16T18:16:06","slug":"our-first-dose-of-fame-at-an-indian-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.traveller.org\/journal\/?p=238","title":{"rendered":"Our first dose of ‘fame’ at an Indian festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"<\/span>Cochin \/ Ernakulam, Kerala, India – <\/strong><\/span>Got up and went to our usual breakfast at the Indian Coffee House. After walking around for a spell we decided it was too damn hot to be outside so we headed back to the room to play the new game we’d invented two nights before. It’s called 999 (because that’s the number you have to play to) and it uses two decks of cards shuffled together so you have no clue as to what cards are going to be coming up. It’s sort of like Rummy 500 with a few twists to the rules – too many to put in print here. We played 999 until 4:00 p.m., for we had to get some food and catch the boat across the bay to Vypeen – Cochin’s version of Marin. 18k’s north of Vypeen in a city called Cherai it was the final night of the Pooram Festival at the Sree Goureeswara Temple. Who were we to miss a festival – no way. <\/span><\/p>\n

We caught the car ferry across the water, and it just so happened that a wedding party’s cars and bus were also on the boat across. I spotted the bride and groom in one of the cars and all I can say is that the bride looked very, very young, and as the Indians have arranged weddings she looked terrified. She was sitting next to the groom and all she could do was pull her shawl up under her nose and look away from him in fear – not once did I see her look him in the face. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our boat arrived at Vypeen and we jumped on the bus with the crazyman driver at the wheel – as usual. You see, in order to get a bus driver’s certificate you absolutely must have a lead foot for the gas pedal – it’s a standard Indian requirement. Our bus literally flew down our one and a half lane road with villages and houses whizzing by (some not more than 10 inches from the side of the bus)! We arrives at the festival at Cherai a short while later; we knew we were at the festival by the sea of people walking down the street towards the temple. We walked and found the temple with little problem – it was the 21 live elephants decorated with silver and gold standing in a row outside the temple that gave it away.
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