Saturday 30 Jan- Mahatma Gandhi Day.

Phase three of my Ayurvedic treatment starts this morning at 8.30 am. Thank fully, only one single treatment per day for the next week.

Navaro Kizhi 

is the external application of boluses (muslin bags) of brown rice boiled in a herbal decoction and milk then rubbed on the skin all over the body. This is for skin condition and for muscles. It is a cooling process. As the hot "rice pudding" is squeezed out of the muslin bag and rubbed onto the skin vigorously, it cools rapidly and drops the body temperature. The rice flour is a fine scouring substance and cleanses the skin efficiently. The cleaning process involves scraping off the residue with the edge of a palm leaf. Very effective and natural!

Am soon home - within 2 hours (which is a record) - and urging Babu to get ready. We are off on a trip ( a somewhat spontaneous decision on my part) to a hillside destination not far from the city. I feel I am missing so many of the weekend outings that the other volunteers are able to go on, because of my endless Ayurvedic treatments. Babu is keen to build up his repertoire of day trips for future use and is relying on my research and interest.

Destination: Nedumangad (hardly 20 kms from Trivandrum) and Koikkal Palace. It takes us over an hour to drive there as the roads are bad and very busy. 

The stately palace of Koikkal Kottaram represents one of the highpoints of regional architecture. Its museum outstrips any other in the state. The Archaeological Survey of India maintain the building and I get one of their excellent guides to take me through the collections. Their vast coin collection is one of India's finest and charts the development of trade along the Malabar Coast. Most of the exhibits come from digs around the palace itself, including a spectacular cache of Roman gold coins. 

I was particularly fascinated by this wooden coin counting tray which was designed to hold 500 minute metal coins for quick counting purposes. 

Originally built for a local Maharani in the late 17th Century, it is a fine example of traditional Keralan architecture: a bowed triangular gabled roof made of terracotta tiles intricately carved teak features, cool stone floors and dark rooms opening onto a central courtyard for the ladies. There is a secret passage leading out from the courtyard to a safe haven a few kilometres from the palace, that the queen could use as an escape when her enemies laid siege to the palace, a common occurrence in those days.

While exploring the grounds of the palace, I found a very deep bathing tank sadly made inaccessible by a collapsed stone stairway.

The heat of the day is upon us as we leave the palace and we repair to the AC of the nearby swish Hotel Surya. Its "Ponmudi" Restaurant is recommended by the Rough Guide. Very slow and indifferent service, but food is OK.

The plan after lunch is to drive to Neyyar Dam. What we can see of the dam is not beautiful at all, very functional viewed from below in the dry season. The extensive picnic area around it, is very exposed to the sun and dotted about with kitsch figurines. Ugh! We don't linger.

We persevere around it and a mile or so along a steeply rising road, we find the Neyyar Reservoir and get our first glimpse of the Wildlife Sanctuary which spreads over 128 sq kms of forests in the catchment area beyond the reservoir. 

This side of it, there is a crocodile rescue centre and boating centre.

While we were looking at these, unbeknownst to us, the last bus of the day departs for the Lion Safari Park.... 

Oh well! Never mind....

I do enjoy crocodiles and there are plenty of all shapes and sizes. 

These are freshwater crocs. 

After the disappointment of the lion safari, I take a solo 10 minute walk along the water's edge. 

In the distance, I can see the misty Agasthya Hills and near at hand the coconut trees and a small rubber plantation.

The wind in the palm leaves and the gentle lapping of the waves are soothing sounds indeed for this stressed city volunteer.

There's not much else to see so we start the journey home. 

The road is fascinating and wildly uncharted on the map that I am piloting by. We stop very mile or so and ask our way.

We arrive back in the city by a wholely surprising route. 

It is good to get home at last and look back on a very worthwhile day's exploration.