Kerala:"A New World"

The journey was akin to a pilgrimage.Not an arduous trek (thanks to the comforts accorded to the relatively well paying AC class passengers),but certainly a long one.The Indian Railways has laid its tracks through the choicest of picturesque locales and this affords those traveling in its trains a deserving treat.Beautiful desolate plains and stunningly majestic hills got juxtaposed together to provide a myriad of kaleidoscopic images that stayed with me even after I had got lost in the lanes of Ernakulam.Nosy passengers, eager to get chatty with fellow sufferers of incessant delays, kept me busy and sufficiently entertained throughout.In particular, there was this lady,originally from Allepey, who apparently worked somewhere in North Sikkim, who gave me few lessons on surviving in God's Own Country.
Only when I got down in Ernakulam did the real journey begin.I was supposed to spend a night in the city at a certain hotel.I got down at the station and limped to the exit, carrying all the luggage all by myself,a no mean feat because they must have weighed close to a quintal in all.And then I lost my way.
To get lost in a known city inspires adventurism, if not outright fear.But to be lost in a stranger city produces panic.
I am grateful to the helpful nature of every Keralite I've met so far that I reached a hotel (not the one I had initially chosen) only slightly bruised.I was panting and sweating and cursing after the ordeal.I got to spend a quite uneventful night.
A near repeat of the above experience occurred the next day.But I had resolved to be constructive in my approach.This certainly helped.I reached Kottayam a happy and content man.