The rain clouds continue to play hide and seek over the city. They refuse to deliver. Trivandrumites are seeking refuge in AC cars, low-floor buses, water melons, buttermilk and lots of water. Some douse the fire with beer. Many seek refuge in getaways around the city. Shankumugham beach in the evening is bursting at its seams filled to its brim with people.
Quo Vadis? Whither goes thou? Ask the people.
Come to Ponnumthuruthu, an uninhabited island in the Anjengo backwaters near the city to lie under the shades of sprawling trees. Try annoying the birds by whistling back to their sweet music. Or enjoy them. The breeze from the ocean cools down as it wafts over the backwaters and the gigantic trees in the island before it reaches you lying on the ground.
Hold on, this is too serene a place to sleep. The Siva-Parvathy temple, more than a century old, is the major surprise within the dense foliage in the island. The loudly painted temple building can be a bit of a visual noise against the ancient forest. You would desperately want a dilapidated building on its place. “It was like that until a few years ago,” says Muraleedharan, a member of Valiyapurakkal family which owns the island.
