Kovalam

April 5. The Ernakulam–Trivandrum Intercity Express that we caught at the platformless station, Harippad at 7.30 AM reached Trivandrum City – 10.30 AM.

A brief shopping trip to the nearby Chalai market (only 5 sarees) and we were on the way to Kovalam!

Abad Palmshore 20 minutes away on Kovalam beach (near lighthouse) must have been built with ambitious and enthusiastic plans – each room faces the sea and it has a private beach too. But the place didn't have a good 'feel' about it. Everything seemed damp and moldy. Even the staff was green.

We got a cottage (you can see the thatched roof below) overlooking the pool and the sea below.

The sea roared all the time and Arnold's Dover Beach echoed in my heart:

... from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

But just then the pool looked most inviting. We tried to swim our apprehension away.
Soon the weather turned cloudy.

And when the late afternoon rain thundered down – we felt very secluded. By evening we had shifted to a room in the main building.

The beach was beautiful but not comparable to Alleppey. Didn’t see much else.