Kannur – Costa Malabari – relaxing, swimming and great food – by Zoe

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We got up early to get the bus to Kannur. Suneer took us to the bus station and made sure that we got on the right bus. 5 ½ hours on the bus, included on this trip were 5 hair pin turns (I know this because they were sign posted). I’ve never seen an Indian bus driver be that cautious or a bus load of Indian people be that silent, it was a good thing that he was being cautious because if he hadn’t been we would have driven off the side of a very high mountain. We arrived in Kannur safe and sound and took an auto out to our accommodation Costa Malabari recommended by Nicola. We arrived in time for lunch and a delicious fruit salad. All of our meals were included this gave us a sense that we were being looked after for a while. After a nice relaxing afternoon by the beach (our accommodation was overlooking the beach) we had a yummy, huge dinner. After dinner the manager of Costa Malabari Kurien came and talked to us about going and seeing a theyyam.

I’ll give you a little run down of what a theyyam is (I stole this information from Kurien, an information brochure at our hotel and from the Lonely Planet). Basically it’s a ritual which is performed from October to May. The theyyam is performed almost every night during this time and most lasting 24 hours or so. The theyyam takes place at a local village temple, is paid for by the village and is done in order to ensure the well being of the people in the village and their harvest. During the theyyam a dancer invites the God to enter his body though various rituals performed. He then blesses the priest of the temple and people of the village. There are around 450 Gods, each with there own costume which hasn’t changed since it begun. They believe that the theyyam begun before Hinduism. The performers of the theyyam are born into it, specifically the caste that perform the ritual. Needless to say that Kurien is the person to go to when you want to know anything about the theyyam. So Kurien told us that there was a special theyyam being performed where the dancer goes into a trance and throws himself into a mound of hot coals….So we and the three other people staying at our accommodation all decided to go, even if it meant getting up at 4.30am the next morning…

4.30am the next morning and poor Brettie is feeling sick. He decided that he can’t leave the toilet for any amount of time, so I head off to the theyyam without him. So I don’t really know how to describe the theyyam. We arrived and saw one dancer getting ready, putting on his 7 metre high headdress. He danced around for a while, meanwhile they are getting the hot coals ready. Then everybody moves to the hot coals and about half an hour later this dancer approaches the hot coals and starts to throw himself on it. There are three men helping him, two holding a bit of rope each in order to pull him out of the fire and the other to hold his feet together to help him stand up. Although the first few times he went into the hot coals, one of the other woman and I both thought that he was being pushed….We were ushered to the front of the circle to see the performance and then we made our way back to the back to the group of people. The information brochure at our accommodation had said that people had paid for the performance to be put on, therefore to have a look and then get out of the way. That and it was just too hot to stand there for long. I managed to take some cool video of some of the theyyam, not sure if we’ll be able to put it on the internet though.

Back to Coasta Malabari in time for breakfast and I had to wake Brettie up. After a delicious breakfast, yummy juice and vegemite on toast! We went for a swim, read for a while, had lunch (I finished off Brettie’s lunch). More relaxing, another swim, where Brettie wanted to fight the two Indian boys who weren’t being very subtle about staring at us, dinner and then bed.

The next day consisted of pretty much of the same as the day before. Brettie felt a little better today. Breakfast, swim, reading, relaxing, lunch (I finished off Brett’s lunch again) walk on the beach, walk to the internet, nap, dinner and then bed.
The day after that also consisted of breakfast, then an auto into town, internet, a wander around St Angelo’s Fort, back to Costa Malabari in time for lunch, relaxing, dinner where we met Ilaria and Vincenzo. At dinner Kurien told us about another theyyam that was taking place tomorrow morning we decided to go although this meant an early start again! Bed time!

Our last full day at Coasta Malabari and I didn’t want to leave. Boo hoo. It took us a bit longer to get to the theyyam, which was a little bit further out of town. We watched the dancer get ready, seven metre headdress put on, sticks were tied in a circle around him and then the sticks were set on fire. The dancer danced around the temple a few times and once all of the oil had burnt out, he sat down and blessed people. We headed back to Coasta Malabari for breakfast, a swim, relaxing and lunch. After lunch Brettie saw a snake, he said that he nearly ended up jumping on the chair but the snake slithered away from him before he could do this. Even more relaxing, reading, dinner and then bed.

Early in the morning we took a taxi with Ilaria and Vincenzo who as it happened were going to Kochi on the same train as us and were also in the same carriage as us. Got to the train station and on the train. Arrived at Ernakulam Town station, thought that we would wait to get off at Ernakulam Junction, like our ticket said we were going and then….we ended up about an hour and a half train ride away from Ernakulam in Kottayam. We found out that Ernakulam Junction was closed, helpful that no one told us this…. We decided (Ilaria and Vincenzo had come along for the ride with us) to head back to Ernakulam, luckily we were able to get a train ticket back on a train that was leaving soonish. A little bit later than we thought, but none the less we arrived in Ernakulam Town, ie Kannur.

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Photos

The first theyyam
He's getting ready in the background

Another theyyam shot
He's about to run in

All lit up
...and unable to escape

Comments

[Leonie]

Castaway?
You trying to do your best impression of Tom Hanks from Castaway???? Think you need a haircut and shave!

[Gallivanting Gympie Boy and Wandering Coffs Girl]

Castaway?
Cmon Loni, I'm better looking than Tom Hanks aren't I?!? Even with my red beard!