First trip to Nedumgandom

That day when I have first gone to Nedumgandam, we started early at 4.30 am from Cochin in a car with Mr. Roy son in law of Mr. George. As it was too early I slept in the car till we reached a place where Roy told me that it is place for Breakfast. That hotel was having tasty iddiyappam with egg roast for breakfast. Roy indicated his interest in black tea and I followed. During the journey we were practically silent as we are yet to get familiar
On the side of road I could see the real beauty of Kerala with water gushing out from springs. Road going like a snake with lots of hair pin turns as most of the time our car is climbing up hills by the side of the hill going up and up. We can see thick forests down in the valley with human population inside the thick greenery. Most of the people were found walking through the roads going up or down. Even going by cycle will be difficult as the slope was too high
On the way in one place in the midst of road I could see a well. Roy told that well is not disturbed while making road as water used to be plenty in that well even during summer. Pipes were crossing above roads also carrying forest water from upper area to down. It flows continuously and you can even take bath in that water at some lower level points. Water will be very cold but very clear
By the time we reached the place where Mr. George was staying it was about 10 am. Another peculiarity of Mr. George is that he will always be well dressed formally with shining black shoes even when you meet him at his house. He received us with all his usual warmness and offered lemon tea. We went to the site where he intended to construct house for him in the name of his younger daughter possibly with her money. She was staying with her husband abroad working in HSBC Bank
The site again is another small hill with one side at a height and another at low level. Width was not sufficient and behind the plot the land was going down to very low level and at the end you can see water flowing. On the slope down it was all trees and you can see thick trees on behind at still higher plane and all together the beauty of the place is simply fantastic. No wonder he chose this place above a small hill facing a bigger hill with beautiful nature all around, for his retired life. As it was becoming noon sun was real hot and the heat appeared to me to be high without of course humidity of Cochin

Mr.George,the Planter

I work as an Architect designing and building houses in different parts of Kerala state. I am trying to
Write on my experiences working for designing and building houses. With that I will touch upon my experiences during trips to my work sites
First I will talk of construction of house at Nedumgandom near Munnar
When Mr. George approached me for design and construction of his house at Nedungandom,I was not much enthusiastic about it mainly because of the distance from my place, Cochin which is a sea shore city and the most important city in my state, Kerala
I had known Mr. George for a long time right from the days he was running a business in Cochin which ultimately ended up in closure. He had a well built house with a beautiful garden in Cochin which he sold off probably to marry off his three daughters. After disposing off his business and house at Cochin he took up a job in Trichur as a Plantation Manager. He was originally working in a govt run Plantation near Idukki. After retirement he tried his luck with business and he failed. His zodiac sign happens to be same as mine, Taurus and he had named his business in Cochin as Taurus builders. Because of same zodiac sign he used to make me feel that he is my friend
He had a special capability to get friendly with people making them feel that he cares for them. In reality he was only bothered about his interests and he was simply using others giving them a false impression about his care and affection for them. His words and actions are managed in such a way that among others even I thought that he is a genuine caring and loving sincere person
Even when he landed as a last resort at that Trichur plantation, he used to call me occasionally and used to remind me about a house he is planning to build in high ranges of Kerala among plantations, in land which he will purchase some day
In between one of his son in law purchased some land near Cochin and he approached me for building a compound wall for it. I told him that I am not interested in building just a compound wall. But he never took no for an answer. Finally when I started doing that work, he put a junior engineer to supervise my work. Possibly he never trusted me really in spite of his proclamations to the contrary. That supervisor Engineer left on the first day itself telling him that there is no need for him to supervise better qualified and experienced person like me. Somehow he was happy with the work and he has a peculiar habit of praising any one unnecessarily making the other person feel that he has done something great for him even though the work done may be insignificant
I will now talk of working for him for design and construction of his house at Nedumgandom in my next post

Kerala

Kerala is a state of India in the southern tip with Arabian Sea kissing its sands on the western long side. On the eastern side, hilly plantations and greenery rich with spice plantations like cardamom, coffee, tea, pepper. From the east to west from hilly green forests to seashore, several rivers flow to join lakes and finally flowing down to join with the sea.
A real delight for the eyes and psyche of any tourist, Kerala is the most beautiful state of India and even one of the most beautiful places in Earth
Kerala also has got a rich history of art, culture and naturally architecture of its own. People from all over the world used to come to Kerala mainly for spices produced by eastern hilly regions of Kerala. They brought along alien culture, languages, religions and architecture