16^th November 2004 to 7^th January 2005.

Shattering everyone’s future career plans, the government came up with a new Compulsory rural service plan in 2004.  Some took it seriously but others didn’t. Anyway I was ready to take it and it was a blessing in disguise. Joe had got posting in Kumily which was near to Thekkady. With him I set off to Kattappana for a new life.

With all the big luggage, we took the train from Trivandrum and got down at Kottayam. We took a bus to Thodupuzha and then to Painavu DMO office to collect the joining letter as Assistant Surgeon. From there, we took a jeep to Cheruthoni and then a bus to Kattappana. Both of us stayed in Vimala Lodge. Joe left Kumily the next day.

17/11 My PHC was in a place called ‘20acre’ which was around 3 km from the town. The MO in charge was leave for 3 days and I managed the OP alone seeing around 200 patients.

18/11 I conducted a School Health camp in two schools atPuliyanmala. One of them was a branch of Christ Nagar where I studied in Trivandrum.

19/11 I climbed the Kurishumala hill which was very near to the town. It took around 45 minutes for the climb.  I could see the whole of Kattappana town from there and the view was very beautiful.

20/11 I went to Kumily to see Joe. We went for an evening walk with Shaji and Suresh who were sales tax officers whom Joe had met earlier. We crossed the check post and entered Tamilnadu. We saw a dam inside the forest and huge pipes which took water to Tamilnadu. We saw the town Cumbum from there and it was fantastic.

21/11 We roamed around Thekkady and saw wild boars, monkeys, giant squirrel and sambar deer

I took a week off to come to Trivandrum. I was back in Kattappana on first of December. I climbed Kurishumala once more but this time I had a camera with me. For all the trekkings around town I was enjoying  the loneliness. The place was just beautiful and the people were so simple.

2/12 I roamed around the Kattappana town and also the quarry in Puliyanmala.

3/12 I conducted the immunization camp in Kochuthovala.

5/12  After the OPD at 12 noon I walked to a nearby place called Anjuruli, a beautiful place bordered by the Idukki Reservoir. I saw a large tunnel which was around 3-4 km long carried water to drain in the reservoir. I couldn’t resist the temptation of climbing the nearby hill. There was a small teashop at the base and after asking the directions, I climbed up. The route was quite treacherous and there was no turning back. I took a break to sit down and have my packed lunch. All the time I was thinking that I was alone but I was not. As I was having the lunch, I was surrounded by a group of monkeys. Luckily I was not attacked and I quickly cleared the place. The summit of the hillock was picturesque. I could see a wide view of the Idukki reservoir and the Anjuruli, where I came from.  I also climbed another Kurishmala nearby. After watching the beautiful sunset, I climbed down on the other side to reach Nirmala City and from there I walked along the road for about 1.5 hrs to reach Kattappana. I walked for around 8 hours continuously that day.

8/12 I was part of theWagamon- Erattupettatrip. We named it “Tour deJumbo” as Abhishek who was doing CRS in Erattupetta was organizing it along with Joy John from Poonjar. I came from Kattappana, Joe from Kumily, Aby and Shabu from Pathanamthitta, Jujju and Deep from Trivandrum. We stayed at Erattupetta. We were lucky to watch the wonderful fireworks at the Pala Church Jubilee celebrations and we met our classmate Sherin Jos over there.

9/12 We visited the PHC of Joy John at Poonjar. There was a Python caged in a nearby church. We set of to Wagamon in Dandy Chettan’s Jeep. On the way, the tyre plate broke which made a delay of around 1 hr. In Wagamon we roamed around Rolling hills, Pine forest,
Kurishumala ashram and saw the fishes and the 6 feet tall cows who gave around 45 litres milk everyday. Joy and me climbed the Wagamon Kurishumala in 15 min. On the way back we got into a Toddy shop and had meals with fish and delicious frog fry.

12/12 I went to Kumily Church on Sunday. Later Joe, Neelesh, Joy(local guy) and me went to Cumbum in Tamilnadu. And from there to Suruli waterfalls. The irresponsible tourists were dirtying yet another nature spot. We got caught by the Tamilnadu forest guards as we tried to climb up the waterfalls. It seems there was a reserve forest with some dam over there and entry was restricted. Anyway we took photos of the falls. We climbed the Kurishumala in Kumily that evening. God alone knows how many Kurishumala hills have I climbed over these days.

14/12 Kumily was just 1 hour by bus from Kattappana. So I used to do frequent trips. On the way I visited Chellarkovilmedu.The whole place was covered with mist and I could see the beautiful Tamilnadu plains and the Cumbum town during the clearing of the mist. It was quite adventurous to explore the crevices beneath the rocks and I was alone.

15/12 After the night stay at Kumily with Joe we did a trip to Thekkady with Nilesh and Health Inspector Thankachan. We went in the “Vanadarshan” boat owned by the forest department along with a guide named Vijayan. We got the bed sheets from the Hotel Lake palace inside the forest. We got down on the forest banks after around half an hour of boat journey. We saw foot marks of many animals. Our path was blocked by a group of wild boars and we had to wait for some time

till they left. We walked for around 2.5 km to reach Manakkavala Bison Camp. It was a beautiful camp site. Our great friend Health Inspector forgot to bring the Chicken that he bought the previous day. But luckily Vijayan Chettan came out with eggs, rice, jam and other items that he brought during his previous visits. He had been a guide for the last 25 years. Chettan made Chappathi for us. We did an evening stroll around the camp for 2 hours and saw wild boars, a big herd of Indian Gaurs(around 17),Nilgiri Langur, a snake, lot of beautiful birds and  heard sounds of elephants and bear. We had a nice bath in the reservoir at around 6.30 pm and it was already dark .We could only guess the type of animals that watched us bathing. The experience was thrilling but not as thrilling as the wild life stories narrated by Vijayan chettan that night. How could I forget his crepitus laugh.

16/12 We had upma for breakfast. After a 1.5 hr walk along different route we reached the opposite banks of the boat landing area. On the way we saw a group of otters enjoying their time in water. We crossed the lake in a catamaran.In the evening, I took Joe and Neelesh to Chellarkovilmedu. This time there was no mist and everything was so visible compared to last time when I went alone.

18/12 Joe came to Kattappana. I got a bike from Koshy, the health inspector of Champakkara and with our health inspector Mathew, We went to Ramakkalmedu. The place was beautiful with 2 large statues of Kuravan and Kurathi, the rocks and the windmills and also the great view of Tamilnadu plains and cumbum town. We had dinner at Mathew’s house which was just half a km away from the tourist spot.

I went back to Trivandrum to spend Christmas with my family.

31/12 On the way back to Kattappana, I celebrated new year eve with songs and dance in KSRTC superfast bus with strangers. That was really a unique experience.

1/1/05 I visited papa’s friend Mr.V.M.Abraham and participated as chief guest and gave felicitations in their “swayam sahayaka sanghom” meeting.

2/1 After the morning Holy Mass I did trekking to a nearby place called Kallukunnu. The evening trip was to Puliyanmala rock. I really enjoyed the steep climb and the scenic beauty at the top.

3/1 Calvary mountwas near to Kattappana and after the regular OP, I went there alone as always. The view of the reservoir beneath was breathtaking and that’s still fresh in my memories.

7/2 Time has passed so fast. The doctors who got appointments via Public Service Commission filed as case against the compulsory rural service saying that their jobs were in stake. So we were given the option of relieving from the service. As I was midway doing the preparation for a career in UK, I got relieved from the job of Assistant Surgeon, PHC, Kattappana on the 7^th January 2005.

15/1 Joe had called me to join him for a medical camp in Pachakkanam near Kumily for the Sinhalese refugees. I couldn’t resist the temptation of another forest trip. I went to Kumily from Trivandrum.After the camp, we went to Gavi. There we saw around 6-7 wild elephants in different places and also a small deer. We visited Pampa dam too. From there around 8 of us took a jeep to Pullumedu.It was the next day of Sabarimala Makaravilakku and the Pullumedu was in the route of the pilgrims coming to Sabarimala especially from Tamilnadu. As we were nearing Pullumedu, the feel of the forest had gone and there were too many people and vehicles coming back after the ‘darsan’.  We literally ate dust. Pullumedu has become ‘mannumedu’. We reached there towards sunset. It was a bigger Wagamon. We could see the Sabarimala sannidhanam and Ponnambalamedu from  Pullumedu. This marked a thrilling end to my most unexpected Idukki life. I found the lone trekker in me. I pushed the limit of an adventurer in me to greater heights. The 2 month long first independent life away from my family marked a prelude to a greater journey  farther away and longer period which boosted my inner self, the great UK life…

September 2004

I have been longing for a Goan trip for quite some time. After my internship, along with Jibu, Jujju, Aby, Daniel, Deep and Sarath We finally did it.

We reached Margoa early morning by train and from there; seven of us took one auto to Bambolim. Kiran helped us to get accommodation in the BSNL guest house. Goa Medical college was nearby. The guest house was luxurious, fully, furnished, with AC and TV. We got two rooms and the garden around the guest house was beautiful. Surprisingly we only had to pay Rs 20 per day for this luxury.

We went to Panjim, which was 4 km from our stay, and took 4 bikes for rent, 1 pulser,

1 splendour and 2 passion. Jam packed thrilling sessions for the next 4-5 days. We covered almost entire Goa in our bikes.

Aguada fort had a pretty good scenic beauty and underneath it had a massive watertank which could hold thousands of gallons. It is not in use now.

Mangueshi, Santadurga and Saptakoteshwar temples- the first feeling that we had was that as if those Hindu temples were having Christian layout and Muslim architecture.

In Old Goa, we visited the church where the body of St Francis of Assissi was kept. The church was looking magnificient. There was also a museum opposite to the church.

Ancestral Goa was the next destination, where we saw Goan handcraft. The “bigfoot” didn’t look unusual as people said. We also did a boating there and rowed amongst the swans.

The bike ride to Vasco city and back reminded me of Formula one. The roads were thrilling. Vasco is a posh city.

It was our turn to get to the beaches in Goa. The beauty of the beaches were enough for us not even thinking of the other two things that people usually do in Girls,Ocean,Alcohol.  We were happy with the beach……

Colva, Wagatore, Anjuna, Calangute, Baga, Meeramar…… all these beaches were unique and beautiful. Anjuna was supposed to be a nude beach, well there was nothing special.

We went to DonaPaula which was the meeting point of the great Mandovi and Zuari Rivers.

The night cruise in Mandovi river was 1 hour of enjoyment filled with dance and lights with Goan music in the background.

I happen to see a picture of Dudhsagar waterfalls in Goa and from then onwards I had a severe urge to visit that place. We found that there was only a railway line to that place. To our desperation we were told that the trains to dudhsagar had been indefinitely cancelled due to landslide. Only one day was left for us and I just wanted to go somehow. Most of my friends were reluctant to take that risk of uncertainty. To my great relief Sarath agreed to come with me. We thought we would go as much as possible. I was even thrilled with that uncertainty and I knew any experience would make me happy. It was around 73 km from Panjim.

Me and Sarath started early in the morning in a bike. We travelled around 60 km along ancestral Goa. The road was decent till we reached … Railway station. From there, we were told that there was no road. So we drove by the side of the railway track. After a few kilometers, we found a mud track and drove along it into the forest, crossing the streams, along, away and under the railway track. We reached a settlement which had a temple nearby. The road ended there. We even lost track of the railway line. To our relief we saw few local people and enquired regarding Dudhsagar. They told us to climb a hillock to reach the railway line and follow it for around 2 km to reach dudhsagar. The moment we were nearing the railway line we heard the sound of a train and we ran just to see it. To our excitement, it was a single compartment with 3 engines and it was stopping at the nearby Sonaulim station. We ran towards it. We asked the people in it; Where can we get the ticket?  The answer made us ecstatic, “We are the railway workers going via Dudhsagar falls to repair the track damaged by landslide. Why don’t you get in? We’ll drop you at the Dudhsagar station”. What more do we need? In 5 minutes we reached our dream destination.

Like it’s said, it was a ‘sea of milk’. 2/3^rd of falls was above the railway line and 1/3^rd below it. The beauty is beyond description. We spent there for quite some time and the moment we started to have our snacks, we were surrounded by monkeys. We had a narrow escape. Filled with contentment, we walked all the way back along the track to where we kept the bike and drove back. On the way back we saw a wild gaur and a beautiful tiny waterfall. As the film in the camera was over, the pictures remain alive only in our minds.

The Dudhsagar trip was a well deserved climax for our trip to Goa. The next day we took our train back to Trivandrum with hearts full of fond memories enough to cherish for a life time.

Agasthyarkoodam was remaining as a dream till the 1^st of February 2004. It was during our internship. It was usually very difficult to get entry tickets. I stood in the long queue in PTP Nagar Forest Office to get the tickets days before.

Together with Jibu, Jujju and in Aby’s Maruthi Zen, four of us set out for the trip. We started walking from Bonaucaud Check post at around 9.45am with packed lunch. We deviated from the path after 2 km and  headed towards Bona falls. It was a massive  falls. We had a good bath in the pool. Later we joined the trek path through a short cut. It was one of the steepest climb and Aby threw up in the first 5 km. We continued the journey and reached Athirumala at around 6.30 pm. As the name says it’s the border between Neyyar and Peppara wild life sanctuaries. We could see the massive mountain staring at us and literally it was the base camp with the vertical cliff right above. The Canteen was made of bamboo and it was looking so close to nature. We stayed in a large hall. Outside the hall it was clearly written not to enter the hall due to the dilapidated condition.

Next day early morning we started the climb. The climate and terrain was so different than previous day. Geographically we crossed Tamilnadu border and then came back to kerala. The scenary from Pongalappara to the summit was so beautiful. We felt like walking along the wonderland of Alice. It was a heavenly place so close to Trivandrum.

The final climb to the summit was quite exciting. The place was so windy. We conquered the 1868m tall giant. Surprisingly the place where Sage Agasthya’s statue was kept was very calm. They even lit candles in front of the statue.  Actually there were thick bushes all around preventing heavy winds. The 2 feet high statue according to the people was life size. The legend says Sage Agasthya was a great physician. Anyway the whole place was full of high altitude dwarf flora most of them with high medicinal value. We walked back collecting the lunch from athirumala and reached bonacaud check post by around 4 pm.

      The second trip was from February 28 to March 1^st 2005. The dates were according to the Malayalam calendar. The pilgrimage period was from Sabarimala makara vilakku to Sivarathri. So luckily people were allowed to enter the sanctuary only for around 2 months in a year.

This time I was joined by Jibu, Anish, Lakshmanan, Sarin, Basanth, Harisankar and Joy. We parked our bikes at our classmate Rakhi’s home in Nedumangadu. We had bath in Bona falls. The scortching sun really hit us this time also in the meadows. I got cramps in hamstrings and quads of both legs.

On the way to Ponkalappara we saw few wild Gaurs from far. At the summit we met our class mate Niranjan’s brother. It was yet another unforgettable trip.

My third trip to Agasthyarkoodam was with Papa and Jibu. It was 23^rd and 24^th January of 2007.  As always, we enjoyed every bit of the trip taking photos, cherished those breath taking views. Papa had a very hard test of his endurance. We could only reach some distance short of the summit as we were getting late. We reached the check post at around 8 pm

When it come to endurance, Agasthyarkoodam trip was always the hardest trek ever done, ~55 km in 2 days. gone thrice. Even the thought of one more trip is so thrilling. Cherish those passing moments of

EXCITEMENT( at check post)-

TIREDNESS (attayar)-

DEAD MAN WALKING (grassland walk)-

HELPLESSNESS(the 7bend hills)-

RELAXATION(athirumala)-

REJUVENATION(the canteen food)-

THRILL(the final climb)-

ECSTASY(the summit) and finally

CONTENTMENT(u feel it all the way back).

U feel lonely, yet fulfilled; tired yet satisfied. I tell you anybody would become philosophical. AGASTHYARKOODAM IS A MUST SEE IN EVERY ADVENTURER’S LIFE

24^th February to 2^nd March 2007

One of my greatest treks covering Thekkady, Rajakkad and Chinnar. I was joined by Harisankar, Midhun, Sarin and Lakshmanan. We started from Trivandrum in train to get down at Changanassery and from there to Kumily by bus.

We reached Thekkady by evening and stayed in Tiger Bangalaw. I recognized the cook Vijayan Chettan who was the same old guy who came with me and Joe to Manakkavala Bison Camp in 15/12/2004. We exchanged old memories.

I still remember a funny moment happened that day on our way back from the trekking camp, we saw the spine and pelvic skeleton of a large herbivore(probably sambar deer). Vijayan Chettan had held it upside down and seriously describing each parts of the animal. He thought it was the skull and mistook the obturator foramen as the eyes. After all he is a naturalist and not an anatomist.  I still remember his loud and hearty crepitus laugh in the bison camp.

We also met the DFO, Mrs Padma Mahanti and the range officers, Mr Radhakrishnan, Mr Karunakaran and also Mr. Basheer(whom we later met in Gavi when he was the warden and also in Thrissur Birdwatcher’s meet).

On the 25^thmorning, we woke up in excitement. Everything set for the journey. Meanwhile we also met 2 foreigners, “the Timothy couple” from UK. With forest guard Chellappan and 2 other guides, we started off at about 9.00 am in the boat “vanalakshmi” owned by the forest department. We did not see any animals in the first 45 minutes. Unfortunately the boat with the tourists including the Timothys could not see any animals that day. I still remember my friends making fun of me when earlier that morning I was making a rapport with the Timothys by saying “this is the only place in kerala where we can see wild animals in close quarters”

But luck favoured us. As we sailed deep in to the forest interiors, we started seeing animals, a lone tortoise on a rock basking in the sun, wild boars lined up towards the banks to drink water, cormorants and later larger ones including elephants, gaurs and sambar deers.

We headed towards Mullakudy inspection bangalaw. Mullakkudy IB was situated at the junction where MUllayar and Periyar met to become Mullaperiyar. At the landing area we saw in the water a group of large tadpoles. Believe me, we have never seen larger ones than them till now. At the IB, we were amazed on seeing the size of the skull of a gaur kept there.

After tea, we got onto the boat and were dropped on the opposite bank after a 10 min ride. From there we did a 2 hr steep climb to Kumarikulam wireless station.The view from there was breath taking. The station was very near to the Kumarikulam pond and we spent some time there enjoying the beauty of nature.

From there we started walking and covered hillock by hillock, mainly grasslands to reach Thannikkudy forest bangalaw. It was built by the Travancore Kings.Nearby we could see remnants of forest fire which ate considerable area of forest.

We took bath in the virgin Periyar river. The forest guards said we took bath in the exact place where a tiger chased a sambar deer couple of days back. The mood was thrilling and we were ecstatic.

In the Thannikudy IB, we saw large skulls of deers. At dusk, we had a stroll towards the nearby watchtower. We saw tiger pugmarks in the sandy areas of the river. The trail ended in a place where we saw remnants of tiger kill. The guards said that the tiger had come the previous night. We were in the land where the real king reigns.

We also saw foot marks of other animals like herd of wild elephants and wild dog. We joined the guards at night for fishing and got “kooral” and had them for dinner. The day was really long and tiring for us and all we needed was a good night sleep.

We set off at dawn along the periyar river, proximally to Mlappara. On the way we saw a viper, gaurs, elephants and heard a sound which the forest guards told that it was of a bear.

We tied threads on a tree as a ritual where any person who makes the first trip was supposed to tie a thread to a particular tree. All the way, the views of periyar and its valleys were breath taking. We again saw pugmarks of tiger and also its scratch marks on a particular tree. Mlappara remains the deepest area of periyar tiger reserve that we have explored. The officers in the forest station of Mlappara were very cordial.

We reached Thannikkudy by around 4 pm for the lunch.On our way back we saw a herd of elephants. They were around 8 of them. Their positioning seemed so planned that the two little ones were standing in the middle and all the adults were feeding around providing good cover to the calves.

After a refreshing bath in the river, we walked to the watch tower. We came across a herd of elephants there also. This time we got “kuyil” fish.

On 27^th morning, we headed towards Mullakudy through a different path. We saw huge tadpoles, skull of sambar deer and also hornbill. We took bath in the reservoir. From Mullakudy, we took a jeep. The journey was quite adventurous. We reached  a place called Poovarasu and saw boars, skeletal remains of elephants.

We saw a group of hornbills. From there we went to Mangaladevi temple. Public were allowed to the temple only one day in a year. We were lucky to go there on a peaceful and silent day. We had a breathtaking 360deg view from the watchtower. We saw the thekkady reservoir, Periyar tiger reserve, Western Ghats border and the huge Tamilnadu plains.

We reached Thekkady back by evening.

On our way to Rajakkad, We took a lodge in Nedumkandam and stayed there. On the 28^thmorning, we went to Mangathotti and visited our friend Paul who was a health Inspector. We visited Senapathi PHC and Mohan Chettan;s studio.

We visited Kuthungal Waterfalls near Rajakkad that evening and joined Paul chettan for fishing and got fishes like ‘paral’, ‘Neikooral’, ‘Sucker catfish’, ‘prawns’, ‘kallemutty’ and lots of other fish. The fry was yummy.

Next day we did a road trip to Chinnar wild life sanctuary via munnar and Marayoor and we saw “ kezha Deer”, boar, spotted deers. At 9 pm, I took the bus back to Trivandrum with lots and lots of thrilling memories.

With good hope and dreams of a good career in medicine, I set off to UK to write my PLAB part 2 examination with Joe and Sarath. The STIC travel card gave us a heavy discount in our airfare. We took the Gulf air, departed at about 9.30 am on the 25^th of May 2005 waving good bye to our friends and family. It was my first journey in a flight and also out of my country. The flight was full. We reached Abudhabi in 4 hours. Literally we had to run to the next terminal for the connection flight but not to miss the beautiful multicoloured massive central dome of the airport. The next flight was literally empty. It took 8 long hours to reach London Heathrow. During the journey, we saw residential apartments being built on the artificial island made in the sea in the shape of palm tree in Dubai

The view of the great Alps from above was fascinating. The snow covered mountains looked like the body of zebra. We checked out of London Heathrow at about 5.30 pm. Sajicha who was Sarath’s relative took us to his home in Harrow. Joe went to Leicester where his brothers stayed.

Next day Sarath and myself took a train from London to Sheffield  in “virgin train”. It was fast and luxurious when compared to our own railways.  Mohanbabu uncle who was my father’s colleague in agricultural college in Kerala was in Sheffield for his PhD. He came to receive us at the railway station. We met him infront of the W H Smith book house. We took a black cab and reached his home. The street  even when all the houses seemed monotonous was still looking neat and beautiful.

Uncle’s son Kichu was eager to show his pictures and music in his computer.  We stayed ther overnight and next day Sarath and me took a train to Manchester Piccadilly. We had to reach Old Trafford and so we took a tram. We had registered with Plabwise for the coaching for Plab test. The Plabwise people arranged the accommodation about 10 minutes walk from the coaching centre.  It was above a mosque and Islamic cultural centre. The place was so quiet and peaceful.

The next five days was the intensive PLAB 2 coaching starting from 9.00 am which went upto around 10.00 pm. Earlier we cleared the part 1 in India. Over the few days, we started improving our communication skills by interacting with our classmates and teachers who came from different countries like Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran etc. We both were the only Indians.  Me and Sarath did combined study for the next days in our room. We made friends with guys from Lebanon and Pakistan who stayed next door. We learned the basics of cooking. Well actually most of it were precooked, heat and eat items. It was not the time for experiments too.

My cousin Kochuchayan came to visit us and took us for a trip around Manchester. The city was pretty huge. Eventhough  I didn’t have much interest in football, I was happy to visit Manchester United and Manchester City stadiums. I was told that the sculpture “Bee of the Bang” infront of the Manchester City stadium was worth millions. We also saw the renovated docks and the imperial war museum.  Finally we went to the Trafford centre shopping complex, better called a shopping city. It was so amazing and massive that we could only see a part of it.  I guess we could buy everything under the sun from there.  We settled in a ship shaped hall and had a chicken dish from the Nando’s restaurant.

We came back to London on the 10^th of June. We had already booked for a mock test with PLABswamy in Eastham on the 11^th. Not to our surprise, East ham was almost like India. We could hardly see any British people there. The difference was really felt

We took the PLAB 2 exam on the 13^th June. By then Joe also came to Eastham for his coaching. All three of us took a trip in and around London city reminding of the movie  “Mandanmar Londonil ”. We travelled in the famous underground tube railway. By taking a day rider ticket, we could get down in lot of stations like Euston square, Leicester square, Piccadilly Circus, St.James park, Oxford Circus, Liverpool street, Monument, West Minster and so on. The view of the London eye, Big Ben and Parliament house were fascinating from the bridge over the Thames River. We saw London bridge from far.  We strolled for a while in St.James Park. It was huge.  There were a lot of swans in the park. A squirrel that was fed by a person suddenly jumped and climbed over my legs.

I came back to Sheffield on the 17^th of June and stayed with Mohanbabu uncle for the next two and a half months. I roamed around Sheffield city by foot as well as in Kichu’s cycle. After passing PLAB, I concentrated on applying for jobs and running around hospitals in search of attachments. After many hundreds of applications, I got an attachment in Orthopaedics in Royal Liverpool University hospital with Prof. Simon.P.Frostick . I stayed with my cousin Nisha for the rest of the period in UK.  From Liverpool I had a chance to travel two times to preston for a course, once to Manchester for my MRCS part 1 exam and once to Doncaster for my occupational health check for an attachment (which I cancelled later). As Sarath was in Doncaster  I had an opportunity to visit him too.

In Liverpool I purchased a monthly bus pass to go to the hospital. With that, I could travel all around Liverpool any time. Apart from the career, it was a huge boost for my communication skills during my work in Royal Liverpool University hospital. Thanks to the patients from all over the world. Apart from the British, my colleagues came from different part of the word including India, Greece, Nigeria, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Norway and Pakistan.

During my time in Liverpool, I visited the Liverpool Museum where I saw an Egyptian Mummy. I also visited Albert Dock, and The Liverpool Cathedral which was massive and amazing. I strolled through the China Market and saw the Liverpool Football stadium. Once a month we had Malayalam Holy mass conducted by Happy Achen. I met him earlier in Sheffield where he took me for the mass in Manchester. Infact the road trip from Sheffield to Manchester was so beautiful. The real country roads lie fresh in my memories. In both the churches, I had to introduce myself as it was a custom for new comers.

I had my first experience of snow in the Christmas season of 2005 in Liverpool. Me and Chakki enjoyed the evenings making snowman and playing with snowballs in the garden. I was excited to paint the fence of the back yard of our home during the stay with them. The change of the environment with the seasons was so amazing and I loved autumn the most.  I even made a poem out of the inspiration.  

 

 I got addicted to the first ever reality show in BBC, “Strictly come dancing” and became a fan of Darren Gough and Lilia Kopylova. To add cherry to the pie, they won the competition too.  Chakki and I practiced dancing after the show. She thoroughly enjoyed my stay there.

Unfortunately the change in the visa rules forced me to leave UK without a job. Of course I was upgraded from the attachment post to Honorary Senior House Officer in Orthopaedics.  I got the GMC registration and the Hospital got a free job. But this couldn’t go long and I had to leave.

We spent some money for all this adventure, but the gain was massive. A whole lot of experience in life; feeling of responsibility, independence, Cultural integration, improving communication skills, tourism and sightseeing,  career inspiration in Orthopaedics, the ever rainy and cold UK climate and by far the most, the ability to survive inspite of persistent hindrances and obstacles in life. The lessons that I learned from the British was

• To always keep a smiling face
• Do it yourself
• Never hesitate to tell 3 words at any point in your life “ Please, Sorry and Thank you”

It was a very fast decision to visit Dubai and SriLanka on my return to India. Elsymmamma sent me the visa and I waved goodbye to UK from  Manchester airport on the 4^th of May 2006. On the way to Dubai, I had a transit in Frankfurt airport which was so huge that I had to take a train inside the airport to go to the next terminal.

Elsymmamma and Babuchachan waited for me in Dubai airport. They didn’t recognize me at all as I was having a “motta thala”. I had my hair shaved during most of the time in UK. I stayed with them in Deira for the next 10 days and 4 days in SriLanka with my cousin Sajanchayan. Papa joined me there and we travelled all around Sri Lanka.  We were upgraded to business class on our way to Trivandrum