Today, I embarked from the city of Trivandram heading to Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala on what I hope will be a fruitful one month training program in the ancient martial art form of kalaripayattu. 

I arrived at the Kochuvelli station a half hour early and fortunately since the train’s route began at Kochuvelli I was able to board immediately with the help of a porter. The porter took my bag and instead of using the available bridge to cross to the platform on the opposite side of the track he suggested we jump onto the tracks to get to the other side. Once the porter had helped me and my luggage onto the train he looked at my ticket and must have realized, long before I, that I was not assigned a coach or a seat on the train. He said a few words to me in Malayalam and then bid me adieu. I can only imagine he said something like “your ticket on this train hasn’t been confirmed and so you do not have a seat on this train”. Unfortunately, I didn’t know what he was trying to say so I sat and waited until a family entered the train. Lucky for me this family was a polygot family from Kerala who currently reside in Hyderabad. Not only did they speak Malayalam and my parent’s native language of Telugu – they were able to explain to me in English that despite the fact that I had been charged for a seat on the train and received a ticket…I was on a waitlist for a seat.

As the train left the station, excited by the promise of new friendship, I put my worries of this very real predicament aside and conversed with my new Malayali friends until the ticket collector came. I learned that they had been living in Hyderabad for over 40 years…I learned about an uncle in Kochi who loved to perform magic tricks…I learned about a magician from the state of Kerala named Gopinath Muthukad.

 I also learned a number of new Malayali including words: 

Cūṭ  ചൂട് (Hot)

Taṇupp തണുപ്പ് (Cold)

Varunnilla വരുന്നില്ല (Not coming)

While my Telugu is marginal, at best, I still like to explore the relationship between Telugu and Malayalam, both being Dravidian languages. We spent some time comparing the similarities. I have heard that to make a word telugu you simply add a “u” at the end. 

Eye 

Malayalam കണ്ണ് (kaṇṇ)

Telugu కన్ను(Kannu)

Nose 

Malayalam മൂക്ക് (mūkk)

Telugu ముక్కు (Mukku) 

Milk 

Malayalam പാൽ (pāl)

Telugu పాలు (Pālu)

And of course we had fun with words that sounded like they could mean the same in Telugu and Malayalam but definitely do not. 

Bellaṁ in Telugu is jaggery and I believe the same word in Malayalam means “strong”. (fact check)

I was extremely content with my newfound friendships. They generously shared their idlies wrapped and packed in banana leaf and old newspaper. 

When the ticket collector finally arrived,  my new friends were able to explain my situation and a  seat was assigned to me in third class ac, b5, seat 6. I was able to stay with my friends until their stop in Ernakulum at which point I moved to my assigned seat. There I ate my lunch lovingly packed for me by my mom and the superb staff at the Ayursoma resort I had just left my family at. I found a playlist on Spotify of “Hot Malayalam Hits” which included songs Mandharapoove from Kumari and En Kavavil – the Love Story and jammed out for the remainder of the trip to Calicut.

As I type this I have arrived at my final destination and residence for the next month, Hindustani Kalari Sangam in Calicut. It is a modest accommodation when compared  to  the Ayurvedic retreat center I have just left in Trivandrum but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I look forward to seeing what the coming days have in store.