Kerala Part 5: Days 6 and 7
Day 6: 27th Jan 2012 Ashtamudi to Kochi (Ernakulam) We start for Ernakulam at around 10am. But first the driver takes us to a local temple of goddess Bhadrakali, about 4km from the resort on the way to the highway. The deity is highly revered among the local inhabitants of the nearby villages. There is massive pillar of gold, which has (according to our driver Ramachandran) 15 kg of gold used for the plating. The temple is itself small, and men have to remove their shirts to get inside. Women need to be dressed in Indian attair, or else they are not allowed. The idol of the deity is very pretty - soft white marble with pleasant face. Since we ask for a puja, which the priest does for us behind closed doors, we are given the blessings from the goddess in the form of prasadam - rice prepared with thick dark brown jaggary - very strong in taste and very very sweet. We hit the highway by 11am and head towards Ernakulam. This time we have decided to stay at Ernakulam, not at Fo...