When Strangers Turned Into Friends: An Experience Of Munnar, Kerala.

After Alleppey, we left for Munnar. The ticket we had booked was for 2 am in the night and I thought it was for 2 in the noon. So we obviously missed the bus. Then had to take some local buses to a few points and then an auto to reach Munnar. 

It was raining, there were no nights on the street. We were traveling in an auto at that height, so the odds of having some kind of mishap were high. But thankfully late at around 10 in the night, we reached the hotel. Checked in and after dinner, went to sleep.

In this blog post, I’ll take you through the warmth & kindness I experienced with the Keralites – it’s an experience of Munnar.

Day 1: Exploring the market

We did some shopping in the market and got some chocolates and tea from Munnar. Much wasn’t done as I was lazy AF.

Day 2: Hiring a private cab

This was an expensive mistake, the hotel guys got us in touch with a cab driver and he took us through some sightseeing places but that was costly. We went to:

• Some points
• Tea gardens
• Spice garden
• A small waterfall
• An adventure park  

Day 3: KSRTC bus [where strangers turned into friends]

This day we got to know about the local bus of the Kerala government. They take tourists for sightseeing at a reasonable price and to be honest, price isn’t the main issue. It’s the experience. Sightseeing in a bus full of people compared to that of a private cab is much better. You get to interact with locals, the vibe is much better and relaxed. In the cab, I’d feel nauseous whereas in the local bus sitting near the window as the cold breeze touched my face, I’d be relaxed af. So, that’s the best.

We went to places like:

• Tea gardens
• Top Station 
• Mattupetty Dam

I was with my mom and I saw some college kids in the front row, I thought I should interact with them so I went to the front seat. We started talking about general things and life. They seemed to really enjoy talking to me. They couldn’t speak Hindi ofc but some couldn’t speak English fluently as well. We still managed to interact and the conversations went from Bollywood, Hollywood, career, and education to love life [which none of us had tbh] 

We had some really good conversations on culture, religion, social norms, etc. I got to know about many things from them and so did they vice versa. 

After my mahabaleshwar trip, this one to Kerala was the second one and I found out how nice strangers could be. For the first time in my life, it happened that strangers turned into friends and now in retrospect, I couldn’t stop but wonder how much I might’ve missed out on life until that point by not stepping out. Travel teaches you so much. After 2 months, I again made some good friends at the basic mountaineering course I went for in Darjeeling, but that’s a different story- A hilarious story of fun & failure.

Meeting them again

We had each other’s socials so we decided to meet again. They came to the reception area of the place I was staying in and we had some more of fun talks. I got to know more about their religion and language. Below is a picture attached of that time.

The reason they were eager and happy to talk to me was that even they made friends with a non-Keralite stranger [me] for the first time I guess. So seemed curious to keep talking. One of them ‘Shameem’ told me that his friend is dying to hang out with me but doesn’t know how to communicate properly.

That guy was translating in English on his phone what he wanted to say to me. That effort itself made me feel how kind and nice the world can be. These guys were just kids but meeting them somewhere restored my faith in humanity. 

Day 4: Eravikulam National Park & Leaving Munnar

I met them one last time on the local bus when we were visiting the Eravikulam park. They dropped off at a point and we continued to this park.

Eravikulam was such a beauty. We saw some animals in their natural habitat amongst the foggy weather and did a bit of trekking. It was raining and the vibe was beautiful. We didn’t see much of this one and come back to the hotel. As it was past 12 pm, the hotel authorities were mad that we didn’t check out. We nevertheless packed our stuff and left after lunch. It was a funny and embarrassing story of how on the bus all that I ate came out as I vomited. The zig-zag round roads of Munnar made me dizzy and nauseous after lunch. And this was the result. A very embarrassing moment that I shouldn’t describe further lol.

Conclusion

Munnar was fine but meeting those 4 guys made it special for me. The world is kind, all we gotta do is have an open mind and step out.